Saitō Dōsan


Saitō Dōsan, also known as Saitō Toshimasa, was a Japanese samurai lord and daimyo during the Sengoku period. He was also known as the "Viper of Mino" for his ruthless tactics. He was appointed Governor of Yamashiro by the Imperial Court. After entering monkhood in his later years, he was also called Saitō Yamashiro-nyudō-no-kami.
He has historical reputation as one of Japan's Three Great Villains, a nickname which he shared with Matsunaga Hisahide and Ukita Naoie, due to their ambitious and treasonous personality, along with the habit of resorting to underhanded tactics and assassinations to eliminate their opposition.

Biography

Saitō Dōsan has long been regarded as a symbolic figure of "Gekokujō", rising from a humble oil merchant to the ruler of Mino Province. However, recent research suggests that it was actually Dōsan's father who was the oil merchant. This implies that Dōsan's "Gekokujō" was a two-generation achievement involving both father and son.
He became a daimyo through Gekokujō of Toki Yorinari at Mino Province in 1542. Yorinari was forced out of Mino by Saitō Dōsan.
The Saito fortress was located at Inabayama castle. He married Omi no kata, a sister of Akechi Mitsutsuna.
He defeated Oda Nobuhide at the Battle of Kanōguchi in 1547.
In 1549 Oda Nobuhide was defeated by Dōsan. Nobuhide made peace with Dōsan by arranging a political marriage between his son and heir, Oda Nobunaga, and Dōsan's daughter, Nōhime. Dōsan, therefore, became the father-in-law of Oda Nobunaga.
Dōsan supported the marriage which allowed Nobuhide to focus on facing Imagawa Yoshimoto.
Several years later, rumors had started to circulate that Dōsan's firstborn son, Saitō Yoshitatsu, was not his natural son and Dōsan started to consider another son, Saitō Kiheiji, or even his son-in-law Oda Nobunaga, as his heirs. This caused Yoshitatsu to rebel and kill his two younger brothers. In 1556, the forces of Dōsan and Yoshitatsu clashed in the Battle of Nagara-gawa which resulted in
the death of Dōsan.
Dōsan's head was taken by a man called Komaki Genta, a retainer of Yoshitatsu's son Saitō Tatsuoki. His remains were originally interred in Sōfuku-ji, but they were later moved to Jōzai-ji because the Nagara River kept overflowing and covering his burial mound. Both temples are located in the city of Gifu which celebrates Dōsan with an annual festival.

Pseudonyms

Saitō Dōsan is known for having a large number of pseudonyms and for frequently changing his name. Some believe that this is because there were two Saitōs Dōsan, father and son, and the son adopted his father's name after his death. Other names of Saitō Dōsan are Minemaru, Hōrenbō, Matsunami Shogorō, Nishimura Kankurō Masatoshi, Shinkurō, Nagai Norihide, and Saitō Sakondayu Toshimasa.
The name Saitō was adopted from the former shugodai of Mino who had been overcome by the Nagai clan in the 1520s.

Notable retainers