Katsurada Nagatoshi

Katsurada Nagatoshi (桂田長俊, 1541-1574) was a retainer beneath the clan of Asakura throughout the latter Sengoku Period of Feudal Japan. Nagatoshi--presently known by the name of Maeba Yoshitsugu (前波吉継)--served valiantly under Yoshikage--the initial head over the Asakura--but seeing that his respective lord was incapable against the powerful and influential figure, Oda Nobunaga, Nagatoshi's relations began to sour at a dramatic extent, greatly encouraged to defect over to the Oda as a result. And as Yoshikage left to support the Asai in their mutual defense of the Odani castle against Nobunaga in 1572, Nagatoshi, seeing that his lord had already suffered a defeat at 1570 and will ultimately lose his life if he were to suffer defeat again, defected to Nobunaga by means of secretly leaving his present encampment, conjectively assisting the Oda in their initial attack upon Odani. A year following this incident, Nagatoshi would willingly act as the Oda army's leading guide during their invasion of the Uesugi's Echizen Province, and thus rewarded with a fief of land in this respective province, following Nobunaga's success. Authoritizing his position by changing his name from Maeba Yoshitsugu to Katsurada Nagatoshi, Nagatoshi remained within this province, but was consistently assaulted by ravaging ikko rebels of Echizen. With the former assailants being mutually assisted by secretarian groups from the province of Kaga a year following, Nagatoshi would unfortunately become overwhelmed, and thus killed.

References

1. Katsurada Nagatoshi - SamuraiWiki. (Samurai Archives) FWSeal & CEWest, 2005