Hirate Hirohide (平手汎秀)
Hirohide HIRATE (1553 - February 4, 1573) was a busho (Japanese military commander) during the Azuchi-Momoyama period. He was a vassal of the Oda clan. His childhood name was Hidechiyo. He was commonly called Jinzaemon.
His official court rank was kenmotsu (a auditor Nakatsukasa sho, the Ministry of Civil Affairs).
He is said to be the third son of Masahide HIRATE and an legitimate son of his older brother, Hisahide (Masahide's grandson).
Career
Among the three sons of Masahide HIRATE, he appears as 'kenmotsu' or (and) 'Jinzaemon' in the "Shincho Koki" (Biography of Nobunaga ODA).
In the genealogy, he is put as the son of Hisashide, Masahide's son.
Hisashide also called himself as 'kenmotsu.'
As Nobunaga ODA's busho, he fought at various locations, such as in the Ishiyama War. He participated in the Battle of Mikatagahara as the reinforcement with Kazumasu TAKIGAWA, Hidesada HAYASHI, Nobumori SAKUMA, and Nobumoto MIZUNO, however, Oda's side lost by the superior army force of Singen TAKEDA.
Even after Kazumasu and Nobumori retreated early during the battle, Hirohide continued to fight in the war with Ieyasu, however, their side lost in the war and maybe because he was not familiar with the geography around the areas of the Hamamatsu Province, he failed in the retreat and was killed by Takeda's army that came running towards him. By his death, the direct descendant of the Hirate clan came to an end.
Hirohide was one of the busho favored by Nobunaga; when Nobunaga expelled Nobumori, the reason was that 'together with Hidesada and Nobumoto, Nobumori retreated from the battle leaving Hirohide alone.'
It is said that the location of his death was Inanba (Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture); there is a slope called the Kenmotsu-zaka Slope in this area. In those days, there were the gravestones of Hirohide and vassals in this area, and were popular as the Hirate-jinja Shrine. As Hirohide had asthma, the shrine was known to have healing effects of asthma for the prayers.
Hirate-jinja Shrine was all destroyed in 2006 for the reasons such as aging, and the gravestones of Hirohide and vassals were left untouched, however, the descendants of the Hirate clan moved his gravestones to the family temple, Chofuku-ji Temple, upon permission from Hamamatsu City.
The name engraved on the gravestone was 'Tokihide.'
The current location of his gravestone is "Chofuku-ji Temple on Mt. Gozu," that practices Chisan school of Shingon sect (Shimomiyake, Heiwa-cho, Inazawa City, Aichi Prefecture).