Kobori Masatsugu (小堀正次)
Masatsugu KOBORI (1540 - April 29, 1604) was a daimyo (a feudal lord) who lived during the Sengoku period (period of warring states) and the early Edo period. He was a son of Masafusa KOBORI. He was the father of Enshu KOBORI. His lawful wife was a daughter of Kazumasa ISONO, a chief retainer of the Asai clan.
He was born in 1540 in Kobori Village, Sakata County, Omi Province (present-day Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture); although he once became a priest he returned to secular life and married a daughter of Kazumasa ISONO. He became a priest again when Kazumasa ISONO estranged himself from the Asai family, but he returned to secular life again and served Hidenaga TOYOTOMI. In the beginning he owned a territory of 1,000 koku crop yield, but as he showed his skill in politics while serving Hidenaga TOYOTOMI and Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI, he became a land survey official mainly in Kii and Yamato Provinces (which shows he was appreciated his ability, since the land survey in Kii and Yamato Provinces was not easy as the temple and shrine powers there were strong). His territory increased gradually until it became 5,000 koku. After Hidenaga's death, Masatsugu served Hideyoshi and was appointed to gundai (intendant of a region or administrator of a town) in Yamato, Izumi, and Kii Provinces.
In the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, he belonged to the Eastern squad and took a part in a punitive force for subjugation of Kagekatsu UESUGI. After the battle, he was given 14,000 koku in the Bitchu-Matsuyama Domain in Bitchu Province, and was entrusted the management of tenryo (shogunate-owned land) in Bitchu. Furthermore, he rendered remarkable services in surveying the land of bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) in Bitchu and Omi Provinces; in 1601, he served as sakuji bugyo (commissioners of building) in the Fushimi-jo Castle.
In 1604 he died suddenly in Fujisawa on the way to Edo for sankin (daimyo's alternate-year residence in Edo). He was succeeded by his son, Masakazu.