Watanabe Satoru (渡辺了)
Satoru WATANABE (1562-1640) was a samurai warrior during Azuchi-Momoyama period to Edo period. His common name was Kanbe but he was more well known by the name Kanbe WATANABE. It is said that his original name was Yoshimitsu. He was born to Ukyo WATANABE who was a member of the local ruling family in Asai-gun, Omi Province, and is said to have been adopted by Tamotsu WATANABE of the same clan. He had a child named So WATANABE.
Suian
Career
First, he was a vassal to Sadayuki ATSUJI who was under the general's command of Asai clan. He married to a daughter of Sadayuki. As he was known later as "spearman Kanbe," he was a master spearman and was the first to get an enemy head during the attack on Settsu Suita-jo Castle and was praised by Nobunaga ODA firsthand. He was one of the elite body guard unit members of ATSUJI clan, however, he later resigned from the position to serve Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI around 1582 and he was assigned to escort Hideyoshi's adopted son Hidekatsu HASHIBA with 2,000 koku (360.78 cubic meters) of fuchi (stipend). He made the big impact during the Battle of Yamazaki and the Battle of Shizugatake and he was called "Sankanbe" along with Mitsunari ISHIDA's vassal Kanbe Sugie and Yoshimasa TANAKA's vassal Kanbe TSUJI, however, he became unemployed when Hidekatsu died in 1585.
He served Kazuuji NAKAMURA next for 3,000 koku (541.17 cubic meters). During the Siege of Odawara, he spearheaded the Nakamura troops and he was the first to enter the enemy castle during the Siege of Izu Yamanaka-jo Castle. Although he was praised by Hideyoshi, who said that he was worthy of at least 10,000 koku (a measurement of crop yield, putatively in rice, equal to about 1.8 million liters), he was dissatisfied with the reward (6,000 koku, or double his salary) offered him by Kazuuji, so he left and became a ronin (unemployed warrior) once again. He served under Nagamori MASUDA for 4,000 koku next. While Nagamori was gone for the front of the Battle of Sekigahara to aid the Western Troop, he was left to protect his castle Koriyama-jo Castle (Yamato province). After the war, he continued to remain in the castle to protect it under the order of his lord Nagamori despite the fact that Nagamori's shoryo (territory) was confiscated after the war and Nagamori was staying in Koyasan. He fiercely resisted to surrender the castle to the enemy representatives Takatora TODO and Masazumi HONDA without an order from his lord.
His effort of protecting the castle compelled Ieyasu TOKUGAWA and others to write to Nagamori to surrender and he finally surrendered the castle to the enemy without incident, and as a result there were many offers to retain him because of his loyalty and competency however he decided to serve under Takatora TODO who was from the same village for an extraordinary pay of 20,000 koku. He demonstrated his talent over and above yaribataraki (spear works) by assuming the position of Fushin Bugyo (the Minister of Civil Engineering & Construction Office) and other duties and later he ascended to become a head administrator of Ueno-jo Castle after Todo clan was transferred to Iyo province.
During the Siege of Osaka, he spearheaded TODO's troops however he had a conflict with his lord Takatora over the war tactics during Fuyu no jin (winter battle). He was injured from falling off his horse and was badly defeated in the battle at the Tanimachiguchi gate by the troops commanded by Morichika CHOSOKABE. During Natsu no jin (summer battle) in Yao, he pounced again on the troops headed by Morichika CHOSOKABE and Moritsugu MASUDA to retrieve his honor and killed over 300 warriors. However such victory was achieved only by acting on his own authority disobeying the retreat order seven times in pursuit of the fleeing enemy and such puerile victory led Takatora and his vassals to give him a cold shoulder. For that reason, he became ronin again by leaving the officer's position after the war.
Although he looked for another opportunity to serve a master, and Bakufu and others courted him, it wasn't successful because hokokamae (a petition to other clans for not to hire him) was circulated by TODO clan. Takatora ordered him to serve Gamo clan in Aizu (related by marriage) if he wanted to serve but he never agreed to it. In 1628, he appealed a withdrawal of hokokamae through the mediator Tenkai, however, he did not agree to the unilateral conditions proposed by TODO clan and the negotiation was broken off after he expressed his complaint and discontent toward Takatora.
Takatora's son Takatsugu TODO continued a policy of hokokamae that was imposed by his father after Takatora's death and as a result there was no chance for him to serve a master again, and he lived through the rest of his life as "Suian" on meager alms from Tadaoki HOSOKAWA and Yoshinao TOKUGAWA who valued his talent. He is said to have died in Kyoto.