The Azai clan (浅井氏 Azai-shi) was a line of daimyo (feudal lords) during Japan's Sengoku period that was based in Ōmi Province (present day Shiga Prefecture). The Azai clan, along with the Asakura clan, opposed Oda Nobunaga in the late 16th century. They were defeated by him at the Battle of Anegawa in 1570, and all but eliminated when their home castle, Odani Castle, was taken three years later.
Azai of Note
- Azai Sukemasa - established Odani Castle in 1516
- Azai Hisamasa - son of Sukemasa, was defeated by the Sasaki clan
- Azai Nagamasa - son of Hisamasa, came into conflict with Oda Nobunaga and opposed him, entering an alliance with the Asakura clan and the monks of Mt. Hiei; he was defeated and forced to suicide by Nobunaga in 1573. He was married to Nobunaga's sister O-ichi. His daughters included Yodo-Dono (second wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and mother of Toyotomi Hideyori) and Oeyo (wife of Tokugawa Hidetada and mother of the third Tokugawa shogun Iemitsu).
References
- Turnbull, Stephen (1998). 'The Samurai Sourcebook'. London: Cassell & Co.
- Turnbull, Stephen (2002). 'War in Japan: 1467-1615'. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.
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