Harada Naomasa
Harada Naomasa (原"直"; ?-
May 30,
1576) is a retainer and
samurai of
Oda clan. He was also called
Kurozaemon(九郎左衛門) and was referred by the title of
Bitchu no Kami(備中守). Initially he had the family name of
Ban(塙), but on
1575 received the name of a respected clan,
Harada which he took as his own.
He started out as a member of
Oda Nobunaga's elite royal force and bodyguards. After
1568 when Nobunaga entered
Kyoto to become the
de facto ruler, Naomasa handled paperworks and was tasked with organizing ceremonies to receive a slice of flagrant wood imported from Southeast Asia on 9th century. On June
1574, he became the ruler of
Yamashiro Province and gained
Yamato Province eight months later. Until this point, his records are that of an effective bureaucrat.
Since
1574, Naomasa took parts in military actions and on
1575, he joined the
battle of Ise Nagashima and a crack down on the
Echizen Province's Buddhist led rebellion. From his successes, he was counted among such retainers as
Akechi Mitsuhide and
Niwa Nagahide to have the title of
Bitchu no Kami and to be granted to call himself by
Harada.
On May
1576, Naomasa took a part in the campaign against
Honganji in
Osaka along with Akechi Mitsuhide,
Araki Murashige, and
Hosokawa Fujitaka. As the main army of this campaign, he took on the siege of
Mitsuji but he was surprised by Honganji troop and lost his life in the ensuing chaos.
