Matsuda Yasunaga

Commander of Yamanaka Castle (1589-1590)

Matsuda Yasunaga (c. 1537-1590) was a late Hōjō vassal of Odawara from the Matsuda clan, one of the great families of their administration. An officer responsible for relaying orders and directing works, he supervised the reinforcement of Yamanaka Castle, the bar on the Hakone pass along the Tōkaidō road, from 1587. In 1589 he took command of the castle in the face of the threat posed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. On the 29th day of the 3rd month of 1590, the army of Toyotomi Hidetsugu, about 67,000 strong, overran the roughly 4,000 defenders within half a day, and Yasunaga died in the fall of the stronghold. His grave is at Sōkan-ji, on the former third enclosure of the castle, now the Mishima City historic park.