Natsume Sadamoto

Bungo-no-kami

Natsume Sadamoto (夏目定基), known as Bungo-no-kami, is a warrior of the Sengoku period and a vassal of the Yamanouchi-Uesugi, Governors-General of Kantō. The tradition recorded in the Shinpen Musashi fudokiko makes him the first lord of Kijioka Castle, in Kodama (present-day Honjō, Saitama Prefecture). When the Uesugi left this stronghold, judged too cramped for Hirai Castle in Kōzuke Province, he was given custody of the castle, which his son Sadamori held after him. He is said to have first borne the name Arita and was reputed to be a descendant of Akamatsu Norimura (Enshin). The castle later passed to the Hōjō during the Eiroku era.