Waga Tadachika

Head of the Waga clan

Waga Tadachika was the last representative of the Waga clan, a family of lords from Waga district, in the north of Mutsu Province. After Toyotomi Hideyoshi confiscated his family's lands in 1590, the district passed under the authority of the Nanbu. In 1600, taking advantage of the turmoil linked to the Battle of Sekigahara and secretly backed by Date Masamune, he attempted to reconquer the former family domain. He had the Iwasaki Castle, on a promontory overlooking the Natsuyu River, restored, attacked Hanamaki Castle, then withdrew to Iwasaki. The stronghold fell in spring 1601. Tadachika took refuge in the Date domain and took his own life in Sendai. Iwasaki Castle, excavated by the city of Kitakami, remains the principal site of memory of this uprising.