What life was it? Military general Nikaido Moriyoshi (Fukushima Prefecture) is famous for his shocking face graphics.

Yuto Ono
2025.02.14
Last updated: 2025.04.01

table of contents

1 High-impact facial graphics
2 What kind of person was Nikaido Moriyoshi?
3 The Fall of the Nikaido Clan of Sukagawa and the Torch Testimony

There was a warlord named Nikaido Moriyoshi from the Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods who was based around Sukagawa City in the central Nakadori region of Fukushima Prefecture.
...Even among those who love Japanese history, there are probably many who don't know about him.
And even if they do, I believe that most of them only
learned about him through his shocking facial graphics in a simulation game I am one of them.
What kind of warlord was he?

High-impact facial graphics

If a man in his 40s, like me, were to be asked about the military commander Nikaido Moriyoshi, I think most of them would respond in one of three ways (this is my personal opinion)

I don't know..
Ah, that's the warlord with the face graphics you'll never forget once you've seen him, right?
I don't know...huh, is that the name of that person with the surprised face?

Here is the shocking facial graphic of the general on the bottom left

Limited chat stamps are being distributed to celebrate the 5th anniversary of "One Million Nobunaga's Ambition"! Open the "Chat Screen" on the smartphone version of Mobage, press the button on the pop-up screen that appears, and get stamps that can be used in "Chat" on Mobage/Yahoo!Mobage! Until October 3rd! pic.twitter.com/1MUTEI7rdV
— Koei Tecmo (@koeitecmogames) September 29, 2015

There are plenty of
other results if you search Some of you may have known about this face graphic, but are now learning the name for the first time.

The warrior wearing the helmet of "Love" depicted in the upper right corner is Naoe Kanetsugu, who had ties to Yonezawa in Yamagata Prefecture

Tohoku Rokken Trivia Media NEFT

Three Sengoku warlords from Yamagata Prefecture! Mogami Yoshimitsu, Naoe Kanetsu, Shimura Mitsuyasu

https://jp.neft.asia/archives/10204#_15681646

During the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, a major battle known as the Keicho Dewa War took place in Yamagata Prefecture. The battle between the Mogami forces of the Eastern Army, based at Yamagata Castle, and the Uesugi forces of Aizu and Yonezawa, who sided with the Western Army, was a fierce battle that has been passed down through generations. What was the other Sekigahara, the "Keicho Dewa War"? After Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death, on July 24th, while Tokugawa Ieyasu was marching to conquer Uesugi Kagekatsu in Aizu, Ishida Mitsunari raised an army at Osaka Castle, declaring his intention to overthrow Ieyasu. Ieyasu, who was in Shimotsuke (Tochigi Prefecture), returned to Edo, and the Tohoku generals who had gathered for the Aizu campaign also returned to their castles. Ieyasu and Hidetada split up and marched along the Tokaido and Nakasendo roads, setting out for Edo...

Nobunaga 's Ambition: Soutenroku," released by Koei (now Koei Tecmo Games) in 2002

To explain "Nobunaga's Ambition" once again, it is a game in which the player takes on the role of one of the daimyo of the Sengoku period, expanding their influence through battles with surrounding forces, diplomacy, and intrigue.
However, the tenth installment, "Soutenroku," has the unique feature that players can choose to play not only the daimyo but also his subordinate generals. This
is one of the games that I was obsessed with as a teenager when it was released.
Nikaido Moriyoshi also appears in this game as a general, but for some reason, he has that look of extreme surprise on his face.

Now, this game has a useful command called "false messenger," which allows you to use your allied ninjas to send false information to enemy forces, stalling them or forcing them to retreat.
When you successfully send a false message to the forces led by Nikaido Moriyoshi, he will say the following with that expression on his face
(as an aside, his ability scores in the game are average, so it is not difficult to send a false message successfully).

「What? My castle is on the verge of falling! I can't let
this continue
! I'll go back to the castle immediately!」

This line itself is a generic one, and any general can say it if you retreat with a fake messenger, but the line matched the facial graphics so well that it made me laugh out loud at the time..

This facial graphic has appeared in several Koei Tecmo Games games since then,
and so if you try to search for Nikaido Moriyoshi on Google, the keywords that come up are all like this.

This shows how much he is known for his facial graphics in Nobunaga's Ambition.
The real Nikaido Moriyoshi was a little-known military commander, and apparently no portraits remain, so it's no wonder he became famous solely through the game (though this was probably unfortunate for him).

What kind of person was Nikaido Moriyoshi?

Nikaido Moriyoshi became famous (for some reason) for being the military commander in charge of making facial expressions in a simulation game, but what kind of life did he lead?

Nikaido Moriyoshi was born as the son of Nikaido Teruyuki, the sixth head of the Sukagawa Nikaido clan.
One theory is that Moriyoshi was born in 1544 (Tenbun 13).
As the name suggests, the Sukagawa Nikaido clan was based in Sukagawa Castle, which was located in Iwase County, Mutsu Province, in what is now Sukagawa City, Fukushima Prefecture.
Also, although it is not certain whether Teruyuki was Moriyoshi's mother, she was the daughter of Date Tanemune (Masamune's great-grandfather).
It is believed that the Nikaido clan and the Date clan had strong ties during this period.

Meanwhile, the Nikaido clan was engaged in conflict with the Ashina clan, based in Aizu, and the Tamura clan, who controlled Tamura County.
In 1559 (Eiroku 2), Nikaido Teruyuki lost Imaizumi Castle (present-day Imaizumi, Sukagawa City) to the Tamura clan.
After that, Teruyuki repeatedly attempted to retake Imaizumi Castle, but was unsuccessful, and died in 1564 (Eiroku 7).
became the seventh head of the Sukagawa Nikaido clan

Moriyoshi's wife was Princess Anan, the daughter of Date Harumune (Masamune's grandfather).
Like his father, Teruyuki, Moriyoshi also married a daughter of the Date clan.

The Nikaido clan continued to lose ground, and in 1566, the father and son Ashina Moriuji and Morioki attacked and captured Matsuyama Castle and Yokota Castle.
Moriyoshi offered his eldest son as a hostage to make peace, and became subordinate to the Ashina clan.

However, an unexpected opportunity presented itself for Moriyoshi.
Morioki, who had been the head of the Ashina clan, died prematurely in 1574 (Tensho 2).
Morioki had no sons, and his father, Moriuji, had no other sons. As a result, Nikaido Moriyoshi's son, Ashina Moritaka, who he had offered as a hostage, became the successor to the Ashina clan.
This enabled Moriyoshi to rely on the power of the Ashina clan, and he attempted to regain his influence.
Then, in the Battle of Miyoda in 1580 (Tensho 8), Moriyoshi defeated the Tamura clan.
This can be said to have been the peak of the Sukagawa Nikaido clan's power.

However, Nikaido Moriyoshi died in August of the following year, Tensho 9 (1581) .
If he was born in Tenbun 13, he was 38 years old at
the time of his death. There is no denying that he did not achieve any spectacular feats as a warlord during the Sengoku period.

Furthermore, Moriyoshi's son, Yukichika, who became the eighth head of the family, also died young a few years later.
There are various theories about the year of his death, but in any case, he was still in his teens.

The Fall of the Nikaido Clan of Sukagawa and the Torch Testimony

After losing Moriyoshi, the Nikaido clan was hit by further tragedy.
Moriyoshi's biological son, Ashina Moritaka, who had become the head of the Ashina clan, was assassinated by a vassal in 1584.
Moritaka's son, Kameomaru, became head of the clan when he was just one month old, but died at the age of three.
As mentioned earlier, Moriyoshi's son, Yukichika, also died young, and the Nikaido clan lineage was effectively cut off.

Then, the relationship between the Ashina and Date clans became strained over who would be the next head of the clan after Kameomaru, and Masamune, who had become head of the Date clan, attacked the Ashina clan.
In 1589, he was defeated by Date Masamune in the Battle of Suriagehara, and the Ashina clan fell into decline.

Having overthrown the Ashina clan, Masamune's ambitions also turned to Sukagawa, putting Moriyoshi's wife, Daijoin (Princess Anan), who was the lord of Sukagawa Castle, in a difficult position.
Masamune, Daijoin's nephew, repeatedly urged Daijoin to surrender, but she refused.
As the battle began, the town and castle of Sukagawa were engulfed in flames, and in October 1589 (Tensho 17), Sukagawa Castle fell, and the Sukagawa Nikaido clan was wiped out.
Daijoin, who was about to commit suicide, was stopped by his retainers and fled the castle, eventually moving to the Satake clan in Hitachi Province (present-day Ibaraki Prefecture).
Later, while accompanying the Satake clan in their exile to Akita, he fell ill and returned to Sukagawa, where he died in 1602 (Keicho 7).

has held a fire festival called
Taimatsu Akashi every November It is said to have originated when Nikaido's retainers and people gathered with lit torches, determined to fight to protect Sukagawa Castle. It has continued to be held as a
memorial for those who lost their lives in the battle for Sukagawa Castle (including the Date clan).

Sukagawa City Official Website

Torch Attestation | Sukagawa City Official Website

https://www.city.sukagawa.fukushima.jp/kanko_sukagawa/kanko_event/taimatsu_akashi/index.html

Sukagawa City Official Website

The Sukagawa Nikaido clan was swallowed up and disappeared in the ravages of war,
but the spirit of the Nikaido clan, their vassals, and their subjects remains in Sukagawa, even now, more than 400 years later, and is cherished and passed down by the people of Sukagawa City today.

For more information about Sukagawa City, Fukushima Prefecture today, please see this article

Tohoku Rokken Trivia Media NEFT