Kusunoki Masashige
samurai
Kusunoki Masashige (Japanese: くすのき まさしげ、, Kyūjitai: 楠木 正成; Japanese pronunciation: [kɯ̥.sɯꜜ.no.kʲi], 1294 – 4 July 1336), or Dai Nankô (大楠公; [naꜜŋ.koː], lit. 'Lord Kusunoki'), was a Japanese military commander and samurai of the Kamakura period remembered as the ideal loyal samurai.
Kusunoki fought for Emperor Go-Daigo in the Genkō War to overthrow the Kamakura shogunate and restore power in Japan to the Imperial Court. Kusunoki was a leading figure of the Kenmu Restoration in 1333, and remained loyal to the unpopular Emperor Go-Daigo after Ashikaga Takauji began to reverse the restoration in the Nanboku-chō wars three years later. Kusunoki attacked Takauji in Settsu at the command of the Emperor, an act of obedience sure to result in defeat. He performed seppuku at the Battle of Minatogawa in 1336.
Kusunoki became a popular legend in Japan representing loyalty and virtue, and associated with the phrase "Would that I had seven lives to give for my country!" (七生報國, Shichishō Hōkoku!). Kusunoki was posthumously awarded the highest court rank in Japan, Senior First Rank (shō ichi-i), by the Meiji government in 1880, over 500 years after his death. He was highly regarded as one of "Japan's three loyal retainers" along with Fujifusa Madenokoji and Taira no Shigemori.
Early life
Kusunoki Masashige's origin has not been validated and it was merely six years between the start of his military campaign in 1331 and his demise in 1336.
Kusunoki is believed to have been born in 1294 in Kawachi Province as a "well-to-do member of the rural gentry" and claimed descent from Tachibana Moroe, "a great nobleman" of the eighth century.
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