Takigawa Kazumasu
, also known as Sakonshōgen (左近将監), was a samurai retainer to Oda Nobunaga, and later Toyotomi Hideyoshi, during Japan's Sengoku period. His biological son, Toshimasu, was adopted by Toshihisa and later served Nobunaga alongside Kazumasu and Toshimasu's adopted uncle, Maeda Toshiie. Biography. Originally from Ōmi Province, Takigawa was appointed "Kantō-kanrei" (Shōgun's Deputy in the East) by Nobunaga; in this post, with a portion of Kōzuke Province as his domain, he was assigned to keep an eye on the powerful Hōjō clan, based at Odawara. An account cited that Kazumasu served as an envoy for Nobunaga . He was, for instance, sent to Akagawa Motoyasu in the latter's effort of consolidating his power in 1561. Under Nobunaga, he took part in a great many battles, including the battle of Anegawa in (1570), and the campaigns against the Ikkō-ikki of Nagashima (1571–1574). Kazumasu was sent by Oda Nobunaga to provide reinforcement to Tokugawa Ieyasu when he was attacked by Takeda Shingen at Battle of Mikatagahara (1572), this included Siege of Nagashima (1573) and also fought in Battle of Tedorigawa (1577), and the Tenshō Iga War (1579-1581) in Iga Province. Kazumasu's achievements include the capture  of Seki castle. He participated at Battle of Tenmokuzan (1582) against Takeda clan last remnants. Following Nobunaga's death in 1582, Takigawa fought in the Battle of Kanagawa (1582) against Hojo clan. In 1583, he and Shibata Katsuie along with many of the Oda retainers, initially opposed Toyotomi Hideyoshi, but he was defeated defending Kameyama Castle (Mie), after Hideyoshi used mines to bring down the castle. Later Kazumasu submitted to Hideyoshi and assisted during the Komaki Campaign (1584) by attacking Kanie castle along with Kuki Yoshitaka. When he performed badly in this campaign, he shaved his head, become a Buddhist  monk and retired from battle in shame. He is thought to have died in Echizen around 1586. Takigawa's standard was three red circles arranged vertically.