Katano Castle
Katano Castle was a Japanese castle in the city of Katano, within the region of Izumi Settsu.
History[edit | edit source]
In September 1581, the Iga kunoichi Fujibayashi Naoe infiltrated the castle to recover a prized box that a masked samurai had stolen from her in the Mihata Kofun. Inside the castle, she located the samurai Ido Yoshihiro, a member of the Shinbakufu, and killed him before retrieving the box and making her escape.[1]
In June 1582, Naoe returned to Katano Castle to meet the daimyō Akechi Mitsuhide, who claimed to possess information about the Shinbakufu, whom Naoe had begun hunting to avenge the death of her father Nagato and recover the box they had stolen. In his private quarters, Mitsuhide told Naoe that his lord, Oda Nobunaga, was the Shinbakufu's leader and requested her help to eliminate him, revealing that he also sought revenge against Nobunaga for his mother's death. Naoe accepted and was introduced to Mitsuhide's son-in-law, Ise Sadaoki, who would help them organize an attack against Nobunaga at the Honnō-ji temple in Kyoto.[2]
Shortly after the Honnō-ji incident, Naoe returned to Katano Castle on Tomiko's advice to look for clues to Mitsuhide's whereabouts, having realized that the daimyō had deceived her and was himself affiliated with the Shinbakufu. During her infiltration, Naoe saw Junjiro and confronted him, though before the young boy could explain himself, they were both surrounded by soldiers under the command of Aoki Ujimasa. Fortunately, they were saved by the samurai Yasuke, who eliminated Ujimasa and his guards.[3]
Having tracked down Naoe after their encounter at Honnō-ji, Yasuke expressed his desire to join her and asked for her forgiveness, revealing his involvement in the conquest of Iga. Naoe refused to accept Yasuke's apology and almost killed him, but was stopped by Junjiro, who revealed that Ido Yoshihiro was his father and that he had learned to forgive Naoe for killing him. He then explained that he had come to Katano Castle to destroy any clues about the Shinbakufu to protect Naoe, whom he had come to see as his new family. Ultimately, Naoe forgave Yasuke and agreed to work with him, before the pair left alongside Junjiro.[3]
At a later point, Naoe and Yasuke returned to the castle, eliminated its two samurai daisho, looted the Tools Master Gear from the castle's treasure chest, and climbed atop the tenshu to survey Katano.[4] They also recovered an insect cage from the tenshu for Niwa Nagahide's collection.[5]