Miyabe Keijun

Miyabe Keijun (宮部継潤) was a Tendai monk from Mount Hiei in western Japan. He was the father of Miyabe Nagafusa and became a reputable administrator under Toyotomi Hideyoshi during the latter half of the Sengoku period of feudal Japan. His name could also be read as Miyabe Tsugimasu. Keijun received Miyabe Castle from Azai Nagamasa when he gave his support to the Azai clan. Fighting against the Oda clan during the Battle of Anegawa in 1570, Nagamasa and his counterpart Asakura Yoshikage were defeated, prompting Keijun to distrust his lord's ability, but not to the point in which he would be willing to defect. However, as Oda Nobunaga laid siege to the Azai clan's Sawayama Castle in 1573—at which Isono Kazumasa, the castle's holder, gave in after an assault lasting over three months—Nagamasa put Kazumasa's elderly mother, who he was presently holding as a hostage in Odani Castle so that his retainer would be more willing not to surrender, to the execution grounds for death, at which Keijun, enraged at the backstabbing qualities of Nagamasa, defected to Nobunaga and assisted him in the downfall of the Azai. As both Nagamasa and the Azai were entirely put into extinction after his defection, Keijun served under Nobunaga up until the latter's death in 1582, at which he then came to serve Toyotomi Hideyoshi, largely assisting him by means of administration and agricultural production.

Supporting his lord by additionally taking part in the Kyūshū Campaign of 1587, Keijun fought within the majority of the battles and observed other conflicts—such as the Toyotomi's attack upon Hyūga Province's Taka Castle. Continuing his prowess in both agriculture and administration, throughout the years that passed, Hideyoshi rewarded Keijun with Tottori Castle of Inaba Province, which he passed on to his son in 1596, presently retiring from service as a Toyotomi administrator.