Tomokata Tanegashima (1520-) was a Japanese samurai in the service of the Shimazu clan of Satsuma Province during the Sengoku period.
Biography[]
Tomokata Tanegashima was born in Kagoshima, Satsuma Province, Kyushu, Japan in 1520 to a samurai family. He was raised as a retainer of the Shimazu clan, and he became Takahisa Shimazu's Commissioner for Warfare during the Sengoku period. Tanegashima played a major role in Shimazu's efforts to unify Kyushu, defeating the Kimotsuki, Ito, Tsuchimochi, and Yoshimi clans in a series of battles and sieges. He marched up the eastern coast of Kyushu, conquering the Shimazu clan's rival domains, and stamping out the Christian foothold in the lands of the former Otomo clan, which had been conquered by the Christianized Tsuchimochi clan.