Akizuki Tanezane

was a samurai warrior and daimyo in 16th century Japan. He was a member of the Akizuki clan from Chikuzen Province, and was the son of Akizuki Fumitane; his father was defeated by the Ōtomo clan in 1564.

Biography Following his father's death by the Ōtomo, Akizuki Tanezane sought assistance from the Mōri clan. After the defeat of the Mōri in northern Kyushu at the hands of the Ōtomo, the Akizuki turned to the Shimazu clan for assistance. In 1567, Tanezane managed to recapture the castle of Mount Kosho from the Ōtomo clan and made his intention clear to fight against them. In response, Sorin sent Tachibana Dōsetsu, Usuki Akisumi, and Yoshihiro Akimasa with 20,000 soldiers on August 14 to punish Tanezane. The Ōtomo army first engaged the Akizuki clan forces at the Battle of Amamizu and Haseyama (also known as the Battle of Uryuno) on August 14, and on the 15th the Ōtomo had captured Ojo, a branch castle of Yasumimatsu Castle. This caused the commander of the castle, Moromasa Sakata, to commit suicide.

During this attack, the assault forces of Tanezane managed to inflict losses as they killed one of Dōsetsu's most trusted generals, Koretada Totoki. However, the rearguard detachment of Dōsetsu managed to reverse the situation and inflicted heavy losses upon Tanezane troops, forcing them to retreat. Later at night, Tanezane once again launched an assault this time with 4,000 soldiers in a night raid. The unexpected night attack by the Akizuki forces threw the Ōtomo army into chaos, and they suffered heavy losses with the total number of casualties being over 400, throwing the latter's force into panic. Dōsetsu managed to return order onto his troops and organize a retreat, but Tanezane ordered his troops to pursue the fleeing Dōsetsu further. They continued to pursue them as far as Chikugo Yamakuma Castle, forcing the Ōtomo army to suffer even more casualties.

In the autumn of 1569 Dōsetsu captured the Yamakuma Castle from Tanezane.

In 1578 on December 11–13, Tanezane worked together with Tsukushi Hirokado and Ryūzōji Takanobu to invade Chikuzen, while Dōsetsu and his army worked hard to defend those territories.

In 1579 of mid January, Dōsetsu participated in the second Ōtomo invasion of Tsukushi province and Dazaifu town against the Akizuki clan, forcing Akizuki Tanezane to abandon his siege of Takatoriyama Castle. After that, Dōsetsu besieged the Iwaya castle for the second time. In March, Dōsetsu besieged the Iwaya castle for the third time subsequently with some clashes against the forces of Akizuki Tanezane. Following that, Dōsetsu engaged against Akizuki clan forces in the battle of Yatake, Chikuzen province. In July 27, Dōsetsu repulsed a joint attack from Tanezane and Harada Nobutane.

In 1580, from November 3 until December, Dōsetsu fought against the forces of Akizuki Tanezane and Munakata Ujisada respectively.

In 1581, Dōsetsu participated in the several engagements against Akizuki Tanezane. First, Dōsetsu fought against Tanezane and Ujisada in the battle of Koganebara, which was recorded in history as the largest military engagement ever to happen in Kurate until at that time. In this battle, Dōsetsu has inflicted a crushing defeat on his enemies, which left the territories under the control of Ujisada vulnerable to further incursions by Dōsetsu's army. Later, Dōsetsu fought against Tanezane again in Shimizuhara, and Takatori castle. In July 27, Dōsetsu and Shigetane Shigetane fought against Tsukushi Hirokado and Akizuki Tanezane in the second battle of Dazaifu Kanzeon-ji. It is in this battle that, Takahashi Munetora, who would be known as Tachibana Muneshige, saw his first notable action.

On April 16, 1582, during the Battle of Iwato against the combined forces of 2,000 from the Akizuki, Harada, and Munakata clans, Dōsetsu led a 500-strong ambush force and surrounded his 1,000-strong main force. 300 of Muneshige's troops launched a surprise attack from the side with guns, while the remaining 200 soldiers were led by Komono Masutoki, who set up a false flag to make it look like reinforcements from the Otomo clan were coming, and finally managed to lift the siege. Muneshige then led 1,000 cavalry including Komono Masutoki, Korenobu Yufu, and Shigeyuki Ono, eliminating 300 of the Harada general's troops, Kasa Okinaga, who had built a fort at Iwatosho Kubeno, killing 150 of them, and pursuing them west to Sawara County, where he burned down Harada Chikahide's Sawara Castle. On November 6, Dōsetsu marched to Kama and Honami along with Muneshige and, and Shigetane. While on their way to the rescue of Kutami Akiyasu, the Tachibana and Takahashi forces received information that Akiyasu had safely retreated after fighting Akizuki Tanezane and Monjūjo Munekage (the great-uncle of Munekage) in the Battle of Haratsuru, so they retreated. However, Tanezane forces turns out still pursuing them. Both fierce battles resulted in over 1,000 casualties, including over 300 casualties from Tachibana and Takahashi, and 760 for the Akizuki clan.

In 1585, Tanezane supported the Shimazu in an offensive against the Ōtomo at the Siege of Iwaya Castle. Later, Tanezane participated in anti-Ōtomo alliance invasion led by Ryūzōji Ieharu. With a total army of 30,000, the alliance attacked Kurume. in the end, the alliance siege against the town failed.

In 1586, he and Shimazu Yoshihisa marched to attack Otomo's Tachibana castle.

In 1587, he fought with Shimazu against Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Kyūshū, an island of Japan.

In 1596, Tanezane was succeeded by his son Tanenaga. After the Battle of Sekigahara, Tanenaga was transferred to Takanabe han (in Hyuga, 20,000 koku).

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