was a samurai

Samurai

is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...

general in the service of the Ashikaga

Ashikaga shogunate

The , also known as the , was a Japanese feudal military regime, ruled by the shoguns of the Ashikaga clan.This period is also known as the Muromachi period and gets its name from Muromachi Street of Kyoto where the third shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu established his residence...

 Northern Court

Northern Court (Japan)

The , also known as the "Ashikaga Pretenders" or "Northern Pretenders", were a set of six pretenders to the throne of Japan during the Nanboku-chō period from 1336 through 1392...

, during Japan's Nanboku-chō period.

In 1338, he was sent by Ashikaga Takauji

Ashikaga Takauji

was the founder and first shogun of the Ashikaga shogunate. His rule began in 1338, beginning the Muromachi period of Japan, and ended with his death in 1358...

 to assist in the defence of the Kuromaru

Sieges of Kuromaru

The Kuromaru , or Black Fortress, was a fortress of Kanrei Shiba Takatsune located in Japan's Echizen province...

, a fortress belonging to Kanrei

Kanrei

or, more rarely, kanryō, was a high political post in feudal Japan; it is usually translated as Shogun's Deputy. After 1349, there were actually two Kanrei, the Kyoto Kanrei and the Kantō Kanrei....

Shiba Takatsune

Shiba Takatsune

was the Constable of Echizen Province during the 14th century Nanboku-chō Wars in Japan. He acted to block the northward progress of Nitta Yoshisada, who supported the Emperor's Southern Court against the Shogun's Northern Court...

. His men clashed with fifty horsemen under the command of Nitta Yoshisada

Nitta Yoshisada

was the head of the Nitta family in the early fourteenth century, and supported the Southern Court of Emperor Go-Daigo in the Nanboku-chō period, capturing Kamakura from the Hōjō clan in 1333....

, one of the more famous commanders of the rival Southern Court. Nitta was mortally wounded by an arrow in this exchange.

In 1347, he faced Kusunoki Masatsura

Kusunoki Masatsura

, along with his father Masashige and brother Masanori, was a supporter of the Southern Imperial Court during Japan's Nanbokucho Wars.Masatsura was one of the primary military leaders who revived the Southern Court in the 1340s...

 at Sakai no ura in Izumi Province

Izumi Province

was a province of Japan. It is also referred to as . It lay in Kinai, and its area today composes the south-western part of Osaka Prefecture . The Ōshōji in Sakai was the border with Settsu Province, until the beginning of the Meiji period, when the boundary was changed to be at the Yamato River...

. Hosokawa was greatly outnumbered, and so he broke off his attack. He was followed by Kusunoki, and was defeated in a night attack at Kawachi, suffering numerous casualties. Hosokawa fell back to Tennoji, and was defeated again, despite the aid of Yamana Tokiuji. Though Kusunoki was defeated and killed soon afterwards, at the Battle of Shijō Nawate

Battle of Shijo Nawate

The 1348 Battle of Shijōnawate was a battle of the Nanboku-chō period of Japanese history, and took place in Yoshinoko, Japan. It was fought between the armies of the Northern and Southern Emperors of Japan. The Southern army, led by Kusunoki Masatsura was attacked at Yoshino, the temporary palace...

, Hosokawa Akiuji did not take part.