Nasu Sukefusa

那須資房

Nasu Clan

Bushō

Shimotsuke Province

Lifespan:  Unknown to 11/15 of Tenbun 21 (1552)

Other Names:  Tarō (common)

Rank:  bushō

Title:  Assistant Director of the Bureau of Palace Kitchens, Master of the Outer Palace Guards of the Left Division, Master of the Palace Table, Master of the Office of Palace Repairs

Clan:  Nasu

Father:  Nasu Sukezane

Mother:  Daughter of Nasu Akisuke

Siblings:  Sukefusa, sister (wife of the Mumo clan), sister (wife of Satake Ujiyoshi), sister (wife of Inazawa Harima-no-kami), Kisu Yorizane, Sukehira, Sukenaka

Children:  Masasuke

Nasu Sukefusa served as a bushō during the Sengoku period.  Sukefusa was the seventeenth head of the Nasu clan.

Sukefusa was born as the son of Nasu Sukezane, the head of the Lower Nasu family.

In 1463, Sukefusa clashed against Utsunomiya Yoshikazu and Iwaki Tsunetaka and, at the Battle of Nawazurihara, emerged victorious.

In 1494, after the death of his father, Sukezane, Sukefusa became the head of the Lower Nasu family.  On 6/3 of Eishō 6 (1509), Sukefusa failed in an attempt to instigate a rebellion by Ōnuki Masanaga, Yui Toshimune, and Inzai Narinobu (retainers of Shionoya Takatsuna, the lord of Shionoya Castle).

In 1514, after the death of Nasu Sukechika, the fifteenth head of the Nasu clan (the Upper Nasu family), a succession struggle erupted between his natural son, Yamada Sukehisa, and his adopted son, Nasu Sukenaga.  Sukefusa supported Sukehisa but, at the height of the conflict, Sukehisa was killed by Sukenaga and the Upper Nasu family came to an end.  Sukefusa, together with Ōtawara Sukekiyo and others, attacked Sukenaga, compelling him to take his own life.  Sukefusa positioned his own son, Nasu Masasuke, as the head of the Upper Nasu family while he unified the two sides of the Nasu clan and became the real holder of authority.

In response to the actions of Sukefusa, Sukenaga’s older brother, Yūki Akiyori, and other neighboring powers including the Iwaki and Shimotsuke-Utsunomiya clans, attacked the Nasu clan.  In 1520, Iwaki Yoshitaka, along with the Shirakawa-Yūki clan, attacked Masasuke but Sukefusa called upon reinforcements from Utsunomiya Tadatsuna to support Masasuke and defeated the Iwaki army at Nawazurihara.

In 1521, Yoshitaka solicited Tadatsuna and Oda Masaharu to launch an assault against Sukefusa at Kamikawai Castle but withdrew after Sukefusa retreated to Karasuyama Castle.  To resolve the conflict, Sukefusa, through the mediation of the Satake clan of Hitachi Province, arranged for his son, Masasuke, to wed the daughter of Iwaki Tsunetaka and reconciled with the Iwaki.

Thereafter, he transferred headship of the clan to Masasuke and retired but then outlived his son, Masasuke, as well as his grandson, Nasu Takasuke.  After another grandson, Nasu Suketane, became the next head of the clan, Sukefusa died in 1552.