Muneshige Tachibana

Muneshige Tachibana is a character newly featured in Samurai Warriors 3. Adopted by Dosetsu into the Tachibana clan, he works with Ginchiyo to demonstrate their family pride. He is known as "A Valiant of Chinzei" (剛勇鎮西一).

Kessen
Muneshige appears as one of the generals who is convinced to join Josui in Kessen. Although his allegiance implies that he would betray Mitsunari at any given time, he will not give into Ieyasu's plea to defect. While playing as the West, he will protest and give the players a rough time. Depending on the player's actions, he will eventually join the East during the final stages of the game.

Personality
Muneshige is a genius and brilliant warrior of his time who always wants to act like a cool hero. Eager to hop into action, he is simultaneously plagued with various doubts about the era, such as his clan's decline and the loss of lives. His sometimes reticent personality clashes with Ginchiyo's headstrong and prideful warrior's spirit.

Fighting Style
He attacks mostly with his shield by either bashing his opponents or throwing it. He uses his sword sparingly.

Personal Info
Tachibana Muneshige was known as a true gentlemen who was always modest about his accomplishments. He always encouraged his men to protect the weak and never take from the poor. Though kind and gentle, he doubled as a fierce man of war who could persevere through any hardship in battle. He strangely had no particularly brutal war strategies and won his men's loyalty with genuine benevolence. Out of all the times he charged into battle, there are no records of him shouting the words "To the death!" or "Charge!" to his army or to his foes. A few tales say that this was because he deeply valued his adopted father's army and did not want to see any of them lose their lives. His charismatic personality and undying endurance earned Hideyoshi and Ieyasu's praise. He was said to have been Kyushu's "Honda Tadakatsu".

He was skilled in academics and was also a master swordsmen. He was trained by Marume Nagayoshi, the inventor of the Taisha-ryu, and practiced in earnest to eventually create his self-taught techniques. These techniques were later adapted by Tempu Nakamura. He also excelled in traditional archery, singing, renga, the Japanese tea ceremony, kōdō, kemari and kyōgen. He had one wife and two concubines. It is generally accepted that he had no children but his younger brother, Naotsugu (Munemasu), had enough children to continue the Tachibana clan.

Early Life
Muneshige was born as the eldest biological son of Takahashi Shigetane, an Ōtomo retainer who named his son, Munetora. When he was eight years old, he attended a freak show. A dispute happened between the performers and a man was killed during the act. While the crowd panicked and scurried for the exits, Munetora showed no signs of fear. As he was dragged away from the site, he taunted the audience for leaving the show early and hurried back to the scene.

His interesting behavior attracted Tachibana Dosetsu's attention and, in 1581, Dosetsu strongly adhered to adopt him. Shigetane strongly refused the adoption, even when Dosetsu begged him constantly. He wanted Munetora to marry his daughter, Ginchiyo, and become his heir. With time, Shigetane's insistence weakened and Dosetsu had his request granted. Munetora's name was changed to Tachibana Muneshige.

In July or November the same year, Muneshige attended his first battle with his adopted father. The Ōtomo were pursing the Akizuki family at the Battle of Honami. Muneshige rode on horseback and shot the left arm of the Akizuki's valiant retainer, Horie Bizen. Horie ripped the arrow from his arm and charged at Muneshige with a long sword for the kill. He was unexpectedly overpowered when he wrestled with Muneshige and was distracted long enough to be killed by Hagio Daigaku. In 1584, he joined his father and adopted father in the campaign to recapture Chikugo Province. After he went to the battle front with Dosetsu, he was entrusted to guard the Tachibana Mountain Castle. When Akizuki Tanezane's 8,000 man army closed in, Muneshige defeated him with a night raid and fire attack. Either after his first battle or his victory against Tanezane, he was enumerated during the army's victory banquet. Muneshige was pleased to have fought beside his biological father and mistakenly addressed Shigetane as "Father". Shigetane responded by berating and publicly disowning him, declaring that Muneshige was and always has been a Tachibana. Some speculate that this was because Muneshige was actually born a Tachibana, but this idea is debated and unsupported by most historians.

Dosetsu had planned to marry Muneshige to Ginchiyo immediately but his passing caused a disturbance in the affair. For reasons not entirely known, it supposedly took Muneshige much longer than usual to be considered the clan's proper successor. There is a popular theory that Ginchiyo refused to accept him as even being related to her and barred him from seeing her. Though they were married, they were said to have lived in separate castles -or provinces- to avoid seeing one another. Rumors say that Muneshige divorced her soon after and tried in vain to obtain a second wife, but there are no historical records that suggests this occurred.

Serving Toyotomi
In 1586, Shimazu Tadatane and Ijuin Tadamune invaded Chikuzen Province with an army of 20,000, intiating the Siege of Iwaya Castle. Muneshige, who was stationed within Tachibana Mountain Castle and knew that Shigetane was at Iwaya Castle, wanted to send reinforcements to his father but was stopped by Yoshida Sakyo, who honorably faced death in Muneshige's stead. Sakyo died with the 763 retainers (sometimes debated as 600) at Iwaya Castle and Muneshige paid his deepest respects to the twenty families who lost their loved ones. Before long, Shimazu Yoshihisa ordered his men to take Tachibana Mountain Castle. Muneshige defended his position bravely and heavily relied on guerrilla warfare to drive the Shimazu back. At one point, Muneshige lead a surprise attack on the Shimazu main camp and decapitated several (hundreds according to some stories) Shimazu soldiers. The Shimazu army suffered from fatigue and withdrew. Muneshige pursued them, captured Takatorii Castle and retook Iwaya Castle and Hōmanzan Castle. Ōtomo Sōrin praised him as a peerless warrior to Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

After the Shimazu army fled, the Toyotomi army of 20,000 appeared in Kyushu. Muneshige took an active role in the following campaign to suppress Kyushu. He, Kuroda Kanbei and others asked several times for the tired Shimazu army's surrender but were denied each time since the Shimazu vassals did not want to betray their clan's customs. When they did surrender in 1587, Muneshige was rewarded with Yanagawa Castle in Chugoku Province. The amount of koku varies in different accounts, but most tend to agree that he received at least 132,200 koku. Esteemed as a powerful clan, the Tachibana soon declared independence from their masters, the Ōtomo clan. Around this time, Hideyoshi said, "That bravery and military skill is truly among the greatest in Kyushu."

Later, when Sassa Narimasa experienced riots in Kyushu, Muneshige volunteered to stop the insurrections and slayed several violent rioters. When he worked to suppress the riots in Higo Province, he met Kobayakawa Takakage and his adopted son, Kobayakawa Motofusa (Mori Hidekane). Both men served with great renown and took a liking to one another when they shared similar accomplishments. Motofusa and Muneshige became sworn brothers and they were both promoted a year later. After serving in the siege of Odawara Castle in 1590, Hideyoshi praised him further and he earned the admiration of several daimyo present. The Taikō declared, "Just as how the east has Honda Tadakatsu as the greatest warrior of the land, the west surely has Muneshige for the same right."

Overview
He later fought in the Hideyoshi's First Korean Campaign, leading 2,500 men in Kobayakawa Takakage's command. In the Second Korean Campaign, he battled in the Siege of Ulsan and distinguished himself for bravery.

Although he disliked Ishida Mitsunari, Muneshige loyally served for the Western army at Sekigahara. Before the battle, Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu pleaded with him to join his army by offering promises of a ludicrous amount of awards. Muneshige is famous for outright rejecting the proposal and stayed loyal to the departed Hideyoshi. He took 1,000 to assist in the Siege of Ôtsu Castle. Ôtsu fell, however Muneshige was unable to fight at Sekigahara due to the duration of the Siege of Ôtsu. He was deprived of his domains after the Western Army lost at Sekigahara. Though later, he was given a 20,000 koku fief in 1611 and helped in the quelling of the Shimabara Rebellion.

Trivia

 * He is described in the magazine scan image as an "ikemen", Japanese slang for an impossibly, good-looking man that would only appear in movies. As far as Sengoku-jidai related video games goes, this term is also frequently used by the media to describe the male cast in the Sengoku Basara series.