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 Sakai" (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 Taishi-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.

Overview
Muneshige was born as Takahashi Muneshige and the biological son of Takahashi Shigetane. Later, he was adopted by Tachibana Dosetsu and married Dosetsu's daughter, Tachibana Ginchiyo.

In 1586, Muneshige defended Tachibana Castle from the Shimazu, and in 1587, allied with the Toyotomi to defeat the Shimazu. For this, he was given Yanagawa Castle in Chugoku Province (worth 120,000 koku).

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.