Saizō Kani

Saizō Kani is a samurai officer who served many lords throughout the Sengoku period. He began under the service of the Saitō clan, joining with the Oda afterwards. After Nobunaga’s death, he initially joined with the Hashiba. However, he ultimately came to support the Tokugawa. He fights under Masanori Fukushima at Sekigahara, where he took seventeen enemy heads, more then any other officer present.

Role in Games
Saizō appears in Samurai Warriors 2 already under the service of the Oda. He fights primarily in the battles of Kanegasaki and Anegawa, serving against the Azai forces.

Samurai Warriors 3 expands Saizō Kani’s roles in battle to Mt. Inabayama, Komaki-Nagakute, and Sekigahara. His roles remain largely unchanged, serving as a minor officer, with the exception of Mt. Inabayama, where Saizō leads the prelimanary defense of the castle alongside Hanbei Takenaka’s son, Shigekado Takenaka.

Samurai Warriors Chronicles has Saizō resume his previous position in battle, functioning usually as a vanguard officer.

Kessen has Siazō serve as a spear general for the eastern army while Kessen III has Saizō Kani appear in chapter 6 as an optional officer, leading once again, foot spearmen.

Historical Information


Saizō Kani was born in 1554 in the Mino region, where he entered into the service of the Saitō clan at the age of 13, serving under Tatsuoki Saitō. Known for his ability to fight with a cross spear, Saizō served primarily as a minor officer for the Saitō. He maintained this service until Tadsuoki’s defeat to Nobunaga, where he defected to the Oda forces, serving first under Katsuie Shibata and later Mitsuhide Akechi. However, when Mitsuhide killed Nobunaga, Saizō turned against Akechi and sided with the Hashiba army under Nobutaka Oda. This service did not last long however, as he soon came under the service of Hideyoshi’s nephew, Hidetsugu.

Kani remained under Hidetsugu Hashiba until the battle of Komaki-Nagakute, where his dishonorable actions against Hidetsugu led him to seek shelter under Toshiie Maeda. Saizō acted dishonorably by refusing to yield his horse to Hidetsugu during their retreat, as Hidetsugu had fled before his army could and Saizō remained behind, only catching up to his lord due to his horse’s speed advantage.

Although now on his sixth lord, Saizō did not last long under the service of Toshiie. He eventually found his way into the service of Ieyasu Tokugawa, serving under his fellow Toyotomi defector, Masanori Fukushima. Saizō Kani continued this service with Fukushima throughout the conquest between the eastern and western armies at Sekigahara, ending his life in peace in the year 1613.

Sasasaizō
Saizō Kani often fought with an unorthodox method, refusing to use the standard banners his fellow samurai did, opting instead to fight with a bamboo stalk sticking out of the pole slot behind his neck instead, making him very easy to recognize on the battlefield. He did so because he believed the bamboo brought him good luck in battle.

This use of bamboo came in handy during the battle of Sekigahara, fighting under Masanori and Ieyasu. In the midst of the battle, Saizō’s bloodlust led to refrain from taking captured enemy heads back to camp for proper as most samurai did at the time. To ensure he would receive credit while continuing to fight, Saizō would roll up some of the bamboo leaves from his bamboo banner and place them in the heads taken from his defeated foes. By using such techniques, Saizō Kani was able to receive credit for 17 separate kills, the most taken by any warrior involved in the battle. When Ieyasu was informed of this feat, he gave Saizō the nickname of Sasasaizō, which means bamboo leaf Saizō.