Ittetsu Inaba

Ittetsu Inaba is one of the Samurai of the Mino Trio, which consists of himself, Bokuzen Ujiie, and Morinari Andō. He, along with his two fellow officers serve as one of the main reasons why Nobunaga could not conquer Mino in his early campaigns. He, along with his fellow offercers, did eventually switch sides and join the Oda clan. After Nobunaga’s death, Ittetsu joined Hideyoshi’s faction.

Role in Games
Ittetsu appears in Samurai Warriors along side his fellow trio members primarily at Inabayama castle under the Saitō forces. He and his two comrades attempt to stop Oichi from meeting with Nobunaga at Azuchi Castle. The Xtreme Legends expansion builds on this role, allowing him and the other Mino Trio members to actually join the Oda’s side during Hideyoshi’s siege of Inabayama.

Samurai Warriors 2 focuses past the events of Inabayama and has Inaba already serving Nobunaga. He first appears with the Mino Trio as reinforcements for the Oda at Anegawa when playing through Nagamasa or Oichi’s story modes. He appears once again as reinforcements at Mt. Usa, attacking the Asakura’s camp in an attempt to lift the siege. Ittetsu appears one last time at Komaki-Nagakute amongst the Hashiba forces, where he fights on the front lines of the battle.

Samurai Warriors 3 has Ittetsu Inaba reprise his role at Inabayama fighting alongside Hanbei Takenaka and Mitsuhide Akechi.

Chronicles has him reprise his former role at Inabayama, receiving a side mission to be defeated alongside the other trio members defectors. He continues to serve Oda at Anegawa, Tetorigawa, and Kizugawa and also serves with Hideyoshi at Komaki-Nagakute. in Chronicles’ DLC, Ittetsu aids Hanbei as he works to save Kanbei Kuroda from the Araki forces at Arioka Castle and finds himself and his fellow Mino Trio officers victim of Okuni’s plan to turn the rioters in Kyoto into a musical troupe.

Kessen III has Ittetsu serve as one of he early optional officers that Nobunaga can recruit. Interestingly enough, only Inaba will actually rebel from Tatsuoki Saitō’s army, which he will only do if the player participates in the normal battle of Sunomata over the Kiso River battle and defeats him while completing the battle. His default troops is a Gingko Spear unit

Quotes

 * ”Certainly you have heard of old Ittetsu Inaba. That’s me. You can count on me in a tough spot.”

Historical Information
Ittetsu Inaba was born in 1515 to Michinori Inaba, a lord of Mino. Ittetsu rose in rank under the rule of Dōsan Saitō, Yoshitatsu Saitō, and Tatsuoki Saitō, eventually becoming one of the three major generals of Mino, gaining the collective title of the Mino Triumvirate alongside Morinari Andō and Bokuzen Ujiie. These the officers, along with the famous strategist Shigeharu (Hanbei) Takenaka provided the stiff defense against Nobunaga’s early campaigns into Mino, preventing him from seizing the land.

Inaba and his peers provided such a solid defense that the Oda leader had his repeated defeats stricken from his records, as he was ashamed by how badly his forces performed. Despite these victories, however, Ittetsu and other leading Saitō generals were displeased with Tatsuoki’s leadership, and when Tōkichirō Kinoshita (the future Hideyoshi Toyotomi), began offering them money and positions of power within the Oda army should they defect, Inaba joined his Triumvirate in betraying Saitō and arraying their forces against Mt. Inabayama, helping Nobunaga gain control of Mino as a result.

Despite such dubious means to which he joined the Oda forces, Ittetsu remained loyal to Nobunaga through the rest of his campaigns. At the battle of Anegawa, Ittetsu Inaba’s forces were held in reserve until the Oda and Tokugawa forces could join together in their assault upon the Azai, with him leading his 3,000 men against the right flank of the Azai forces to match Ieyasu’s attack on the left flank, crushing their foes between the separate sides of attack.

After Nobunaga Oda died in the assassination at Honnōji, Ittetsu sided with Hideyoshi Hashiba in the war of succession that followed. His aid was provided once again at the battle of Komaki, providing the reinforcement troops needed to allow Nagayoshi Mori the chance to fall back after his defeat by Tadatsugu Sakai. Afterwards, Ittetsu spends the last of his days in piece in Mino before dying in 1589.

Although possibly not historical, a famous Japanese tea legend surrounds Ittetsu Inaba. In this legend, Ittetsu Inaba was summoned by Nobunaga to a tea ceremony, with the intent of assassinating him due to his former allegiance to the Saitō clan. Inaba attends the ceremony and after being greeted, sits before the Tokonoma, a small enclave intended to display artistic valuables, and reads the Chinese poem written on the Kakemono, a scroll with silk outlines often used to help set the mood for a tea ceremony. After reading the poem, Ittetsu proceeded to explain to the audience the meaning behind the poem, quoting from its context and demonstrating his knowledge of the source material. Nobunaga had been listening in on the conversation and was impressed by Inaba’s refinement, coming out to greet his guest and openly admitting to his intention to execute him, having his guests show their hidden daggers. Inaba revealed he suspected such an attempt on his life and had brought a dagger with himself as well to ensure he killed at least one of his assailants.