Editing Sakuma Morimasa (section)

==Biography==
Morimasa was born in what is now [[Shōwa-ku, Nagoya|Shōwa-ku]], [[Nagoya]] (situated in contemporary [[Aichi District, Aichi|Aichi District]], [[Owari Province]]), He was a retainer of [[Shibata Katsuie]] and one of his top generals in many of his campaigns. 

Morimasa's first battle was the [[Kannonji Castle|Battle of Kannonji Castle]] in 1568 against [[Rokkaku Yoshikata]], he was 15 years old. 
Morimasa continued joining various battles, including the [[Siege of Tezutsuyama Castle]] in [[Echizen Province]] against [[Asakura clan]] in 1570, the [[Battle of Yasugawara]] against [[Rokkaku Yoshikata]] and the [[Battle of Makishima Castle]] against [[Ashikaga Yoshiaki]] in 1573, and performed distinguished war service.

Morimasa was given the former Ikko Sect fortress Oyama Gobo in the Kaga prefecture by Oda Nobunaga; the fortress was subsequently named Oyama Castle in 1580 but went on to become [[Kanazawa Castle]].

In 1581, he beats [[Uesugi Kagekatsu]] from [[Shirayama Castle]] at [[Kaga Province]]. Later, Morimasa headed for a rescue in response to a demand by [[Maeda Toshiie]] and beat the Uesugi army stationed at the back of the [[Arayama Castle]] at [[Noto Province]].

In 1582, after the betrayal of [[Akechi Mitsuhide]] which led to the death of both [[Oda Nobunaga]] and his heir [[Oda Nobutada]], Morimasa sided with [[Shibata Katsuie]] over making [[Oda Nobutaka]] (the third son of Nobunaga) as heir to the Oda clan whereas Hashiba Hideyoshi (later [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]]) supported Lord Sanboshi. Sanboshi was the heir to Oda Nobutada and was still an infant at that time. This argument led to the split of the Oda clan retainers into the two main factions led by Shibata Katsuie and Hashiba Hideyoshi. 
Armies of the two factions eventually came to war.