Yakushiji Kuninaga (薬師寺国長)
Kuninaga YAKUSHIJI was a busho (Japanese military commander) in the Sengoku period (period of warring states). He was a senior vassal of the Hosokawa clan (the Keicho family) and a deputy shugo of Settsu Province. His childhood name was Mantokumaru.
He was a son of Motokazu YAKUSHIJI and when his father was killed as a rebel in 1504, he was spared taking his young age into account. After his lord, Masamoto HOSOKAWA was assassinated in 1507, he served Masamoto's adopted son, Takakuni HOSOKAWA as a vassal, and distinguished himself by killing his uncle Tadanaga YAKUSHIJI for murdering Masamoto. He was assigned as the deputy shugo of Settsu Province in 1508 for this feat.
After that serving under Takakuni he moved from place to place to fight and was assigned as the lord of Yamazaki-jo Castle in Yamashiro Province in 1527. However, defeated by Kataharu YANAGIMOTO, who was a busho of Harumoto HOSOKAWA, he fled to Settsu and surrendered to Harumoto later.
Then he fought at various places as a vassal of Harumoto, and he coped with Ikko sect's revolt with the help of Hokke sect in February 1533. In June 1533, at Harumoto's command, he fought with Harukuni HOSOKAWA, a younger brother of (or a son of) Takakuni, who was his former lord, and during the war he was killed in Takao, Yamashiro Province on July 20, 1533.