Azai Hisamasa

Hisamasa Azai (浅井 久政 Azai Hisamasa) is the father of Azai Nagamasa and son of Azai Sukemasa, he is a potentially inept Daimyo who ultimately was overthrown by his "son", later, he took back control of the Oumi region and allied with the Asakura Clan, thus making the Azai-Asakura Alliance, however he was ultimately still an ineffectual leader and his "son" was left to lead the Azai Clan through this alliance, which would ultimately lead the clan to its demise as the hands of the Oda Clan.

Personality
Hisemasa is not very skilled in battle, nor is he particularly skilled in waging war as a whole.

He forced Nagamasa to act like a man and forgo her right to be a woman in exchange for leading the Azai Clan due to his stuborn dissaproval in the idea of a female ruling the country. when she did as asked this led to much of Nagamsa's misery and grief over the course of the series, especially in regards to her relationship with Nobukatsu, who would become her husband. He also pressed to ally with the Asakura Clan, with status and power, and didn't see why the forward thinking Nagamasa would ally with Oda instead.

When Nobuna invaded Echizen, which the Asakura clan ruled, he betrayed her, took his daughter into custody and noted he would return to her the position of clan head after killing Nobuna, whom he percieved as a demon planning to destroy the country. His goal was to restore the old traditions and rules with the Imagawa Shogunate's help. Nagamasa however had already seen the futility of this plan, which put her and the idealistic Hisemasa at odds. He also wanted to take Yoshiharu's head during the ensuing battle when Nobuna escaped.

Later, when he actually faced Nobuna on the battlefield, he fled in terror as she wiped his forces out in a furious rage(at this point it was believed that Yoshiharu was dead). He later became a prisoner of the Asakura Clan to keep Nagamasa loyal to them, during which time he began to reflect on his past actions and their influence upon his daughter.

As his final act, he admitted to Yoshiharu he was wrong and allowed his daughter to discard her identity as Nagamasa and become Nobukatsu's wife, Oichi, effectively, he commits Sepukku in order to redeem himself as his home burns to the ground.

Background
Hisemasa's father, Azai Sukemasa, conquered several regions and established the Azai Clan's power long before his time, as his heir, Hisemasa eventually inherited all of this. It was then that the Azai Clan's major problems started. After successive defeats Hisemasa's "son" and wife eventually ended up in the clutches of the Rokakku Clan, after which he became a retainer of that clan, effectively making the Azai subordinate to it. He was eventually overthrown by Nagamasa, who then rebelled against the Rokakku clan successfully. However, despite his own lacking ability compared to Nagamasa's, Hisemasa insisted that his daughter discard her womanhood in exchange for leading the Azai Clan. Nagamasa agreed to this, causing her to masqurade as a man for the following years.

Etymology

 * Azai means "shallow" (浅) (asa/aza) and "well, mine shaft, pit" (井) (i).
 * Hisamasa means "long time" (久) (hisa) and "government" (政) (masa).