Junkei was the son of Tsutsui Junsho (1523-1550), a minor Daimyô of Yamato province. He fought with Matsunaga Hisahide before coming to be allied with Nobunaga after the latter entered the Kinai region in 1568. He assisted in the Seige of the Honganji and in 1577 helped bring down Matsunaga Hisahide's Shigi castle (along with Oda Nobutada). He was afterwards made the lord of Yamato province and was ordered in 1580 to supervise the destruction of castles in Yamato and Kwatchi. He participated in the Invasion of Iga province in 1581, where he joined Gamô Ujisato in laying siege to Hijiyama. When Akechi Mitsuhide killed Oda Nobunaga in June 1582, Junkei seemed ready to assist him, but waited at the Battle of Yamazaki to see who would win and once Toyotomi Hideyoshi had the upper hand, Junkei attacked the Akechi. Hideyoshi deprived Junkei of a portion of his domain for hedging his bets at the battle. Nonetheless, he supported Hideyoshi in the 1584 campaign against Tokugawa Ieyasu and took one of Oda Nobuo's castles in Ise – Matsugashima - in a bloody fight. He died that same year. He was also known as Tsutsui Fujikatsu.
References
- Initial text from Samurai-Archives.com FWSeal & CEWest, 2005