Niiro Sanehisa

Niiro Sanehisa was a Nanboku-chō-period warrior and the second head of the Niiro family, Shimazu retainers in Hyūga, and son of its founder Niiro Tokihisa. In 1357, after the Southern Court partisan Nirei Yorichika killed himself at Matsuo Castle in Shibushi, Sanehisa occupied it and, together with Shimazu Ujihisa, repelled an invasion by Hatakeyama Naoaki, afterwards helping Ujihisa administer Ōsumi Province.

In 1379 he led the left wing under Ujihisa at the Battle of Minohara against the Kyūshū deputy Imagawa Ryōshun, using the Tsuki-ikki formation to defeat a larger army; the formation became a standard Shimazu tactic.