In the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, he first joined the army to the Uesugi conquest, but when he heard the raising an army of Mitsunari ISHIDA, he returned to Kuwana-jo Castle with the castellan Yukihiro UJIIE with Ieyasu's consent and held up in the castle.
慶長5年（1600年）、関ヶ原の戦いでは当初上杉征伐に従軍したが、石田三成の挙兵を聞くと家康に断って城主の氏家行広とともに桑名城に引き返し籠城した。