After he learned that the western force for which his father fought, had lost badly to the eastern force in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 and also that Sawayama Castle had fallen, with the help of Nobutake TSUGARU, he escaped to Tsugaru in Mutsu Province with Jinnai TSUYAMA who was the father of his nanny and others.
慶長5年（1600年）の関ヶ原の戦いで父をはじめとする西軍が東軍に大敗し居城佐和山城も落城したことを知ると、津軽信建の助けで乳母の父・津山甚内らとともに陸奥国津軽に逃れた。