was a Japanese daimyo

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

 of the early Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

. Born to Nabeshima Naoshige

Nabeshima Naoshige

a retainer of the Ryūzōji clan during the Sengoku period of the 16th century. Naoshige was the son of Nabeshima Kiyosada and was known as Nobumasa throughout half of his career under the Ryūzōji. Naoshige proved himself as being one of the greatest generals under Ryūzōji Takanobu...

, he became lord of Saga-han

Saga Domain

Saga Domain was a han, or feudal domain, in Tokugawa period Japan. Largely contiguous with Hizen Province on Kyūshū, the domain was governed from Saga Castle in the capital city of Saga by the Nabeshima clan of tozama daimyō...

.

Biography

Katsushige was born in Saga, the son of Nabeshima Naoshige

Nabeshima Naoshige

a retainer of the Ryūzōji clan during the Sengoku period of the 16th century. Naoshige was the son of Nabeshima Kiyosada and was known as Nobumasa throughout half of his career under the Ryūzōji. Naoshige proved himself as being one of the greatest generals under Ryūzōji Takanobu...

. At the time, Naoshige was a senior retainer of the Ryuzōji clan. For a time he became the adopted son of Egami Ietane, the 2nd son of Ryūzōji Takanobu

Ryuzoji Takanobu

was a Japanese daimyo of the Sengoku period, who ruled a region in northern Kyūshū. He was the eldest son of Ryūzōji Chikaie, and upon headship, became the 19th head of the Ryūzōji clan. Takanobu's son, Masaie, would become the last head of the Ryūzōji....

; however, he would soon return to his natal family.

In 1597, he joined his father in Korea in the defensive action at Ulsan

Ulsan

Ulsan , officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's seventh largest metropolis with a population of over 1.1 million. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighboring Busan to the south and facing Gyeongju to the north and the Sea of Japan to the east.Ulsan is the...

. During the Sekigahara Campaign he sided with the western faction, attacking Fushimi Castle

Fushimi Castle

', also known as Momoyama Castle or Fushimi-Momoyama Castle, is a castle in Kyoto's Fushimi Ward. The current structure is a 1964 replica of the original built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.-History:...

 and An'nōzu Castle. Katsushige did not take part in the main action at Sekigahara, and submitted to Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Ieyasu

 was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara  in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...

very quickly afterward.

Confirmed as daimyo of Saga in 1607, he ruled until 1657.