#ukita naoie

[theworldaswedontknowit]

Konishi Yukinaga: Samurai, Daimyo, Christian, Rebel

Konishi Augustin Yukinaga might well be one of the most colourful figures of the age of Samurai.

As displayed by this 2356 word essay that made me want to launch myself into the sea. Still, he’s an interesting guy I’m just a drama queen 

While the word rebel to describe him might not be the best – I consider the Western army far from a rebellion as others might – the others are appropriate. Konishi was involved in the fighting from his later teens or early twenties, serving the Ukita, and he led 4,000 men at Sekigahara. He held an impressive fiefdom of 240,000 Koku and he was a Christian, baptised as Augustin in 1583.

Rest is underneath, it’s too long to just sit on the blog

There’s nothing to really say in terms of fiction. He isn’t in Shogun or Samurai Warriors or Sengoku Basara. He doesn’t seem to be in anything. Which is interesting, considering that – even though we actually know little about him – we do know that he served Hideyoshi for a long, long time. He could appear when Hideyoshi is fighting the Mouri if they wanted to condense his battle prior to Nobunaga’s assassination. Konishi was on the side of the Ukita who could defect mid-battle (as they did just not in one battle but the over the course of a few) and then he could appear in Shikoku and Kyushu and, of course, Sekigahara.

I’m not sure how they’d handle his character mind, a big part of Konishi was that he was Christian but the same applies of Gracia and aside from her name they don’t touch on it. He could be done well and provide a basis for Kiyomasa to escape the middle ground he is between Mitsunari and Masanori. If they really want to push the idea of Mitsunari being the underdog and the ultimate loser of the war then Konishi could fill the role of devil on his shoulder, he was one of Mitsunari’s closest friends after all. There’s lots that could be done with Konishi.

Konishi Yukinaga was born in 1558 to the Christian merchant, Konishi Ryusa and his wife. I’ll apologize now for my lack of ability to decode their Christian names from Katakana, I simply can’t make sense of them, his mother was Magdalena but I’m struggling with Ryusa’s name. His father being a merchant had put the family in a powerful position, being baptised (his parents had been when Yukinaga was 2 years old, in 1560) put him in connection with many Portuguese merchants. Additionally, being a merchant made him instrumental to the Samurai class – they needed resources and they needed someone to buy them from.

The merchant classes themselves are rather interesting. It was a flexible class that went between Samurai and commoner. Yukinaga himself is an example of this flexibility, although he was born a merchant and expected to take up his Father’s mantle he instead became a Warrior. In other cases, people who had been displaced by forces such as Oda or Toyotomi married into Merchant families and took up their mantles instead, such as was the case of an uncle of Azai Nagamasa after the defeat at Odani Castle.

According to Clements, Konishi had little interest in Christianity in his early years and it wasn’t until he was 25 that he was baptised. The vast majority of the men he led were Christian as well, along with his family; his wife, known as Justa had originally been named Kiku(?)-hime. Konishi had two other brothers – Josei and Hayato – and a sister, Tama who also became a Christian and was known Catrina. It should be noted that Yukinaga was actually a half-brother by Ryusa’s mistress or first wife, we’re not sure.

Yukinaga’s first role in the wars wasn’t a military one but rather as a negotiator. The Ukita, led at that time by Ukita Naoie, had made a shaky alliance with the Mouri but they wanted to be on the good side of the Oda as well. It was 1579 and Hashiba Hideyoshi was marching close to them. While Naoie’s son was sent as a hostage to the Mouri and Adachi Tarousaemon was sent as a messenger to Oda it was Yukinaga who would be summoned by Ukita and sent to deal with Hideyoshi. This was based on the fact that Yukinaga, 21 at the time, already knew Hideyoshi.

“…At the time, Yakurou was twenty one years old, very strong and brilliantly resourceful, rather tall with a fair complexion. He could not be viewed as an ordinary fellow. Lord Izumi no Kami Naoie tested his quick witted [personality], he [Yakurou] was to be considered a useful person and treated accordingly. This person became an envoy, and was sent in a rush to deal with Hideyoshi…” This comes from the Ehon Taikouki, which goes on to state that the negations were a success. It's fictional but it's probably pretty close to what happened, it doesn't seem very out of place.

Yukinaga offered himself and another of Naoie’s sons, Ukita Hideie (known as Hachirou at the time, he was six years old) as hostages to really cement the newly forming bond between the Ukita and Oda. It was here that the turning point of Yukinaga’s career occurred as it was under Hideyoshi that he would build up his two-decade military career.

One of his first large military exploits was against Takamatsu castle in 1582, which was commanded by Shimizu Muneharu. After Hideyoshi flooded the surrounding are he was able to attack with ships and these ships in question were commanded by Konishi Yukinaga and Asano Nagamasa. The ships they commanded were armed with Cannons and they battered the castle with attacks, no gaps between them. Eventually, Shimizu would give in and commit suicide but before they could move on to attack the Mouri, Hideyoshi was called away by the assassination of Nobunaga.

Other than learning the ways of a military life, Yukinaga spent much of his time as a merchant and informer for Hideyoshi, alongside his father, with operations stretching across the coast. In 1581 he saw some military service, fighting the Mouri for naval supremacy at the Seto Inland Sea, typically pitted against the Murakami pirates who were under the patronage of the Mouri and had been for decades. Still, his role as a messenger would continue into the Shikoku campaign in 1585.

He spent much of his time, alongside his father, fighting the Saiga and Negoro – two buddhist sects that were quite the competition for Hideyoshi. He was said to lose a thousand men and he was only victorious due to the volumes of weapons he brought in that would overwhelm the Buddhist Warrior Monks. It was these victories against these monks that brought fame to the Konishi family, largely to Yukinaga.

It should be noted, however, that the Konishi’s prospects had not always been bright. While Nobunaga was still alive Yukinaga and Ryusa had been convicted of crimes laid out in a testimony by Araki Murashige. They did manage to prove their innocence and it’s something to consider that Araki was an enemy to all Christians, this was largely due to the loses he’d suffered at their hands.

After the peace agreement with Tokugawa and the conquest of Shikoku Hideyoshi took to Osaka castle and Konishi spent time there with his wife and his family. His father was working as Hideyoshi’s treasurer and his mother, Magdalena, and sister, Catrina, were working as secretaries to Hideyoshi’s wife, Nene. By this time Konishi was 27 and was becoming considerably more instrumental to Hideyoshi’s military over her mercantile duties but they still remained largely part of his life.

After receiving Higo tragedy struck for Yukinaga, he lost his third son and was said to wander aimlessly for six months before he managed to pull himself together again. The ships that his son had died on were bound for Manila in the Philippines and had been built poorly. In Katou Kiyomasa’s diary, more a record keeping tool than an actual diary mind, the seven vessels (made up of one large ship and 6 smaller ones) had been built of high quality timber but could not sail. While this is clearly a failure on Konishi’s part, with disastrous consequences for him, it does show his relevance to International affairs outside of the Jesuits and also his power to build ships so huge.

Come the Imjin wars, Konishi really wasn’t doing himself any favours. He rushed ahead of Kato Kiyomasa and Kuroda Nagamasa in quick advance that would only get him as far as Seoul, Kato going on ahead of him well into modern North Korea while Kuroda remained stuck with Konishi in Seoul. It would also be Konishi who led the retreat back to Japan, part of it being chased by Li Rusong and his army before their own provisions became stretched.

However, Konishi’s negotiating skills once again come in here and this time he didn’t do them very well. The So family, one of whom he was an in-law to, had already tried to soften Hideyoshi’s demands to the Koreans and the first attempted had embarrassed them horribly. Konishi had a go at the same thing but with the Chinese this time. He named Hideyoshi the king of Japan and, without Hideyoshi’s knowledge, essentially turned him into a vassal of Ming China. When Hideyoshi did find out he would order Konishi’s execution which would be rather narrowly avoided thanks to the intervention of other lords…I think Mitsunari was among them?

When the time of the 26 Martyrs rolled around we can see a change in Konishi and almost a discarding of the Konishi that was at Hondo Castle. While Konishi had always done what he could to ensure the safety of figures such as Frois (a Portuguese Priest) and Organtino (an Italian Jesuit who had built a church near Biwa and opened a religious school) but here it really extended to everyone. He made the domain he owned in the Seto Inland exclusively Christian. To do this he stopped those who weren’t Christian entering the domain and, as protest, many baptisms took place there.

It’s not to say that Konishi was particularly liked by the people in his domain orginally however, he was a foreigner to them and another Italian Jesuit, Valignano said: “Konishi is a foreigner there, being from the Miyako area; and that, like the rest of Hideyoshi’s ministers, he is hated by the local people and will be in grave danger when Hideyoshi dies.”

In terms of his movements in the Kyushu campaign details in English seem a little sparse. It can be presumed that he largely led naval forces but information comes to light when he had already received the domain. Amakusa, in modern day Kumamoto prefecture and close to the modern day city, rose up in rebellion headed by one of the lower lords who would be a retainer of Konishi, Don Joan. This is more famous in the west for Kiyomasa’s actions – this is where the pregnant women killing and cutting happened but Konishi was there too and he took part in that siege. It puts his Christianity into some serious perspective and shows it was more the type of Christianity many of them adopted – a commercial one.

Therefore, it can also be seen that Konishi sought to improve his popularity by allowing these persecuted Christians on his lands. Either way, it’s certainly a turning point in Konishi’s faith in that it became stronger.

Konishi also brought back many from Korea as slaves, however no harm came to them and he gave them Christian instruction (or rather the fathers did) before they would be adopted into Japanese noble families as either ladies in waiting or maids. Konishi even did this himself, Julia Ota was in his service and she had been taken from Korea and been baptized in 1596.

In terms of Sekigahara Konishi appeared rather confident, according to Daniello Bartoli he was writing to the Fathers as if Hideyori was already in charge. I suppose he had right to be confident – the Western army technically had bigger numbers but when this was over turned by Hideaki’s betrayal and the lack of advance by the Chosokabe and Mouri the tide of the battle quickly changed. Konishi would flee and be captured not long afterwards.

It’s Konishi’s death that I hate. I don’t hate it for happening, I hate the way it is approached in Western writings. Not only does it undermine the characters of Mitsunari and Ekei but it’s also so romanticised it’s painful to read. Clements compares him to Christ at Golgotha while Bartoli presents the two as withering messes while Konishi is dignified. I have no doubt that Konishi was dignified about his death, I’m sure he was but the accounts just don’t match up with even how Edo stories presented them. Someone who comes across as standoffish, headstrong and prideful as Mitsunari seems to – regardless of what you read – doesn’t seem like the kind of man who would go to his death a wailing mess. I suppose I’ll never know.

What I do know about Konishi’s death is that he asked to see a Christian priest but was denied this by none other than Kuroda Damian Nagamasa – he had since renounced his Christian faith however. He was said to write a letter to his wife, Justa and on the morning of  the 6th November 1600, along with Ishida Mitsunari and Ankokuji Ekei, Konishi was paraded through the streets of Kyoto. Tradition dictated that a blunt sword be used and Konishi Augustin Yukinaga suffered three blows before he was decapitated before a crowd of more than 10,000 people.

So. Wow. That’s Konishi Yukinaga. Before I started this, I didn’t really know very much about the man and I can certainly say I know a lot more than I did. I don’t hesitate in calling him one of the most colourful figures of the Sengoku Jidai. He seemed to embody the entire period – the mishaps and triumphs of his way with words and the brutality he would take part in, in Korea and Japan. He was also one of the final men to rise from a lower class, even if the class he came from was flexible and he was the two versions of Christianity – Commercial and Devote.

Konishi Augustin Yukinaga truly was a Samurai, a Daimyo, a Christian and a Rebel in his own way.

I have missed out tons of detail about him and if you have any more questions absolutely feel free to ask them as I may well be able to answer them, same goes for errors, it’s probably full of them :)

[leenaevilin]

[Update] 舞台「滄海天記・序篇～天月、闇に墜つ～」(butai soukaitenki・johen ~amatsuki, yami ni otsu~)

cast update under the cut^^

Cast:

Takasaki Shouta as Kagerou (��ゲロウ) Masaki Kaoru as Minato (ミナト) Jounin Tatsuki as Reiji (レイジ) Chiba Mizuki as Kazuya (カズヤ) Tani Yoshiki as Nagisa (ナギサ) Ayukawa Taiyou as Gento (ゲント) Okino Kouji as Oda Nobunaga (織田信長) Tachibana Tatsumaru as Ukita Naoie (宇喜多直家) Kudou Hiromu as Kuki Yoshitaka (九鬼嘉隆) Ukai Mondo as Murakami Takeyoshi (村上武吉) Satou Hiroki as Akechi Mitsuhide (明智光秀) Shimotsuki Yukari as Amateras Omikami (天照大御神) Matsumura Yuu as Tsukuyomi no Mikoto (月読命) Agata Gouki as Susanoo no Mikoto (須佐之男命)

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[castle-journeys]

Okayama Castle

The original building was started in 1573 by the feudal lord Ukita Naoie and completed by his son Hideie, in 1597, with the main keep having six floors. It is one of the few castles with a black exterior in Japan and was nicknamed Ujo - Crow Castle. In the 1600s the castle was taken over by the Ikeda clan where it and the town flourished and the outer gardens were built. In 1896 during the Meiji restoration its moats were filled in, and during WW2 it was mostly destroyed with only the tsukima-yagura (Moon-viewing turret) surviving. The castle was rebuilt in 1966 and has an elevator and museum inside.

[konishi-yakuro]

Yakuro had never felt like an idiot in his entire life more than he did nowadays. He thought he was being smart when he almost gave his father a heart attack by offering himself as a hostage to win the Ukita clan an allegiance with the Oda.

His adopted father disinherited him, because he had to leave their business. Sooner or later he would get killed anyway, so he was returned to his biological family.  (・___・)

His family got angry because he almost gave his father a heart attack and embarrassed the family for failing to be a proper adopted son.

Naoie-sama had promised to award him with a samurai status if he won them an allegiance with the Oda. He did it. However, Naoie-sama suddenly died before fulfilling his promise.  (・___・)

As the result, he was left without a status, so when he entered the Hashiba house as a hostage together with his botchan, he was nothing but a common servant.

He might not be a samurai, but he used to be a rich young master who always had someone to serve him.

And there he was, scrubbing toilet in samurai house while his little brother had opened his second shop and made tons of money.  ( ╥ω╥ )

At first, he didn’t tell his family about his predicament. However, his father business partner accidentally saw him wiping the corridor during a visit to the castle for business purpose. After that, his name was known throughout the town as a lesson on “knowing one’s place in the society”.  ｡ﾟ( ﾟஇ‸இﾟ)ﾟ｡

Ah, that Yakuro... can’t stop getting himself into trouble...

His family was very much embarrassed. His big brother was particularly outraged.

Let me, me make this clear, Yakuro! Don’t you dare to dream I’d let father to share our inheritance with you. There’s no single dime left for you in this family!

However, it soon turned into pity. His big brother started sending him money. And apparently, his father pleaded to Hideyoshi-sama to free him since he was a nobody anyway. However, Hideyoshi-sama told him it wasn’t up to him, but Nobunaga-sama, whether he could be set  free or not.

Yakuro sighed. The only good things he had these days was Hachiro-botchan. Unfortunately, his botchan was too young to understand his problem. If he were patient enough, in 10 years, botchan might award him with a status.

But 10 years of scrubbing toilet would be hell.  ( ╥ω╥ )

“Oi! Drug seller! Have you finished cleaning?!” a young Hashiba’s retainer yelled from outside.

“Patient, my liege!” he yelled back.

He cursed the samurai sons who made him did all these dirty jobs, He swore he would be more successful than anyone else and made them pay for this humiliation!  ٩(๑`^´๑)۶

“Why are you so slow?!”

He heard someone entered from behind him. Somehow, the action irritated him. He pulled the bucket of dirty water next to him and poured the content to whoever stood behind him.

“..... (-___-)”

There stood behind him the owner of the castle drenched in shit water.

“ ∑(O_O;) Hideyoshi-sama?!!!”

[chanoyu-to-wa]

Nampō Roku, Book 2 (2):  (1586) Tenth Month, First Day, Go-atomi [御跡見].

2) The same day¹.

    Things were left [exactly] as they were [when Hideyoshi departed]².

◦ [Guests³:] Bizen-saishō [備前宰相]⁴, Sōmu [宗無]⁵, Sōkei [宗惠]⁶.

◦ The room was the same⁷.

﹆ Toko:  the flower arrangement [by Toyotomi Hideyoshi] was left as it was⁸.

◦ On the shelf, the remainder of the tea, [in] the Shiri-bukura, on its tray⁹.

﹆ When [the guests] entered the room, everything remained as it had been¹⁰; the kama was lifted up so that [the new guests] could have a look at the remains of the charcoal [that had been arranged by Hideyoshi]¹¹.

◦ And again, a little more [charcoal] was added, and the kama returned [to the ro]¹².

▵ Kashi ・ senbei [センヘイ], kobu aburite [コフ　アブリテ]¹³.

Go [後]¹⁴.

Kurete [暮テ]¹⁵.

◦ Toko:  after [Hideyoshi's] flower [arrangement] was taken away¹⁶, a tōdai [燈臺]¹⁷ [was hung up in its place].

﹆ The Shiri-bukura was lowered [to the mat]¹⁸.

◦ Mizusashi:  the same as before¹⁹.

◦ On the shelf:  the habōki²⁰.

◦ Chawan:  as before²¹.

    Everything else was the same [as earlier in the day]²².

_________________________

¹Onaji hi [同日].

    This means “the same day.”

    It was the first day of the Tenth Lunar Month of Tenshō 14 [天正十四年] (1586).

²Go-ato ni sono-mama [御跡ニ其儘].

    Go-ato [御跡]:  go [御] is an honorific (it indicates that someone important did something*); ato [跡] literally means footprints.  In other words, everything was left exactly as it was when Hideyoshi left the room†.

    Sono-mama [其儘] means "as it is;" "as one finds it;" "as (things) stand." __________ *In this case, it was what remained (in the room) after Hideyoshi took his leave.

†In this kind of construction, ato refers to the (intact) setting (just recently) vacated by an important personage -- i.e., Hideyoshi.

³In this kaiki, the names of the guests are simply listed without being introduced by the word “guests.”

⁴Bizen-saishō [備前宰相].

    This refers to the daimyō and nobleman Ukita Hideie [宇喜多秀家; 1572 ~ 1655], who, in addition to being the lord of Bizen [備前] and Mimasaka [美作] provinces*, served as an Imperial Chamberlain (jijū [侍従]), Imperial Councillor (sangi [参議]), lieutenant-general of the Left Imperial Guards (sa-konoe ken-chūjō [左近衛権中将]), and provisional Vice-councilor of State (gon-chūnagon [権中納言]), ultimately attaining the second grade of the Third Rank (ju-sanmi [従三位]†.

    Hideie also was a member of Hideyoshi’s Council of Five Elders (go-tairō [五大老]), which was created to act as the regent for Toyotomi Hideyori after his father’s death, and opposed Tokugawa Ieyasu at the battle of Sekigahara, for which he was exiled to Hachijō-jima [八丈島], an island in the Philippine Sea far distant from the Japanese archipelago.

    The sobriquet Bizen-saishō [備前宰相], which means something like “Chancellor of Bizen,” was Ukita Hideie’s nickname, due to his huge influence over the affairs of this province. ___________ *Both provinces form part of modern-day Okayama Prefecture.  The village of Imbe [伊部], which is in Bizen, is the original home of Bizen-yaki.

†Though at the time of this chakai, Hideie was of course not such a high noble.  His father, Ukita Naoie [宇喜多直家; 1529 ~ 1581], the hereditary lord of Bizen, had died several years before, and Hideie was elevated to a prominent position several months later at the very young age of 10, by the Oriental way of counting.  (At the time of this chakai, Hideie was just 15 years of age according to the same way of counting ones age where the person is assigned the age of “one” at birth.)

    Hideie was subsequently adopted by Toyotomi Hideyoshi after he married Hideyoshi’s adopted daughter Gōhime [豪姫; 1574 ~ 1634 -- whose birth-father was the great lord Maeda Toshiie], and it may have been for some such reason that Hideyoshi invited him to attend this atomi (and possibly was the reason why Hideyoshi deigned to arrange the charcoal before serving usucha to his two attendants and Rikyū -- to impress the young man with the importance of mastering chanoyu as his soon-to-be-adoptive-father had done).

    It might be doubted whether Hideie was actually known as Bizen-saishō at the time when this chakai took place (since he would have only just celebrated his gempuku [元服], or ceremony of attaining manhood, earlier in the year).  The use of this sobriquet, then, might represent a later emendation (perhaps intended to clarify the identity of the guest, and so associate him with the person thus named in the Rikyū Hyakkai Ki).

⁵Sōmu [宗無].

    This refers to Okayama Hisanaga [山岡 久永; 1534 ~ 1603*], who is also known as Sumiyoshi-ya Sōmu [住吉屋宗無]†.  He was a wealthy townsman from Sakai, and also a highly respected chajin‡, and served as one of Hideyoshi’s Eight Masters of Tea (sadō hachi-nin-shū [茶頭八人衆]).

    Sōmu’s presence as the ji-kyaku was very likely intentional (perhaps at Hideyoshi’s direction)**, so that he could assist Hideie (who, at his young age, probably did not know much about chanoyu††). ___________ *Certain accounts suggest that Sōmu may have died in 1595, at the time when Sakai was razed on Hideyoshi’s orders (as a punishment for the city-state’s opposition to his invasion of the continent).

†He is identified in this way in the other versions of the Hyakkai Ki.

‡Sōmu is said to have first studied chanoyu under Jōō, and then later with Rikyū (though, given his high standing with both Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, this latter assertion might be a revisionist opinion popularized by the Sen family during the Edo period).

   He studied Zen under Shunoku Sōen oshō [春屋宗園和尚; ? ~ 1611], from whom he received the name Sōmu [宗無] -- which he used as his professional name later in life.

**In the Hyakkai Ki, Sōmu frequently appears in a role that might be interpreted as being Rikyū's assistant, in situations where the shōkyaku either was inexperienced, or his rank indicated that he needed to be treated with especial deference (in such a case, Sōmu would convey the chawan to him, for example, and then return it to the host after the shokayku had finished drinking).

††Since only usucha would have been served at this atomi, this may have been Hideie's first experience of chanoyu.  Thus the atomi is being staged as a sort of miniature chakai.

⁶Sōkei [宗惠].

    This refers to Mizuochi Sōkei [水落宗惠; dates of birth and death unknown], who was another respected machi-shū chajin from Sakai*.  He is also said to have been the father of Rikyū's son-in-law, Sen no Jōji [千 紹二]†. __________ *Some suggest that he was also one of Rikyū's disciples (though it is more likely that he was a member of the group that formed around Rikyū in the years after Jōō’s death -- given Sōkei’s contemporary reputation as a chajin).

†Sōkei's son is usually known as Sen no Jōji because Rikyū adopted him into the Sen family upon his marriage to Rikyū's daughter (Rikyū having only one biological son -- which, for a merchant, was akin to putting all of ones eggs in one basket).

⁷Onaji zashiki [同座敷].

    Literally, the same sitting-room.

    This refers to the 2-mat room which Rikyū used during the chakai for Hideyoshi (that had just concluded).

⁸Toko ・ go-hana sono-mama [床 ・ 御花其マヽ].

    Go-hana [御花]:  the use of the honorific (go [御]) means that Rikyū is referring specifically to the chabana created by Hideyoshi (which Rikyū moved from the floor of the toko to the hook attached to its rear wall).  Hideyoshi's chabana (white chrysanthemums in an Arima-kago [有馬籠] -- this basket is shown below) was left as it was.

    The Shigaraki hanaire and usu-ita would have been removed from the toko after Hideyoshi left.

⁹Tana ni go-cha no nokori, Shiri-bukura ・ bon ni [棚ニ御茶ノ殘、尻フクラ・盆ニ].

    Go-cha no nokori [御茶の殘り]:  the use of the honorific (go [御]) indicates that this was the matcha remaining from what had been used to serve Hideyoshi.

    As was mentioned before, the Shiri-bukura [尻膨] was Rikyū’s most prized chaire; and it was from contemplating this bon-chaire that his unique ideas about how to perform the bon-date temae arose*.

    Because reused tea could only be served as usucha, Rikyū is also suggesting that koicha was not served to Hideie and the others (as was sometimes done in other atomi no chakai). ___________ *This was perhaps the greatest difference between Rikyū’s chanoyu and that of Jōō (who created the bon-date temae).  Oddly (considering the over-blown lip service that they accord to Rikyū), none of the modern schools perform bon-date in his way:  all of them prefer to do this temae the way Jōō did it (even though most of the modern schools prefer to use the smaller “Rikyū-sized” chaire-bon, rather than the larger trays -- now almost always used as higashi-bon -- that were employed by Jōō and his disciples).

¹⁰Za-iri sono mama [座入其マヽ].

    This means that when the guests entered the room for the (abbreviated) sho-za of this atomi no chakai, the ro was left exactly as it had been when Hideyoshi departed.  This was important, since the idea was to allow the guests to inspect the charcoal laid* by Hideyoshi. __________ *Actually, Hideyoshi had simply repaired the fire that had been laid by Rikyū.  Nevertheless, the condition of the different pieces of charcoal would make this obvious to someone who understood chanoyu; while simply impressing the importance of mastering chanoyu to the young man who was nominally the shōkyaku at this atomi.  (This atomi seems to be attended by mock formality, which in turn suggests that this may have been Hideie's first experience of chanoyu.)

¹¹Kama agete go-sumi no nagori ikken [釜アケテ御炭ノ名殘一覧].

    Ageru [上げる] means to raise something up; lift something up; bring something up.  The kama was lifted out of the ro (and presumably stood on a kamashiki that was placed on the left side of the utensil mat*).  This allowed the guests to have an unobstructed view of the interior of the ro.

    Go-sumi [御炭]:  once again, the use of the honorific indicates that this refers to the charocoal arranged (or repaired) by Hideyoshi.

    Nagori [名殘] means, remains, remnants, vestiges.  Since the time of Jōō it had been said that the host's skill could be ascertained by the remains of his arrangement of the charcoal (since the vestiges of the fire showed not only the arrangement, but the manner in which the fire had taken hold, and burned down -- things that were just as important as the beauty of the arrangement itself).

    Ikken [一覧] means to glance at something; to have a look at something. ___________ *I have seen a commentary that suggested that the kama was left suspended on a chain several shaku above the mouth of the ro, so that the guests could look at the fire underneath.

    However, given the size and weight of Jōō‘s ito-me kama [絲目釜] (shown above), this would have been ill-advised (since it would look very dangerous to the guests, even if the chain and ceiling were actually strong enough to support it).

    This interpretation was probably the result of the result of the commentator (who was not a practitioner of chanoyu) misunderstanding the word kakuru [掛くる] -- see the next footnote.

¹²Mata sukoshi oki-soe, kama kakuru [又少置添、釜カクル].

    Oki-soeru [置き添える] means to place something beside (something else); add one thing to another.  The new pieces of charcoal were placed next to the burning pieces, so that they would catch fire slowly (and so keep the kama boiling until the "gathering" was ended).

    Kama kakuru [釜掛くる] literally means to hang or suspend the kama (over the ro).  This expression originated in the old days, when the kama was suspended over the ro on a chain*.  And it remained the way to express the idea of returning the kama to the ro even after the kama came to be placed on top of the gotoku.    

    This sentence is a good example of the way that Rikyū expressed himself.  It is much closer to Korean syntax than Japanese (I was asked to point this kind of thing out by certain followers of this blog). ___________ *The expression is also used with regard to placing the kama on a furo.  This may be an example of post hoc terminology; or the fact that the original furo was a kake-awase furo on which a kiri-kake kama was suspended -- here used because the kama rests on the ring-like mouth of the furo, with part of it hanging below the point of contact.

¹³Kashi ・ senbei, kobu aburite [菓子 ・ センヘイ、コフ　アブリテ].

    Senbei [煎餅] are rice crackers.  They would have been procured from a specialty shop.

    Kobu aburite [昆布 炙りて] means konbu (kelp) that has been toasted over a charcoal fire (rather than boiled in broth and tied into a bite-sized knot, which is the other way that it could be served as a kashi).

    The kashi would have been served in a shallow vessel of some sort -- perhaps on a large dish, resting on an unpainted oshiki [折敷].

    This kind of chakai, where only kashi are offered to the guests, is sometimes referred to as a kashi-kai [菓子會].

    After eating their kashi, the guests would have gone out for a brief naka-dachi, while Rikyū readied the room for the service of tea.

¹⁴Go [後].

    This indicates that what follows occurred during the go-za [後座], the second half of the chakai when tea is served.

¹⁵Kurete [暮テ].

    Kureru [暮れる] means to become dark.  The day is drawing to a close, and it is now dark enough outside that artificial illumination is needed within the room.

¹⁶Toko ・ go-hana tori-irete [床・御花取入テ].

    Tori-irete [取り入れて] means to bring something in -- in this case, into the katte.

    That is, the flowers arranged by Hideyoshi were removed from the tokonoma.

¹⁷Tōdai [燈臺].

    This is a kake-tōdai.  It is an L-shaped stand (sometimes made of wood and metal, and sometimes made from a piece of bamboo -- the two most common styles are shown in an Edo period sketch, below) that can be hung on the wall (in this case, from the hook attached to the back wall of the toko), which in turn supports a saucer of oil containing several burning wicks made of the pith of the lamp-rush plant (Juncus effusus var. decipens), called igusa [藺草] in Japanese.

    Hanging the kake-tōdai in the toko (in place of the flower arrangement) is a practice called tō-ka [燈華] -- which is usually translated as “flower of the lamp” (though apparently without a clear understanding of what is intended, on the part of the translator).

    This word is a pun (the homophonous tō-ka [燈火] is the “lamp-flame,” the source of the light); but hanging the tōdai in the toko, as a substitute for the chabana, was one of Jōō's most closely guarded secrets (and this is the reason why chabana were not displayed at night -- because the flame takes the place of the flowers).

¹⁸Shiri-bukura oroshite [尻フクラヲロシテ].

    Orosu [下ろす]* means to lower something (in this case, from the shelf to the mat).

    According to Rikyū's densho, precious utensils should not be placed on the shelf when it is dark (since the presence of candles on the floor will throw the things on the shelf into shadow, making it easier for the host to inadvertently knock them over when he goes to lower them to the mat).

    Furthermore, the Shiri-bukura chaire now contains used tea (that will be served as usucha).  Thus it is not appropriate for the tea container to be displayed on the shelf at the beginning of the service of tea.

    The Shiri-bukura chaire, on its red Chinese tray, was placed on the mat, in front of the mizusashi. ___________ *Oroshite [下ろして] is, of course, past tense.

    The Shiri-bukura chaire, on its tray, was lowered to the mat during the naka-dachi.  It was already resting on the mat, in front of the mizusashi, when the guests entered the room for the go-za.

¹⁹Mizusashi ・ migi-dō [水指・右同].

    As before, this was the aka-Raku yahazu-kuchi mizusashi [赤樂矢筈口水指] that had been made for Rikyū by Chōjirō.

²⁰Tana ni habōki [棚ニ羽箒].

    This would have been the same go-sun-hane, made from the feathers of the shima-fukurō [島梟].

    In Rikyū's temae, the habōki was used to dust the utensil mat at the end of the service of tea, as well as after the sumi-temae*.

    Furthermore, it is a rule that, if there is a tana preset in the room, it should never be empty when the guests enter the room, or when they leave.

    At the end of the temae, the hishaku and futaoki would be placed on the tana; and after dusting the utensil mat, the go-sun-hane would be removed from the room. __________ *Neither of these things are usually done in the modern school’s temae.

    When the utensil mat is a maru-jō [丸疊] -- a full-length tatami -- the habōki is used to dust only the upper end of the utensil mat (which is equivalent in size to a daime).

    After sliding out of the katte-guchi, the host turns around and leans back into the room, and cleans the lower 1-shaku 5-sun of the mat with a za-baki [座掃], a large feather broom (usually made from the pinions of a large bird, such as an eagle, such as shown above) that is used for cleaning the room in general.

²¹Chawan ・ migi-dō [茶碗・右同].

    This was the Wari-kōdai [割り高臺] chawan, a very old Korean bowl that had been brought to Japan by one of the refugees escaping the Ming military invasion of Korea in the mid-fifteenth century.

²²Sono-hoka nanimo mina onaji [其外何モ皆同].

    Everything else was the same (as during the earlier chakai).

    This means that all of the other utensils* that have not been mentioned above were the same.

    But it also means that things were done in the same way as earlier* -- in other words, the chawan (with chakin, chasen, and chashaku arranged in it) was placed inside a (new) mentsū [面桶]†, and so everything not already displayed in the room was brought out at one time. ___________ *In other words, the kōgō would have been his ruri-suzume [瑠璃雀].

    And Rikyū would have used an ori-tame [折撓] that he had made himself, as his chashaku.

    While the futaoki would have been a take-wa [竹〇], as was almost always the case at Rikyū’s wabi chakai.

    As earlier in the day, the hishaku would probably have been resting on the futaoki, on the left side of the mizusashi, with its handle parallel to the left heri of the mat.

†The only exception to which was that only usucha would be served during this atomi no chakai.  Both because tea that had already been used to serve koicha at an earlier chakai could never be used to serve koicha at a subsequent gathering.

    But also because, if this were Hideie’s first experience of chanoyu, he would probably not like koicha -- which is an acquired taste:  the host must always consider the shōkyaku when deciding what he is going to do.

‡The mentsū [面桶] (above) should only be used one time, since absolute purity is its special feature.  This is the reason why the chawan could be placed inside of the mentsū and so carried into the room -- something that would be unthinkable were the host using any other kind of koboshi (which could be used again and again).

[jibuyo]

Konishi Yukinaga

For some time I’ve been interested in Konishi Yukinaga and collecting information about him. And this is the result.✩ It’s long and kind of a mess. I didn’t really touch individual battles in Korea, because the material is readily available anyway and I have very limited knowledge of Imjin war.

I knew almost nothing about him before I started, so some things were surprising, some not. It’s actually really hard to grasp what kind of person Yukinaga was. I know that the West seems to have this “the nicest guy around” image, but that isn’t really my impression.  

FAMILY

Konishi Yukinaga was born in 1558✶1 as a second son of a Sakai’s Christian merchant and drug seller Konishi Ryūsa. It is said he was born in Kyoto and was taught Christianity from early years in a church. (Luis Frois) There’s a possibility he was baptized at birth.

His mother’s name was Wakusa/Magdalena. Magdalena is said to serve as a maid to Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s wife Nene in Osaka castle. 

His wife’s name was Kiku-hime, who was also an enthusiastic Christian known as Justa. Nothing is known about her, though. (comes from Ukita clan’s records)

Now, Yukinaga also had a concubine 立野殿 (Tatsuno-dono???), who was also a Christian called Katarina. And they did have a child or two together. However, she later became a wife of Shimazu Tadakiyo. After Tadakiyo died, she was banished to Tanegashima as a Christian. (comes from Shimazu clan’s record, where the wife of Tadakiyo is written as former Yukinaga’s wife)

He had several children, but I’ll mention only two.

His daughter Maria married Sō Yoshitoshi in 1590, but he divorced her after Yukinaga was beheaded after Sekigahara. Maria and her son, later known as Konishi Mansho (1600-1644), were banished to Kyūshū (and his father never acknowledged him). In 1614 he was exiled to Macao, after that he visited Africa, Rome, entered the Society of Jesus. He returned to Japan in 1632 and started missionary activities. He was later captured, executed and martyred. He was the last officially ordained Japanese priest on Japanese grounds until Meiji period.

After the battle of Sekigahara, Mōri Terumoto executed his eldest son, he had promised to keep safe, and sent his head to Ieyasu. When Ieyasu saw it, he got angry, because he didn’t plan to kill Yukinaga’s son, because he was not guilty of anything, but the messenger told Ieyasu that the son committed suicide (he didn’t). He’s said to be 12 years old at that time. There was absolutely no reason for the son to be executed. Mitsunari’s children were all left alone.

He adopted a Korean girl and raised her as her own (or his wife did). In Japan she was given the name Otaa. Her Christian name was Julia. After the battle of Sekigahara, Konishi clan was destroyed, she caught Ieyasu’s eye and served him in Sunpu, receiving his affections. But because she refused to give up her faith and refused to become Ieyasu’s concubine, she was exiled from Sunpu in 1612. She kept her faith and was helping sick and abandoned.

During his whole life Yukinaga was donating to churches, building orphanages and hospitals, especially in Ōsaka and Sakai. Together with his father he built a hospital for people who suffered from the Hansen disease (leprosy) where they could be sheltered and taken care of. 

LIFE

Yukinaga was adopted into a merchant family (father’s name 魚屋九郎右衛門) in Okayama. (in 1572 ???)✶2

He got noticed by a current lord of Okayama, Ukita Naoie, (when visiting him for business) and started to serve him. During peace negotiation with Nobunaga, Naoie sent Yukinaga to Hideyoshi, who took liking to him and made him his retainer. But because of his service in Ukita clan, he’s said to be close to Hideie.

We know for sure that in 1581 he served Hideyoshi who mentions him in a letter. So it was around this time when Yukinaga and his father Ryūsa✶3 started to serve Hideyoshi. This was at the end of Nobunaga’s invasion to Chūgoku. Yukinaga was involved with Kuroda Kanbee. 

In 1582 he was made to supervise Shōdoshima (an island in Setōuchi) and by 1585 he was an owner and managed the harbour connecting the ships to Sakai and was also involved in development of rice fields. He was also collecting materials to build a church in a harbour. (Luis Frois)

It is said he was baptized in 1583, but considering he was born into a Christian family it’s speculated it was sooner or at birth.

In 1585 he participated in Kishū campaign and Shikoku campaign.

Around this time, his father Ryūsa became a magistrate of Sakai. His coworker was Sakichi-dono. Frois was such a good guy to tell us all about them: “Ryūsa was the best, ideal person, the first Christian in the capital and friend of all Christians and a father of the navy captain Yukinaga. His coworker was Sakichi-dono, Kampaku-dono’s vassal, big enemy of Ryūsa, who didn’t take any pleasure from Kampaku’s tyranny, and enemy of Christians. He was jealous, ambitious, arrogant and overall just corrupt.” (side note: Mitsunari did repress Christians on Hideyoshi’s orders, and there was an incident in 1586 he was involved in, which is around the time Frois wrote about him)

Yukinaga’s mother might have become Nene’s maid around this time, too.

In 1586 he was transporting weapons and food via Setōuchi. And he also dispatched a war ship for the attack on Shimazu.

In April 1587 Yukinaga met with Frois and Gaspar Coelho.

During the attack on Shimazu he was in charge of navy. 

He was also acting as an agent between Hideyoshi and Sō clan of Tsushima, who were leading negotiations with Korea to let Hideyoshi pass through their territory to China (later, in 1590, Yukinaga’s daughter Maria became a wife of Sō Yoshitoshi - she might be married to him as a hostage and/or on Hideyoshi’s orders - according to Frois. A year into the marriage Yoshitoshi was baptized. Yoshitoshi fought for Western army, but because Ieyasu wanted to restore diplomatic relations with Korea after Sekigahara, he was forgiven and became the first lord of Tsushima-han. Because of this (?) after Yukinaga was beheaded at Rokujōgawara, he divorced Maria. He worked with Yukinaga on establishing peace with Korea during the Imjin war and continued with peace negotiation after the withdrawal. According to Kang Hang it was Yoshitoshi’s schemes that started the war, just a point of interest - Yoshitoshi was the main guy who communicated with Korea trying to make them let Japanese pass to China several years before the invasion). 

Until 1587 he was using the name/pseudonym Yakurō (弥九郎), from 1586 he was called by his title Settsu no kami. 

In June 1587 Hideyoshi forbids Christianity in Hakata and orders all missionaries to leave Japan in 20 days. Takayama Ukon gave up his property and rank and shocked everyone. It is said that Yukinaga was hiding Takayama Ukon and Organtino at Shōdoshima for a while. The reason Yukinaga wasn’t treated the same way was because he was useful for his merchant and Europeans connections, naval skills, and dealings with Korea. Hideyoshi most likely knew that he was hiding Ukon, but looked away anyway.

May 15 1588, after Hideyoshi dealt with Sasa Narimasa, Yukinaga was given the south part of the Higo province. The northern one went to Katō Kiyomasa and together they were supposed to rule over the whole province and consult with each other. The reason why Yukinaga got this province might be because it would serve as a base for marine transportation and he was best with navy. And it was also a good starting point to go to Korea.

In 1589, there was a riot on Amakusa. The local influential lords would only listen to Hideyoshi, not to Yukinaga. Yukinaga demanded that they restore Uto castle, but they refused. Yukinaga got a permission from Hideyoshi to pacify them and Katō Kiyomasa came with reinforcements. The riot was suppressed with their combined forces.

There are different stories. 1. Yukinaga asked for Kiyomasa to come 2. Hideyoshi said that they should not leave Higo both at the same time, so Yukinaga said to Kiyomasa to not come, so he would stay in Higo. But Kiyomasa came anyway and there appears to be a letter that says that Kiyomasa came on his own written by Yukinaga to Hideyoshi in some collections of letters.

During the attack on Hondo castle (where several Christians resided; Amakusa was a very Christian region), that Yukinaga had surrounded and the fall was only a question of time, Kiyomasa attacked quite brutally and killed everyone including women. This seems to be the start of their antagonistic relationship and then it got worse in Korea.

(When it comes to siege of Hondo castle, three hundred women were protecting it and all of them but two were killed by Kiyomasa’s forces.)

Yukinaga still served as a line to negotiations with Korea (i.e. Yoshitoshi was going through him to get to Hideyoshi).

In December 1589, there was a misunderstanding (caused by Asano Nagamasa??? misunderstanding a letter from Yukinaga???) that Korean king would visit Hideyoshi in Japan. Hideyoshi was expressing his joy in the letter to Sō Yoshitoshi (who was probably all wtf I’m gonna get killed, he was in Seoul at that time). Before the misunderstanding, Yukinaga with Shimai Sōshitsu (a merchant and tea master from Hakata) were supposed to visit Hideyoshi to talk about the visit from Korea??? (Yukinaga wrote to Nagamasa), but Yukinaga was unexpectedly caught up with the Amakusa riots, so he didn’t manage to come. After that Hideyoshi attacked Odawara and Yukinaga didn’t manage to clear the misunderstanding still being in Higo. Because the misunderstanding was big (a king wouldn’t be coming, just an envoy expressing congratulations), it was probably needed to clear it in person and not by letter or a messenger. (During this time, Yukinaga married his daughter to Yoshitoshi... i.e. it appears he made a secret alliance with Yoshitoshi and Sōshitsu to not tell anything, but wrote an explanation to the magistrates? anyway. Frois says that Yukinaga hated that he had to marry his daughter to Tsushima’s lord and that it was on Hideyoshi’s orders, but Frois didn’t know all circumstances. Probably. And Yukinaga is always made better by Jesuits. Yoshitoshi and Yukinaga seemed to work pretty closely and Yoshitoshi converted, so I don’t think Yukinaga was against it. This whole paragraph is from some article, so take it with a grain of salt; the letter background is correct, though, the rest could be the author’s interpretation and the actual historian’s version might be different. But it sounded quite legit. The author, however seemed to have a previous bias of “two-faced” Yukinaga, which seems to be his image, so it could be written to fit that image.) However, two days before the fall of Odawara, when Hideyoshi was in a good mood, someone (most likely someone from the magistrates who knew) told him the true (Hideyoshi wrote to Yoshitoshi again). But when the envoy came, he didn’t meet with them for two months.

Around this period (from 1588?? earlier), Yukinaga seemed to communicate with Hideyoshi through Asano Nagamasa (Murdoch says that he was his intimate friend and very influential person at Hideyoshi’s court, this was in 88, but I couldn’t find any Japanese source that they would be friends, according to (some) Jesuits during Sekigahara, they didn’t get along at that time).

In 1592, Yukinaga led the first division to Korea. While trying to demand clear path to China from Koreans, which were ignored, his army fought pretty brutally. They brought many victories, but soon the army became exhausted. (Apparently until the early Edo period, the evaluation of Yukinaga was pretty high as a commander, but after that the emphasize on Kiyomasa got stronger and Yukinaga took a back seat - probably because he was a Christian and was one of the “ringleaders” at Sekigahara; him being Christian is probably also a reason why there are less Edo created stories about him in relation to Sekigahara)

Yukinaga led the first division, Kiyomasa the second and they were trying to outdone each other who enters Seoul first. Yukinaga won. 

During the capture of Pyongyang, Yukinaga again asked to be granted a free path to China:

"If you will send this army back to Japan we can confer about the matter, but we will listen to nothing so long as you are on Korean soil." Konishi continued: "We have no wish to harm you. We have wished such a conference as this before, but have not had such an opportunity until today." "Turn about and take your troops back to Japan," repeated the Korean. Konishi lost his temper at this, and cried out: "Our soldiers always go forward, and know nothing about going backwards." (Murdoch, p.331)

In the second half of 1592, Ishida Mitsunari with Mashita Nagamori and Ōtani Yoshitsugu described the current situation on the battlefield which saw the Japanese side losing with provisions and weapons lacking. At the beginning of 1593, both sides entered stalemate and after that Yukinaga, with Mitsunari and others began to seriously go for peace negotiations. 

In May, Yukinaga with Mitsunari, Nagamori and Yoshitsugu returned to Japan with imperial envoy. They met Hideyoshi, who offered them a list of seven conditions. One of them was a marriage between Chinese and Japanese imperial family. 

Yukinaga’s father Ryūsa seemed to be in charge of logistics on Japanese side, but he got sick in Hizen’s Nagoya and in 1592 died in Kyoto.

In 1595 a petition asking to bestow a title of a king to Hideyoshi included in a fake surrender conditions was sent to China. What’s interesting about this are the signatures: 

Konishi Yukinaga, Ishida Mitsunari, Mashita Nagamori, Ōtani Yoshitsugu and Ukita Hideie are asking as a wide governor-generals/commanders in chiefs.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, Maeda Toshiie, Mōri Terumoto, Uesugi Kagekatsu, Kobayakawa Takakage, Maeda Gen’i, Natsuka Masaie, Sō Yoshitoshi, Ishida Masazumi, Konishi Suekito, Yanagawa Shigenobu are asking as sub-governor-generals.

This is estimated to be a plan with Yukinaga and Mitsunari in the center and it can be seen as one of the factor for Yukinaga joining the Western army - not only was he on good terms with Mitsunari, but he also had strong ties to the magistrates who helped him carry out the peace negotiations.

So the final result of that was a Chinese convoy that met with Hideyoshi offering him a position of King of Japan. And because the interpreter started to read even the surrender conditions, Hideyoshi got angry and ordered Yukinaga to be executed, but he was talked out of it (by a monk Saishō Jōtai, Maeda Toshiie ?). In Murdoch (that goes mostly by Jesuits accounts) it also states that Yukinaga had not much trouble to convince Hideyoshi that Mitsunari, Yoshitsugu and Nagamori were equally to blame as him (and I guess executing half of your administrative force wouldn’t be a good thing).

Yukinaga can be considered a good diplomat, but he was not above lying - to the enemies or to his own side (there are also instances where he lied to the missionaries in his letters, too). To his enemies he claimed that the Emperor and the ruler of the land are the same person, i.e. Hideyoshi.

In 1597 a new wave started. This time Yukinaga was ordered as a vanguard together with Kiyomasa.

In August 1598 Hideyoshi died and the troops were ordered to return back by the Council. Yukinaga was one of the last ones to return, still hoping to achieve a peace treaty before the withdrawal (it seems trade was especially important to him). On the way home the Korean ships were blocking his way, but with Shimazu Yoshihiro’s help, he managed to safely return home at the end of December.

Kang Hang has a bit to say about this. Because Kiyomasa arrived earlier, he was laughing at Yukinaga's cowardice.

“Kiyomasa did not hold on to the royal princes of whom he had taken as prisoners of war, burned his camp, and hurriedly left Chōson. He destroyed the opportunity for peace negotiations just when it was at hand. Shimazu and I led the Chinese hostages and, calmly serving as a rear guard, returned to Japan after everyone else. Did I exhibit cowardice, or did Kiyomasa exhibit cowardice?” Terumoto and the others blamed Kiyomasa for the failure to begin peace negotiations. Kiyomasa, as expected, of course blamed Yukinaga, saying that Yukinaga was of two minds regarding negotiations with our country. The discussion grew ever more entangled, and the enmity grew deeper and deeper.” (p. 87-88)

After the return from Korea, the dispute between two factions appeared. On one side, Konishi Yukinaga and his Christian daimyō friends that were fighting together with his division - Arima Harunobu, Ōmura Yoshiaki - Shimazu Yoshihiro, Tachibana Muneshige, Kobayakawa Hidekane (also Christian) centered around Ishida Mitsunari. This faction was for a complete withdrawal from Korea. In the other faction there were Katō Kiyomasa, Kuroda Nagamasa centered around Asano Nagamasa, who were still for continuation. 

The dispute grew, others joined, and ended with the attack on Mitsunari later (and that the starting point could be an argument between Yukinaga and Kiyomasa makes much more sense than Kiyomasa getting angry that Mitsunari offered him tea after his return from Korea). [This comes from Jesuit reports, but since something similar is also mention by Kang Hang, I guess something happened.]

In January, Mitsunari publicly condemned Ieyasu and all other tairō, bugyō (including Asano Nagamasa) sided with him (so officially it was Council vs Ieyasu. The rest depends on how a person interprets it). Ieyasu talked himself out of it (it seems that forces on both sides were prepared to clash, but they made up before it could escalate).

Now, there is also a version where various daimyō would split between Maeda Toshiie’s residence and Ieyasu’s residence, because it was Toshiie who condemned Ieyasu. (with some theories that there were 3 factions, and Mitsunari just joined in with Toshiie) 

Tokugawa side: Fukushima Masanori, Kuroda Yoshitaka (Kanbei) and Nagamasa, Ikeda Terumasa, Tōdō Takatora, Kyōgoku Takatsugu, Date Masamune, Mogami Yoshiaki, Mori Tadamasa, Wakizaka Yasuharu, Ōtani Yoshitsugu etc.

Maeda side: the rest of Elders - Uesugi Kagekatsu, Ukita Hideie, Mōri Terumoto; magistrates: Asano Nagamasa, Maeda Gen’i, Ishida Mitsunari, Mashita Nagamori, Natsuka Masaie, Katō Kiyomasa, Konishi Yukinaga, Asano Yukinaga, Hosokawa Tadaoki, Katō Yoshiaki, Tachinaga Muneshige, Oda Hidenobu, Chōsokabe Morichika etc.

While this list was made up later, it’s probably more or less correct, but the actual situation could have been different (fun fact: Kang Hang also mentions this event and Masamune and Mogami Yoshiaki are on Toshiie’s side). 

Around this time Yukinaga is invited to a tea ceremony organized by Mitsunari. Other guests are Ukita Hideie, Date Masamune and Kamiya Sōtan. After they finished enjoying the tea and talking, Mitsunari also gives his guests wine originated in Nagasaki. Wine was a totally expensive indulgent at that time. (This is from Kamiya Sōtan’s diary, a merchant and tea master from Hakata. Some people consider the diary a fabrication, because of inconsistencies in few dates, but the description of tea utensils and tea ceremony is legit...) If Masamune and Mitsunari in one room seem weird, well... (but remember Kang Hang :D) Mitsunari probably wanted to persuade him to join him. (and their relationship wasn’t exactly hateful anyway, the one Masamune couldn’t get along with was Asano Nagamasa, from the bugyō)

Then Toshiie died and Mitsunari got attacked by Kiyomasa and his friends. With the help of Satake Yoshinobu (at least that’s the common view), Mitsunari managed to escape from Ōsaka to Fushimi. According to Jesuits, Yukinaga took arms to help him and followed him to Fushimi. Mitsunari wanted to counterattack more heavily and asked Terumoto for reinforcements by sending Yukinaga to Terumoto, but Ōtani told him not to send them (because the situation was unfavourable).

Ieyasu intervened (either by himself, or someone went to him, or he just tried to pacify Kiyomasa’s group who demanded that Mitsunari was dealt with) and Mitsunari lost his job and was sent to Sawayama. According to Murdoch some missionaries wrote that Yukinaga either accompanied him (I doubt that) or visited him soon after (why not). When he visited him, Mitsunari managed to talk him into joining his little alliance (him + Uesugi Kagekatsu + Terumoto + Ukita Hideie). I don’t think Yukinaga needed to be talked (or induced) into anything (some Jesuits (or maybe Franciscans? They apparently blamed Jesuits for not telling Yukinaga to side with Ieyasu or for actually telling him to go against Ieyasu, but nothing like that can be confirmed from Jesuits reports... I read) also apparently expressed their dissatisfaction with Yukinaga joining Mitsunari. Other Jesuit, you can’t believe Jesuits when it comes to Yukinaga, it’s contradictory lmao say that Yukinaga was with Mitsunari from the beginning because they were BFFs, and because Yukinaga was loyal to Hideyori and they created this amazing alliance. Some recent researchers are also adopting the view of Yukinaga being a part of planning from early on). As for the alliance, there might have been one. It might just be a reference to the Council vs Ieyasu, or it could be all just rumours based on everyone returning home, followed by rumours of Ieyasu’s assassination (fun fact: Kang Hang says that Kiyomasa wanted to kill Ieyasu too). Mitsunari could have been behind all of them or not. But one thing that’s interesting is that if there was an alliance between Mitsunari and Uesugi prior to Sekigahara (historians are still debating, pro-Tokugawa are usually like nope and pro-Mitsunari are yeah, because they want Naoe-Mitsunari friendship to be true... that’s the image I’m getting anyway) it started before he got fired. That’s the common point of Kang Hang and Jesuits, but other Jesuits and Kang Hang also have Maeda Toshinaga in the alliance. This got confusing, sorry. 

So Mitsunari got fired, and Ieyasu started to make friends with Yukinaga trying to get him on his side. He was apparently praising his achievements in Korea and his loyalty to Mitsunari. (He might have also offered his granddaughter to Yukinaga’s son - the one that Terumoto killed.) He basically wanted Yukinaga to pledge himself to his cause (he wanted this from most daimyō), but Yukinaga refused. Out of his friendship for Mitsunari, out of his loyalty to Hideyori, out of his dislike for Kiyomasa, out of his relationship with Ukita Hideie, out of his political view whatever suits your boat. We will never know anyway. 

And then he returned to Higo and when an internal strife occurred in Shimazu clan (1599), he was dispatched there by Ieyasu together with other Kyūshū daimyō (e.g. Tachibana Muneshige and many more). Some people see this as him becoming closer to Ieyasu and then they’re all wtf why did he join Mitsunari, but I mean... he’s right there on Kyūshū, of course he’s gonna be asked to help (like Mitsunari dispatched forces during Ieyasu x Maeda Toshinaga conflict). 

In June 1600, Ieyasu started the subjugation of Uesugi. Yukinaga was ordered by Ieyasu to stay in Osaka(-Kyoto).

At the beginning of July, Mitsunari and Yoshitsugu rebelled (around 11th or 12th of July). By 15th July, thanks to Shimazu Yoshihiro’s letter to Kagekatsu, we know that Yukinaga was a part of the whole anti-Ieyasu coalition. July 17, Ieyasu was impeached.

Yukinaga participated in the siege of Fushimi castle, then entered Ōgaki castle in early August, and in the evening of September 14, he moved to Sekigahara.

In the morning of the 15th he engaged in battle and thanks to Kobayakawa Hideaki’s betrayal, he was defeated and escaped to the surroundings of Mt. Ibuki. 

Right on the 15th, Ieyasu ordered his men to capture him, Mitsunari, Hideie and Yoshihiro.

The most famous story you can find around: he was found on the 19th. Instead of running, he went forward and gave his name: “I’m Konishi Settsu no kami. Take me to Naifu and receive a reward.” The guy who found him told him to run, but Yukinaga said that because he was Christian, he couldn’t commit suicide. The guy took him to Takenaka Shigekado and got some money.

He was paraded around Ōsaka together with Mitsunari and Ankokuji Ekei being pronounced a rebel. After that they were moved to Kyōto.  

On the 1st October, the three of them were executed in Kyōto. Because he was a Christian, he refused buddhist monks to cleans him and chant sutra for his sake, instead he took out a small picture of Christ and Maria and prayed. Then he got beheaded. His head (with Mitsunari and Ekei’s ones) was displayed on the Sanjō bridge. Before his death, he asked for a priest, but he was denied by Ieyasu. According to Jesuits records, his body was taken by the church and given a proper burial. The place is unknown.

In 1607 in Genova (Italy), an opera (?) was created with Yukinaga as the main character.

✶1 The year is based on a Korean document that states he was 38 in 1595. 

✶2 comes from a source from 17th century, so he might never have been given out for adoption, but it’s used as his background often.

✶3 this basically makes the whole adoption thing weird, imo

✩ Yukinaga was beheaded as one of the key figures after Sekigahara and he was a Christian, so there are not many documents left. There are Jesuits notes, but those are heavily biased in favour of Christians, there are some mentions of him in the writings of Kang Hang, but those are understandably biased as well, even though he does not really paint him necessarily in a negative light, but as someone who wants peace to save Sō Yoshitoshi’s face. But it does come off as negative. For the Korean campaign, I just used Turnbull’s The Samurai Invasion of Korea 1592–98 and some stuff from Murdoch’s A History of Japan. The rest comes from various articles I read on the world wide web and some of it was “consulted” with wikipedia. 

If anyone actually read the whole thing, I’m impressed. Thank you!

[scoobydoojedi]

Urakami Clan

The Urakami clan grew to prominence in the Sengoku period they settled in Bizen Province after rebelling against the Akamatsu clan but then soon lost there lands to the Ukita Clan.

*Prominent people*

*Urakami Muramune*(????-1524) He was originally a vassal of the Akamatsu  but rebelled and claimed much of Bizen province for himself. He supportedHosokawa Takuni in his war with Hosokawa Harumoto. He took Takamatsu Castle  in 1523 and in 1524 destroyed Akamatsu Masamura. However, that same year he was killed in battle at Imamiya.

*Urakami Munekage*(????-1564?)

Munekage was the son of Urakami Muramune. He held much of Bizen province and ruled from Tenjinyama. A rival of the Akamatsu to the west and the Amako to the north, he was compelled to rely on Ukita Naoie to maintain order in Bizen. Naoie thus grew in strength and began to find pretexts to eliminate Munekage's other retainers. Munekage was ultimately forced to flee his lands toSanuki, at which time Ukita assumed control of Bizen.

[bm2ab]

Castle's Rock - 20 April 2018 Okayama Castle Okayama, Okayama Prefecture, Japan Credits: Wei-Te Wong

Okayama Castle (岡山城 Okayama-jō) is a Japanese castle in the city of Okayama in Okayama Prefecture in Japan. The main tower was completed in 1597, destroyed in 1945 and replicated in concrete in 1966. Two of the watch towers survived the bombing of 1945 and are now listed by the national Agency for Cultural Affairs as Important Cultural Properties.

In stark contrast to the white "Egret Castle" of neighboring Himeji, Okayama Castle has a black exterior, earning it the nickname Crow Castle (烏城 U-jō) or "castle of the black bird". (The black castle of Matsumoto in Nagano is also known as "Crow Castle", but it is karasu-jō in Japanese.)

Today, only a few parts of Okayama Castle's roof (including the fish-shaped-gargoyles) are gilded, but prior to the Battle of Sekigahara the main keep also featured gilded roof tiles, earning it the nickname Golden Crow Castle (金烏城 Kin U-jō).

Construction of Okayama Castle was started in 1573 by Ukita Naoie and completed by his son Hideie in 1597. Three years later, Hideie sided with the ill-fated Toyotomi Clan at the Battle of Sekigahara, was captured by the Tokugawa Clan and exiled to the island prison of Hachijo. The castle and surrounding fiefdoms were given to Kobayakawa Hideaki as spoils of war. Kobayakawa died just two years later without leaving an heir, and the castle (and fiefdom) was given to the Ikeda Clan, who later added Kōraku-en as a private garden.

In 1869 the castle became the property of the Meiji government's Hyōbu-shō (Ministry of War), who saw the 'samurai' era castles as archaic and unnecessary. Like many other castles throughout Japan, the outer moats were filled in and the old castle walls gradually disappeared underneath the city. On June 29, 1945, allied bombers burnt the castle to the ground. Reconstruction work began in 1964 and was completed in 1966. In 1996 the rooftop gargoyles were gilded as part of the 400th anniversary celebrations.

The reconstructed castle is a concrete building complete with air-conditioning, elevators and numerous displays documenting the castle's history (with a heavy focus on the Ikeda era.) Little information is available in English. Access to the inner sanctuary is free.

[konishi-yakuro]

Name: Konishi Yakuro

A mysterious merchant’s son who ends up being a hostage in Nagahama castle. 

He accompanies Ukita Naoie’s son, Hachiro, as a hostage to Oda Nobunaga. They lives under Hideyoshi’s care. He acts as Hachiro’s nanny, cook, maid and bodyguard.

Being the only commoner living in samurai’s household, he often gets bullied by Hideyoshi’s kosho who treat him like a slave when his botchan (young master) is not around. He has never fought back, though (at least not outwardly), and this pissed Ishida Sakichi, who always has to defend him, off.

Personality: Very sweet. Gentle. Full of positive energy. Won’t get mad when being bullied. Always smile. Will stab you in the back if you pissed him enough.

While he might be very sweet, he would do everything to protect those he loves. 

Good at house-work, cleaning, cooking and taking care of children. Surprisingly good at hand-to-hand combat despite never fight back when being bullied.

is very tall.

is a Christian.

is a polyglot.

is actually very rich.

Like: Hachiro-botchan, Ishida Sakichi, Otani Gyobu

Dislike: ‘-’

Secretly admire Kato Toranosuke. Toranosuke hates him after Yakuro beat him in a duel using questionable method.

[theworldaswedontknowit]

Toyotomi Hideyoushi: Life of the Monkey Rat

Toyotomi Hideyoushi. The Great Unifier. If I might say, the true Great Unifier. He was the one who brought all of the Lords under his control, granted Oda Nobunaga started the whole thing but he died before he could achieve that and his “murder everything” attitude shown by Mt Hiei maybe would’ve got him killed either way. Tokugawa, on the other hand, had it all done for him – it was just a case of him and Ishida battling it out. So, let’s talk about the Taiko.

Rest is underneath, this is far too long to have just sat on the blog like the others

Not much is actually known about Hideyoushi prior to 1570 – which is when he started appearing in docuemnts. Hideyoushi also kept his past quiet during his own lifetime so we only really have a story. He was born, apparently, in Nakamura village in Owari to either a simple peasant or a foot solider, possibly called Yaemon? We don’t know. He was given the name Hiyoshimaru but there’s doubt to this, it sounds embellished due its meaning of “Bounty of the Sun.” Still, the popular story goes that Hiyoshimaru would be shipped off to a temple but promptly leave in search of adventure. I think you understand why I view this as part fact, part fiction.

Hideyoushi supposedly served the Imagawa for some years before being given a sum of money and going back to Owari. Here he would become involved with the rebuilding of Kiyosu castle and gain the interest of Nobunaga. The two were young at this point, Nobunaga no more than 23 and HIdeyoushi only 21. Nevertheless, Hideyoushi became Nobunaga’s sandal bearer, meaning he was present for Okehazama.

He impressed Nobunaga in 1564. He was known, at the time, as Kinoshita Hideyoushi. He had bribed many men of Mino to abandon the Saito who were fighting Nobunaga, despite their relation through marriage. He’d also thrown up a fort at Sunomata, finding a route and gaining access to Inabayama. It was taken with ease.

In 1573 he would change his name, becoming Hashiba Hideyoushi. He took two characters from the names of Niwa Nagahide and Shibata Katsuie. He was also married to his wife, Nene, by this point. It’s here we come across some interesting nicknames. Hideyoushi was said to be short and skinny, his face sinking in. Nobunaga called him Saru or Monkey. Whereas his wife preferred to call him The Bald Rat. What a loving relationship that must have been. Additionally by this point, his mother had remarried and produced Hideyoushi’s younger, half brother Hidenaga.

Hideyoushi would lead a magnificent military life, gaining many achievements. He led troops against the Azai, even taking some of their lands when Nobunaga all but exterminated them, basing himself at none other than Odani. Hideyoushi would also take part in Nagashima in 1573 and 73, Nagashino against the Takeda in 1575 and Tedorigawa, fought against the Uesugi in 1577 and promptly followed by the rebellion of Matsunaga Hisahide.

When Bessho Nagaharu shut himself up in Miki Castle while they battled the Mouri, it would be Hideyoushi who destroyed his allies and besieged the castle. During this time Ukita Naoie would begin attacking and Mouri Terumoto would march an army to Harima. It wasn’t until 1580 that Bessho finally surrendered, allowing him to move on. Ukita would defect in the same year which further allowed Hideyoushi to move onto Tottori, where he would starve out the soldiers for 200 days.

Despite this, Hideyoushi had always been out numbered even though he was pitted against one of the strongest clans in the country. Naturally he would send for reinforcements from Nobunaga, who had worked taking Hideyoushi’s generals (not in spite of course) for more important campaigns in his territory. One of these reinforcements was Akechi Mitsuhide who would never arrive, instead murdering Nobunaga.

Making an alliance with the Mouri after intercepting Mitsuhide’s own request to them, Hideyoushi raced back to the capital and destroyed the Akechi. He would present Mitsuhide’s head at Nobunaga’s funeral service. Nice.

His quick response earned him quite the name, much to the distaste of Shibata Katsuie as Hideyoushi now technically ranked higher than him and all of Nobunaga’s senior retainers. While it’s suspected that Nobunaga might have been trying to distance himself from his senior retainers they still had quite the say at the Kiyosu conferences. These conferences concerned succession to the Oda clan, still considered the supreme power. While Shibata Katsuie supported Oda Nobutaka – who was Nobunaga’s third son had been at and fought at Yamazaki – Hideyoushi decided to go with Nobutaka, the eldest son of Nobunaga’s own son, Samboshi. Game on.

The two would eventually clash at Shizugatake when Shibata’s ally, Sakuma Morimasa, refused to backdown before it was taken – his forces having surrounded it. This proved to be a stupid idea, Sakuma was defeated and routed quickly and the battle lost. With the battle over, Katsuie, safely away in Echizen, decided to commit suicide as Hideoyushi’s forces poured into the province. While his wife, Oichi, would die with him her three daughters (by Nagamasa) would go to Hideyoushi, the eldest becoming his primary consort and producing his heir – Toyotomi Hideyori.

The Oda succession business wasn’t over just yet. I’m going to say now that the Komaki campaign is getting its own entire post at some point in the future. I don’t know when but it will, it’s far too extensive and I have sources on both sides of the fight so I can’t pass it up. To put it in simple terms, Tokugawa appears out of the blue and decides to attempt to capitalize on the moment. He supported Oda Nobuo, Nobunaga’s second son, and set up in Kiyosu. Even after Ikeda’s disastrous attempt to attack the Tokugawa, the Toyotomi ended up winning. Nobuo was desperate for peace and asked for it in the December of 1584, the Tokugawa following suit in the January of 85.

So, with Nobunaga’s final legacy of a succession crisis now out of the way and receiving the title Gondainagon, Hideyoushi was ready to take on the rest of Japan. His first act was to divide up Oda’s provinces between himself, the senior retainers (think Niwa Nagahide) and his own followers (the likes of Mitsunari) before beginning his campaigns. His first target would be Shikoku, therefore the Chosokabe and head of the clan, Motochika. After just a month he would surrender. This is where Hideyoushi differs greatly from Nobunaga, in that he didn’t kill Motochika. Heck, he even let him keep Tosa for himself while Hideyoushi took the other three provinces: Awa; Iyo and Sanuki.

On August 6th 1585, Hideyoushi would take on the role of Kampuku – raising a few eyebrows to say the least. He needed Fujiwara blood, something peasant born Hideyoushi couldn’t even dream of having. So, he had himself adopted by Konoe Sakihisa, who did have Fujiawara blood, at the ripe old age of 49. He then set up the 5 bugyo (administrators as such; including Mitsunari. Bugyo will also get their own posts) to run Kyoto.

Taking the name Toyotomi on the 29th September that same year, he was really gearing up to take over the entire country. There were only two things in his way. The Shimazu of Kyushu and the Hojo of Odawara. His first target were the Shimazu who were easy work, upon defeating them with superior numbers and only one defeat (which wasn’t his error) he had Yoshihisa retire and be replaced with his brother. The Hojo on the other hand weren’t so easy, they would have to wait.

With the time he spent in Kyushu, Hideyoushi got a reminder of how much he distrusted Christians, he considered them a danger to his society. This fear brought on two acts – The Christian Expulsion Edict and Limitation on the Propagation of Christianity. The former demanded that all missionaries leave Japan within 20 days. The latter, while it did allow landholders to become Christian with permission, condemned and made it illegal to forcibly convert someone. Despite this he would still trade with the Christians and was said to be fond of European fashion…why he would be I can’t imagine.

With the Hojo still on the “To Conquer” list Hideyoushi knew he just had to wait them out. He couldn’t attack yet and so spent his time culturing himself. He studied the tea ceremony and poetry while also diving in No plays. He would write his own, staring in them himself and pulling other lords into them too – including the likes of Ieyasu. Konoe Sakihisa (the man who had adopted him) once wrote after a performance, “The Taiko’s performance conveys the impression enormous development” I can’t tell if he’s trying to be nice or meaning that…

His tea ceremony skills would come into practice when he held the grand Kitano Tea Ceremony. Over the course of the day Hideyoushi served 803 individuals tea, personally. Understandably he gave up after only one day but this did show his wealth and his extravagance. He was wealthy, powerful and still just a little blood thirsty. Just a little. The Hojo were going to be on the receiving end of that.

Tokugawa would bare much of the brunt of the siege of Odawara as their lands were adjacent. In fact, Ieyasu would “swap” his current lands for those of Kanto, his capital becoming Edo – modern day Tokyo. You can still visit the site today and there is a mound where Hideyoushi’s “overnight” castle was built. I’ll be talking about Odawara in a little more detail in Ishida’s, Tokugawa’s and the Conquest post as there’s some interesting stuff in there. In short, Hideyoushi had now truly unified Japan.

So, what does one do when you don’t have any more of your own country to invade and you’re just that ambitious? You invade Korea, that’s what you do. From 1592-1598 Hideyoushi would conduct invasions of Korea, over two waves. He would never be present however, his health was beginning to fail and he only managed to produce an heir in 1595, with the birth of Hideyori by Chacha, the eldest daughter of Azai Nagamasa and Oichi.

In short, the invasions of Korea – or Imjin Wars – set the stage for Sekighara. It formed relations between those who would fight together, namely Ishida Mitsunari and Otani Yoshitsugu who worked the same job in Korea as politicians. In other cases, it formed rivalries that would really come through, as can be seen with the already thin relation between Konishi Yukinaga – a Christian – and Kato Kiyomasa, a man who I can assure you really hated Christians. On top of setting this scene, they were also an disaster, lords did what they could to avoid contributing and they were driven out by the now very famous admiral (and I believe national hero in Korea) Admiral Yi Sun-shin, with a little help from Ming China.

When Hideyoushi died in the September of 1598 his death was kept a secret until the soldiers were recalled from Korea. He left his son in the care of the Bugyo, Hideyori was only five years old when his father died. So, just as it did with Nobunaga, a two year power vacuum would open up but this time it would be fought out and won solely by the Politicians and Samurai of the era, culminating in two “battles” – Sekighara fought between Ishida Mistunari and Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1600 and the Osaka campaigns in the winter of 1614 and summer of 1615, giving us the last great warriors Sanada “Nobushige” Yukimura.

  I don’t have much left to say. There’s so many details I’ve missed out, one that come to mind is the murder of his nephew. I call it a murder because he was exiled to Mt Koya and ordered to commit suicide. Anyone of his family who did not follow his example was killed – this included women and children. In the end, Hideyoushi ended up emulating Nobunaga in the worst way possible.

In terms of his fictional depictions I actually have little care. He is already dead in Shogun and somewhat merged with Mitsunari’s character Ishido, he’s barely in the parts of Sengoku Basara I’ve paid attention to and his Samurai Warriors character has never really struck a chord with me. It’s a shame how unremarkable he is in comparison to the real man, as far as I’m concerned anyway.

I think, Hideyoushi does deserve the credit that he gets. Of course, he does, he was the driving force behind a united Japan. He changed the country’s society so drastically if he was to be forgotten there’d be a huge chunk of culture just missing from the country. His treatment of Christians was terrible and his invasion of Korea was a horrendous ordeal for all sides involved, though not the same can be said for those who would use Hideyoushi’s route at the beginning of the 20th century and its easy to argue and in fact true that Korea had it worse. Much worse. Despite this, while in his prime Hideyoushi was exactly what Japan needed after the destruction of Oda.

[theworldaswedontknowit]

Mori Terumoto: A Leader in Absence

Mouri Terumoto, the living version of the shrug emoji :):) not really, he just had a habit of kicking back due to his own inferiority to the rest of his family.

Mouri Terumoto had perhaps the best-looking heritage out of everyone. His Grandfather was the great Mouri Motonari and his two Uncles, Kobayakawa Takakage and Kikkawa Motoharu are two of the most famous men from the South of Japan. The Mouri were not “farmer-samurai” like the other big players of this era. They were the descendants of an advisor to the first Shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo, they were aristocrats and they knew it.

Terumoto was born in 1553 as Kotsumaru to Mouri Takamoto, the eldest son of and heir to Mouri Motonari. Motonari had already retired and given over his power to Takamoto six years earlier but he still helped run everything on the side lines. Takamoto’s death in 1563 effectively left the ten year old Terumoto in charge and dragged the 66 year old Motonari out of his retirement until Terumoto would come of age. Motonari himself would die eight years later in 1571 and Terumoto assumed control of the huge lands his Grandfather had amassed at the age of 18.

The years following were largely peaceful, the Mouri had slowed down their expansionism and didn’t run into anything other than a few minor scuffles. Even in 1575, when there was some further expansionism and clan destroying on the Mouri’s part, Terumoto had nothing to do with it – the destruction of the Mimura under Yamanaka Yukimori (known better as Yamanaka Shikanosuke) was carried out by Takakage and Motoharu.

From his Grandfather, Terumoto had inherited a dislike towards Oda Nobunaga and when Ashikaga Yoshiaki was made Shogun Terumoto was one of the men who opposed Nobunaga for his “heavy handedness” and Terumoto became involved when he pitted his own navy against Nobunaga’s, headed by Kuuki Yoshitaka.

Kuuki had cut off the supply lines to Honganji, part of Ishiyama-Honganji a religious area in Settsu, and now blockaded the coast. Terumoto sent his navy, commanded by Murakami Takayoshi, who would deliver an embarrassing defeat to Kuuki and force Nobunaga to improvise. Nobunaga, it turns out, was quite good at this improvising lark and next time he moved to attack the Mouri he really gave Kuuki a chance to redeem himself – which he did. At the Second Battle of Kizugawaguchi (1578) drove the Mouri away and in 1580 Honganji was surrendered over to the Oda.

This Yamanaka Shikanosuke would come back to bite them again when Oda began his campaign against the Mouri in 1580. It would start off with Nobunaga sending Hideyoshi to Chuugoku. One of the castles that Hideyoshi took was Kozuki castle, which was given to the vanquished Amako Katsuhisa who was supported by Yamanaka Shikanosuke. We’re going to ignore him again for two seconds just to talk about Miki (commanded by Bessho Nagaharu) and Tottori (commanded by Kikkawa Tsuneie) both of which held out until the men inside were on the brink of starvation.

Infuriated, Terumoto sent his uncles to retake the castle which they did, killing both Amako and Yamanaka in the process. Honestly, Terumoto seems to have a bit of a habit of kicking back and letting his Uncles do the work. He was said not to possess many of the skills held by them or his Grandfather nor the charisma his Father supposedly had. Terumoto just wasn’t the leader everyone else was but he did apparently have some skill in manipulation – something that Motonari was renowned for.  

Come 1582, the Mouri’s defeat was definitely on the cards and it would only be the assassination of Nobunaga and subsequent peace treaty between them and Hideyoshi that seemed to save them from this. At the time Hideyoshi was besieging Takamatsu castle, which was commanded by Shimizu (that’s a Mi not a Ma, I read it wrong far too many times not to say this) Muneharu. Hideyoshi would flood Takamatsu and Shimizu decided to commit suicide after ordering the surrender of his men. The Mouri had lost a sizeable portion of their lands – Houki, Mikamasa and Bitchu were taken by Hideyoshi and Bizen was lost when Ukita Naoie (father of Ukita Hideie) defected. The assassination of Nobunaga was something of a miracle for the Mouri.

Now allied with Hideyoshi Terumoto would become one of his closest allies, sending the “Two Rivers” – once again, his Uncles Takakage and Motoharu, who were both in their fifties by this point – to assist in Hideyoshi’s invasions of Shikoku and Kyushu. On top of this, he sent ships to Hideyoshi when he was besieging the Hojo. Terumoto would finally, actually do something (he was frustrating me can you tell?) in 1592 and lead a division in Korea but like many others he got caught up in the “low level” fighting with the militias created by the normal people of Korea.

When the regents were named by Hideyoshi, Terumoto was among them and came second in terms of power, behind Tokugawa Ieyasu, with an annual income of 1.2 Million Koku. 1.2 million! Anyway, as we all know the Government began to splinter after Hideyoshi’s death and sides were taken. It’s said that Ankokuji Ekei was the one to persuade Terumoto to join Mitsunari’s cause, claiming (eventually accurately it might be said) that Tokugawa was only out to “dethrone” the little Hideyori.

Terumoto would end up holed up in Osaka, doing nothing. His armies wouldn’t do anything either. This had come at the hands of his cousin, Kikkawa Hiroie, who had insisted that doing nothing would result in merit or, at least, not total destruction at the hands of Tokugawa. Total destruction is an exaggeration, I might add. Although, Mitsunari Junji argues that in fact, Terumoto was an active player in the Sekigahara campaign.

Terumoto would surrender Osaka castle and it seemed that Tokugawa might actually uphold the idea of merit for not doing anything to help the Western Army. This ended up not being true and, after slandering him for not fighting even though Ishida had made him “Commander in Chief” Tokugawa started taking away his lands. Perhaps the cruellest action, Terumoto would be forced to give up Aki – the province that had been the home of the Mouri for centuries.

Terumoto would die in 1625 at the age of 72 and what was left of his lands passed onto his son, Mouri Hidenari.

[jibuyo]

Daimyō who had their 1st child when they were 40+

for later reference

Mōri Terumoto (42) - Hidenari (1595); Terumoto didn’t have a child with his legal wife. Terumoto apparently took a liking to Kodama Motoyoshi’s daughter Kane-hime (at that time 12yo), but the father married Kane to someone else. Terumoto was like “not happening” and few years later took her away and made her his concubine. The husband wanted to go complain to Hideyoshi (1589), but after Terumoto talked with Kobayakawa Takakage, Takakage made it that the husband never made it to Osaka. In 1595 Kane bore Terumoto his first son, in 1602 a second son. They also had a daughter together, who was later married to Kikkawa Hiroie’s son Hiromasa.

Kikkawa Hiroie (40) - Hiromasa (1601); Hiroie’s legal wife, a daughter of Ukita Naoie, died in 1591. They were married for two and half years and had no children. After Sekigahara he had three children (two boys and a girl) with various concubines.

Uesugi Kagekatsu (48) - Sadakatsu (1604); Kagekatsu didn’t have a child with his legal wife Kiku-hime (Takeda Shingen’s daughter), only after Sekigahara he took a concubine from a noble family that bore him a son. The concubine died few months after giving birth, Kiku died before Sadakatsu was born. Sadakatsu was Kagekatsu’s only child. He was brought up by Osen, Kanetsugu’s wife.

Tōdō Takatora (46) - Takatsugu (1602); Takatora didn’t have a child with his legal wife. After being married for 20 years and heirless, he took a young concubine and they had several children together.

[chanoyu-to-wa]

Nampō Roku, Book 2 (36):  (1587) Fifth Month, Fourth Day, Midday; While it was Raining.

36) Fifth Month, Fourth Day; Midday¹.  [The chakai was held] while it was raining².

◦ Three-mat room³.

◦ [Guests:]  Bizen saishō [備前宰相]⁴, Konishi [小西]⁵, Sōun [宗雲]⁶.

Sho [初]⁷.

﹆ Yoku-ryō-an [欲了庵]⁸.

◦ Unryū [雲龍], with the furo resting on a ko-ita [小板]⁹.

◦ On the tana, kan ・ habōki [クハン ・ 羽帚]¹⁰.

Go [後]¹¹.

◦ The toko remained as it was¹².

◦ Chaire Ryugo [茶入 リウコ]¹³.

◦ Chawan kuro Ayame [茶碗 黒アヤメ]¹⁴.

◦ Mizusashi kotoshi-no-Seto [水指 コトシノ瀬戸]¹⁵.

_________________________

¹Go-gatsu yokka, hiru [五月四日、晝].

    This was the 9th of June, 1587.  The start of the rainy season was perhaps a week or so away, and the shōkyaku and ji-kyaku may have been passing through Sakai on their way to join Hideyoshi in Kyūshū.

    This kaiki is structured a little different from the majority of others in Book Two of the Nampō Roku*, which might suggest the possibility that it was added (from some other source) later (perhaps even later -- during the early Edo period -- as a way to clearly associate Chōjirō's kuro-chawan with Rikyū).

     This chakai was included in Kumakura Isao’s modern Japanese version of the Nampō Roku, though he ventures into few explanations. __________ *The kaiseki is not described, for example, even though at least kashi would have had to be offered to the guests after the sumi-temae.

²U-chū [雨中].

    While it was raining.  Starting in the spring, rain occurs with increasing frequency, until finally it becomes incessant.

³Sanjō shiki [三疊敷].

    This was the Shū-un-an [集雲庵], at the Nanshū-ji [南宗寺] in Sakai, which Rikyū seems to have borrowed for this chakai -- because (for whatever reason or reasons) he did not want to receive these important guests in the tearoom in his private residence.

⁴Bizen saishō [備前宰相].

    This refers to the daimyō and nobleman Ukita Hideie [宇喜多秀家; 1572 ~ 1655], who, in addition to being the lord of Bizen [備前] and Mimasaka [美作] provinces*, served as an Imperial Chamberlain (jijū [侍従]), Imperial Councillor (sangi [参議]), lieutenant-general of the Left Imperial Guards (sa-konoe ken-chūjō [左近衛権中将]), and provisional Vice-councilor of State (gon-chūnagon [権中納言]), ultimately attaining the second grade of the Third Rank (ju-sanmi [従三位]†.

    Hideie was also a member of Hideyoshi’s Counsel of Five Elders (go-tairō [五大老]), which was created to act as the regent for Toyotomi Hideyori after his father’s death, and opposed Tokugawa Ieyasu at the battle of Sekigahara, for which he was exiled to Hachijō-jima [八丈島], an island in the Philippine Sea far distant from the Japanese archipelago. ___________ *Both provinces form part of modern-day Okayama Prefecture.  The village of Imbe [伊部], which is in Bizen, is the original home of Bizen-yaki.  The sobriquet Bizen saishō [備前宰相] means something like “Chancellor of Bizen,” and had been used as Ukita Hideie's nickname since shortly after his father’s death (in 1581, when Hideie was 9 years of age).

†Though at the time of this chakai, Hideie was not such a high noble.  His father, Ukita Naoie [宇喜多直家; 1529 ~ 1581], the hereditary lord of Bizen, had died when Hideie was a boy, and Hideie was elevated to a prominent position several months later at a very young age.

    Hideie was subsequently adopted by Toyotomi Hideyoshi after he married Hideyoshi’s adopted daughter Gōhime [豪姫; 1574 ~ 1634 -- whose birth-father was the great lord Maeda Toshiie].

⁵Konishi [小西].

    This seems to have been the daimyō-nobleman Konishi Yukinaga [小西行長; 1555 ~ 1600]*, who was Governor of the Province of Settsu (Settsu no kami [攝津守])†.  He is also sometimes known as Agostinho‡ Konishi.

   Yukinaga was the son of  Konishi Ryūsa [小西隆佐; dates unknown], a wealthy merchant from Sakai, and was elevated to daimyō status by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.  For this reason, he supported Toyotomi Hideyori’s cause at the battle of Sekigahara; and afterward he was captured and executed (because, as a Christian, he was forbidden to commit seppuku).

   Yukinaga originally was married to a woman from Sakai, who was baptized Justa [ジュスタ]; later**, he married a Korean woman, who is known to history only as Catalina [カタリナ].

    In the Rikyū Hyakkai Ki [利休百會記], at a chakai that Rikyū hosted on the 11th day of the Eleventh Lunar Month of Tenshō 18, Yukinaga also appeared as the ji-kyaku to Ukita Hideie (who was, once again, the shōkyaku).  This suggests that Yukinaga acted as a sort of guardian for the young Hideie (who was just 15 years old at the time of the present chakai). ___________ *According to Tanaka Senshō, however, this entry refers to Konishi Josei [小西如清; the dates of his birth and death have not been confirmed], who was the eldest son of Konishi Ryūsa.

    Josei remained farther apart from Hideyoshi's government than his father and brother, acting more as a political merchant (and also managing the family's businesses); though he also served as Sakai mandokoro [堺��所] (Chief Financial Administrator of Sakai -- on behalf of Hideyoshi's tax interests).  His departure for Kyūshū may have been connected with this function -- since Hideyoshi would have welcomed the additional funds coming into his war-chest at the start of the Kyūshū campaign.

    Josei was also a chajin, and he is numbered among Rikyū's disciples -- and it may be for this reason (alone) that Tanaka Senshō assumed the name “Konishi” referred to him.

†He was also named as Governor of Hyuga (Hyuga no kami [日向 守]), a province in Southeastern Kyūshū, by Hideyoshi, due to his assistance in subduing an uprising in Hyuga province during Hideyoshi’s Kyūshū campaign (1587).

   On account of these governorships, Konishi Yukinaga held the junior grade of the Fifth Rank.

‡The Portuguese form of Augustinus, Augustine.  He was a baptized Christian, and one of the so-called kirishitan daimyō [キリシタン大名  = 吉利支丹大名, 切支丹大名].

**Konishi Yukinaga lead one of Hideyoshi’s armies on the Korean peninsula, where he presumably met the woman who became his second wife.  It is not clear from the records if or when his first wife may have died, though his subsequent behavior following the battle of Sekigahara (where he refused to commit seppuku on account of the teachings of his Catholic faith) suggests that he must have been widowered.

⁶Sōun [宗雲].

   This person appeared as a guest on the 15th day of the First Month, at a chakai also held in the Shū-un-an.  Possibly he was one of the senior monks of the Nanshū-ji*, and maybe he was the new (if temporary) occupant of the Shū-un-an† (since Nambō Sōkei seems to have been spending most of his time looking after Rikyū's Ima-ichi machi compound during his prolonged absences at Hideyoshi's court) -- though this person has, in fact, not been identified. __________ *The name Sōun [宗雲] is known to have been used by several historical monks, though none of those identified lived during the sixteenth century -- which does not, of course, mean that there was no such person.  Whomever he was, he seems not to have left any more mark on history than his mention in this kaiki.

†At the chakai held on the 15th of the First Month, Sōun was the shōkyaku.  Perhaps his occupation of the Shū-un-an commenced at the beginning of the year.

⁷Sho [初].

    The shoza.

    As for the kane-wari:

- the kakemono was displayed in the toko, making the toko han [半];

- the ko-ita furo was arranged by itself on the utensil mat, making that han [半] as well;

- and the tana supported the kan and habōki, apparently arranged side by side so that each of them contacted a different kane, making the tana chō [調].

    Han + han + chō is chō, which is appropriate for a chakai held during the daytime.

⁸Yoku-ryō-an [欲了庵].

    Yoku-ryō-an [欲了庵] was the name by which Rikyū referred to this scroll -- which was one of his most treasured possessions.  The honshi [本紙] was written by the Yuan period Chán monk Liǎo-ān Qīng-yù [了庵清欲; 1288 ~ 1363].

    In the Enkaku-ji manuscript, this entry is marked with a red spot, indicating that the kakemono was the “featured utensil” for this chakai.

⁹Unryū ko-ita furo ni [雲龍 小板風爐ニ].

    This was the first small unryū-gama (with a beaten copper lid, and kimen kan-tsuki), shown below.

    It was arranged on a gotoku placed within the large Temmyō kimen-buro that had belonged to Ashikaga Yoshimasa (and, later, Oda Nobunaga).

    The furo was, in turn, standing on a ko-ita [小板] (the shiki-ita designed by Jōō for this kind of furo:  the ita measured 9-sun 5-bu square).

    This kama and furo were in Rikyū’s keeping since he would be taking them along to Kyūshū with him, to use when serving tea to Hideyoshi and his staff and guests.

¹⁰Tana ni kan ・ habōki [棚ニ クハン ・ 羽帚].

    Rikyū seems to have used his bronze kan with this kama; and the habōki was a go-sun-hane [五寸羽], as was proper in the small room.

¹¹Go [後].

    The goza.

    With respect to the kane-wari:

- the kakemono remained hanging by itself* in the toko, so the toko continued to be han [半];

- the mizusashi was placed on the utensil mat (with the chaire and chawan arranged in front of it) to the left of the ko-ita furo, making the room chō [調];

- and the tana was left empty (which counts as chō [調], in so far as the kane-wari is concerned).

    Han + chō + chō is han, which is the correct state for the goza of a gathering held in the daytime.

¹²Toko sono-mama [床其儘].

    What Rikyū means by this expression is that the kakemono remained hanging in the toko -- entirely appropriate because this was the featured utensil (and because flowers were generally eschewed when it was raining).

¹³Chaire Ryugo [茶入 リウコ].

    There is scholarly debate around this chaire.  Some say the name should be understood as ryūgo [立鼓] (meaning a standing drum), and refers to a drum-shaped karamono chaire (originally made as the container for medicinal liqueur intended as a gift).

    Others, however, argue for the homophonous ryūgo [立觚], which refers to a ceremonial drinking cup (with a rounded bottom and flaring rim), as shown below.

    It is not really possible to say which of these containers Rikyū may have used (though a review of the kinds of pieces that he generally preferred suggests that the second of the two is the more likely).

    Rikyū would naturally have used an ori-tame [折撓] chashaku of his own making together with this chaire.

¹⁴Chawan kuro Ayame [茶碗 黒 アヤメ]*.

    This is the first entry in Rikyū's kaiki that may be confidently identified with one of Chōjirō's black chawan.

    The problem is that, historically speaking, this bowl is more usually associated with Sen no Sōtan (both its box and the hako-gaki were provided by him; and this chawan was used during a number of Sōtan’s gatherings), than with Rikyū.  (This, in turn, could be a hint that the record of this chakai may have been inserted into the book during the early Edo period -- since both the Tokugawa bakufu and the Sen family would have had reasons for wanting to highlight the connection between Chōjirō's kuro-chawan -- and particularly this bowl -- and Rikyū)†.  Indeed, other than the present entry, no reference to this chawan is found in any of Rikyū’s other kaiki or related documents. ___________ *Kumakura Isao takes the name of the chawan to be Kuro-ayame [黒アヤメ].  This interpretation is not supported by any of the other commentators (and, indeed, no chawan of this name is mentioned in any other contemporary document -- or, indeed, anywhere other than in Kumakura’s commentary).

†While various scholars note that this bowl appears “three times” in Book Two of the Nampō Roku, the entry actually appears only here -- the other purported instances (the two chakai that follow the present one in the document) simply read dōzen [同前] (“the same as previously”) without actually repeating the list of utensils.

¹⁵Mizusashi kotoshi no Seto [水指 コトシノ瀬戸].

    This seems to refer to what Rikyū has earlier called the shin-Seto mizusashi [新瀬戸水指] -- a reference to an early Shino piece, possibly made by Furuta Sōshitsu.

    The expression kotoshi-no-Seto [今年の瀬戸], however, is more commonly found in machi-shū documents dating from the early Edo period, than in Rikyū’s writings.

    Meanwhile, the koboshi and futaoki would have been a mentsū [面桶] and take-wa [竹輪], as was usual in the small-room setting.

[scoobydoojedi]

Matsuda clan

The The Matsuda's origins are a bit obscure but they trace

origins to Bizen Province, and the Fujiwara clan by ways of

Fujiwara no Hidesato.By the end of the 15th Century they were a growing power in western Bizen province and clashed with the Akamatsu. They resisted the Akamatsu's efforts to subdue them and come to control Bizen's Asahi River valley. The Matsuda competed with the Urakami and by 1568 had been reduced largely due to the efforts of Ukita Naoie. They afterwards seem to have devoted themselves to religious affairs, in particular Nichiren Buddhism.

*Proment People*

*Matsuda Norihide* (????-1590)

Norhide was the son of Matsuda Yorihide. He was one of Hôjô Ujimasa's chief retainers but during Toyotomi Hideyoshi's siege of Odawara in 1590, he communicated with the enemy. He was uncovered by the Hôjô and placed under confinement. Despite his covert activities, he was made to commit suicide after the fall of the castle along with Ujimasa and Daidôji Masashige. His younger brother Yasusada later came to serve Tokugawa Ieyasu.

*Matsuda Michiyuki* (1832-1882) Matsuda Michiyuki was the seventh governor of Tokyo, and the chief official in charge of overseeing the abolition of the Ryûkyû Kingdom and annexation of its territory as Okinawa prefecture, a process known as the Ryûkyû shobun.After serving as governor of Shiga prefecture for some time, Matsuda stepped down from that position in March 1875 to become Chief Secretary of the Home Ministry. Acting in accordance with "disposal of Ryûkyû" plans articulated by Minister of the Interior Ôkubo Toshimichi, Matsuda met with Ryukyuan officials in March through May that same year, rebuking them for their disloyalty to the Empire of Japan in continuing tributary relations with Qing Dynasty China. In June, he was named "Shobun-kan," or "Disposal Officer," by the Meiji Emperor. He left for Okinawa two days later, arriving in July and beginning the implementation of a number of political and other systematic changes, following the declaration in 1872 that the Ryûkyû Kingdom was now Ryûkyû han, a feudal domain under the Emperor, and thus subject more directly to Japanese law. While the Ryukyuan royal court rejected many of Tokyo's demands (as conveyed by Matsuda), and even sent Ikegusuku ueekata and several other officials to Tokyo where they remained for a year, continuing to reject Tokyo's demands, on behalf of their king, Matsuda still managed to implement numerous policy changes in Ryûkyû, including the imposition of Japanese criminal codes and law enforcement, and the establishment of a permanent army garrison in the islands, which actually arrived the following year.Meanwhile, back in Tokyo, Matsuda was in 1876 named the head of a committee put together by the Home Ministry to organize urban planning in Tokyo. He presented a plan in 1880 which proposed boosting the city's economic development through the elimination of slums, improving the city's safety and hygiene, and improving infrastructure, including roads, canals, the water system, and the port facilities.His plan advocated explicitly focusing on a designated core of the city, and giving little attention to the development of other neighborhoods. Matsuda was succeeded as governor of Tokyo by Yoshikawa Akimasa.Matsuda returned to Ryûkyû in 1877 to present further demands from Tokyo, and in 1878 he presented his own ideas for the "disposal of Ryûkyû" to Itô Hirobumi. Granted permission and authority to begin carrying this plan out, he returned to Ryûkyû once again in January 1879, and presented to Prince Nakijin a formal letter from the Prime Minister reproaching Ryûkyû for breaking the prohibition imposed by Japan on sending diplomatic missions to China, and for obstructing the implementation of Japanese law enforcement and criminal administration in the islands. Spending only a brief time there, he returned to Tokyo, and then back to Ryûkyû two months later, where he presented to the Prince the formal letter officially declaring the dissolution of the Kingdom of Ryûkyû and its annexation by the Japanese Empire, as Okinawa Prefecture.

[scoobydoojedi]

Ukita clan

The Ukita of Bizen Province were descended from Kojima Takanori, who was himself descended from the venerable Miyake family of Bizen Province. The 16th Century opened with the Ukita led by Ukita Yoshiie and vassals of the Urakami family. Yoshiie's grandson Naoie would come to usurp the Urakami and rule all of Bizen. Under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the Ukita became very powerful in western Honshu but lost their domain following the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.

*Prominent People*

*Ukita Yoshiie* (????-1534) Yoshiie served the Urakami family. In 1502 Urakami Norimune died of illness and Matsuda Motokatsu attempted to take advantage of his passing through attacks on the Urakami domain. That winter Yoshiie was part of an Urakami army that crossed the Yoshii River and inflicted a reverse on the Matsuda, returning again the following year. The Urakami and Ukita entered Bizen province's Uemichi district while the Matsuda advanced to the Ono district and established themselves at Kasaiyama. The two sides confronted one another across a dry river bed (Asahi River). Urakami Muramune began the fighting by sending his troops across the river bed, compelling Matsuda to commit the bulk of his forces from Kasaiyama. Seeing that the Urakami were now outnumbered, Yoshiie led his 300 mounted troops out in support and a general melee ensued. The result was a victory for the Urakami and Ukita, with the Matsuda retreating from the field. He continued to clash with the Matsuda until he retired in1524  in 1534 he was assassinated by a assassin and his son Ukita Okiie took headship of the clan but he was a unworthy daimyo and died soon after

*Ukita Naoie* ( 1529 – 1581) After the assassination of Naoie's grandfather Yoshiie in 1534, he was left homeless along with his father, but both were soon taken in by Urakami Munekage, the lord of Tenjinzan Castle. Naoie succeeded to family headship in 1536, after his father's death.Mimura Iechika, a rival warlord, was murdered on Naoie's orders.

*Ukita Hideie* (1573 – 1655) Hideie's father Naoie was daimyo of Bizen province and initially opposed, but later sided with Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Naoie died in 1581, and in 1582 Hideie became the head of the Ukita clan. As Hideie was still young, it was Hideie's uncle [Tadaie] who acted as leader of the Ukita army (under Toyotomi Hideyoshi) during the siege of Bitchu Takamatsu Castle in 1582. Nobunaga was assassinated on June 2 of that year, but the siege continued until the castle fell two days later. Hideyoshi raced back to Kyoto, leaving the Ukita clan in charge of Bizen, Mimasaka and newly taken parts of Bitchu provinces. The Ukita were also to keep watch on Mōri Terumoto to the west.

In 1586, Hideie was married to Hideyoshi's adopted daughter, Gohime. (She had been adopted by Hideyoshi from Maeda Toshiie.)

Hideie joined Hideyoshi's military campaigns in Shikoku (1585), Kyushu (1586) and the Siege of Odawara (1590). Following the unification of Japan under Hideyoshi, Hideie joined the Korean campaigns, returning in 1598 to serve as one of Hideyoshi's five counselors, along with Maeda Toshiie, Uesugi Kagekatsu, Mōri Terumoto, and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Hideyoshi died in 1598, leaving his five-year-old son Hideyori as his successor and Tokugawa Ieyasu moved to take control. Hideie contributed 17,000 men to the Toyotomi army at the Battle of Sekigahara but they were defeated after many of their "allies" defected to the Tokugawa side. One of these defectors was Kobayakawa Hideaki, who was granted Okayama Castle and surrounding Ukita territories as the spoils of war.

Hideie escaped from the confusion of the battlefield, but was later found and exiled to the island of Hachijōjima, along with several supporters, including his two sons and their nurse(s?). Hideie's wife sought refuge with the Maeda clan and was able to correspond and send gifts (rice, sake, clothing) to her husband and sons from there.

Hideie eventually outlived his wife and all of the sengoku (warring states) era samurai. He was offered a conditional pardon after Ieyasu's death, but declined and never returned to the mainland. His wife had died, the Toyotomi were defeated, there was no place to return to, his sons had fathered children on Hachijo, and the Shogunate was to be inherited by members of the Tokugawa clan.

There is no evidence to suggest that Hideie fathered any further children himself, but many of his sons' descendants emigrated back to the Japanese mainland when a full pardon was granted at the end of the Tokugawa era.