At the age of 15, Hosokawa Tadaoki engaged in his first battle under the command of Oda Nobunaga. In 1580, he was granted the Tango domain in present-day northern Kyoto Prefecture and entered into an arranged marriage with the daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide, another trusted general of Oda Nobunaga.
This strategic union aimed to fortify the bonds among Oda's vassals. However, when Mitsuhide betrayed and killed Nobunaga in the Honnoji Incident, seeking aid from Tadaoki and his father Fujitaka, both refused to assist. Tadaoki later fought alongside Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the Battle of Komaki Nagakute in 1584 and participated in the Siege of Odawara against the Hojo Clan in 1590.
Renowned for his literary and poetic prowess, Tadaoki, like his father Yusai, was a skilled practitioner of the tea ceremony, having studied under the esteemed tea master Sen no Rikyu. Despite his proficiency in cultured pursuits, Tadaoki was known for his formidable temper.
In 1600, leading up to the Battle of Sekigahara, Tadaoki and his father aligned with the Tokugawa, driven in part by the Western forces' attempt to take Tadaoki's wife, Gracia, hostage, resulting in her tragic death during an attack on their mansion by Ishida Mitsunari's forces. Tadaoki's father defended Tanabe Castle against a substantial Western force, preventing them from joining the main conflict at Sekigahara.
Commanding a force of 5,000 samurai at Sekigahara, Tadaoki engaged in intense hand-to-hand combat, directly clashing with Shima Sakon's troops near the Toyotomi Loyalists' base on Mt Sasao. Post-Sekigahara, Tadaoki received land in Kokura and participated in the Sieges of Osaka in 1614 and 1615 before retiring in 1620. He passed away at the age of 82 and was laid to rest at Kyoto's Daitoku-ji Temple, beside his wife, Gracia. Following her death, he remained single for 46 years.
See also
Masakage was one of Takeda Shingen’s most loyal and capable commanders. He was included in the famous list of the “Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda Shingen” and also belonged to the inner circle of four especially trusted warlords known as the Shitennō. Yagyū Munenori began his service under Tokugawa Ieyasu while his father, Yagyū Muneyoshi, was still at his side. In 1600, Munenori took part in the decisive Battle of Sekigahara. As early as 1601, he was appointed a kenjutsu instructor to Tokugawa Hidetada, Ieyasu’s son, who later became the second shogun of the Tokugawa clan. A samurai from Yamato Province, he was born into a family that had been defeated in its struggle against the Tsutsui clan. Muneyoshi first took part in battle at the age of sixteen. Due to circumstances beyond his control, he was forced to enter the service of the Tsutsui house and later served Miyoshi Tōkei. He subsequently came under the command of Matsunaga Hisahide and in time became a vassal first of Oda and later of Toyotomi. Naozune served under Azai Nagamasa and was one of the clan’s leading vassals, renowned for his bravery and determination. He accompanied Nagamasa during his first meeting with Oda Nobunaga and at that time asked for permission to kill Nobunaga, fearing him as an extremely dangerous man; however, Nagamasa did not grant this request. Sumimoto came from the Hosokawa clan: he was the biological son of Hosokawa Yoshiharu and at the same time the adopted son of Hosokawa Masamoto, the heir of Hosokawa Katsumoto, one of the principal instigators of the Ōnin War. Masamoto was homosexual, never married, and had no children of his own. At first he adopted Sumiyuki, a scion of the aristocratic Kujō family, but this choice provoked dissatisfaction and sharp criticism from the senior vassals of the Hosokawa house. As a result, Masamoto changed his decision and proclaimed Sumimoto as his heir, a representative of a collateral branch of the Hosokawa clan that had long been based in Awa Province on the island of Shikoku. Almost immediately after this, the boy became entangled in a complex and bitter web of political intrigue. Masanobu initially belonged to the retinue of Tokugawa Ieyasu, but later entered the service of Sakai Shōgen, a daimyo and priest from Ueno. This shift automatically made him an enemy of Ieyasu, who was engaged in conflict with the Ikkō-ikki movement in Mikawa Province. After the Ikkō-ikki were defeated in 1564, Masanobu was forced to flee, but in time he returned and once again entered Ieyasu’s service. He did not gain fame as a military commander due to a wound sustained in his youth; nevertheless, over the following fifty years he consistently remained loyal to Ieyasu. Masazumi was the eldest son of Honda Masanobu. From a young age, he served Tokugawa Ieyasu alongside his father, taking part in the affairs of the Tokugawa house and gradually gaining experience in both military and administrative matters. At the decisive Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Masazumi was part of the core Tokugawa forces, a clear sign of the high level of trust Ieyasu placed in him. After the campaign ended, he was given a highly sensitive assignment—serving in the guard of the defeated Ishida Mitsunari, one of Tokugawa’s principal enemies—an obligation that required exceptional reliability and caution. Hōjō Shigetoki, the third son of Hōjō Yoshitoki, was still very young—only five years old—when his grandfather Tokimasa became the first member of the Hōjō clan to assume the position of shogunal regent.
Yamagata Masakage
Yagyu Munenori
Yagyu Muneyoshi
Endo Naozune
Hosokawa Sumimoto
Honda Masanobu
Honda Masazumi
Hojo Shigetoki
