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
Takanobu was the eldest son of Ryūzōji Takaie and the great-grandson of Ryūzōji Iekane. His father was killed by a man named Baba Yoritiku in 1544. At a young age, Takanobu took Buddhist vows and received the monastic name Engetsu. However, around the age of eighteen, he returned to secular life, and in 1548, after the death of Ryūzōji Tanehide, he became the head of both branches of the Ryūzōji family. Ōuchi Yoshihiro was the second son of Ōuchi Hiroyo, who headed the Ōuchi clan in the western part of Honshu. In 1363, Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu confirmed the Ōuchi family in the position of shugo of Suō and Nagato Provinces. In his youth, Yoshihiro assisted his father in strengthening the influence of the Northern Court on the island of Kyushu — they served under Imagawa Ryōsun, who had been tasked with subjugating the nine provinces of Kyushu. Ouchi Yoshioki, the ruler of the provinces of Suo, Nagato, and Iwami, was one of the most capable military commanders and politicians of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The son of Ouchi Masahiro, he governed from his residence in Yamaguchi in the province of Suo. In 1499, Yoshioki gave refuge to Shogun Ashikaga Yoshitane, who had been driven out of Kyoto by Hosokawa Masamoto. Shogun Yoshizumi, Masamoto’s protégé, ordered the lords of Kyushu to unite their forces against Yoshioki; however, they did not dare to do so, fearing the power of a man who by that time controlled six provinces. Having gathered a substantial army, Yoshioki marched from his native Suo toward Kyoto in order to restore Shogun Yoshitane to power. Ōtomo Yoshishige came from a noble lineage, being the eldest son of Ōtomo Yoshiaki, the ruler of Funai Province. The roots of the Ōtomo family traced back to Fujiwara Hidesato, the adopted son of Nakahara Chikayoshi. Fujiwara served Minamoto Yoritomo during the Genpei War and took part in battles in Mutsu Province in 1189. In 1193, he was appointed shugo of Buzen and Bungo Provinces, after which he adopted a new surname—Ōtomo. Sadamasa was the son of Okudaira Sadayoshi and took part in several battles under Tokugawa Ieyasu, distinguishing himself in the Battle of Anegawa in 1570, where he took two heads. Around 1572 he was forced to enter the service of the Takeda clan, but after the death of Takeda Shingen in 1573 he returned to Tokugawa, leaving Tsukude Castle together with his men. As a result of this defection, Takeda Katsuyori ordered the execution of Sadamasa’s wife and brother, who were being held as hostages. Tadatika, the son of Okubo Tadayō, entered the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu at the age of eleven, and took his first head in battle when he was sixteen. After the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, he was appointed as a rōjū — a senior bakufu official — and was regarded as one of Ieyasu’s most trusted advisors, alongside Honda Masanobu. He is also known for his military chronicle Mikawa Monogatari, which describes Ieyasu’s rise to power and the early years of the Tokugawa shogunate. Nagayasu was the second son of Okura Nobuyasu, a sarugaku theater actor from the Takeda clan. Takeda Shingen recognized the young man’s potential and took him into service, appointing him as a vassal to his general, Tsuchiya Masatsugu. During this period, Nagayasu changed his family name to Tsuchiya. He was entrusted with developing the Takeda clan’s gold mines as well as handling matters related to taxation. Nitta Yoshisada was a loyal soldier of Emperor Go-Daigo, who in the 1330s attempted to restore direct imperial rule in Japan. The Nitta family was related to the Ashikaga house and was older in lineage. However, they did not join Minamoto Yoritomo at the start of his war with the Taira, as the Ashikaga did, and therefore did not receive high positions in the Kamakura shogunate. This may have been one of the reasons why Yoshisada rose against the Hōjō clan in 1333.
Ryuzoji Takanobu
Ouchi Yoshihiro
Ouchi Yoshioki
Otomo Sorin
Okudaira Sadamasa
Okubo Tadatika
Okubo Nagayasu
Nitta Yoshisada
