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Hosokawa Tadaoki

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In this Japanese name, the surname is Hosokawa.
Hosokawa Tadaoki
細川忠興
Hosokawa Tadaoki
Head of Kumamoto-Hosokawa clan
In office
1582–1620
Preceded byHosokawa Fujitaka
Succeeded byHosokawa Tadatoshi
Daimyō of Nakatsu
In office
1600–1602
Succeeded byOgasawara Nagatsugu
Daimyō of Kokura
In office
1602–1620
Succeeded byHosokawa Tadatoshi
Personal details
BornNovember 28, 1563
DiedJanuary 18, 1646(1646-01-18) (aged 82)
Daitoku-ji, Kyoto
NationalityJapanese
SpouseHosokawa Gracia
Parents
Military service
Allegiance Oda clan
Toyotomi clan
Eastern Army
Tokugawa shogunate
Unit Hosokawa clan
Battles/warsBattle of Komaki and Nagakute
Odawara Campaign
Korean campaign
Battle of Sekigahara
Siege of Osaka

Hosokawa Tadaoki (細川忠興, November 28, 1563 – January 18, 1646) was a Japanese samurai warrior of the late Sengoku period and early Edo period.[1] He was the son of Hosokawa Fujitaka with Numata Jakō, and he was the husband of a famous Christian convert (Kirishitan), Hosokawa Gracia. For most of his life, he went under the name of Nagaoka Tadaoki that had been adopted by his father and was related to a town that was in their domain.[2] Shortly after the victory at Sekigahara, Nagaoka Tadaoki reverted to his original name Hosokawa Tadaoki.[3]

Biography

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Tadaoki was the eldest son of Hosokawa Fujitaka.[4] He fought in his first battle at the age of 15. In that battle, he was in the service of Oda Nobunaga. His childhood name was Kumachiyo (熊千代). Tadaoki was given the Province of Tango in 1580. Soon after that, he married Hosokawa Gracia, the daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide.

In 1582, Akechi Mitsuhide rebelled against Nobunaga and Nobunaga was killed. Akechi turned to Hosokawa Fujitaka and Hosokawa Tadaoki for help. They refused to help him, later Mitsuhide was defeated by Hideyoshi.

Tadaoki was present on Hideyoshi's side in the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute (1584) and the Odawara Campaign (1590), where he took part in the siege of Nirayama (Izu Province) and later joined the main army outside Odawara. During the 1590s he became friends with Tokugawa Ieyasu (who had lent him money to assist in some debts owed Toyotomi Hidetsugu) and in 1600 sided with him against Ishida Mitsunari.

He was succeeded by Hosokawa Tadatoshi (1586–1641), who was present at the Siege of Shimabara (1637–1638). In 1632 Tadatoshi received a huge fief in Higo (Kumamoto, 540,000 koku), where the Hosokawa family remained until 1871.


Conflict with Ishida Mitsunari

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According to popular theory In 1598 after the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the government of Japan have an accident when seven military generals consisted of Fukushima Masanori, Katō Kiyomasa, Ikeda Terumasa, Hosokawa Tadaoki, Asano Yoshinaga, Katō Yoshiaki, and Kuroda Nagamasa planned a conspiracy to kill Ishida Mitsunari. It was said that the reason of this conspiracy was dissatisfaction of those generals towards Mitsunari as he wrote bad assessments and underreported the achievements of those generals during the Imjin war against Korea & Chinese empire.[5] At first, these generals gathered at Kiyomasa's mansion in Osaka Castle, and from there they moved into Mitsunari's mansion. However, Mitsunari learned of this through a report from a servant of Toyotomi Hideyori named Jiemon Kuwajima, and fled to Satake Yoshinobu's mansion together with Shima Sakon and others to hide.[5] When the seven generals found out that Mitsunari was not in the mansion, they searched the mansions of various feudal lords in Osaka Castle, and Kato's army also approached the Satake residence. Therefore, Mitsunari and his party escaped from the Satake residence and barricaded themselves at Fushimi Castle.[6] The next day, the seven generals surrounded Fushimi Castle with their soldiers as they knew Mitsunari was hiding there. Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was in charge of political affairs in Fushimi Castle trying to arbitrate the situation. The seven generals requested Ieyasu to hand over Mitsunari, which refused by Ieyasu. Ieyasu then negotiated the promised to let Mitsunari retire and to review the assessment of the Battle of Ulsan Castle in Korea which became the major source of this incident, and had his second son, Yūki Hideyasu, to escort Mitsunari to Sawayama Castle.[7] However, historian Watanabe Daimon stated from the primary and secondary sources text about the accident this was more of legal conflict between those generals with Mitsunari, rather than conspiracy to murder him. The role of Ieyasu here was not to physically protect Mitsunari from any physical harm from them, but to mediate the complaints of those generals.[8]

Nevertheless, historians viewed this incident not just as simply personal problems between those seven generals and Mitsunari, but rather as an extension of the political rivalries of greater scope between the Tokugawa faction and the anti-Tokugawa faction led by Mitsunari. Since this incident, those military figures who were on bad terms with Mitsunari would later support Ieyasu during the conflict of Sekigahara between the Eastern army led by Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Western army led by Ishida Mitsunari.[5][9] Muramatsu Shunkichi, writer of "The Surprising Colors and Desires of the Heroes of Japanese History and violent womens”, gave his assessment that the reason of Mitsunari failure in his war against Ieyasu was due to his unpopularity among the major political figures of that time.[10]

Grave of Tadaoki and his wife Gracia, at Daitokuji, Kyoto

Battle of Sekigahara

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Main article: Battle of Sekigahara

In July 1600, Ishida Mitsunari had attempted to gain some leverage over those leaning towards Ieyasu by taking as hostages all those whose families were in Osaka Castle, this happened to include Tadaoki's wife, who was by now a Christian, baptized "Gracia". To avoid capture, Hosokawa Gracia ordered a servant to kill her and set fire to their quarters. While there is little reason to believe that Tadaoki was emotionally scarred by the incident, it was considered an appalling act of trickery, and served to drive Tadaoki into Ieyasu's side.

On October 20, 1600 at the Battle of Sekigahara, Tadaoki commanded 5,000 men in the Tokugawa vanguard and clashed with the forces of Shima Sakon. Afterwards, He was awarded a fief in Buzen (Kokura, 370,000 koku) and went on to serve at the Siege of Osaka (1614–1615).

Hosokawa Tadaoki Battle standards

Family

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Retainers

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See also

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References

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The emblem (mon) of the Hosokawa clan
  1. ^ 細川忠興 at Nihon jinmei daijiten; retrieved 2013-5-29.
  2. ^ Walker, Robin Noel. (2002). "Nagaoka+Tadaoki" in Shoko-Ken: A Late Medieval Daime Sukiya Style Japanese Tea-House, p. 32.
  3. ^ Walker, Robin Noel. (2002). "Nagaoka+Tadaoki" in Shoko-Ken: A Late Medieval Daime Sukiya Style Japanese Tea-House, p. 32.
  4. ^ Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Hosokawa Tadaoki" in Japan Encyclopedia, p. 359.
  5. ^ a b c Mizuno Goki (2013). "前田利家の死と石田三成襲撃事件" [Death of Toshiie Maeda and attack on Mitsunari Ishida]. 政治経済史学 (in Japanese) (557号).
  6. ^ Kasaya Kazuhiko (2000). "豊臣七将の石田三成襲撃事件―歴史認識形成のメカニズムとその陥穽―" [Seven Toyotomi Generals' Attack on Ishida Mitsunari - Mechanism of formation of historical perception and its downfall]. 日本研究 (in Japanese) (22集).
  7. ^ Kasaya Kazuhiko (2000). "徳川家康の人情と決断―三成"隠匿"の顚末とその意義―" [Tokugawa Ieyasu's humanity and decisions - The story of Mitsunari's "concealment" and its significance]. 大日光 (70号).
  8. ^ "七将に襲撃された石田三成が徳川家康に助けを求めたというのは誤りだった". yahoo.co.jp/expert/articles/ (in Japanese). 渡邊大門 無断転載を禁じます。 © LY Corporation. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  9. ^ Mizuno Goki (2016). "石田三成襲撃事件の真相とは". In Watanabe Daimon (ed.). 戦国史の俗説を覆す [What is the truth behind the Ishida Mitsunari attack?] (in Japanese). 柏書房.
  10. ^ 歴代文化皇國史大觀 [Overview of history of past cultural empires] (in Japanese). Japan: Oriental Cultural Association. 1934. p. 592. Retrieved 23 May 2024.
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Further reading

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  • Sansom, George "A History of Japan", 1334–1615 Stanford 1961
  • Berry, Mary Elizabeth "Hideyoshi" 1982
  • Charles Ralph Boxer, "Hosokawa Tadaoki and the Jesuits, 1587–1645" in Portuguese Merchants and Missionaries in Feudal Japan, 1543–1640, by Variorum Reprints (1986)
Preceded by
none
 Daimyō of Nakatsu
1600–1602 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
none
 Daimyō of Kokura
1602–1620 		Succeeded by
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