Hideyoshi’s World – Sengoku Japan
Between 1467 and 1590, Japan was plunged into a lengthy time of civil strife between different samurai clans. This period, called the Sengoku Era or “Warring States” Period, began with the Onin War (1467-77), and ended only with Hideyoshi’s reunification of the country more than a century later.
In essence, Sengoku Japan was ruled by local militias of different sizes and strengths, all vying for power. The times were characterized by instability and constant bloodshed. It was a dangerous world to be born into.
Hideyoshi’s Early Life
In 1536, in the village of Nakamura, Owari Province, a peasant farmer and his wife welcomed their second child into the world - a son. The father was a part-time soldier for the Oda clan, named Yaemon. According to legend, the new parents named their baby Hiyoshimaru (“Bounty of the Sun”) because his mother dreamed that a ray of sunlight had entered her body, leading to the child’s conception. (This story is probably a later attempt to tie Hideyoshi to the Emperor, who was worshiped as a descendant of the sun.)
Yaemon died in 1543, when his son was only seven years old, and his widow soon remarried. Her new husband also served Oda Nobuhide, the daimyo of the Owari region. Hideyoshi and his older sister were joined in time by a half-brother and a half-sister.
Hideyoshi was small for his age, skinny, and not good-looking. His parents sent him to a temple to get an education when he was in his early teens, but the boy ran away seeking adventure. In 1551, he joined the service of Matsushita Yukitsuna, who was a retainer of the powerful Imagawa family in Totomi province. This was an unusual choice since both Hideyoshi’s father and his step-father had served the Oda clan.
Hideyoshi Returns to Owari
According to his official biography, Hideyoshi returned home in 1558 and offered his service to Oda Nobuhide’s son, Nobunaga. He likely was motivated by the Imagawa clan’s decision to send an army 40,000 strong to invade Owari, Hideyoshi’s home province, on the way to the capital of Kyoto. The young man was taking a huge gamble – the Oda army numbered only about 2,000. It turned out to be a shrewd move, however.
In 1560, the Imagawa and Oda armies met in battle at Okehazama. The vastly outnumbered forces of Oda Nobunaga ambushed the Imagawa troops in a driving rainstorm, and scored an incredible victory. Imagawa Yoshimoto died in the fight, and his much-reduced army beat a retreat.
According to legend, Hideyoshi served in this battle as Nobunaga’s sandal-bearer. He does not seem to have made a huge impression on his new master at the time, however. The first mention of Hideyoshi in Nobunaga’s surviving writings does not appear until the early 1570s.
Marriage and a Promotion
In 1561, Hideyoshi married a girl called Nene (sometimes referred to as “One”). She became his counselor and confidant, but never managed to bear a son for him.
Six years later, Hideyoshi led a raid that captured Inabayama Castle for the Oda clan. Nobunaga rewarded him by making him a general; Hideyoshi also took the family name “Hashiba” at this time.
Throughout the late 1560s and early 1570s, Oda Nobunaga worked to defeat neighboring daimyo, acquiring increasing amounts of land and power. Some power-brokers assumed that Nobunaga supported the return of the Ashikaga shogunate; Ashikaga Yoshiaki offered Nobunaga an administrative post in the new government, and was surprised when he turned it down. Nobunaga had bigger plans, though. He wanted to rule Japan in his own right, rather than serving a shogun.
In order to consolidate power in his own hands, Nobunaga was more than willing to wipe out the other daimyo, raze temples and shrines, and lay waste to entire districts. He even sacrificed his own mother; she was given to a different clan in a hostage exchange. Nobunaga decided to slay his hostage, with the inevitable result that his mother was killed in retaliation. Hideyoshi served a highly successful but utterly ruthless master.
In 1570, Oda Nobunaga launched an attack against the Asakura clan in Echizen. He was forced to retreat when his former allies, the Asai and Rokkaku clans, joined battle on the Asakura side. (The alliance with the Asai had been confirmed through the marriage of Nobunaga’s sister to daimyo Asai Nagamasa; this reversal put her in a very delicate position.)
Rather than give up the fight altogether, Nobunaga turned and attacked his brother-in-law’s castle, Odani. Hideyoshi led the first three detachments of one thousand samurai each against the well-fortified castle. Nobunaga’s army used the devastating and relatively new technology of firearms to good effect, deploying infantry rather than the traditional ranks of horse-mounted swordsmen. Muskets are not much use against castle walls, however, so Hideyoshi’s section of the Oda army settled in for a lengthy siege of Odani Castle.
By 1573, Nobunaga's troops had defeated the Azai and Asakura both. For his part in these important victories, Hideyoshi was awarded the daimyo-ship of three regions within Omi Province. Nobunaga also had control of Kyoto, the imperial capital. Hideyoshi took over Himeji Castle in 1576, using it as a base of operations against the rulers of the Chugoku region. These campaigns went so well that by 1580, Oda Nobunaga had consolidated power over 31 of the 66 provinces in Japan.
Upheaval and a Leadership Change
In 1582, Nobunaga's erstwhile ally and general Akechi Mitsuhide turned his army against his lord, attacking and over-running Nobunaga's castle. Mitsuhide forced Nobunaga and his eldest son to commit seppuku. The general was upset because Nobunaga's diplomatic machinations had resulted in the hostage-murder of Mitsuhide's mother.
Hideyoshi captured one of Mitsuhide's messengers and learned of Nobunaga's death the next day. He and other Oda generals, including Tokugawa Ieyasu, raced to avenge their lord's death. Hideyoshi was able to catch up with Mitsuhide first; he defeated and killed him at the Battle of Yamazaki just 13 days after Nobunaga's death.
