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Kobayakawa Takakage
was a samurai and daimyō (feudal military lord) during the Sengoku period and Azuchi–Momoyama period. He was the third son of Mōri Motonari who was adopted by the Kobayakawa clan and became its 14th clan head. He merged the two branches of the Kobayakawa, the Takehara-Kobayakawa clan (竹原小早川氏) and Numata- Kobayakawa clan (沼田小早川氏). He became an active commander of the Mōri army and he with his brother Kikkawa Motoharu became known as the “''Mōri Ryōsen''", or “''Mōri's Two Rivers''" (毛利両川). As head of the Kobayakawa clan, he expanded the clan's territory in the Chūgoku region (western Honshū), and fought for the Mōri clan in all their campaigns At first he opposed Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi but later swore loyalty and became a retainer of Hideyoshi who awarded him domains in Iyo Province on Shikoku and Chikuzen Province on Kyūshū, totalling 350,000 ''koku''. Hideyoshi gave him the title ''Chûnagon'' also appointed him t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mihara Domain
The was a Han (country subdivision), feudal domain of Japan in the Edo period. Located in what is now Mihara, Hiroshima, Mihara City, Hiroshima Prefecture, it encompassed the southern part of Bingo Province. Its headquarter was Mihara Castle (三原城 ''Mihara-jō''). At its peak, it was rated at 30,000 ''koku''. For more than two hundred years the daimyō of Mihara were a collateral branch of the Asano clan who held Hiroshima Domain. It was a subordinate of Hiroshima Domain where the main line of the Asano clan ruled from. History Mihara Castle was built 1567 by Kobayakawa Takakage, the third son of the famous warlord Mōri Motonari who controlled most of Aki Province, Aki and Bingo Province, Bingo Provinces. It was a large scale castle with 3 baileys, 32 sumi Yagura (tower), yagura (corner towers), and 14 Mon (architecture), mon (gates). It was built on the coast and connected two islands giving rise to the nickname ''Ukishirō'' or "floating castle." Kobayakawa Takakage move ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kobayakawa Clan
The was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Taira clan. Their holdings were in the Chūgoku region. They were a powerful clan during the Sengoku period but were disbanded during the Edo period after the Battle of Sekigahara. However, the Kobayakawa clan was restored by the Mōri clan during the Meiji period and granted a title of baronage in the new nobility. In addition, the Kusai clan of Takehara which is a branch of the Kobayakawa were granted a rank of nobility. Origins The Kobayakawa clan descend from the Kanmu-Heishi branch of the Taira clan (平氏) who are descendants of the 50th Emperor of Japan, Emperor Kanmu. The son of Taira no Tsunemune (平常宗), Nakamura Munehira (中村宗平) founded the Nakamura clan (中村氏) of Sagami Province. His first son became the next head of the Nakamura while his second son, Dohi Sanehira (土肥実平), founded the Dohi clan (土肥氏). Once again Sanehira's first son continued the Dohi clan while his secon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Miyajima
The 1555 was the only battle to be fought on the sacred island of Miyajima; the entire island is considered to be a Shinto shrine, and no birth or death is allowed on the island. Extensive purification rituals took place after the battle, to cleanse the shrine and the island of the pollution of death. The Battle of Miyajima was the turning point in a campaign for control of the Ōuchi clan and of Aki Province, a strategically important province for establishing control of western Honshu. It was an important step for the Mōri clan in taking the foremost position in western Japan, and cemented the reputation of Mōri Motonari as a cunning strategist. Background In 1551, Sue Harukata revolted against his lord Ōuchi Yoshitaka in the Tainei-ji incident, forcing him to commit seppuku. Sue installed the next lord of the clan, Ōuchi Yoshinaga (younger brother of Ōtomo Sōrin), but effectively led the Ōuchi family and its armies, intent on military expansion. In 1554, Mōri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kikkawa Motoharu
was the second son of Mōri Motonari, and featured prominently in all the wars of the Mōri clan. He became an active commander of the Mōri army and he with his brother Kobayakawa Takakage became known as the “Mōri Ryōsen", or “Mōri's Two Rivers" (毛利両川). Biography In 1530, he was born in Yoshida-Kōriyama Castle. When Motoharu was young he was adopted into the Kikkawa clan by Kikkawa Okitsune. He then became head of the family around 1550. In 1547, He married Kumagai Nobunao's daughter. Motoharu fought in many battles alongside his brother, Kobayakawa Takakage, including the 1555 Battle of Miyajima and the 1570 Battle of Nunobeyama. In 1566, he claimed Izumo Province as his fief, after defeating its lords, the Amago clan, in a number of battles. He fought in the 1568 Battle of Torisaka. and the 1569 Battle of Tatarahama. Motoharu also fought in many battles against the Oda such as the 1578 Siege of Kōzuki Castle and the 1582 Siege of Takamatsu. After ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Azuchi–Momoyama Period
The was the final phase of the in Japanese history from 1568 to 1600. After the outbreak of the Ōnin War in 1467, the power of the Ashikaga Shogunate effectively collapsed, marking the start of the chaotic Sengoku period. In 1568, Oda Nobunaga entered Kyoto to install Ashikaga Yoshiaki as the 15th and ultimately final Ashikaga '' shōgun''. This entrance marked the start of the Azuchi-Momoyama period. Nobunaga overthrew Yoshiaki and dissolved the Ashikaga Shogunate in 1573, launching a war of conquest to politically unify Japan by force from his base in Azuchi. Nobunaga was forced to commit suicide in the Honnō-ji Incident in 1582. His successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi completed Nobunaga's campaign of unification and enacted reforms to consolidate his rule, marking the end of the Sengoku period. Hideyoshi launched the Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592, but their failure damaged his prestige, and his young son and successor Toyotomi Hideyori was challenged by Tokugawa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sengoku Period
The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as the period's start date, but there are many competing historiographies for its end date, ranging from 1568, the date of Oda Nobunaga#Ise campaign, Omi campaign, and march to Kyoto, Oda Nobunaga's march on Kyoto, to the suppression of the Shimabara Rebellion in 1638, deep into what was traditionally considered the Edo period. Regardless of the dates chosen, the Sengoku period overlaps substantially with the Muromachi period (1336–1573). This period was characterized by the overthrow of a superior power by a subordinate one. The Ashikaga shogunate, the ''de facto'' central government, declined and the , a local power, seized wider political influence. The people rebelled against the feudal lords in revolts known as . The period saw a break ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daimyō
were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominally to the Emperor of Japan, emperor and the ''kuge'' (an aristocratic class). In the term, means 'large', and stands for , meaning 'private land'. From the ''shugo'' of the Muromachi period through the Sengoku period to the daimyo of the Edo period, the rank had a long and varied history. The backgrounds of daimyo also varied considerably; while some daimyo clans, notably the Mōri clan, Mōri, Shimazu clan, Shimazu and Hosokawa clan, Hosokawa, were cadet branches of the Imperial family or were descended from the ''kuge'', other daimyo were promoted from the ranks of the samurai, notably during the Edo period. Daimyo often hired samurai to guard their land, and paid them in land or food, as relatively few could afford to pay them i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samurai
The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court downsized the national army and delegated the security of the countryside to these privately trained warriors. Eventually the samurai clans grew so powerful that they became the ''de facto'' rulers of the country. In the aftermath of the Gempei War (1180-1185), Japan formally passed into military rule with the founding of the first shogunate. The status of samurai became heredity by the mid-eleventh century. By the start of the Edo period, the shogun had disbanded the warrior-monk orders and peasant conscript system, leaving the samurai as the only men in the country permitted to carry weapons at all times. Because the Edo period was a time of peace, many samurai neglected their warrior training and focused on peacetime activities such as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Invasions Of Korea (1592–1598)
The Imjin War () was a series of two Japanese invasions of Korea: an initial invasion in 1592 also individually called the "Imjin War", a brief truce in 1596, and a second invasion in 1597 called the Chŏngyu War (). The conflict ended in 1598 with the withdrawal of Japanese forces from the Korean Peninsula after a military stalemate in Korea's southern provinces. The invasions were launched by Toyotomi Hideyoshi with the intent of conquering the Korean Peninsula and China proper, which were ruled by the Joseon and Ming dynasties, respectively. Japan quickly succeeded in occupying large portions of the Korean Peninsula, but the contribution of reinforcements by the Ming, "(Korean) war minister Yi Hang-bok pointed out that assistance from China was the only way Korea could survive." as well as the disruption of Japanese supply fleets along the western and southern coasts by the Joseon Navy, "His naval victories were to prove decisive in the Japanese defeat, although Yi was to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Odawara (1590)
The third occurred in 1590, and was the primary action in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign to eliminate the Hōjō clan as a threat to his power. The months leading up to it saw hasty but major improvements in the defense of the castle, as Hideyoshi's intentions became clear. Thus, despite the overwhelming force brought to bear by Hideyoshi, the siege saw little actual fighting. Background In 1588, Toyotomi Hideyoshi succeeded in re-unifying the nation, after several campaigns following the death of Oda Nobunaga in 1582. Hideyoshi asked Hōjō Ujimasa and Ujinao (father and son), to attend the imperial visit to Jurakudai (Hideyoshi's residence and office in Kyoto), but Ujimasa refused. However, Ujimasa proposed to reschedule the visit to spring or summer of 1590, but Hideyoshi in turn refused the proposal, which worsened their relationship. In May 1590, Hideyoshi launched the Odawara Campaign against Hōjō. Ujimasa held a faint hope that Date Masamune would come to offer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kyūshū Campaign
The Kyūshū campaign of 1586–1587 was part of the campaigns of Toyotomi Hideyoshi who sought to dominate Japan at the end of the Sengoku period. Having subjugated much of Honshū and Shikoku, Hideyoshi turned his attention to the southernmost of the main Japanese islands, Kyūshū. Course of events Battles had raged for the previous few years between the daimyō of Kyūshū, and by 1585 the Shimazu family of Satsuma were the primary power on the island. In 1586, Shimazu clan heard of Hideyoshi's plans for invasion, and lifted their siege of Tachibana castle, withdrawing a great portion of their forces back to Higo province, while the rest stayed in Bungo province. There, they seized Funai Castle from the Ōtomo clan and prepared for the invasion. The Ōtomo were supported by armies under Sengoku Hidehisa, Sogō Masayasu, and Chōsokabe Motochika a major Shikoku lord who had been defeated by Hideyoshi the previous year, and had thus joined him. Though Bungo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invasion Of Shikoku
The was a conflict of the Sengoku period of Japan fought between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Chōsokabe Motochika on the island of Shikoku in 1585. Hideyoshi invaded Shikoku with a force of over 100,000 men in June and led a campaign against the Chōsokabe clan force of 40,000 men for control over the island. Hideyoshi's army was successful and conquered most of Shikoku within two months, and defeated Chōsokabe when he surrendered Ichinomiya Castle in August. Background In the 1570s, Chōsokabe Motochika launched a campaign to personally unify Shikoku, the smallest of Japan's four main islands, and defeated a number of ''samurai'' rivals over the next decade. In 1580, Chōsokabe came into conflict with Oda Nobunaga after rejecting a request to submit to him. By 1583, Chōsokabe was the most powerful warlord on Shikoku and had conquered most of the island's four provinces of Iyo, Sanuki, Awa, and Tosa. That year, Chōsokabe had defeated Sengoku Hidehisa, a retainer of Nobuna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
