was a Japanese

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 d ...

and

daimyo were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early 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 ...

of the Sengoku-through late-

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 Nob ...

s, who served

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

. Torii died at the

siege of Fushimi The siege of Fushimi was a crucial battle in the series leading up to the decisive Battle of Sekigahara which ended Japan's Sengoku period. Fushimi Castle was defended by a force loyal to Tokugawa Ieyasu's Eastern army, led by Torii Mototada. Kn ...

, where his

garrison A garrison is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a military base or fortified military headquarters. A garrison is usually in a city ...

was greatly outnumbered and destroyed by the army of

Ishida Mitsunari was a Japanese samurai and military commander of the late Sengoku period of Japan. He is probably best remembered as the commander of the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the Azuchi–Momoyama period of the 16th century. He ...

. Torii's refusal to surrender had a great impact on Japanese history; the fall of Fushimi bought Ieyasu time to regroup his army and eventually win the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was an important battle in Japan which occurred on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu Prefecture, ...

Early life

Torii was born in Okazaki, the son of Torii Tadayoshi. As a boy, he was sent as hostage to the

Imagawa clan was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji by way of the Kawachi Genji. It was a branch of the Minamoto clan by the Ashikaga clan. Origins Ashikaga Kuniuji, grandson of Ashikaga Yoshiuji, established himself in ...

. The young Mototada served the then- Matsudaira Takechiyo as a page. After Ieyasu's return from the Imagawa clan, and his unification of

Mikawa Province was an Provinces of Japan, old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Mikawa''" in . Its abbreviated form name was . Mikawa bordered on Owari Province, O ...

, Mototada served as one of his chief generals. In 1572, Mototada succeeded the Torii family headship, following the death of his father.

Service under Ieyasu

He participated in the siege of Terabe Castle in 1558, and The Battle of Anegawa in June of 1570. In 1573, He fought at the

Battle of Mikatagahara The took place during the Sengoku period of Japan between Takeda Shingen and Tokugawa Ieyasu in Hamamatsu, Mikatagahara, Tōtōmi Province on 25 January 1573. Shingen attacked Ieyasu at the plain of Mikatagahara north of Hamamatsu during hi ...

and Battle of Suwahara Castle the following year and was wounded in the legs, which rendered walking difficult for him from then on. In 1582, Tenshō-Jingo War broke out between the Tokugawa clan and

Hōjō clan The was a Japanese samurai family who controlled the hereditary title of '' shikken'' (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate between 1203 and 1333. Despite the title, in practice the family wielded actual political power in Japan during this perio ...

in a contest to gain control of the area of

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

, Ueno region, and Kai Province Kai Province (currently Gunma Prefecture), which has been vacant since the destruction of

Takeda clan The was a Japanese samurai clan active from the late Heian period until the late 16th century. The clan was historically based in Kai Province in present-day Yamanashi Prefecture. The clan reached its greatest influence under the rule of Taked ...

and the death of Oda Nobunaga. Ieyasu lead an army of 8,000 soldiers entering Kai,

, and Ueno, to annex it. In the battle of Wakamiko, 8,000-10,000 Tokugawa soldiers fought against around 50,000 soldiers of Hojo soldiers led by

Hōjō Ujinao was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the late Sengoku period, and the final head of the Later Hōjō clan. An important figure in the history of Azuchi–Momoyama politics, he lost his entire domain following the Siege of Odawara (1590). Despite t ...

. This conflict lasted for 80 days. In the final phase of this conflict, Naomasa participated in the battle of Kurokoma, At some point of this war, Hōjō Ujikatsu leading a detachment of 10,000 soldiers encircling the rear of Tokugawa army to entrap them. Sensing this, Torii Mototada lead a raid group of 2,000 to repel their attempt, leading to the battle of Kurokoma. The Hōjō army also failed to launch trap Tokugawa's army from the rear. Later, in 1585, he joined

Ōkubo Tadayo was a samurai general in the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu in the Azuchi–Momoyama period, subsequently becoming a ''Daimyō'' of Odawara Domain in early Edo period, Japan. Biography Ōkubo Tadayo was the eldest son of Ōkubo Tadakazu, a her ...

and

Hiraiwa Chikayoshi was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. He ruled the Inuyama Domain. According to legend, he was involved in a 1611 plot by Tokugawa Ieyasu to assassinate Toyotomi Hideyori, son and intended successor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, through u ...

in laying siege to the

Sanada clan The is a Japanese clan.Edmond Papinot, Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)("Sanada," ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 52 DF 56 of 80/nowiki> retrieved 2013-5-3. The Sana ...

's Ueda Castle. However, his forces were repulsed and suffered heavy losses. Later during the conflict between Toyotomi against Hōjō clan, Mototada participated in the siege of Iwatsuki Castle. After Ieyasu's move to the

Kantō region The is a geography, geographical region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures of Japan, prefectures: Chiba Prefecture, Chiba, Gunma Prefe ...

, a former territory of Hōjō clan, Mototada was granted the 40,000

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

fief of Yasaku in

Shimōsa Province was a province of Japan in the area of modern Chiba Prefecture and Ibaraki Prefecture as well as the bordering parts of Saitama Prefecture and Tokyo (the parts that used to be located east of the lower reaches of the old Tone River prior to the ...

, which made him a ''

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 no ...

''.

Death

With the death of

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

in 1598, the remainder of the

Council of Five Elders In the history of Japan, the was a group of five powerful formed in 1598 by the Toyotomi Hideyoshi, shortly before his death the same year. While Hideyoshi was on his deathbed, his son, Toyotomi Hideyori, was still only five years old and a ...

& the rest of the Toyotomi government, had Mōri Terumoto as its titular head, though he stayed entrenched in Osaka Castle, so leadership fell to Mitsunari in the field. In August 1600, Mototada was forewarned by spies that an army of 40,000 battle-hardened followers of

Toyotomi Hideyori was the son and designated successor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the general who united all of Japan toward the end of the Sengoku period. His mother, Yodo-dono, was the niece of Oda Nobunaga. Early life Born in 1593, he was Hideyoshi's sec ...

, now under Mitsunari formed a coalition against Tokugawa, and were annihilating everything in their path on their march to Fushimi Castle. Date Matsamune by Tokugawa Ieyasu's order, was holding off forces in the North against Uesugi Kagekatsu, while Ieyasu was racing east to Edo to gather his forces, but he needed time. All Ieyasu's hopes now rest on the fate of his castle at Fushimi, a fortress that controls all roads that lead east. Torii Mototada and his 1800 men garrison were badly outnumbered, and it should be mentioned that escape for the men inside was still possible. In an act of loyalty to his lord

, Torii chose to remain behind, honoring his friend & lord's request, pledging that he and his bastion would fight to the very end. When Ishida Mitsunari's army of 40,000 attacked, perhaps the greatest, most noble accomplishment in battle, in all of samurai history took place. Despite the insurmountable odds that Torii Mototada & his men faced, they defended Fushimi Castle for 12 days, killing several thousands of Mitsunari's army. They fought until there were only 10 of them left and committed ritual suicide. In a last statement addressed to his son Torii Tadamasa, Mototada described how his family served the Tokugawa for generations and how his own brother had been killed in battle. In the letter, Torii stated that he considered it an honor to die first so that he might give courage to the rest of the Tokugawa warriors. He envisioned Tokugawa's reign remain far off into the future. He requested that his son raise his siblings to serve the

Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty which produced the Tokugawa shoguns who ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868 during the Edo period. It was formerly a powerful ''daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of ...

"In both ascent and decline" and to remain humble desiring neither lordship nor monetary reward. When the order was given, the two lifelong friends, Torii Mototada and Tokugawa Ieyasu parted ways sadly knowing that they would never see each other again: : "''It is not the Way of the Warrior to be shamed and avoid death even under circumstances that are not particularly important'' ... ''For myself, I am resolved to make a stand within the castle and to die a quick death. It would not take much trouble to break through a part of their numbers and escape, no matter how many tens of thousands of horsemen approached for the attack or by how many columns we were surrounded. But that is not the true meaning of being a warrior, and it would be difficult to account as loyalty. Rather, I will stand off the forces of the entire country here'', ''and ... die a resplendent death.''"

Notable Action

Torii Mototada's actions had a great impact on the course of Japanese history.

would raise an army of 90,000 and confront

's forces at Sekigahara in what would be one of the bloodiest battles in the Sengoku period. 40,000 heads would be taken in the first hours of battle and 70,000 would perish in the next two days as the remnants of Mitsunari's vanquished army were hunted down and executed. The

was a decisive one, resulting in the unification of Japan. Tokugawa's family would rule the entire country for the next 268 years. Mototada's suicide at the fall of Fushimi is one of the most celebrated acts of ''

seppuku , also known as , is a form of Japanese ritualistic suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honor, but was also practiced by other Japanese people during the Shōwa era (particularly officers near ...

'' in Japanese history.

Descendants

Among his descendants, Ōishi Yoshio (1659-1703),

Karō were top-ranking samurai officials and advisors in service to the ''daimyōs'' of feudal Japan. Overview In the Edo period, the policy of ''sankin-kōtai'' (alternate attendance) required each ''daimyō'' to place a ''karō'' in Edo and anothe ...

(Chief retainer) of the Akō Asano clan, leader and hero of the

Forty-seven Rōnin The revenge of the , also known as the or Akō vendetta, was a historical event in Japan in which a band of ''rōnin'' (lordless samurai) avenged the death of their former master on 31 January 1703. The incident has since become legendary. I ...

's revenge against

Kira Yoshinaka (October 5, 1641 – January 30, 1703) was a Japanese ''kōke'' (master of ceremonies). His court title was ''Kokushi (officials), Kōzuke no suke (上野介)''. He is famous as the adversary of Asano Naganori in the events of the forty-seven ...

, was his great-great-grandson, through Yoshio's father Ōishi Yoshiaki, maternal grandson of Torii Tadakatsu, fourth son of Torii Mototada.

Notes

References

*Totman, Conrad. ''Tokugawa Ieyasu: Shogun''. *https://web.archive.org/web/20091002235330/http://www.city.okazaki.aichi.jp/museum/DB/KIKAKU/E/e001%20toriimototada.htm *https://web.archive.org/web/20080307054400/http://www.h7.dion.ne.jp/~history/sub2.html *http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~echigoya/jin/ToriiMototada.html
The Last Statement of Torii Mototada
Written on the eve of his castle's destruction (1600 AD) {{DEFAULTSORT:Torii, Mototada 1539 births 1600 deaths Torii clan Daimyo Suicides by seppuku People from Okazaki, Aichi