Hosokawa Tadaoki

Hosokawa Tadaoki

Hosokawa Tadaoki ( Japanese 細 川 忠 興 ; born November 28, 1563 ; died January 18, 1646 ) was a daimyo at the beginning of the Edo period .

Live and act

Hosokawa Tadaoki was the eldest son of Hosokawa Fujitaka (細 川 藤 高; 1534-1610). He initially served Oda Nobunaga , who gave him the province of Tango in 1580 . He had married Akechi Mitsuhide's daughter , but when Mitsuhide asked him for assistance in his plan to eliminate Nobunaga, Tadaoki indignantly refused and hid his wife in a safe place. During the Kyushu campaign in 1587, his wife was baptized in Osaka under the name Gracia . 1590 Tadaoki took part in the campaign against the Hōjō in Odawara, where he was commissioned to conquer the castle Nirayama (韮 山城) in the province of Izu .

After the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi , Tadaoki, whose son had married a daughter of Maeda Toshiie , used all his influence to ensure that he did not part with Tokugawa Ieyasu , whom he had accompanied on the campaign against Uesugi Kagekatsu . During this time, Ishida Mitsunari ordered that all women and children of the daimyo who had not separated from Ieyasu and followed him should be seized and taken to Osaka Castle. When the emissaries arrived at Hosokawa, Ogasawara, the house elder, informed his mistress that he had an order from Tadaoki to kill her rather than hand her over to the enemies of the house. Gracia submitted to her husband's wishes and courageously died in 1600 at the age of 38.

After the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 Tadaoki was transferred from Tango to Kyushu , where he received the province of Buzen and two districts of the province of Bungo . He and his descendants resided in Kokura with a significant income of 3700  Koku . Only from this time on did Tadaoki call himself Hosokawa . During the campaign against Osaka Castle in 1614 he was supposed to observe the activities of the Shimazu clan . But he was not satisfied with that, but played a decisive role in the conquest of the castle in 1615, which meant the end of the Toyotomi clan .

In 1619 Tadaoki shaved his head, called himself Sōritsu (宗 立) or Sansai (三 斎) and left the administration of the property to his son Tadatoshi. He died at the age of 81, known not only as a warrior but also as a poet. He also dealt with etiquette and ceremonies (有 職 故 実, Yūsoku kojitsu), belonged as a tea master to " Sen no Rikyu's seven great students" (千 利 休 七 哲) and also wrote books on the subject.

Remarks

1. ↑ The others were Kamo Ujisato (蒲 生 氏 郷), Furuta Shigenari (古田 重 然), Shibayama Munetsuna (芝山 宗 綱), Seta Masatada (瀬 田 正忠), Takayama Ukon (高山 右 近) and Makimura Toshisada (牧 村 利 貞).

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Hosokawa Tadaoki . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X .
• Papinot, Edmond: Hosokawa Tadaoki In: Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan. Reprinted by Tuttle, 1972 edition of 1910 edition. ISBN 0-8048-0996-8 .

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Hosokawa is the family name, Tadaoki the first name.