Konishi Yukinaga

Konishi Yukinaga

Konishi Yukinaga ( Japanese 小 西 行長 ; † November 6, 1600 ) was an important general of the Sengoku period .

Live and act

Konishi Yukinaga was the son of a pharmacist the city of Sakai in Izumi Province . He was adopted by a samurai of Ukita Hideie ( 宇 喜 多 秀 家 ; 1572–1655), daimyo of Okayama ( Bizen Province ). When Hideie Toyotomi Hideyoshi had to surrender in 1577 , he commissioned Yukinaga with the negotiations. Hideyoshi was impressed by the young man, accepted him into his service, granted him an income of 10,000 koku and first gave him the ceremonial title of "head of the carpenters' office" ( 内 匠 頭 , Takumi no kami ) and then the ceremonial title of a governorfrom Settsu ( 摂 津 守 , Settsu no kami ).

Yukinaga proved itself on the Kyushu campaign and received half the province of Higo with an income of 240,000 koku. He then settled in Udo. In 1583 he was baptized in the name of Augustine ( ア ウ グ ス テ ィ ヌ ス , Augusutinusu ) and is mentioned under this name in the letters of the missionaries.

At the time of the Korean War he was - like Katō Kiyomasa - entrusted with a vanguard. So he was the first to reach Fusan . After conquering the city, he marched on towards the capital, whereupon the king and the whole court fled. Yukinaga drove him to Pyongyang on the Chinese border, but could not get hold of him. Shortly afterwards, he was attacked by a large Chinese army and had to withdraw to Seoul .

Yukinaga accompanied a Chinese mission to Japan for peace negotiations in 1595. After the negotiations were broken off, he went back to Korea. After Hideyoshi's death in 1598 he returned to Japan, then took part in the battle of Sekigahara on the side of Ishida Katsushige against Tokugawa Ieyasu , and finally had to surrender to Kuroda Nagamasa. He was sentenced to death and beheaded on Rokujō-gawara together with Katsushige, the priest Ankokuji Ekei ( 安 国寺 恵 瓊 ) and others.

Remarks

1. ↑ Rokujō-ga-wara ( 六條 幘 ) was a sandbar in Kamogawa south of Kyoto, which was used several times as a decapitation site.

literature

• Papinot, Edmond: 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 Konishi is the family name, Yukinaga the first name.