Tōdō Takatora

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Equestrian statue of Tōdō Takatora, in the background Imabari Castle, which he built

Tōdō Takatora ( Japanese 藤 堂 高 虎 ; * February 16, 1556 ; † November 9, 1630 ) was a Japanese feudal prince ( daimyo ) of the Azuchi Momoyama period and the early Edo period . He made himself primarily as a castle builders (including Castle Zeze , Fushimi Castle , Castle Sasayama and Castle Kameyama ) and able administrator name.

Life

Tōdō Takatora was born into an impoverished samurai family in Ōmi province and initially served as ashigaru in the army of the Azai clan. In 1570 he fought against the Oda - Tokugawa Alliance at Anegawa , but after the defeat of the Azai he joined the Oda and served under Toyotomi Hidenaga . After Oda Nobunaga's murder in the Honnō-ji incident and the ensuing civil war among Nobunaga's generals, Tōdō Takatora was a vassal of the Toyotomi clan , whose head, Toyotomi Hideyoshi , also came from a humble background. Because of his skills in building and siege castles, he was promoted several times and already held the rank of commander of the fleet during the Imjin War . For his services he was rewarded in 1595 with the Uwajima fief with 70,000  koku income in the province of Iyo .

Although Tōdō Takatora was one of the most important followers of the Toyotomi family, he changed sides after Hideyoshi's death in 1598 and joined Tokugawa Ieyasu , the daimyo of Mikawa . In the battle of Sekigahara he faced tani Yoshitsugu . Despite numerical superiority, he was pushed back by this first before the betrayal of Kobayakawa Hideaki turned the tide. The isolated Yoshitsugu was left with ritual suicide and the Tokugawa triumphed over their enemies.

After the end of the war, Tōdō Takatora received the larger fiefdom Imabari with 120,000 koku, making him a daimyo. But since he was not one of the long-time followers of the Tokugawa , he was counted to the Tozama daimyo . In 1608 he gave this for the entire province of Iga and eight additional counties ( kōri ) comprehensive fiefdom Tsu with 200,000 koku income. His successors would rule this property until the beginning of the Meiji period and the abolition of the Han in 1871.

literature

  • George Bailey Sansom: A History of Japan, 1334-1615 . Stanford University Press, 1961, ISBN 0-8047-0525-9 .
  • Louis Frédéric : Japan Encyclopedia . Harvard University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-674-00770-0 (English, French: Japon, dictionnaire et civilization . Translated by Käthe Roth).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Louis Frédéric : Japan Encyclopedia . Harvard University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-674-00770-0 , pp. 969 (English, limited preview in the Google book search - French: Japon, dictionnaire et civilization . Translated by Käthe Roth).
  2. ↑ a b c 藤 堂 高 虎 . In: 朝日 日本 歴 史 人物 事 典 at kotobank.jp. Retrieved March 17, 2014 (Japanese).


Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus, Tōdō is the family name, Takatora the first name.
personal data
SURNAME Tōdō, Takatora
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 藤 堂 高 虎 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese prince
DATE OF BIRTH February 16, 1556
DATE OF DEATH November 9, 1630