was a general under

Toyotomi Hideyori was the son and designated successor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the general who first united all of Japan. His mother, Yodo-dono, was the niece of Oda Nobunaga. Early life Born in 1593, he was Hideyoshi's second son. The birth of Hideyori cr ...

, and fought in the

Siege of Osaka The was a series of battles undertaken by the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan, and ending in that clan's destruction. Divided into two stages (winter campaign and summer campaign), and lasting from 1614 to 1615, the siege ...

in 1615. He became lord of

Osaka castle is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks and it played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi-Momoyama period. Layout The main tower ...

after the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of ...

. Ono led forces against those of

Wakayama Castle 260px, Layout of the ''tenshu'' is a Japanese castle located in the city Wakayama, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. For most of the Edo Period, it was the administrative center of Kishū Domain, which was controlled by a cadet branch of the Tokugawa ...

in the Battle of Kashii, also the

Battle of Shigino The Battle of Shigino, fought in the final months of 1614, was one battle during the Siege of Osaka, a campaign by the Tokugawa shogunate to destroy or subjugate the last resistance to its power, the Toyotomi clan. History Five thousand Toku ...

, and the

Battle of Tennoji A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

, where he was killed in action. He held the rank at court of Junior Fifth Rank. Harunaga had a fiefdom of 15,000 koku.

Life

In 1569, Ono Harunaga was born in the capital of Japan at this time, Kyoto. He was the son of Ōkurakyō no Tsubone, who had served as wet-nurse to

Yodo-dono or (1569 – June 4, 1615) was a prominently placed figure in the late- Sengoku period. She was the daughter of Oichi and sister of Ohatsu and Oeyo. She was a concubine and second wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was then the most powerful ...

, he served as bodyguardwith a stipend of 3,000 koku given from

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

. Following Hideyoshi's death, he served as an advisor close to

. In 1599 following questioning by

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

, he was banished to

Shimotsuke Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Tochigi Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''SHimotsuke''" in . Shimotsuke was bordered by Kōzuke, Hitachi, Mutsu and Shimōsa Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was ...

, under suspicion of being a ringleader of a failed plot to assassinate

that had been hatched by servants of Tokugawa Ieyasu and

Honda Masanobu was a commander and ''daimyō'' in the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu in Japan during the Azuchi-Momoyama and Edo periods. In 1563, when an uprising against Ieyasu occurred in Mikawa Province, Masanobu took the side of the peasants against Ieyasu ...

. In the following year, 1600, Ono Harunaga joined forces with the Eastern army at the

and distinguished himself in battle, thereby earning a pardon for his crime from Ieyasu. Following the battle, under orders from Ieyasu he bore a note from Ieyasu to the Toyotomi clan, in which Ieyasu declared, 'I bear no animosity towards the Toyotomi clan' after which he remained in Osaka and did not return to Edo. In 1614, upon the banishment of Toyotomi's chief elder retainer

Katagiri Katsumoto was a Japanese warlord (''daimyō'') of Ibaraki, in the Azuchi–Momoyama period through early Edo period. In his youth was famed as one of the Seven Spears of Shizugatake, during the Battle of Shizugatake in May 1583. Biography Katsumoto hai ...

, Ono came to be in a position to lead the Toyotomi family. Afterwards, the pro-war faction within the Toyotomi family gained ascendancy and enlisted the services of ronin from various parts of the country to take part in the

winter campaign however; Harunaga passively sued for peace, earning him the animosity of

Sanada Yukimura , also known as , was a Japanese samurai warrior of the Sengoku period. He was especially known as the leading general on the defending side of the Siege of Osaka. Yukimura was called "A Hero who may appear once in a hundred years", "Crimson D ...

's pro-war faction. In 1615 during the summer campaign of the Siege of Osaka, Harunaga sent Senhime (daughter of

Tokugawa Hidetada was the second ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate. Early life (1579–1593) Tokugawa Hidetada was bo ...

and Hideyori's wife) as a messenger for Ono, to plead for clemency for Hideyori and Yodo-dono, on the condition that he commit ritual suicide, but subsequently he and Hideyori committed suicide in a mountain hamlet in the vicinity of Osaka Castle. He died at the age of 47. Records show that rumors abounded throughout the Edo period regarding Harunaga having an adulterous affair with Yodo-dono, and some accounts maintain that Hideyori was not a biological child of Hideyoshi, but of Harunaga and Yodo-dono. As described above, because he was a foster brother to Yodo-dono, it is likely that their relationship was extremely close; however, with the decline of the fortune of the Toyotomi family and the accompanying 'futility of ruin,' it can also be thought that the rumors of the sin of adultery were created with a view to casting him as an evil person (from a Confucian sense of resignation).

References

*Sansom, George (1961). "A History of Japan: 1334-1615." Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. *Turnbull, Stephen (1998). ''The Samurai Sourcebook''. London: Cassell & Co. 1615 deaths Samurai Japanese warriors killed in battle Year of birth unknown Place of birth unknown Date of death unknown {{samurai-stub