, also well known as , was a ''

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

'' of the late

Sengoku The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Various s ...

through early

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

s. He served

Kuroda Yoshitaka , also known as , was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the late Sengoku through early Edo periods. Renowned as a man of great ambition, he succeeded Takenaka Hanbei as a chief strategist and adviser to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Kuroda became a Christian wh ...

but retired from the Kuroda clan after Kuroda Yoshitaku had died. Finally, he served

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 cre ...

and

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 man ...

and was killed at the battle of Dōmyōji during 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. His father Gotō Motokuni served Kodera Masamoto. But Motokuni was dead when Matabei was a child. After his father's death, Matabei became a vassal of Kuroda Kanbei. At the Second Siege of Jinju, during Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea, Gotō was the first samurai to enter Jinju castle. During the Siege of Osaka, Gotō was one of the most able and fierce generals in

's Army. He was the chief commander at the battle of Dōmyōji where, severely outnumbered by Date Masamune troops, he held out for reinforcements, which were lost in the fog. Unable to maintain the position without the reinforcements, Mototsugu was harmed by a stray bullet and unable to stand, he practiced

seppuku , sometimes referred to as hara-kiri (, , a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour but was also practised by other Japanese people ...

. It is said in his kaishaku memoir that he couldn't stop his tears. After his death, Mototsugu's samurai were easily defeated and his head discovered by enemy forces. History said that his display of valor this day was great enough to shock everyone, allies and enemies : leading his warriors in hit & run tactics, he killed 70 to 80 horse-men by himself. He stopped only because his horse was exhausted and he needed another to continue the fight.

In popular culture

Kojiki Taishō Gotō Matabei The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imper ...

is a novel by

Jirō Osaragi was the pen-name of a popular Japanese writer in Shōwa period Japan, known primarily for his historical fiction novels, which appeared serialized in newspapers and magazines. His real name was . Early life Osaragi Jirō was born in Yokohama. H ...

. * Goto Mototsugu is a playable character in video game

Sengoku Basara 4 is the fourth main installment of the ''Sengoku BASARA'' video game series, developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation 3. The game was released in Japan on January 23, 2014. An expanded version of the game for the PlayStation 3 and Pl ...

( PS3 ). * He appears in Manga " Sengoku Tenshoki ". * He appears in Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence Ascension in the battle of Dōmyōji and other battles in the Siege Of Osaka Castle. It is possible to save him and change history.

Family

* Goto Motokuni ( :Ja:後藤基国): Father * Goto Motonori ( :Ja:後藤基則): Son * Goto Motoyoshi ( :Ja:後藤基芳): Son

References

*Turnbull, Stephen (1998). 'The Samurai Sourcebook'. London: Cassell & Co.

In popular culture

Family

References

References

Further reading