was a Japanese

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 ...

warrior of the late

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, 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 Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

and 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 ...

. He was the son of

Hosokawa Fujitaka , also known as , was a Japanese samurai ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period. Fujitaka was a prominent retainer of Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the last Ashikaga shōgun. When he joined the Oda, Oda Nobunaga rewarded him with the fief of Tango and went on ...

with

Numata Jakō Numata Jakō (沼田麝香, 1544 – September 4, 1618) also known as Hosokawa Maria (細川マリア) was a Japanese noble lady of the Sengoku period. She was the wife of Hosokawa Fujitaka and mother of Hosokawa Tadaoki. She was best known for fi ...

, and he was the husband of a famous Christian convert (

Kirishitan The Japanese term , from Portuguese ''cristão'' (cf. Kristang), meaning "Christian", referred to Catholic Christians in Japanese and is used in Japanese texts as a historiographic term for Catholics in Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries. M ...

Hosokawa Gracia Akechi Tama, usually referred to as , (1563 – 25 August 1600) was a member of the aristocratic Akechi family from the Sengoku period. Gracia is best known for her role in the Battle of Sekigahara, she was considered to be a political hos ...

. For most of his life, he went under the name of Nagaoka Tadaoki that had been adopted by his father and was related to a town that was in their domain. Shortly after the victory at Sekigahara, Nagaoka Tadaoki reverted to his original name Hosokawa Tadaoki.

Biography

Tadaoki was the eldest son of

. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)
"Hosokawa Tadaoki"
in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 359. He fought in his first battle at the age of 15. In that battle, he was in the service of

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

. His childhood name was Kumachiyo (熊千代). Tadaoki was given the Province of Tango in 1580. Soon after that, he married

, the daughter of

Akechi Mitsuhide , first called Jūbei from his clan and later from his title, was a Japanese ''samurai'' general of the Sengoku period best known as the assassin of Oda Nobunaga. Mitsuhide was a bodyguard of Ashikaga Yoshiaki and later a successful general under ...

. In 1582, Akechi Mitsuhide rebelled against Nobunaga and Nobunaga was killed. Akechi turned to Hosokawa Fujitaka and Hosokawa Tadaoki for help. They refused to help him, later Mitsuhide was defeated by

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 ...

. Tadaoki was present on Hideyoshi's side in the

Battle of Komaki and Nagakute The was a series of battles in 1584 between the forces of Hashiba Hideyoshi (who would become Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1586) and the forces of Oda Nobukatsu and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Hideyoshi and Ieyasu had both served Oda Nobunaga and had not previou ...

(1584) and the Odawara Campaign (1590), where he took part in the

siege of Nirayama A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterized ...

(

Izu Province was a province of Japan in the area of Shizuoka Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Izu''" in . Izu bordered on Sagami and Suruga Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . The mainland portion of Izu Province, comprising the ...

) and later joined the main army outside

Odawara is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 188,482 and a population density of 1,700 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Odawara lies in the Ashigara Plains, in the far western por ...

. During the 1590s he became friends with

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 ...

(who had lent him money to assist in some debts owed

Toyotomi Hidetsugu was a daimyō during the Sengoku period of Japan. He was the nephew and retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the unifier and ruler of Japan from 1590 to 1598. Despite being Hideyoshi's closest adult, male relative, Hidetsugu was accused of atrocities ...

) and in 1600 sided with him against

Ishida Mitsunari Ishida Mitsunari (, 1559 – November 6, 1600) was a Japanese samurai and military commander of the late Sengoku period of Japan. He is probably best remembered as the commander of the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the A ...

. He was succeeded by

Hosokawa Tadatoshi was a Japanese samurai ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Hosokawa Tadatoshi"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 359 細川忠利at ''Nihon jinmei daijiten''; retrieved 2013-5-29. He was the head of Kumamoto Domain ...

(1586–1641), who was present at the Siege of Shimabara (1637–1638). In 1632 Tadatoshi received a huge fief in Higo (Kumamoto, 540,000 ''koku''), where the Hosokawa family remained until 1871.

Battle of Sekigahara

In July 1600,

had attempted to gain some leverage over those leaning towards Ieyasu by taking as hostages all those whose families were in

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 ...

, this happened to include Tadaoki's wife, who was by now a Christian, baptized "Gracia". To avoid capture,

ordered a servant to kill her and set fire to their quarters. While there is little reason to believe that Tadaoki was emotionally scarred by the incident, it was considered an appalling act of trickery, and served to drive Tadaoki into Ieyasu's side. On October 20, 1600 at 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 ...

, Tadaoki commanded 5,000 men in the Tokugawa vanguard and clashed with the forces of

Shima Sakon , also known as Shima Tomoyuki and Shima Katsutake, was a Japanese samurai of the late Sengoku period. His nickname was (Shima the right hand). Sakon eventually left the service of the Hatakeyama clan, Tsutsui Junkei, Toyotomi Hidenaga and event ...

. Afterwards, He was awarded a fief in Buzen (Kokura, 370,000 koku) and went on to serve at 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 ...

(1614–1615). Hosokawa Tadaoki Large Battle Standards

Family

* Father:

* Mother: Numata Jako (1544-1618) * Wife:

* Concubines: ** Daughter of Kori Muneyasu ** Daughter of Akechi Mitsutada ** Daughter of Kiyota Mamoru ** Daughter of Masashi Shimamoto * Children: ** Hosokawa Tadataka (1580-1646) by

** Hosokawa Okiaki (1583-1615) by

** Hosokawa Okitaka ** Hosokawa Tatsutaka by daughter of Kiyota Mamoru ** Matsui Yoriyuki ** Ocho married Maeno Kagesada by

** Otara married Inaba Kazumichi by

** Koho married Matsui Okinaga ** Oman married Karasuma Mitsukata

Retainers

Ujii Yashiro a retainer under the Japanese clan of Hosokawa during the Edo period (17th century) of Japan. Lord Hosokawa Tadatoshi had previously practiced the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū art of the sword, in which the principal sword master of the fief was none oth ...

References

External links

Sengoku Biographical Dictionary
Hosokawa Tadaoki