was the sixteenth head of the Kimotsuki family and the son of Kimotsuki Kaneoki. Kanetsugu was a skilled and smart leader, but his domain happened to be next to that of the most powerful clan in Kyūshū, the

Shimazu clan The were the ''daimyō'' of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan. The Shimazu were identified as one of the '' tozama'' or outsider ''daimyō'' familiesAppert, Georges ''et al.'' (1888). in cont ...

, and the Kimotsuki family would be defeated by them. After his father, Kaneoki, died, Kanetsugu killed his uncle Kimotsuki Kaneshu to become the head of the clan. Kanetsugu believed that maintaining a good relationship with the neighboring

was essential to the clan's survival and had the eldest daughter of

Shimazu Tadayoshi was a ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of Satsuma Province during Japan's Sengoku period. He was born into the Mimasaka Shimazu family (伊作島津家), which was part of the Shimazu clan, but after his father Shimazu Yoshihisa died, his mother ma ...

as his wife as well as having his sister marry

Shimazu Takahisa , the son of Shimazu Tadayoshi, was a ''daimyō'' during Japan's Sengoku period. He was the fifteenth head of the Shimazu clan. Biography In 1514, he is said to have been born in Izaku Castle. On 1526, Takahisa was adopted as the successor to Sh ...

. On the other hand, he moved to unify

Ōsumi Province was an old province of Japan in the area that is today the eastern part of Kagoshima Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Ōsumi bordered on Hyūga and Satsuma Provinces. Osumi's ancient capital was near modern Kokubu. During the Sengoku ...

and captured Takaoka Castle in 1538 to capture the majority of the province. In 1533, he had his son Kimotsuki Yoshikane take over the clan and retired but still held onto most of the actual power. In 1561, the relationship between his clan and the Shimazu collapsed and Kanetsugu allied his clan with the

Itō clan The are a Japanese clan of '' gōzoku'' that claimed descent from the Fujiwara clan through Fujiwara Korekimi (727–789) and Kudō Ietsugu. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Pap ...

Hyūga Province was an old province of Japan on the east coast of Kyūshū, corresponding to the modern Miyazaki Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Hyūga''" in . It was sometimes called or . Hyūga bordered on Bungo, Higo, Ōsumi, and Sats ...

to counter Shimazu. In the same year, he repelled invading Shimazu troops with much success and killed the younger brother of Takahisa, Shimazu Tadamasa. Knowing that there was no turning back, Kanetsugu tried to divorce his wife who was of from the

, but she did not agree and declined the offer. In 1562, Kanetsugu and his troops captured Shibushi district to hold the largest domain. In 1566, the

massed its army and invaded again, capturing Kōyama Castle as well as most of Kimotsuki's domains. The desperate Kanetsugu retired to a small castle near the Shibushi area and committed suicide.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kimotsuki, Kanetsugu 1511 births 1566 deaths Samurai