(1542 – November 17, 1600) was a naval commander during Japan's

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 ...

Period, under

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 ...

, and later,

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 ...

. He was also the ninth headmaster of the Kuki family's school of martial arts,

Kukishin-ryū , originally "Nine Gods Divine (from heaven) School" (also translated as "Nine Demon Divine (from heaven) School" by many modern groups having different lineages) is a Japanese martial art allegedly founded in the 14th century CE by Kuki Yakus ...

and thus a very skilled warrior.

Military life

In the 1570s, Kuki allied himself with

, and commanded his fleet, supporting land-based attacks on the

Ikkō-ikki were rebellious or autonomous groups of people that were formed in several regions of Japan in the 15th-16th centuries; backed up by the power of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism, they opposed the rule of governors or ''daimyō''. Mainly con ...

Ise Bay is a bay located at the mouth of the Kiso Three Rivers between Mie and Aichi Prefectures in Japan. Ise Bay has an average depth of and a maximum depth of . The mouth of the bay is and is connected to the smaller Mikawa Bay by two channels: th ...

. In 1574, his aid ensured a victory for

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 ...

in his third attempt to attack the

Nagashima was a series of fortresses and fortifications controlled by the Ikkō-ikki, a sect of warrior monks in Japan's Sengoku period who opposed samurai rule. It was attacked and destroyed by Oda Nobunaga in the 1570s. This, combined with the surrende ...

fortress. In 1575, Nobunaga allowed Yoshitaka to seize

Shima Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan which consisted of a peninsula in the southeastern part of modern Mie Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Shima''" in . Its abbreviated name was . Shima bordered on Ise ...

, forcing out other maritime clans, such the

Mukai clan Mukai may refer to: * Mukai - King of Fighters character * ''Mukai'', an album by Louis Mhlanga People with the surname * Chiaki Mukai, Japanese physician and astronaut * Chiaki Mukai (Go player), Japanese Go player * Chie Mukai, Japanese com ...

. In 1576, he was defeated at Kizugawaguchi by the

Mōri clan The Mōri clan (毛利氏 ''Mōri-shi'') was a Japanese samurai clan descended from Ōe no Hiromoto. Ōe no Hiromoto was descended from the Fujiwara clan. The family's most illustrious member, Mōri Motonari, greatly expanded the clan's power ...

fleet, but 1578 brought victory in the second

Battle of Kizugawaguchi The two were fought during Oda Nobunaga, Oda Nobunaga's attempted Siege of Ishiyama Hongan-ji, sieges of the Ishiyama Hongan-ji in Osaka. The Ishiyama Hongan-ji, Hongan-ji was the primary fortress of the Ikkō-ikki, mobs of warrior monks, priests, ...

, in which Kuki used ' iron ships' to repel the arrows and musket balls of the opposing Mōri clan's ships. In 1584, Yoshitaka along with

Takigawa Kazumasu , also known as Sakonshōgen (左近将監), was a samurai retainer and military commander of Oda Nobunaga, and later Toyotomi Hideyoshi, during Japan's Sengoku period. His biological son, Toshimasu, was adopted by Toshihisa and later Kazumasu ...

besieged Kanie castle, in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign to consolidate his power over the lands held by the Oda clan in Owari province. In 1587, he led Toyotomi Hideyoshi's fleet in a campaign in

Kyūshū is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...

, alongside

Konishi Yukinaga Konishi Yukinaga (小西行長, baptized under the personal name Agostinho (Portuguese for Augustine); 1558 – November 6, 1600) was a Kirishitan daimyō under Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He is notable for his role as the vanguard of the Japanes ...

Wakizaka Yasuharu (1554 – September 26, 1626), sometimes referred to as Wakizaka Yasuharu, was a ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of Awaji Island who fought under a number of warlords over the course of Japan's Sengoku period. Wakisaka originally served under A ...

and

Katō Yoshiaki was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the late Sengoku period to early Edo period who served as lord of the Aizu Domain. A retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he fought in the battle of Shizugatake in 1583, and soon became known as one of the ''shichi-hon- ...

. Three years later, along with Wakizaka Yasuharu and Kato Yoshiaki he went on to lead the

Siege of Shimoda The siege of Shimoda was a naval siege conducted against a coastal Hōjō fortress in Izu Province, part of Odawara Campaign. This was concurrent with the larger Siege of Odawara (1590) The third occurred in 1590, and was the prim ...

in the Odawara campaign 1590. He continued in his role as commander of Hideyoshi's fleet, launching an invasion of

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

in 1592 from his flagship ''Nipponmaru'', but he was severely defeated in the

Battle of Myeongryang In the Battle of Myeongnyang, on October 26, 1597, the Korean Joseon Kingdom's navy, led by Admiral Yi Sun-sin, fought the Azuchi–Momoyama period, Japanese navy in the Myeongnyang Strait, near Jindo Island, off the southwest corner of the Kor ...

in 1597.

Death

In 1600, 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 ...

, Kuki Yoshitaka fought alongside the

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 ...

forces, while his son Kuki Moritaka joined the opposing force, under

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 ...

. Following Tokugawa's victory, his son successfully guaranteed Yoshitaka's safety from Ieyasu. In a turn of fate, Yoshitaka committed

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 ...

before the news from Moritaka reached him.

References

*Ron, Roy (1999–2004). 'Genbukan Tokyo Shibu: Kuki Yoshitaka'
Ninpo.org
Accessed 28 Dec 2004

Military life

Death

See also

References

Further reading