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 ...

who served as a senior retainer of the

Ōuchi clan was one of the most powerful and important families in Western Japan during the reign of the Ashikaga shogunate in the 12th to 14th centuries. Their domains, ruled from the castle town of Yamaguchi, comprised six provinces at their height, and ...

in the

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 ...

in Japan. He was the second son of Sue Okifusa, a senior retainer of the Ōuchi clan. His childhood name was Goro, and previously had the name Takafusa ().

Biography

Harukata was born to the

Sue clan Sue or SUE may refer to: Music * Sue Records, an American record label * ''Sue'' (album), an album by Frazier Chorus * " Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)", a song by David Bowie Places * Sue Islet (Queensland), one of the Torres Straits isl ...

, which was related to the Ōuchi clan, and served as

shugodai were officials during feudal Japan. Shugodai were representatives of provincial shugo when the shugo could not exercise his power, being often away from his province. Unlike shugo, who were appointed from the central power, shugodai were locally ...

Suō Province was a province of Japan in the area that is today the eastern part of Yamaguchi Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Suō bordered on Aki, Iwami, and Nagato Provinces. The ancient provincial capital was in Hōfu. Suō was ruled for much o ...

. As a boy, he served

Ōuchi Yoshitaka was the ''daimyō'' of Suō Province and the head of the Ōuchi clan, succeeding Ōuchi Yoshioki. In 1522, he fought the Amago clan along with his father, Yoshioki, to win the control of Aki Province. Upon Yoshioki's death in 1528, Yoshita ...

, a childhood friend. After ''

genpuku is a Japanese coming-of-age ceremony which dates back to Japan's classical Nara Period (710–794 AD). /sup> This ceremony marked the transition from child to adult status and the assumption of adult responsibilities. The age of participat ...

'', he was given the name Takafusa after Ōuchi Yoshitaka. In 1539, after his father Okifusa died of illness, he became the head of the Sue clan. Being an able retainer, he became known as the Samurai General Without Peer in the Western Provinces (''Saigoku-musō no Samuraidaishō''). From 1540 to 1542, he worked as the general, replacing Ōuchi Yoshitaka, in the war with the

Amago clan Amago (尼子) is a Japanese word meaning "child of a nun", and has various other uses: People * Amago clan, a Japanese daimyō clan * Amago Haruhisa (1514–1561), Japanese daimyō * Amago Katsuhisa (1553–1578), Japanese daimyō * Amago Kun ...

. However, when Ōuchi's troops lost heavily in 1542, Yoshitaka's interest in war faded, and he began to incline to cultural activities. Because of this, the civil official Sagara Taketō became close to Yoshitaka, and Harukata's relationship with Yoshitaka declined. In 1551, Harukata succeeded in the coup against Ōuchi Yoshitaka, killing Sagara Taketō and leading Yoshitaka to commit suicide. The next year Harukata secured the control of the Ōuchi clan by making the adopted son of Yoshitaka,

Ōuchi Yoshinaga , formerly Ōtomo Haruhide (大友晴英), was a 16th-century Kyushu warrior who was invited by Sue Harukata, who had just taken control of the Ōuchi clan, to serve as the official head of the Ōuchi while Sue pulled the strings from behind. Yos ...

(who was Ōtomo Haruhide, the half-brother of

Ōtomo Sōrin , also known as Fujiwara no Yoshishige (藤原義鎮) and Ōtomo Yoshishige (大友義鎮), was a Japanese feudal lord (''daimyō'') of the Ōtomo clan, one of the few to have converted to Roman Catholicism (Christianity). The eldest son of , he ...

), the head of the clan. At this time he changed his name from Takafusa to Harukata, as his master changed from Yoshitaka to Haruhide. Subsequently, he conducted a large military expansion, but this led to discontent among the retainers of the Ōuchi clan. In 1554 Yoshimi Masayori of

Iwami Province was an old province of Japan in the area that is today the western part of Shimane Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Iwami bordered Aki, Bingo, Izumo, Nagato, and Suō provinces. In the Heian period (794–1192) the capital was at moder ...

, Yoshitaka's brother-in-law, and

Mōri Motonari was a prominent ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) in the western Chūgoku region of Japan during the Sengoku period of the 16th century. The Mōri clan claimed descent from Ōe no Hiromoto (大江広元), an adviser to Minamoto no Yoritomo. Motonari w ...

Aki Province or Geishū () was a province in the Chūgoku Region of western Honshū, comprising the western part of what is today Hiroshima Prefecture. History When Emperor Shōmu ordered two official temples for each province (one for male Buddhist prie ...

rebelled against Harukata. In the

Battle of Oshikibata The was a preliminary round of the battle of Miyajima which was to follow. Mōri Motonari sought to avenge Sue Harukata's coup against their lord, Ōuchi Yoshitaka, and succeeded. Following the battle of Miyajima, the Mōri clan The Mōri ...

, Sue Harukata's retainer Takagawa, was defeated by Mori Motonari. In 1555 Harukata lost the

Battle of Itsukushima The 1555 was the only battle to be fought on the sacred island of Miyajima; the entire island is considered to be a Shinto shrine, and no birth or death is allowed on the island. Extensive purification rituals took place after the battle, to clea ...

, and committed suicide after the battle. After the loss, his son Nagafusa was attacked by the Mōri clan and committed seppuku in

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 ...

and the Ōuchi clan declined considerably and, two years later,

annihilated the clan. Sue Harukata's grave

References

External links

Profile
of Hiroshima Prefecture

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (in Japanese)
益田氏・吉見氏ゆかりの城館群
Shimane Prefecture web site (in Japanese)

at Samurai Archives *新井政義（編集者）『日本史事典』。東京：旺文社１９８７(p. 221) * 竹内理三（編）『日本史小辞典』。東京：角川書店１９８５(p. 206) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sue, Harukata 1521 births 1555 deaths Samurai Ōuchi clan People from Hiroshima Prefecture