, also spelled Yamanouchi (1545/1546? – November 1, 1605). He was retainer 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 ...

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 ...

. His father Yamauchi Moritoyo, was a descendant of

Fujiwara no Hidesato , was a '' kuge'' (court noble) of tenth century Heian period Japan. He is famous for his military exploits and courage and is regarded as the common ancestor of numerous clans, including the Ōshū branch of the Fujiwara clan. Hidesato served u ...

, a senior retainer of the Iwakura Oda clan (opposed to

), and lord of Kuroda castle in

Owari Province was a province of Japan in the area that today forms the western half of Aichi Prefecture, including the modern city of Nagoya. The province was created in 646. Owari bordered on Mikawa, Mino, and Ise Provinces. Owari and Mino provinces were ...

at the end of 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 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. He was famous as the husband of

Yamauchi Chiyo Yamauchi Chiyo (山内千代) or Kenshōin (見性院, 1557 – 1617) was a Japanese noble lady from the Sengoku period to the early of the Edo period. Known in history for her dedication and devotion to her family, she was vitally important to ...

Military life

When he was still a 400-Koku lord, many great people as children were entrusted to him, such as

Kuroda Nagamasa was a ''daimyō'' during the late Azuchi–Momoyama and early Edo periods. He was the son of Kuroda Kanbei, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's chief strategist and adviser. Biography His childhood name was Shojumaru (松寿丸). In 1577, when Nagamasa was a ...

when he was hostage of

and Toyotomi Hidetsugu were taught by him. He participated at

Battle of Anegawa The Sengoku period (30 July 1570) occurred near Lake Biwa in Ōmi Province, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is border ...

1570 in the Oda's side. After the Siege of Odawara (1590) and the rise to power of

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 ...

was forced to trade his domains in the

Tōkai region The is a subregion of the Chūbu region and Kansai region in Japan that runs along the Pacific Ocean. The name comes from the Tōkaidō, one of the Edo Five Routes. Because Tōkai is a sub-region and is not officially classified, there is s ...

for the

Kantō region The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Slight ...

instead. Kazutoyo was relinquished

Kakegawa Castle is a ''hirayama''-style Japanese castle. It was the seat of various ''fudai daimyō'' clans who ruled over Kakegawa Domain, Tōtōmi Province, in what is now central Kakegawa, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Background Kakegawa Castle is located ...

from Hideyoshi. In 1600, Kazutoyo fought 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 ...

's side. After battle, Kazutoyo built

Kōchi Castle is an Edo Period Japanese castle in the city of Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. It is located at Otakayama hill, at the center of Kōchi city, which in turn is located at the center of the Kōchi Plain, the most prosperous area of former ...

in what was then the province of Tosa. Kazutoyo held the title of '' Tosa no kami''. His life spanned the closing years of the

, the

Azuchi–Momoyama period The was the final phase of the in Japanese history from 1568 to 1600. After the outbreak of the Ōnin War in 1467, the power of the Ashikaga Shogunate effectively collapsed, marking the start of the chaotic Sengoku period. In 1568, Oda Nobuna ...

, and the beginning of the

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 ...

. Just four years after he became Lord of Tosa, Kazutoyo died without issue aged around 60, and was succeeded as Lord of Tosa by his nephew Tadayoshi.

Family

* Father: Yamauchi Moritoyo (1510-1559) * Mother: Hoshuin (d.1586) Kazutoyo's success was mainly thanks to his shrewd and loyal wife

, who secured his promotion by spending all her money on a magnificent thoroughbred horse for him to impress his superiors. When they were separated during the war, Chiyo also risked her life to provide her husband with secret information. Kazutoyo's daughter, Yonehime, was killed during the

1586 Tenshō earthquake The was a regional Japanese earthquake that occurred on January 18, 1586 at 23:00 local time. This earthquake had an estimated of 7.9, and an epicenter in Honshu's Chūbu region. It caused the deaths of at least 8,000 people and damaged 10,000 ...

. * Wife: Endo Chiyo (1557-1617) later Genshoin, daughter of Endo Morikazu, lord of Gujo-Hachiman castle * Daughter: Yonehime (1580-1586) * Adopted: ** Shonan Shoka (1586-1637) ** Yamauchi Tadayoshi (1592-1665)

In drama

The 45th NHK Taiga drama (2006) is a dramatization of the life of Kazutoyo, with his wife Chiyo as the central character. '' Kōmyō ga Tsuji'' stars

Nakama Yukie is a Japanese actress, singer and former idol. History Biography She was born in Urasoe, Okinawa, Japan, into a fisherman's family, the youngest of five siblings. At the start of her career she was a gravure idol and singer (her debut single " ...

as Chiyo.

Takaya Kamikawa is a Japanese stage, film, and television actor. Biography Kamikawa was born in Hachioji, Tokyo in 1965. He graduated from Hachioji-Kita high school in Tokyo. While studying economics in Chuo University, he acted in a minor theatrical group whi ...

plays Kazutoyo. The story tells how

, as a wise and beautiful wife, helped her husband Yamauchi Kazutoyo up from an ordinary

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 ...

to the governor of an entire province, Tosa. The story is by

Shiba Ryōtarō Shiba may refer to: *Shiba Inu, a breed of dog *Shiba clan,_Japanese_clan_originating_in_the_Sengoku_period *Shiba_Inu_(cryptocurrency).html" ;"title="DF 58 of 80/nowiki>">DF 58 of 80">("Shi ..., Japanese clan originating in the Sengoku period *Shi ...

References

External links

, - , - Daimyo 1540s births 1605 deaths Deified Japanese people People from Aichi Prefecture {{Daimyo-stub

Military life

Family

In drama

Further reading

References

External links