The was a

Japanese clan This is a list of Japanese clans. The old clans ('' Gōzoku'') mentioned in the Nihon Shoki and Kojiki lost their political power before the Heian Period, during which new aristocracies and families, ''Kuge'', emerged in their place. After the He ...

that ruled over the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

before 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 characte ...

Unity and conflict

The most influential figure within the Toyotomi was

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 ...

, one of the three "unifiers of Japan". Oda Nobunaga was another primary unifier and the ruler of the

Oda clan The is a Japanese samurai family who were daimyo and an important political force in the unification of Japan in the mid-16th century. Though they had the climax of their fame under Oda Nobunaga and fell from the spotlight soon after, severa ...

at the time. Hideyoshi joined Nobunaga at a young age, but was not highly regarded because of his peasant background. Nevertheless, Hideyoshi's increasing influence allowed him to seize a significant degree of power from the Oda clan following Oda Nobunaga's death in 1582. As the virtual ruler of most of Japan, Hideyoshi received the new clan name "Toyotomi" in 1585 from the

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

, and achieved the unification of Japan in 1590. When Hideyoshi died in 1598, his son

Toyotomi Hideyori was the son and designated successor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the general who first united all of Japan. His mother, Yodo-dono, was the niece of Oda Nobunaga. Early life Born in 1593, he was Hideyoshi's second son. The birth of Hideyori cr ...

was only five years old. Five regents were appointed to rule until his maturity, and conflicts among them began quickly. In 1600,

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 fello ...

deposed Hideyori and took power after winning the Battle of Sekigahara. In 1614, Hideyori came into conflict with the Tokugawa clan, leading to Tokugawa Ieyasu's

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 ...

from 1614 to 1615. As a result of the siege, Hideyori and his mother,

Yodo-dono or (1569 – June 4, 1615) was a prominently placed figure in the late- Sengoku period. She was the daughter of Oichi and sister of Ohatsu and Oeyo. She was a concubine and second wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was then the most powerful ...

, committed seppuku in the flames of Osaka castle. After their death, the Toyotomi clan dissolved, leaving the Tokugawa clan to solidify their rule of Japan and the last member of the Toyotomi clan was (1609–1645). A rumor said that Toyotomi Hideyori's son

Toyotomi Kunimatsu was a member of the Japanese clan of Toyotomi following the Edo period of the 17th century. Kunimatsu was famed for being the son of Toyotomi Hideyori, who was the son of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His mother was Hideyori's concubine, Icha (伊茶).Ther ...

escaped execution, and another rumor said that Hideyori had an illegitimate son named

Amakusa Shirō , also known as , was a Japanese Christian of the Edo period and leader of the Shimabara Rebellion, an uprising of Japanese Roman Catholics against the Shogunate. His Christian name was Geronimo and later Francisco. The uprising led by Shir� ...

Other notables

Ōmandokoro Ōmandokoro (大政所, 1516 – 29 August 1592) or Ōmandokoro Naka was the mother of the Japanese ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi. She was also the mother of Asahi no kata, Tomo and Toyotomi Hidenaga. Biography It is said that Ōmandokoro was born ...

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 ...

Toyotomi Hidenaga , formerly known as . He was a half-brother of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the most powerful and significant warlords of Japan's Sengoku period and regarded as 'Hideyoshi's brain and right-arm'. He was also known by his court title, . He promot ...

* Nene *

Hashiba Hidekatsu Hall, John Whitney ''et al.'' (1991). ''The Cambridge History of Japan'', volume 4, p. 115 was a Japanese samurai, and the fourth son of the famed feudal warlord Oda Nobunaga and was adopted by Toyotomi Hideyoshi at a young age. At the time of N ...

Toyotomi Sadako Toyotomi Sadako (豊臣完子,1592 – 1658) was a Japanese noble woman from the Sengoku period and Edo period. She was a daughter of Toyotomi Hidekatsu (Toyotomi Hideyoshi's nephew) and Oeyo ( Oichi's daughter, Oda Nobunaga niece). In 1609 she ...

Tomo (Toyotomi) Toyotomi Tomo or Nisshu-ni (日秀尼, 1534 - 30 May 1625) was a Japanese noble woman member from the aristocrat samurai family, Toyotomi clan, from the Sengoku period to the early Edo period. She was the sister of Toyotomi Hideyoshi the second "G ...

Bibliography

* Seiichi Iwao, Teizō Iyanaga, 2002: ''Dictionnaire historique du Japon'', vol. 1, p. 1145. Maisonneuve & Larose * Chris Spackman, 2009: ''An Encyclopedia of Japanese History '', p. 387. BiblioBazaar, LLC * William Scott Wilson, 2004: ''The lone samurai: the life of Miyamoto Musashi'', p. 32. Kodansha International * George Sansom, 1961: ''A history of Japan', vol. 2 (1334-1615). Stanford University Press * Eiji Yoshikawa, 1993: ''Taiko''. A. Knaus Verlag: München.

External links

Samurai-archives.com: Toyotomi clan

Toyotomi clan The was a Japanese clan that ruled over the Japanese before the Edo period. Unity and conflict The most influential figure within the Toyotomi was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the three "unifiers of Japan". Oda Nobunaga was another primary ...

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