was a Japanese ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' during the Azuchi–Momoyama and

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

s. A native of

Mikawa Province was an Provinces of Japan, old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Mikawa''" in . Its abbreviated form name was . Mikawa bordered on Owari Province, O ...

, Kiyonaga served the

Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty which produced the Tokugawa shoguns who ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868 during the Edo period. It was formerly a powerful ''daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of ...

in battle until 1600. In Mikawa, he served as one of Tokugawa Ieyasu's "Three Magistrates" (san-bugyō). Together with

Amano Yasukage was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period and early Edo period. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Amano Yasukage"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 26. Who served the Tokugawa clan. He served as one of Ieyasu's "three magistrates" (san-bugyō). ...

and

Honda Shigetsugu (1529 – August 9, 1596), also known as , was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period through Azuchi-Momoyama Period, who served the Tokugawa clan. He served as one of Ieyasu's "three magistrates" (san-bugyō). Biography He was known as Hac ...

. Yasukage was known for his patience, Shigetsugu for his fortitude, and Kiyonaga for his leniency; this leniency earned him the nickname of "Buddha Kōriki" (''

Hotoke The Japanese noun is a word of Buddhist origin and uncertain etymology. It has several meanings, all but a few directly linked to Buddhism. It can refer to: *A person who has achieved ''satori'' (state of enlightenment) and has therefore become a ...

Kōriki'' 仏高力).

Biography

Born in Mikawa, Kiyonaga first served

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

in 1552. In 1535, when

Oda Nobuhide was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and magistrate of the Sengoku period known as "Tiger of Owari" and also the father of Oda Nobunaga, the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobuhide was a deputy ''shugo'' (Shugodai) of lower Owari Province and head of t ...

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 w ...

invaded Mikawa, his father Kōriki Yasunaga and grandfather Kōriki Shigenaga were both slain in battle. Kiyonaga later served

Matsudaira Hirotada was the lord of Okazaki Castle in Mikawa province, Japan during the Sengoku Period of the 16th century. He is best known for being the father of Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. Biography Hirotada was the son of Matsudaira ...

. From 1552, Kiyonaga served a son of Hirotada,

, and followed Ieyasu during his time as a hostage in Suruga Province. Kiyonaga participated in various battles including

Siege of Terabe The siege of Terabe Castle took place in 1558 in feudal Japan. Terabe Castle was a possession of the Ogasawara clan of Mikawa Province. The Siege of Terabe Castle was Matsudaira Motoyasu's first battle, who would later change his name to Tokuga ...

in 1558 which was Ieyasu's first battle. In 1560, Kiyonaga followed Ieyasu to the

Siege of Marune The was a battle during the Sengoku period (16th century) of Japan. Marune was a frontier fortress in the possession of Oda Nobunaga. Matsudaira Motoyasu (who would later come to be known as Tokugawa Ieyasu) was at the time a forced retaine ...

. In May, participated in

Imagawa Yoshimoto was a Japanese ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the Sengoku period. Based in Suruga Province, he was known as ; he was one of the three ''daimyō'' that dominated the Tōkaidō region. He died in 1560 while marching to Kyoto to become Shogun. He ...

's invasion of Owari, as a retainer of Ieyasu where he achieved great success at the Battle of Ōdaka Castle. He also transported provisions to

Ōdaka Castle was a Sengoku period flatland-style Japanese castle located in what is now part of Midori Ward of the city of Nagoya, Aichi in the Tōkai region of Japan. The ruins, together with that of the detached fortresses of and have been collectively p ...

during the

Battle of Okehazama The took place on 12 June 1560 in Owari Province, in today's Aichi Prefecture. In this battle, the heavily outnumbered Oda clan troops, commanded by Oda Nobunaga, defeated Imagawa Yoshimoto and established Oda as one of the front-running warlo ...

. In 1562, When Ieyasu proclaimed his independence from the

Imagawa clan was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji by way of the Kawachi Genji. It was a branch of the Minamoto clan by the Ashikaga clan. Origins Ashikaga Kuniuji, grandson of Ashikaga Yoshiuji, established himself in ...

after the death of Yoshimoto, he accompanied Ieyasu to

Kiyosu Castle is a Japanese castle located in Kiyosu, western Aichi Prefecture, Japan. It is noted for its association with the rise to power of the Sengoku period warlord Oda Nobunaga. The kanji in the name of the castle was written as 清須城. The curren ...

in Owari when he signed the Kiyosu Alliance with 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 reached the peak of their power under Oda Nobunaga and fell soon after, several branches of the ...

. In 1563 Kiyonaga manage to subdue Toro Honshu-ji Temple in the eastern Mikawa during the suppression war of the Mikawa

Ikkō-ikki were armed military leagues that formed in several regions of Japan in the 15th-16th centuries, composed entirely of members of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism. In the early phases, these ''ikki'' leagues opposed the rule of local Shugo, go ...

. In 1564, Kiyonaga also participate in the Battle of Batogahara. After this suppression campaign ended, Kiyonaga was involved in the protection of Buddhist statues and

Sutra ''Sutra'' ()Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aphorism or a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or, more broadly, a ...

texts of the affected territories. Due to his attempts of preventing the religious scriptures dispersal and restore the temples and shrines to their original state, he was given the nickname ''Buddha Kōriki'' by the peoples of the territories where he operated. In 1565, he was appointed as one of the three magistrates of Mikawa, together with

and

. In 1569, he joined in the pacification of

Tōtōmi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today western Shizuoka Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tōtōmi''" in . Tōtōmi bordered on Mikawa Province, Mikawa, Suruga Province, S ...

Siege of Kakegawa The 1569 siege of Kakegawa was one of many battles fought by Tokugawa Ieyasu campaign at Suruga province and Tōtōmi Province against Imagawa clan during Japan's Sengoku period. Imagawa Ujizane, the son of the late Imagawa Yoshimoto, held Kakeg ...

castle. In 1584 he took part in the

Battle of Komaki and Nagakute The , also known as the Komaki Campaign (小牧の役 ''Komaki no Eki''), was a series of battles in 1584 between the forces of Hashiba Hideyoshi (who would become Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1586) and the forces of Oda Nobukatsu and Tokugawa Ieyasu ...

against

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

. After the war, he served as a messenger to Hideyoshi, and at this time Kiyonaga impressed Hideyoshi, and in 1586 he was given the surname

Toyotomi 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 primar ...

. In 1590, After

Siege of Odawara (1590) The third occurred in 1590, and was the primary action in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign to eliminate the Hōjō clan as a threat to his power. The months leading up to it saw hasty but major improvements in the defense of the castle, as H ...

, Kiyonaga became a ''

'', when he was granted the 20,000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

'' fief of Iwatsuki. In 1592, Kiyonaga also assisted with ship construction for the Seven-Year War (1592-1598). As he was preceded in death by his son Masanaga, Kiyonaga retired after the

Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was an important battle in Japan which occurred on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu Prefecture, ...

, and passed down family headship to his grandson Tadafusa.

Appendix

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Koriki, Kiyonaga 1530 births 1608 deaths Daimyo Samurai People from Aichi Prefecture