The was a Japanese clan that ruled over the Japanese 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 character ...

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 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, several ...

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

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 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 powerfu ...

, 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.

Other notables

* Ōmandokoro * Toyotomi Hidetsugu *

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 The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 ...

* Nene * Hashiba Hidekatsu * Toyotomi Sadako * Tomo (Toyotomi)

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 {{Japan-clan-stub