Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Toyotomi clan mon (Japanese emblem) Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣 秀吉; Japanese pronunciation: [to.jo.to.mʲi (|) çi.de(ꜜ).jo.ɕi], 16 February 1537 – 18 September 1598), otherwise known as Kinoshita Tōkichirō (木下 藤吉郎) and Hashiba Hideyoshi (羽柴 秀吉), was a Japanese samurai and daimyō (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan. Although he came from a peasant background, he rose to become the most powerful man in Japan, earning the rank and title of Kampaku (関白, Imperial Regent) and Daijō-daijin (太政大臣, Chancellor of the Realm), the highest official position and title in the nobility class. He was the first person in history to become a Kampaku who was not born a noble. He then passed the position and title of Kampaku to his nephew, Toyotomi Hidetsugu. He remained in power as Taikō (太閤), the title of a retired Kampaku, until his death.

Hideyoshi rose from a peasant background as a retainer of the prominent lord Oda Nobunaga to become one of the most powerful men in Japanese history. He distinguished himself in many of Nobunaga's campaigns. After Nobunaga's death in the Honnō-ji Incident in 1582, Hideyoshi defeated his assassin Akechi Mitsuhide at the Battle of Yamazaki and became Nobunaga's successor. He then continued the campaign to unite Japan that led to the closing of the Sengoku period. Hideyoshi became the de facto leader of Japan and acquired the prestigious positions of daijō-daijin and kampaku by the mid-1580s. He conquered Shikoku in 1585 and Kyūshū in 1587, and completed the unification by winning the Siege of Odawara in 1590 and crushing the Kunohe rebellion in 1591. With the unification of Japan complete, Hideyoshi launched the Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592 to initial success, but eventual military stalemate damaged his prestige before his death in 1598. Hideyoshi's young son and successor Toyotomi Hideyori was displaced by Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 which would lead to the founding of the Tokugawa Shogunate.