(July 25, 1562-August 2, 1611) was a Japanese
daimyōis a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in premodern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
of the Azuchi-Momoyama and
Edo periodThe , or , is a division of Japanese history running from 1603 to 1868 and is the premodern era. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa shogunate, which was officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period ended with the Meiji Restoration, the...
.
Kiyomasa was born in
Owari Provincewas an old province of Japan that is now the western half of present day Aichi Prefecture, including much of modern Nagoya. Its abbreviation is Bishū ....
to Katō Kiyotada. Kiyotada's wife, Ito, was a cousin of
Toyotomi Hideyoshiwas a daimyo in the Sengoku period who unified Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle. He is noted for a number of cultural legacies, including the...
's mother. Kiyotada died while his son (then known as Toranosuke) was still young. Soon after, Toranosuke entered service with Hideyoshi, and in 1576, at age 14, was granted a revenue of 170
kokuThe is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year...
. He fought in Hideyoshi's army at the
Battle of YamazakiThe was fought in 1582 in Yamazaki, Japan, located in current day Kyoto Prefecture. This battle is sometimes referred to as the Battle of Tennozan....
, and later, at the
Battle of ShizugatakeThe was a battle in Sengoku period Japan between supporters of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Oda Nobutaka.In May, 1583, a former general of Nobunaga's named Shibata Katsuie coordinated a number of simultaneous attacks on Shizugatake, a series of forts held by Hideyoshi's generals among whom was Nakagawa...
.
(July 25, 1562-August 2, 1611) was a Japanese
daimyōis a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in premodern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
of the Azuchi-Momoyama and
Edo periodThe , or , is a division of Japanese history running from 1603 to 1868 and is the premodern era. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa shogunate, which was officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. The period ended with the Meiji Restoration, the...
.
Origins and early career
Kiyomasa was born in
Owari Provincewas an old province of Japan that is now the western half of present day Aichi Prefecture, including much of modern Nagoya. Its abbreviation is Bishū ....
to Katō Kiyotada. Kiyotada's wife, Ito, was a cousin of
Toyotomi Hideyoshiwas a daimyo in the Sengoku period who unified Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle. He is noted for a number of cultural legacies, including the...
's mother. Kiyotada died while his son (then known as Toranosuke) was still young. Soon after, Toranosuke entered service with Hideyoshi, and in 1576, at age 14, was granted a revenue of 170
kokuThe is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year...
. He fought in Hideyoshi's army at the
Battle of YamazakiThe was fought in 1582 in Yamazaki, Japan, located in current day Kyoto Prefecture. This battle is sometimes referred to as the Battle of Tennozan....
, and later, at the
Battle of ShizugatakeThe was a battle in Sengoku period Japan between supporters of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Oda Nobutaka.In May, 1583, a former general of Nobunaga's named Shibata Katsuie coordinated a number of simultaneous attacks on Shizugatake, a series of forts held by Hideyoshi's generals among whom was Nakagawa...
. Owing to his distinguished conduct in that battle, he became known as one of the
Seven Spears of ShizugatakeThe ' were the top generals of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who sought to control Japan at the end of the 16th century. They were all members of Hideyoshi's elite mounted bodyguard at the Battle of Shizugatake in 1583....
. Hideyoshi rewarded Kiyomasa with an increased revenue of 3000 koku.
When Hideyoshi became the kampaku in the summer of 1585, Kiyomasa received the court title of
Kazue no Kami (主計頭) and junior 5th court rank, lower grade (
ju go-i no ge 従五位下). In 1586, after
Higo ProvinceHigo was an old province of Japan in the area that is today Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. Higo bordered on Chikugo, Bungo, Hyūga, Ōsumi, and Satsuma Provinces.The castle town of Higo was usually at Kumamoto City...
was confiscated from
Sassa Narimasa' was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku through Azuchi-Momoyama period. Famous for his tenure as lord of Etchu Province. He became a retainer of Oda Nobunaga in 1550. and was granted a fief in Kyushu. However, due to difficulties in suppressing a local revolt, he committed suicide by Hideyoshi's...
, he was granted 250,000 koku of land in Higo (roughly half of the province), and given
Kumamoto CastleKumamoto Castle is a castle in Kumamoto, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan that has been opened to the public for tours. A large, and in its day, an extremely well fortified Japanese castle. The donjon is a concrete reconstruction built in 1960, but several ancillary wooden buildings remain of the...
as his provincial residence.
In 1592, he joined in the invasion of Korea.
Kiyomasa during the Seven-Year War
Kiyomasa was one of the three senior commanders during the Seven-Year War (1592-1598) against the Korean
dynasty of JoseonJoseon , was a Korean sovereign state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo Kingdom at what is today the city of Kaesong...
. Together with
Konishi YukinagaKonishi Yukinaga was a Japanese Christian daimyō under Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He was the son of a wealthy Sakai merchant, Konishi Ryūsa....
, he captured Seoul, Busan, and many other crucial cities.
Kiyomasa was an excellent architect of castles and fortification, during the Imjin war, Kiyomasa built several Japanese style castles in Korea to better defend the conquered lands. Ulsan castle was one of these fortresses that Kiyomasa built, and it proved its worth when Korean-Chinese allied forces attacked it with far superior force, yet the out-numbered Japanese successfully defended the castle until the Japanese reinforcements arrived, which forced the sino-korean allies to retreat.
The Korean king
SeonjoKing Seonjo ruled in Korea between 1567 and 1608. He was the fourteenth king of the Joseon Dynasty. At first, King Seonjo was a caring king who loved the people, but in later years, he became greedy and corrupt. During the Japanese invasions of Korea, the Japanese general Hideyoshi Toyotomi tried...
abandoned Seoul in fear of Kiyomasa. Kiyomasa held two Korean princes who had deserted as hostages and used them to force lower-ranking Korean officials to surrender. He killed a tiger while hunting in Korea peninsula, and presented to Hideyoshi the fur. Kiyomasa's most famous fight is the Battle of Ulsan (蔚山城の戦い) on December 22, 1593. Kiyomasa bravely succeeded in the fight defense though Chinese general Yang Hao (楊鎬) encircling Ulsan with 60,000 military forces. He defended frequent attacks from the Chinese army with
UlsanUlsan, officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's seventh largest metropolis with a population of over 1.1 million. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighboring Busan to the south and facing the Sea of Japan to the east.Ulsan is the industrial powerhouse of South...
until November 23, 1598. However, his brave fight was not reported to Hideyoshi by his rival's overseer
Ishida MitsunariIshida Mitsunari was a samurai who led the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the Azuchi-Momoyama period of the 17th century. Also known by his court title, Jibu Shōho...
. After Hideyoshi's death, he conflicted with
Ishida MitsunariIshida Mitsunari was a samurai who led the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the Azuchi-Momoyama period of the 17th century. Also known by his court title, Jibu Shōho...
, and approaches
Tokugawa Ieyasu
.
William Scott Wilson describes Kato Kiyomasa thus: "He was a military man first and last, outlawing even the recitation of poetry, putting the martial arts above all else. His precepts show the single-mindedness and Spartan attitudes of the man, (they) demonstrate emphatically that the warrior's first duty in the early 17th century was simply to "grasp the sword and die." Contemporary accounts of Kato describe him as awe-inspiring, yet not unfriendly, and a natural leader of men."
Later life
A devoted member of
Nichiren ShuNichiren-shū is the name of several Nichiren Buddhist schools that go back to Nichiren's original disciples. It is less well known internationally than Nichiren Shōshū...
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
, Kiyomasa encouraged the building of Nichiren
templeA temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
s. He did not see eye-to-eye with
Ishida MitsunariIshida Mitsunari was a samurai who led the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the Azuchi-Momoyama period of the 17th century. Also known by his court title, Jibu Shōho...
, and Hideyoshi recalled him to Kyoto. He came into conflict with Konishi, who ruled the neighboring domain in Higo, and was a Christian. Kiyomasa was noted for suppressing Christianity. At the battle of Hondo, he ordered his men to cut open the bellies of all pregnant Christian women and cut off their babies' heads.
During the
Battle of SekigaharaThe , popularly known as the , was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 which cleared the path to the Shogunate for Tokugawa Ieyasu...
, Kiyomasa remained in
Kyūshūor Kyushu is the 3rd-largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include Kyūkoku , Chinzei , and Tsukushi-no-shima...
, siding with the eastern army of
Tokugawa Ieyasu
. For his loyalty to the Tokugawa, Kiyomasa was rewarded with the former territories of his rival Konishi (who had sided with Ishida), which when added to his existing territory, increased the Kumamoto domain to around 530,000
kokuThe is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year...
.
In his later years, Kiyomasa tried to work as a mediator for the increasingly complicated relationship between Ieyasu and
Toyotomi HideyoriToyotomi Hideyori , 1593 - June 5, 1615, 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....
. In 1611, en route by sea to Kumamoto after one such meeting, he fell ill, and died shortly after his arrival. He was buried at Honmyō-ji temple in Kumamoto, but also has graves in
Yamagata Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located in the Tohoku region on Honshū island. Its capital is Yamagata.- History :The aboriginal Ezo people once inhabited the area now known as Yamagata. During the Heian Period , the Fujiwara family ruled the area...
and
Tokyo, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located on the eastern side of the main island Honshū. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the city of Tokyo in the eastern part of the prefecture, totaling over 8 million people....
. Kiyomasa is also enshrined in a Shinto shrine in Kumamoto.
In 1910, Kiyomasa was posthumously promoted to junior 3rd court rank (
jusanmi 従三位).
Katō Kiyomasa in fiction
See People of the Sengoku period in popular culture.for more information on Katō Kiyomasa .
In Korean records
According to Korean records, The Japanese advance did not last long, however, for General Kato met heavy resistance the following year in the form of General Kwon Yul of the Joseon Army, Admiral
Yi Sun-sinYi Sun-sin was a Korean naval commander noted for his victories against the Japanese navy during the Japanese invasions of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty...
of the Korean Navy and Commander
Li RusongLi Ru-song is a famous Ming commander of Korean ancestry who was the Commander-in-chief of the Ming Empire's army that was sent to defend Korea at the request of Korean King Seonjo against the Japanese invasion masterminded by Toyotomi Hideyoshi...
of the Chinese Ming salvage force. At the disastrous
Battle of HaengjuThe Battle of Haengju took place on February 12, 1593 during the Japanese invasions of Korea . Approximately 3,000 Korean defenders led by general Kwon Yul successfully repelled more than 30,000 Japanese forces...
, Katō's army of 40,000 marched out of Seoul to capture nearby Haengju fortress where a small number of Korean soldiers and militia were holding. This turned into a disaster as the Japanese force was defeated by a Korean army of 2,800 (including 800 militia). Casualties were upwards of 10,000 men.
(According to Japanese records, Kiyomasa was joined by Nabeshima Naoshigea retainer of the Ryūzōji clan during the Sengoku period of the 16th century. Naoshige was the son of Nabeshima Kiyosada and was known as Nobumasa throughout half of his career under the Ryūzōji. Naoshige proved himself as being one of the greatest generals under Ryūzōji Takanobu...
, and entered Seoul in February, 1593. He was researching the negotiation of China with Ukita Naoie' was a Japanese daimyo of the Sengoku period. He was born in Bizen Province, to Ukita Okiie, a local samurai leader. After the assassination of Naoie's grandfather Yoshiie in 1534, he was left homeless along with his father, but both were soon taken in by Murakami Munekage, the lord of Tenjinzan...
at this time, which corroborates the Korean record.) This and many other defeats coupled with the breaking of supply lines from Japan by Admiral
Yi Sun-sinYi Sun-sin was a Korean naval commander noted for his victories against the Japanese navy during the Japanese invasions of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty...
forced Kato's retreat from Korea.
During the Korean action, Konishi Yukinaga had also run into a fierce fighting and tried to negotiate a peace treaty with the Korean and Chinese forces surrounding him. "Kato was infuriated by the surrender attempt, and upon his return to Japan he ravaged the Konishi family's neighboring domain in retaliation."
Further reading
- Kitajima Manji 北島万次 (2007). Katō Kiyomasa Chōsen shinryaku no jitsuzō 加藤清正: 朝鮮侵略の実像. Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kōbunkan 吉川弘文館.
External links
- The Precepts of Kato Kiyomasa
- Kato Kiyomasa’s wiki bio at Samurai Archives
- Bushido
, meaning "Way of the Warrior", is a Japanese code of conduct and a way of the samurai life, loosely analogous to the concept of chivalry. It originates from the samurai moral code and stresses frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and honor unto death. Born of two main influences, the violent...
, an ethical code of conductA code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the responsibilities of or proper practices for an individual or organization. Related concepts include ethical codes and honor codes....
, developed in the 12th to 14th centuries in Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...