Kikkawa Hiroie

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Kikkawa Hiroie

(December 7, 1561-October 22, 1625) was a Japanese daimyo

Daimyo

The were powerful territorial lords who ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. The term derives from a shortening of the title , which literally means "great named land" and originally simply referred to the owner of a large estate....
of the Azuchi-Momoyama period

Azuchi-Momoyama period

The came at the end of the Sengoku period in Japan, when the political unification that preceded the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate took place....
through early Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of History of Japan running from 1603 to 1868. The period marks the governance of the Edo or Tokugawa shogunate, which was officially established in 1603 by the first Edo shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu....
.

Hiroie's father was Kikkawa Motoharu and his mother was a daughter of Kumagai Nobunao. He initially was named Tsunenobu(??) and made his debut on the battle field on 1570 against Amago Katsuhisa

Amago Katsuhisa

was a remnant of the Amago clan, a powerful feudalism clan in the Chugoku region, Japan; backed-up by Yamanaka Yukimori, a vassal of the clan.He was born to Amago Masahisa in 1553....
with his father. On 1583, he was sent to then the de facto ruler Hashiba Hideyoshi

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

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(December 7, 1561-October 22, 1625) was a Japanese daimyo

Daimyo

Azuchi-Momoyama period

The came at the end of the Sengoku period in Japan, when the political unification that preceded the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate took place....
through early Edo period

Edo period

Amago Katsuhisa

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

was a Sengoku period daimyo 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, after Hideyoshi's castle....
as a hostage.

From 1586 to 1587, his father and his elder brother Kikkawa Motonaga both died and he became the head of Kikkawa clan. Around this time, he changed his name to Hiroie. Unlike his father and his elder brother who was known for the battlefield bravery, Hiroie preferred strategy and diplomacy to win on a battlefield and was highly praised by Hideyoshi for holding Mori clan together after the death of Kobayakawa Takakage

Kobayakawa Takakage

Kobayakawa Takakage was a samurai retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi during Japan's Sengoku period, and the son of Mori Motonari. Adopted by the head of the Kobayakawa clan, Takakage took his name, and succeeded his adoptive father to become head of the Kobayakawa clan following his death in 1545....
. During the Seven-Year War

Hideyoshi's invasions of Korea

Two Japanese invasions of Korea and subsequent battles on the Korean peninsula took place from 1592 to 1598. Toyotomi Hideyoshi led the newly unified Japan into the first invasion with the professed goal of conquering Korea, the Jurchens, Ming Dynasty China, and India....
, he is noted for the successful defeat of a much larger Ming army at the battle of Ulsan castle.

In the Battle of Sekigahara

Battle of Sekigahara

The , popularly known as the , was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 which cleared the path to the Shogunate for Tokugawa Ieyasu. Though it would take three more years for Ieyasu to consolidate his position of power over the Toyotomi clan and the daimyo, Sekigahara is widely considered to be the unofficial beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate,...
on 1600, after realizing that Mori Terumoto

Mori Terumoto

Mori Terumoto was the son of Mori Takamoto and grandson and successor of the great warlord Mori Motonari, fought against Toyotomi Hideyoshi but was eventually overcome, participated in the Kyushu campaign on Hideyoshi's side and built Hiroshima Castle....
would be made the leader of pro-Toyotomi forces by Ishida Mitsunari

Ishida Mitsunari

Ishida Mitsunari was a samurai who led the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the Azuchi-Momoyama period of the 17th century....
, Hiroie made a secret pact through Kuroda Nagamasa

Kuroda Nagamasa

was a daimyo of Japan. He was the son of Kuroda Kanbei.When Nagamasa was merely a small child, his father was convicted as a spy by Oda Nobunaga, so his son Nagamasa was taken away and was nearly killed as a hostage....
of his intention to side with Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Ieyasu

Japanese name|Tokugawa}} was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868....
in exchange for the protection of Mori clan's domains. On the day of the actual battle, September 15, Hiroie ordered all Mori clan's forces to standstill until Tokugawa forces emerged victorious. After the battle, Ieyasu decided against the secret pact and reduced the Mori clan to Suo and Nagato but this is still a lenient punishment when one considers that almost all other daimyo who opposed Ieyasu lost their domains and that Terumoto served as the leader of the opposition. While Ieyasu recommended that Hiroie to take over Mori clan and rule, Hiroie declined stressing that he had only intended for the clan's continuation.

Hiroie served as the first ruler of the Iwakuni han. He worked for prosperity of his domain; and he is remembered for having laid down a set of laws with 188 clauses (the Kikkawa-shi hatto').

In 1614, Hiroie was succeeded by Kikkawa Hiromasa, his eldest son.

Hiroie died in 1626, twelve years after passing the clan leadership to his heir.

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