Background
As a result, Suketaka and his father were forced to flee from their territory.
伊東 祐兵
As a result, Suketaka and his father were forced to flee from their territory.
Today, Suketaka is regarded as the "ruler of virtue of the middle-itō clan". Suketaka was Itō Yoshisuke"s third son. In the year Eiroku 11 (1568), Suketaka entered the Obi castle and conquered the Shimazu clan.
However, in the year Tenshō 5 (1577), Yoshisuke"s vassals, in particular Fukunaga Suketomo and Mera Norishige, betrayed Suketaka.
The Shimazu clan used this opportunity to invade the territory of the Itō clan. They walked from Mera mountain to Takachiho, where they asked Otomo Sōrin for protection.
Sōrin agreed to this request, as his ambition was to " Hyuga province a Christian land." So, Sōrin invaded Hyuga province and fought against the Shimadzu clan, but at Mimi river, his army was completely defeated (known as Battle of Mimigawa). As a result, Sōrin lost most of his vassals, and Suketaka and Yoshisuke felt ashamed.
Sorin moved to the Iyo province and asked the Kōno clan for help with their 20 retinues, without Yoshikatsu and Yoshikata.
However, they became very poor, and Kawazaki Sukenaaga, one of his vassals, ran a sake brewing company to earn money. Vassal
He met Itō Kamon-no-suke (Itō Nagazane, one of the Yellow Horo Military Commanders) in Himeji, Harima province. Although it was not known, whether it was by chance or on purpose, Suketaka was introduced to the Oda clan and became Hashiba Hideyoshi"s vassal by Nagazane whose ancestor was the same as that of Suketaka"son
After the Honnō-ji incident, Suketaka became the immediate vassal of Hideyoshi.
In the year Tenshō 10 (1582), at the Battle of Yamazaki, Suketaka played an active part and was bestowed the Kurikara spear and 500 Koku territory in the Kawachi province as a reward. In the year Tenshō 15 (1587), Suketaka successfully planned the Kyushu conquest.
Finally, Suketaka succeeded in reviving the Itō clan, with himself as daimyo. In the following year, Suketaka"s territory was added to the 36,000 Koku and he regained his home of Nichinan city.
After that, Suketaka also joined the Japanese invasions of of Korea.
In the year Keichō 4 (1599), Suketaka bestowed the original surname "Toyotomi". In Keichō 5 (1600), in the Battle of Sekigahara, Suketaka was at Osaka castle. However, because Suketaka was very ill, he did not join the battle.
Furthermore, Suketaka communicated secretly to Tokugawa Ieyasu via Kuroda Kanbei.
In Suketaka"s home, his vassal Inazu Shigemasa commanded the Itō army and conquered Miyazaki castle (Akizuki Mototane"s castle). However, at the same time, Mototane betrayed the West army and communicated with the East army.
Death
In 1600, Suketaka passed away in Osaka due to an unknown illness. Suketaka"s son survived as lord of the Obi domain during the Edo period.
The present leader of the Itō clan is Itō Sukeaki (伊東 祐昭).
At that time, Sanpō, a member of the Yamabushi, was asked by Kawazaki Sukenaga to pray for the revival of the Itō clan.