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He was born in 1536 in the village of Nakamura in the province of Owari, present-day Aichi Prefecture. He was born of no traceable samurai lineage, being the son of a peasant-ashigaru (foot soldier) named Kinoshita Yacmon. In 1543 his father died.
Hideyoshi Toyotomi went by the name of Kinoshita Tokichiro and later Hashiba Hideyoshi, but in time the emperor bestowed upon him the surname Toyotomi, by which he was thereafter known.
In 1551 he left home and entered the service of Matsushita Kahei, lord of the castle of Kuno in the province of iotomi. In 1558 he entered the service of the powerful military leader Oda Nobunaga of Owari, and in 1566, at the command of his lord, he built the castle of Sunomata on the border between Owari and Mino, thus facilitating attacks upon his lord’s powerful opponent, the Saito family of Mino. In 1570 he distinguished himself in the attacks on the military leader Asai Nagamasa of Omi, and as a reward he was in 1573 put in charge of the former domains of the Asai family. In 1574 he built a castle for himself at Nagahama in Omi on the shore of Lake Biwa.
In 1576 he engaged in a campaign against the powerful Mori family, which had gained control of a number of provinces in the area west of Kyoto. The campaign dragged on for some years, but in 1582, when he was besieg-ing the castle of Takamatsu in the province of Bitchu, he received word that his lord, Oda Nobunaga, had been assassinated at the Honno-ji in Kyoto by one of his subordinates, Akechi Mitsuhidc. Ilideyoshi immediately ceased hostilities against the Mori family, withdrew his troops, and hastened back to Kyoto, where lie engaged and defeated Mitsuhidc at the battle of Yarna-zaki, thus laying the groundwork that in time permitted him to become the successor to Nobunaga.
In 1583 he led his forces in an attack upon his rival Shibata Katsuie, defeating him at the battle of Shizugatake in Omi and eventually pursuing him to his castle in Echizen, where Katsuie committed suicide. In the same year, Hidcyoshi began work on the great castle of Osaka, which was to be his residence in future years. In 1584 he launched an attack upon his most formidable rival, Tokugawa Ieyasu, whose base of power was in the province of Mikawa, engaging him in battle at Komaki and Nagakute in Owari, but instead of pressing for a decisive engagement he concluded peace with Ieyasu and was eventually able by political stratagems to persuade the latter to acknowledge fealty to him.
In 1585 he attacked the powerful military leader Chosokabe Motochika and gained control of the island of Shikoku, and in 1587 he brought to submission the Shimazu family, which had heretofore controlled the island of Kyushu. In the same year, while encamped at Hakata in northern Kyushu, he suddenly issued an order calling for the expulsion from the country of all Christian missionaries. The following year he took control of the port of Nagasaki and the surrounding area, which had previously been controlled by the Jesuits, and placed it under his direct jurisdiction, at the same time taking charge of the foreign trade conducted by Portuguese vessels at the port.
In 1590 he attacked the Hojo family, who were powerful military leaders in the Kantd region, approaching their castle at Odawara from the land and sea and forcing it to surrender. In the same year he went on to march against the remoter regions of northeastern Honshu, until at last he had brought the entire country under his command.
When he had completed the task of uniting the country and bringing order to the feudal system, he turned his attention to foreign conquest, in 1592 and again in 1597 dispatching troops to invade Korea in an attempt to force the ruler of Korea to recognize his sovereignty, but in 1598 he died of illness at his castle in Fushimi just south of Kyoto, and his plans to conquer Korea and eventually China ended in complete failure.
The expeditionary forces were recalled in 1598 after Hideyoshi's death. His physical remains are interred within the Hokoku-byo Mausoleum at the Hokoku Shrine.
Hideyoshi is famous for a number of cultural legacies that he inforced, including the restriction that only members of the samurai class could bear arms. He financed the construction, restoration and rebuilding of many temples standing today in Kyoto.
He imposed such measures as katana kari (“sword hunting”) in order to enforce the prohibition of the use of arms by farmers, merchants, and monks and shiro wari (destruction of castles or reducing the number of castles), to destroy unnecessary strongholds throughout Japan. He also introduced shi-nō-kō-shō, freezing class distinctions by rigidly separating warriors, farmers, artisans, and tradesmen, and by allowing each class to live in different areas of a town or village to promote the orderly establishment of a feudal society. In addition, he conducted kenchi (land surveys) and abolished road checkpoints in order to promote transportation. Development of mineral resources was encouraged so that the resulting coinage would help to further trade.
He initially accepted Christian missionaries warmly, but later, perceiving them as a political threat, began supressing their activities.
Hideyoshi’s principal political measures may be summed up as follows. He continued the policy begun by Oda Nobunaga of conducting careful land surveys to determine the exact area of land under cultivation and its yield and set up a system to collect taxes in rice directly from the farmers. He handed out lands as rewards to his followers and required that they perform military service in return. He also conducted a katanagari, or “sword hunt,” confiscating all swords and other weapons from the peasants and establishing clear distinctions between the samurai or warrior class and the peasantry. He placed all major cities and areas containing gold or silver mines under the direct supervision of the government in Kyoto and took steps to mint coins and establish a uniform currency throughout the country. Finally, he encouraged overseas trade, issuing official patents to powerful merchants, giving them permission to engage in such trade.
Although he ordered the expulsion of missionaries and had several crucified in Nagasaki in 1597, there is little evidence that he was essentially antiforeign. He was followed in power by Iyeyasu Tokugawa.
Quotations:
In a letter to his wife, Hideyoshi wrote:
"I mean to do glorious deeds and I am ready for a long siege, with provisions and gold and silver in plenty, so as to return in triumph and leave a great name behind me. I desire you to understand this and to tell it to everybody."
There were no children born to Hideyoshi by his formal wife Nene, or One, later Kōdai-in, but he had a son by a concubine. At Hideyoshi’s death, however, the son was only five years old.
