Background

Yoshihiro Shimazu was born on August 21, 1535 in Kagoshima, Japan. Second son of Takahisa.

Career

With his elder brother, Yoshihisa, he conquered almost all of Kyushu and defied orders of Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Surrendered to Hideyoshi when his forces attacked Kyushu (1587). Hideyoshi made him iord of Osumi Province (Kagoshima Prefecture).

In Hideyoshi's Korean campaign, he, together with Muneshige Tachibana and Yoshitomo So, defeated Chinese naval forces under Chen-Rin and enabled the Japanese expeditionary army to retreat from Korea safely.

In the Sekigahara Battle (1600), he sided with Mitsunari Ishida and was defeated by the East Camp and retreated to osumi by sea from Sakai near Osaka. Ieyasu pardoned him and permitted him to keep osumi. Yoshihiro retired in favor of Iehisa, his son.

Connections

Father:

Takahisa Shimazu

Son:

Shimazu Tadatsune

Shimazu Tadatsune (島津 忠恒) was a tozama daimyō of Satsuma, the first to hold it as a formal fief (han) under the Tokugawa shogunate, and the first Japanese to rule over the Ryūkyū Kingdom.

Brother:

Yoshihisa Shimazu

References

• The Samurai Sourcebook by Stephen Turnbull
  2000