Chōsokabe Motochika

Chōsokabe Motochika (1539-1599) was an outstanding warlord of the late Sengoku period who achieved the unification of the entire island of Shikoku. He was a distinguished commander praised as the 'Prodigy of Tosa' (Tosa no dekibito). His rise from a provincial lord of Tosa (present-day Kōchi Prefecture) to ruler of four provinces of Shikoku is highly regarded as one of the classic success stories of the Sengoku period, in which regional warlords vied for supremacy over the realm.

Motochika's life was full of dramatic change. As a child he was called the 'Himewakago' ('little princess') and was even described as frail and introverted. However, in his first battle, the Battle of Nagahama (1560), he displayed extraordinary martial talent and astonished those around him. Later, after he unified the single province of Tosa, he came to be called the 'Prodigy of Tosa'.

On the battlefield Motochika was a relentless strategist, and he organized a distinctive military system known as ichiryō gusoku. The ichiryō gusoku was a system that mobilized farmers as warriors during the agricultural off-season. By securing this large mobilization capacity, it became the foundation on which he grew into a daimyō.

In 1585 Motochika at last achieved the unification of Shikoku. Immediately afterward, however, Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched the Shikoku campaign (1585), and in the face of overwhelming numbers Motochika was forced to submit. After his surrender to Hideyoshi, Motochika was allowed to keep only the province of Tosa, and he lost the other three provinces (Iyo, Sanuki, and Awa).

After submitting to Hideyoshi, Motochika took part in the Bunroku and Keichō campaigns (the invasions of Korea), where he was expected to contribute as a naval commander. However, in the matter of his succession he suffered a painful blow when his eldest son and heir, Nobuchika, was killed at the Battle of Hetsugigawa (1586), and it is said that Motochika closed his heart in his later years. After Motochika died in 1599, the Chōsokabe family was stripped of its domains for having sided with the Western army at the Battle of Sekigahara, and Yamauchi Kazutoyo entered Tosa. Motochika's achievement of unifying Shikoku as the lord of Tosa is still praised today as the most brilliant chapter in the history of Shikoku.