* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Itō Yoshisuke
伊東義祐
Sengoku Daimyo of Hyuga, Lord of the Forty-Eight Castles
Description
Life and Origins
Itō Yoshisuke was born around Eishō 10 (1513), the son of the Sengoku daimyō Itō Tadasuke, a lord of Hyūga Province. The Itō clan was a family of local lords based in Hyūga Province (present-day Miyazaki Prefecture). After internal power struggles within the clan and his father's death, Yoshisuke succeeded to the headship as the 11th head of the Itō clan in Tenbun 5 (1536). From his youth he survived in a turbulent struggle for power, and as head of the clan he aimed to unify Hyūga Province and establish dominance over southern Kyūshū.
Establishment of the "Forty-Eight Castles of the Itō" and the Peak of Power
Under Yoshisuke's rule, the Itō clan developed dramatically. In the Eiroku era (1558–1570), he came to control most of Hyūga Province and built up a network of branch castles known as the "Forty-Eight Castles of the Itō." In Eiroku 11 (1568), he besieged Obi Castle, held by Shimazu Tadachika, for about five months. He defeated the army of Hongō Tokihisa, who had come to relieve the castle, and in the 5th month of the same year he forced the Hōshū branch of the Shimazu to hand over Obi Castle. During this period the power of the Itō clan reached its height, and Yoshisuke became known as a leading daimyō of southern Kyūshū.
The Battle of Kizakibaru and Decline
However, in Genki 3 (1572), Yoshisuke decided to attack Kakutō Castle (present-day Ebino, Miyazaki Prefecture). He sent 3,000 troops against the mere 300 led by Shimazu Yoshihiro, but in the Battle of Kizakibaru he suffered a crushing defeat in which many of his leading retainers were killed. This battle dealt the Itō clan a decisive blow, and afterward retainers defected one after another, and the clan lost its branch castles one by one.
Exile to Bungo
In Tenshō 5 (1577), Itō Yoshisuke finally resolved to abandon Hyūga Province, and he fled to Bungo Province to rely on Ōtomo Sōrin, taking his retainers and senior vassals with him. This event, known as the "Itō Collapse" (Itō-kuzure), became a turning point in the Sengoku history of Kyūshū, and it decisively advanced the ambitions of the Shimazu clan, which was moving to take control of Hyūga Province. He sought to stage a comeback under the Ōtomo, but in the Battle of Mimikawa in Tenshō 6 (1578), the Ōtomo were also defeated heavily by the Shimazu, and Yoshisuke's hopes of returning grew more distant. He then relied on the Kōno clan of Iyo Province and afterward went to Harima Province, wandering through the Chūgoku region, and he died in Sakai in Tenshō 13 (1585). He died at the age of 73.
Later Assessment
The defeat at the Battle of Kizakibaru and the Itō Collapse are historical events indispensable to any account of the rise of the Shimazu clan of Satsuma. Yoshisuke's life is passed down as a symbol of the rise and fall of power in Sengoku-period Kyūshū, and many historic sites connected with the Itō clan still remain in Miyazaki Prefecture today.