Kikuchi Takatoki

Kikuchi Takatoki was the 12th head of the Kikuchi clan of Higo in the late Kamakura period. He was born in 1292 (Shōō 5) and died on 27 April 1333 (13th day of the 3rd month, Genkō 3), aged 42. His father was Kikuchi Takamori. After his elder brother and his uncle Takemoto died in quick succession, he inherited the headship while still a child.

Background to the Uprising

After the Mongol invasions, the gokenin were dissatisfied with the Hōjō clan's tightening control, and Emperor Go-Daigo rose in arms. Takatoki answered this and planned an attack on the Chinzei Tandai. A defeat in a lawsuit is also cited as a background factor.

Setback at Hakata

He arrived at Hakata on 25 April 1333 (11th day of the 3rd month). On the 12th, at the Tandai's office, he quarreled with the samurai-dokoro over his late arrival, and the Tandai's side came to regard him as the center of anti-Bakufu activity. On the night of the 12th he moved the attack forward to the 13th and asked Ōtomo Sadamune and Shōni Sadatsune for help, but both refused, judging it too early. Sadatsune is said to have killed the messenger.

Death

At about 4 a.m. on the 13th he sortied, set fire in several places in Hakata, and attacked the Tandai's headquarters, but was defeated by the Tandai's forces. He was killed together with his son Yoritaka and other members of his family. The heads are said to have been displayed at Inu-i Baba.

Afterward

Two months later, on the 22nd day of the 5th month of Genkō 3 (1333), the Kamakura shogunate fell. Three days after that, the Ōtomo and Shōni turned against the Bakufu and destroyed the Chinzei Tandai. In 1883 (Meiji 16) he was posthumously granted Junior Third Rank, and in 1902 (Meiji 35) Junior First Rank. A tomb said to hold his head is at Kikuchi Reisha in Roppongi, Chūō Ward, Fukuoka City, and one said to hold his body at Kikuchi Shrine in Nanatsuguri, Jōnan Ward, the same city. His ninth son was Takemitsu.