* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Mashita Nagamori
増田長盛
One of Hideyoshi's Five Commissioners — lord of Yamato Kōriyama and administrator of the Toyotomi demesne
Description
Origins and Rise
Mashita Nagamori (1545–1615) was a bureaucrat who served Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His origins are said to lie in Owari Province or Ōmi Province, but this is unclear. He served Hideyoshi as a retainer from an early stage and was promoted on the strength of his talent for accounting and his practical abilities. That he rose through the ranks by way of administrative work such as land surveys and logistics, more than through military exploits, well reflects the character of the bureaucratic stratum of the Toyotomi regime.
Duties as One of the Five Commissioners
In Hideyoshi's later years, Nagamori was one of the Five Commissioners (go-bugyō), along with Ishida Mitsunari, Asano Nagamasa, Maeda Gen'i, and Natsuka Masaie. He oversaw the Toyotomi demesne (kurairichi; directly administered lands) as a unified whole and held a central role in the regime's finances. He also served as an intermediary (sōsha), conducting diplomatic negotiations with Uesugi Kagekatsu and acting as the go-between for daimyō in the Shimotsuke, Hitachi, and Awa regions. During the Bunroku campaign (first invasion of Korea), he crossed over to the continent as a commissioner and was involved in logistics and the administration of occupied territories.
Yamato Kōriyama, 200,000 Koku
In Bunroku 4 (1595), he was granted 200,000 koku as lord of Kōriyama Castle in Yamato Province. He also concurrently served as steward of the Toyotomi directly controlled lands in Kii, Izumi, and Yamato. He was among the most powerful daimyō of the Five Commissioners, and the size of his domain reflects the weight he carried within the regime.
Sekigahara and Death
At the Battle of Sekigahara in Keichō 5 (1600), Nagamori sided with the Western Army of Ishida Mitsunari and others. However, his actions were not consistent, and some view him as having secretly been in contact with the side of Tokugawa Ieyasu. After the battle, he became a Buddhist monk and apologized, but he was nonetheless stripped of his domain. He was placed in the custody of Kōyasan and later entrusted to the lord of Iwatsuki Castle in Musashi. In Keichō 20 (Genna 1, 1615), held responsible for his son Moritsugu having joined the Toyotomi side in the Summer Siege of Osaka, he was ordered to take his own life. He was 71.
Later Assessment
He is positioned as a daimyō of the bureaucratic type who supported the Toyotomi regime through administrative work such as land surveys, management of the demesne lands, and diplomatic intermediation, rather than through battlefield achievements. Among the Five Commissioners he tends to be overshadowed by Ishida Mitsunari, but as a figure who actually ran the regime's financial foundations, his weight as a practitioner of administration is drawing attention.