* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Mori Terumoto
毛利輝元
Lord of the Western Provinces and Nominal Head of the Western Army at Sekigahara
Description
Inheriting Motonari's Legacy
Born in Aki Province in Tenbun 22 (1553), Mori Terumoto was the legitimate grandson of the celebrated strategist Mori Motonari—renowned for his "Teaching of Three Arrows"—and succeeded to the position of 14th head of the Mori clan. His grandfather, Motonari, had employed brilliant military strategy to dominate ten provinces of the Chūgoku region, but upon Motonari's death, the enormous task of maintaining and advancing that vast legacy fell upon Terumoto's shoulders. While Terumoto did not possess the exceptional strategic brilliance of his grandfather, he achieved considerable success in preserving the Mori house's power by building upon the Mori-Ryōkawa system—a dual-house support structure formed by the Kikkawa and Kobayakawa families—that his grandfather had established.
Status Under the Toyotomi Regime
In Toyotomi Hideyoshi's process of unifying the realm, the Mori house was forced to submit to the Oda and Toyotomi, yet it managed to retain its position as a great daimyo of the western provinces. As one of the Five Elders, Terumoto participated in the central administration of the Toyotomi regime and played an important role in the Korean Campaigns. Deeply trusted by Hideyoshi, Terumoto was the greatest daimyo by land revenue in the western provinces at the time of and surrounding the later Battle of Sekigahara, and his political influence was immeasurable. Within the Five Elders system, Terumoto maintained connections with both the militarist and civilian factions, skillfully preserving his position during Hideyoshi's lifetime.
Commander-in-Chief of the Western Army at Sekigahara
In the Battle of Sekigahara in Keicho 5 (1600), Terumoto was asked by Ishida Mitsunari, Otani Yoshitsugu, and others to take up the position of commander-in-chief of the Western Army. However, Terumoto himself did not proceed to the main battlefield at Sekigahara but remained in Osaka Castle. This decision—or perhaps indecision—would later draw considerable criticism. When the Western Army was defeated, Terumoto swiftly sued for surrender to the Eastern Army, seeking to preserve the Mori house. Tokugawa Ieyasu accepted this petition, and while Terumoto's domains were drastically reduced—from approximately 1.12 million koku to the two Bōshō provinces of approximately 360,000 koku—the Mori house was permitted to continue as the Chōshū han.
Establishment of Chōshū Han and Sword Culture
The Chōshū han (also known as the Hagi han) that Terumoto effectively founded functioned throughout the Edo period as a potential center of resistance to the Tokugawa, and it would eventually come to play a central role in the anti-Tokugawa movement as the Chōshū han of the late Edo period. In this sense, Terumoto's political choices became a distant prologue to the Meiji Restoration—the greatest transformation in Japanese history—that would unfold 270 years later. Chōshū's sword culture developed against the backdrop of abundant iron resources in the Chūgoku region. Terumoto collected celebrated blades from Bizen and Yamashiro, and as the Mori house's official swordsmiths, he patronized the craftsmen of Osafune, Nagao, and Bizen. The swordsmiths of the Chūgoku region developed primarily within the Bizen tradition, and in Terumoto's era, supported by the Mori house's wealth, numerous excellent blades were produced.
Celebrated Blades Transmitted in the Mori House
The Mori house possessed distinguished swords that had been collected over generations through successive campaigns and diplomatic undertakings since Motonari's time. Terumoto carefully managed these family treasures, using some as gifts to the Toyotomi regime and for diplomatic distribution. Among the swords transmitted in the Mori house were multiple tachi and katana from the renowned masters of Bizen's Osafune school, objects that embodied the prestige of the Mori house as a powerful daimyo of the Chūgoku region. Although the Mori house's financial resources were greatly diminished by the drastic reduction of their domains after Sekigahara, Terumoto nevertheless did not lose his interest in sword culture in his remaining years and exerted himself in the cultivation of swordsmiths in the Chōshū han.
Later Years and Legacy
After the Summer Campaign of Osaka in Gen'na 1 (1615), Terumoto withdrew entirely from political activity. In Kan'ei 2 (1625), Terumoto died at the age of 73. Terumoto's reputation is mixed; while he is often overshadowed by his grandfather Motonari's achievements, his practical judgment in surviving the harsh Sengoku period and preserving the Mori house should be valued as a form of political acumen. That the Mori house survived until the late Edo period and ultimately became a driving force of the Meiji Restoration might not have occurred without Terumoto's choices.
Notable Swords
- Bizen Osafune blade from the Mori family collection — a fine sword from the great Bizen smiths, part of the sword treasury built up over generations by the Mori clan since the time of Motonari; representative of the dominant sword aesthetic of the western provinces
- Sword presented by Hideyoshi — a blade given to Terumoto in recognition of his status as one of the Five Elders, the highest rank in the Toyotomi system; a symbol of the political position he would later fail to defend at Sekigahara