Sue Harukata

Sue Harukata (1521–1555) was a trusted retainer who served the Ōuchi clan, a powerful lord of western Japan. He is remembered in Sengoku history as a scheming strategist who assassinated his lord, Ōuchi Yoshitaka. Later, however, he met a violent end at the Battle of Itsukushima, brought down by the clever stratagem of Mōri Motonari.

Harukata was born in 1521 and is said to have been the son of Sue Okifusa, who served as deputy governor (shugodai) of Suō Province (present-day Yamaguchi Prefecture). In recent years, the view that he was an adopted son of Okifusa has become the prevailing theory. From his youth he was favored by Ōuchi Yoshitaka and rose to prominence as a leading Ōuchi general. He showed real military ability, for example by repelling the Amago army that attacked Yoshida-Kōriyama Castle in Aki. However, as Yoshitaka became absorbed in waka, renga and other literary arts and neglected military affairs, Harukata gradually grew resentful of his lord.

In 1551, Harukata carried out a coup against Ōuchi Yoshitaka (the Taineiji Incident). Yoshitaka fled to Taineiji in Nagato, where he took his own life, and real power over the Ōuchi house passed into Harukata's hands. Harukata installed Ōuchi Yoshinaga as the new head of the family and ruled as the master of western Japan.

But in 1555, through the skillful schemes of Mōri Motonari, he was drawn into a decisive battle at Itsukushima (present-day Miyajima). Defeated catastrophically by a surprise attack from the Mōri forces, with the Murakami navy cutting off his retreat, Harukata took his own life. He was only 35 years old. As the loser of the Battle of Itsukushima, his name has been passed down through the ages.