Torii Mototada

Torii Mototada (1539–1600) was a samurai commander from Mikawa Province (present-day Aichi Prefecture), renowned as a loyal retainer of Tokugawa Ieyasu. He is counted among the 'Sixteen Generals of Tokugawa' and remained loyal to Ieyasu throughout his life. Just before the Battle of Sekigahara in Keichō 5 (1600), he defended Fushimi Castle as its commander. With only some 1,800 men, he resisted a 40,000-strong army led by Ukita Hideie as commander-in-chief, and met a heroic end. His loyal death has been passed down to later generations, and he is revered as a figure who embodied the spirit of bushidō.

Mototada was born in Tenbun 8 (1539) in Mikawa Province, the son of Torii Tadayoshi, a samurai of that province. From boyhood he served the Matsudaira family (later the Tokugawa) as a page, and from Ieyasu's childhood he accompanied him as a close attendant. Thereafter he distinguished himself in many battles, including the siege of Terabe Castle in Eiroku 1 (1558) and the Battle of Anegawa in Genki 1 (1570).

He also took part in the Battle of Mikatagahara in Genki 3 (1572). At the siege of Suwahara Castle, he infiltrated enemy lines as a scout and was shot in the leg, which left him with a lasting impairment in walking. Nevertheless, at the Battle of Nagashino in Tenshō 3 (1575), he was in charge of setting up the anti-cavalry palisades together with Ishikawa Kazumasa. During the Tenshō Jingo Disturbance in Tenshō 10 (1582), he repulsed the Hōjō forces at the Battle of Kurokoma and was granted Tsuru District in Kai Province. When Ieyasu moved to the Kantō region in Tenshō 18 (1590), he was granted 40,000 koku at Yahagi in Shimōsa Province.

In the 6th month of Keichō 5 (1600), when Ieyasu traveled east to campaign against Aizu, Mototada was entrusted with Fushimi Castle. On the 16th day of the 6th month, Ieyasu stayed at Fushimi Castle, where he shared sake with Mototada and talked with him until late at night before they parted, it is said. In the 7th month, Fushimi Castle was surrounded by a 40,000-strong army on Ishida Mitsunari's side and came under fierce attack. Mototada resisted with some 1,800 men for about 13 days, and on the 1st day of the 8th month the castle fell. Mototada died in battle, fighting Suzuki Shigetomo. He was 62 years old.

His loyalty was praised by Ōkubo Tadataka as 'a model of Mikawa warriors.' The blood-stained floorboards from Fushimi Castle, where Mototada and others met their end, are still preserved today as the 'Blood Ceiling' at Yōgen-in and other temples in Kyōto.