Toyotomi Hideyori

Toyotomi Hideyori (1593–1615) was born the second son (effectively the legitimate heir) of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and became the last head of the Toyotomi clan. After his father's death, as Tokugawa Ieyasu rose to power, the Toyotomi clan gradually lost real authority, but Hideyori attempted to maintain the prestige of the Toyotomi using Osaka Castle as his base. In the Osaka Campaigns of Keicho 19–20 (1614–1615), he fought against Tokugawa forces, was defeated, and died by his own sword at the young age of 23.

Hideyori was born on August 3, 1593 (Bunroku 2), to Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Yodogimi (Chacha). He was the long-awaited legitimate heir born when Hideyoshi was 57 years old, and Hideyoshi took many measures to ensure Hideyori's future, including the establishment of the Five Elders (Go-Tairō) and Five Commissioners (Go-Bugyō) system, and the arrangement of a betrothal between Hideyori and Ieyasu's granddaughter Senhime. When Hideyoshi died in 1598 (Keicho 3), Hideyori became head of the Toyotomi clan at just 6 years old.

Even after Ieyasu established his hegemony at the Battle of Sekigahara (1600), Hideyori reigned at Osaka Castle as a great daimyō with 650,000 koku in Settsu, Kawachi, and Izumi. However, in 1614 (Keicho 19), Ieyasu decided to commence hostilities using the Hōkōji Temple bell inscription controversy (the inscription "Kokka Ankō, Kunshin Hōraku" was interpreted as a curse on Ieyasu) as a pretext. In the Winter Campaign, they held out thanks to the valiant fighting of rōnin including Sanada Yukimura, but were defeated in the following year's Summer Campaign. On May 8, 1615 (Keicho 20), Hideyori died by his own sword at Osaka Castle together with his mother Yodogimi. He was 23 years old.

In the realm of Japanese swords, Hideyori was a person who inherited the many famous blades passed down in the Toyotomi clan. The vast sword collection amassed by Hideyoshi was preserved as treasured possessions of Osaka Castle up through Hideyori's generation. Among these, it is said there were famous blades of the realm including the "Ishida Masamune" (a famous blade forged by Masamune previously owned by Ishida Mitsunari). When Osaka Castle fell, many of these precious blades were scattered through fire and pillaging, but some were taken over by the Tokugawa and various daimyō, and are still held today in museums and art galleries throughout the country. Hideyori's tragedy is passed down as an episode symbolizing the dispersal of sword culture along with the glory of the Toyotomi clan.