Yuki Haruyoshi

Yuki Haruyoshi (written 晴朝) was a warrior of the Sengoku and early Edo periods, the 17th head of the Shimosa Yuki clan and lord of Yuki Castle. He was born on 18 September 1534 and died on 25 August 1614, aged 80.

The third son of Oyama Takatomo, he took the name Haruyoshi from a character granted by Ashikaga Harauji. He joined the Ebijima battle in 1556, attacking Oda Castle, and succeeded his adoptive father Yuki Masakatsu in 1559.

In 1560 he held Yuki Castle against Satake, Utsunomiya and Oda forces and made peace. Against Uesugi Kenshin's campaigns he sided with the Koga kubo Ashikaga Yoshiuji and the Later Hojo. In 1570 he fought Oda Ujiharu at Hiratsukahara. He later adopted Tomokatsu, second son of Utsunomiya Hirotsuna, and used marriage ties with neighbors to withstand Hojo attacks.

In 1590 he joined the Odawara campaign and had his lands confirmed. He then took Tokugawa Ieyasu's second son Hideyasu as heir and retired, though the timing is debated. In 1601 he followed Hideyasu's transfer to Echizen with 5,000 koku at Katasu in Niu District.

When Hideyasu died in 1607 and the Yuki name was set to be replaced by Matsudaira, Haruyoshi was shaken and begged Ieyasu to let Hideyasu's fifth son Naomoto inherit the Yuki house. In his last years he compiled family trees, necrologies and house records and placed them in Yuki temples and shrines. With his death the Yuki bloodline ended, but its rites were carried on by the Yuki Matsudaira. A legend says he buried treasure when moving to Echizen, and digs were attempted from around 1834.