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Mar 17, 1537
Toyotomi Hideyoshi is born
Hideyoshi born in Nakamura Ward, Nagoya, Aichi. His father is assumed to be a shoe-bearer for the Oda Clan armies, but died when Hideyoshi was ten. After this, he joined a temple and focused on peace and tradition, values which he kept throughout his career. -
1573
Rise to Daimyo
After becoming a foot soldier, he earned the approval of his peers with his modesty, friendliness and competence which led to him becoming a samurai. He put great effort in whilst he was a samurai, with hours upon hours of work resulted in him being promoted to daimyo. Because of this, he worked closely with Nobunaga, and was even mentored in military tactics by him. The strategies that Nobunaga taught Hideyoshi aided him in his conquest, granting him even more prestige as a warlord. -
1581
Toyotomi rennovates the Himeji Castle
While Toyotomi didn't build the Hijemi Castle, he was a driving force in turning it into the monument it is today. The castle was built in 1333, and functioned as a 'Tenshu', or castle keep after Hideyoshi remodelled it in 1581. He added a great deal of features, arming it with various lines of defence like moats and fortified walls that could reach heights of up to 85 ft. The building itself was only 3 stories at the time, but grew on to be Japans largest and most visited castle Castle. -
Jul 2, 1582
Battle of Yamazaki
In the Battle of Yamazaki, Oda Nobunaga and his clan fought against another General, Akechi Mitsuhide, who was previously a samurai of Nobunaga. In fact, all of the opposing force were former underlings who had betrayed Nobunaga. Eventually, Nobunaga committed Seppuku, a form of ritual suicide where an individual uses a sword or knife to cut open their stomachs. After Nobunaga's death, Toyotomi assembled various small clans and vilages on his side to avenge Nobunaga's death. -
Jul 16, 1582
The Kiyosu conference
Just 2 weeks after Nobunaga's death at the hands of Mitsuhide, Oda's top retainers, Shibata Katsuie, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Niwa Nagahide and Ikeda Tsuneoki assembled at Kiyosu to decide who would succeed him. This conference was actually Japan's first group made political decision. Hideyoshi pushed for Nobunaga's 2-year-old grandson to succeed, likely so that he could be raised in support of Hideyoshi. Katsuie pushed for Nobunaga's third son, causing tensions to rise between the 2 war lords. -
Battle of Shizugatake
The tensions between Hideyoshi and Katsuie culminated in the battle of Shizugatake, where the 2 of them led their armies against one another to decide who would succeed Nobunaga. While Katsuie sent in 30,000 troops, it was said that Hideyoshi's army numbered in the 50,000s, vastly out numbering Katsuie. Hideyoshi launched a surprise attack on Katsuie causing him to retreat and commit Seppuku at Kitano-Sho Castle, along with his wife. -
Hiseyoshi becmes the Chief Minister
Hideyoshi, after convincing so many clans during the battle of Yamakazi kept his authority of those clans, and kept on taking more underneath his rule, eventually being given the title of 'Chief Minister'. During his time as Chief Minister, Hideyoshi was known to host large tea parties, again promoting his values of peace and tradition. These parties went on to become an important celebration to Japanese culture. -
Hideyoshi bans weapons for all but the warrior class
This was Hideyoshi's largest decree as the Chief Minister. in 1588, Hideyoshi chose to ban everyone but the warrior class from carrying weapons, trying to promote one of his values, peace. Using the weapons that were handed in after the ban, he created an iron Buddha. Anyone who was caught with a weapon on them was then executed for treason, showing that Hideyoshi had little tolerance for disobedience. -
Unifying Japan
With the warring states period coming to an end, Japan is finally at peace. Toyotomi Hideyoshi had brought an end t centuries of struggles and conflicts between feudal lords and daimyo. While the 'true' unification of Japan wouldn't come until Tokugawa's rule, Hideyoshi had nearly all of Japan under his thumb. -
The Invasion(s) of Korea
After uniting Japan, Toyotomi had very little use for his soldiers. So, with all of Japan behind him, he set his eyes on China. However, due to the geographical challenges the only way to China was Korea. Initially, he asked for passage through Korea's lands but was refused twice. In response, Hideyoshi declared war on them and actually won, taking nearly half of their land. However, Korea won it back a short while later, and Japan was left devastated, too weak to challenge either country.