Yoshitaka Kuroda

Japanese: 黒田孝高 - くろだ・よしたか

Year of death: March 20, 1604 (April 19, 1604)
Year of birth: Tenbun 15 (1546)
A military commander during the Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was known by the nickname Kanbei, and by the name Josui after he became a monk and shaved his head. He was the son of Kodera Mototaka (surname Kuroda), lord of Himeji Castle in Harima. His mother was Kodera Masamoto's adopted daughter (daughter of Akashi Munekazu). His childhood name was Mankichi. When Oda Nobunaga's influence extended into Harima, he and his father encouraged their master, Kodera Masamoto, lord of Gochaku Castle, to side with Nobunaga, and in 1577 (Tensho 5), they welcomed Toyotomi Hideyoshi to Himeji Castle. The following year, when Araki Murashige rebelled against Nobunaga, he went alone to Arioka Castle in Settsu to persuade him, but was captured and detained in the castle. However, he was rescued when Arioka Castle fell to Nobunaga the following year, and was thereafter highly valued by Hideyoshi. It was around this time that Kodera changed his surname back to Kuroda. He handed over his castle, Himeji Castle, to Hideyoshi and made Kokufuyama Castle (Himeji City) his own castle. In 1581, when attacking Takamatsu Castle in Bitchu, where Shimizu Muneharu was based, Takataka suggested to Hideyoshi that a water attack would be effective after examining the terrain. Hideyoshi was at a loss after learning that Nobunaga had been killed in the Honnoji Incident, and it is said that it was Takataka who encouraged him, saying, "This is a golden opportunity to take over the world." He subsequently achieved military success in the Battle of Yamazaki, the Battle of Shizugatake, and the attack on Shikoku, and in 1582, before Hideyoshi's main force set out, he traveled to Kyushu as a military magistrate and energetically worked to persuade the various daimyo in Kyushu to surrender. After the attack on Kyushu, he was given 120,000 koku of land at Nakatsu Castle in Buzen, but in 1583 he handed over the family headship to his son Nagamasa. However, he did not completely retire, and served as a military strategist in the siege of Odawara the following year, when he entered Odawara Castle and met with Hojo Ujimasa and Ujinao, father and son, to persuade them to surrender without bloodshed. At the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, he belonged to the Eastern Army along with his son Nagamasa, who accompanied Ieyasu to Sekigahara. Takataka, who was guarding Nakatsu Castle in Bungo, hired ronin and fought at Ishigakihara against the troops of Otomo Yoshimune, who had begun a movement to recover his former territory, defeating them. Takataka was also a Christian daimyo, baptized as Don Simeon, and studied the tea ceremony under Sen no Rikyu, writing one of Rikyu's tea ceremony manuals, Kuroda Josui's Tea Ceremony Josho.

(Tetsuo Owada)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：慶長9.3.20(1604.4.19)
生年：天文15(1546)
戦国・安土桃山時代の武将。通称の官兵衛および出家剃髪してからの如水の名で知られる。播磨姫路城主小寺職隆(黒田姓)の子。母は小寺政職の養女(明石宗和の娘)。幼名万吉。織田信長の勢力が播磨におよんできたとき,父と共に主家である御着城城主の小寺政職に信長につくことを勧め,天正5(1577)年,豊臣秀吉を姫路城に迎えた。翌6年,荒木村重が信長に背いたとき,単身摂津有岡城に乗りこんで説得に当たったが捕らえられ,城中に抑留されるが,翌年,信長により有岡城が落ちたとき救出され,以後,秀吉に重く用いられることになった。小寺からもとの黒田姓にもどったのもこのころのことである。秀吉に居城姫路城を譲り,自らは国府山城(姫路市)を居城とした。天正10年,清水宗治の拠る備中高松城を攻めるとき,地形を見て水攻めが有効であることを秀吉に献策した。本能寺の変で信長が殺されたことを知って途方にくれる秀吉に,「天下を取る好機」とけしかけたのは孝高だったといわれている。その後,山崎の戦,賤ケ岳の戦,そして四国攻めと戦功をあげ,同14年には秀吉本隊の出陣を前に軍奉行として九州に渡り,九州の諸大名に対する勧降工作を精力的に行っている。九州攻め後,豊前中津城12万石を与えられたが,17年には家督を子長政に譲っている。しかし,まったく隠居したわけではなく,翌18年の小田原攻めにも軍師として従軍し,このときも小田原城に乗りこみ,北条氏政・氏直父子に会って無血開城の説得を行っている。慶長5(1600)年の関ケ原の戦のときは子の長政と共に東軍に属し,長政は家康に従って関ケ原に出陣していた。豊後中津城で留守を守っていた孝高は,浪人を傭い入れ,旧領回復に動き出した大友吉統の兵と石垣原で戦い,これを破っている。なお孝高はドン・シメオンの洗礼名を持つキリシタン大名でもあり,また千利休に茶の湯を学び,利休の茶の湯伝書のひとつ『黒田如水茶湯定書』を著している。

(小和田哲男)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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