Hideyori Toyotomi - by Hideyori Toyotomi

A military commander in the Azuchi-Momoyama period. The second son of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His childhood name was Hiromaru. His mother was a concubine, Yododono Asai. He was born in Osaka Castle. In December of the following year, 1594 (3rd year of Bunroku), he was moved to the newly built Fushimi Castle and raised there. Hideyoshi, who had a biological son at the age of 57, showed great love in raising him, and he was treated specially by those around him as Hideyoshi's beloved child. In March 1595, an imperial envoy was sent from the Imperial Court to congratulate Hideyoshi on his move to Fushimi, and he was presented with a sword and a horse. After the regent Hidetsugu committed suicide in July of the same year, he was seen as the heir to the Toyotomi family. Hideyoshi was very skeptical of Tokumaru's future, so he chose Maeda Toshiie as his tutor, and had Tokugawa Ieyasu, Mori Terumoto and other feudal lords sign oaths in blood to swear loyalty to Tokumaru, and had them submit the oath again in January of the following year, 1696 (Keicho 1). In May of the same year, Hideyori accompanied Hideyoshi to the Imperial Court, where he was given the Tenpai, was promoted to Junior Fifth Rank, and in December of the same year, he changed his name to Hideyori. In September 1697, he came of age in the Imperial Court, was appointed Junior Fourth Rank and Sakonoegon Shosho, and two days later was promoted to Sakonoegon Chujo, and in April 1698, at the age of six, he was promoted to Junior Second Rank and Gon Chunagon. In the same year, Hideyoshi, who was seriously ill, repeatedly had the daimyo sign written oaths in blood to help Hideyori and to be loyal to him, but when Hideyoshi died, these oaths were all but forgotten, and after the Western Army was defeated in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 (Keicho 5), the Toyotomi clan was reduced to a single daimyo with a fief of about 700,000 koku in Setsu, Kawai, and Izumi. In April 1603, he became the Minister of the Interior, and in July of the same year, he married Tokugawa Hidetada's daughter, Senhime, and in April 1605, he became the Minister of the Right, but the decline of the Toyotomi clan could not be reversed in the political climate. In November 1614, the Siege of Osaka (Winter Siege) occurred, and in May 1615 (Genwa 1), Osaka Castle was attacked by the Tokugawa Army again, and fell to the ground. Hideyori committed suicide with his mother, Yodo-dono, and the Toyotomi clan was destroyed.

[Masanobu Hashimoto]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

安土(あづち)桃山時代の武将。豊臣秀吉の次男。幼名拾丸(ひろいまる)。母は側室淀殿(よどどの)浅井氏。大坂城で出生。翌1594年（文禄3）12月新築なった伏見(ふしみ)城に移され育てられた。57歳にして実子を得た秀吉の愛育ぶりはひとかたでなく、また周囲からも秀吉の愛児ということで特別に扱われ、95年3月にはその伏見移居の祝儀として朝廷から勅使が遣わされ、太刀(たち)・馬を下賜されるほどであった。同年7月関白秀次が自刃してからは、豊臣家の世嗣(よつぎ)と目された。秀吉は、拾丸の将来を非常に疑懼(ぎく)し、傅役(もりやく)には前田利家(としいえ)を選び、また徳川家康、毛利輝元(てるもと)らの大名には血判の誓書を出させ、拾丸に対して忠誠を誓わせ、翌96年（慶長1）正月にも再度この誓書提出のことを行わせている。同年5月秀頼は秀吉に伴われて参内して天盃(てんぱい)を賜り、従(じゅ)五位下に叙され、同12月には秀頼と改名した。97年9月禁中において元服し、従四位下・左近衛権(さこのえごん)少将に叙任され、その翌々日には左近衛中将に進み、98年4月には6歳にして従二位・権中納言(ごんちゅうなごん)となった。同年、重態となった秀吉は再三諸大名に血判の誓紙を書かせ、秀頼を助けて忠誠を尽くすことを誓わせたが、秀吉が死去するとそれも反故(ほご)同然となり、1600年（慶長5）関ヶ原の戦いで西軍大敗すると、豊臣氏は摂河泉約70万石の一大名に転落した。03年4月内大臣となり、同7月には徳川秀忠(ひでただ)の女(むすめ)千姫(せんひめ)をめとり、05年4月右大臣に上るが、政治的大勢のなかで豊臣氏の退潮は覆うべくもなかった。14年11月大坂の役（冬の陣）が起こり、15年（元和1）5月再度の大坂の役（夏の陣）で大坂城は徳川軍の総攻撃を受けて落城し、秀頼は生母淀殿とともに自刃し、豊臣氏は滅亡した。

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