The Unification of Shikoku: In 1585, the Dream the Ichiryō-Gusoku Built, and Its End

In 1585 (Tenshō 13), in Shikoku. Chōsokabe Motochika had brought almost the whole of Tosa, Awa, Sanuki, and Iyo under his power, and the unification of Shikoku was before his eyes.

It was a swift advance at the head of the vassal band called ichiryō-gusoku, a quarter-century after he rose from a single lord of Tosa.

But that same year, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (this site's id 2), advancing the unification of the realm, sent toward Shikoku a great army said to number a hundred thousand.

Motochika's dream met its greatest trial.

What supported Motochika's swift advance was the half-farmer, half-soldier vassal band called ichiryō-gusoku.

In peacetime they tilled the fields; once war came, they took up a single set of armor and rushed to arms.

This mobility and cohesion were the source of the Chōsokabe army's strength. Rooted in the land of Tosa, they fought with the consciousness of protecting their homeland, and under Motochika swept over Shikoku.

It was the power of native soldiers, unlike the daimyō of the center.

Before Motochika, with the unification of Shikoku in sight, the realm's ruler Hideyoshi stood in the way.

Hideyoshi, with his younger brother Hidenaga as supreme commander, landed a great army on Shikoku from every direction.

The difference in mobilized strength was overwhelming. Motochika, who had subdued Shikoku with the power of a single province, could not resist the sheer mass of Hideyoshi, backed by the wealth and soldiers of the realm.

Castle after castle fell, and Motochika resolved to surrender.

To the surrendered Motochika, Hideyoshi granted possession only of the single province of Tosa.

Awa, Sanuki, and Iyo were confiscated, and the Shikoku domain built in a single generation shrank in a mere few years to the single province of Tosa.

Before the vast power of unifying the realm, even a regional hero's dream was helpless.

Motochika thereafter lived as a single daimyō subject to Hideyoshi. Tucking the pride of Shikoku's overlord deep in his breast, Motochika accepted submission to a new age.