FIELD REPORTS
The Counterweight of Million-Koku Kaga: In 1599, Toshiie's Death Broke the Balance
In 1599, on his sickbed, Maeda Toshiie was entrusted with the guardianship of Toyotomi Hideyori and departed the world. He was sixty-two. The death of Toshiie, the one great figure who could restrain Ieyasu's arrogation, broke that balance. The day after his death, the gears toward a great war began to turn.
On the third day of the intercalary third month of 1599 (Keichō 4), in Ōsaka. Maeda Toshiie lay on his sickbed.
The year before, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (this site's id 2) had died, and by his will Toshiie had just been entrusted as guardian of the young Hideyori.
The only one who could restrain the power of Tokugawa Ieyasu (this site's id 3), one of the Five Elders, was Toshiie, who combined ability and popular trust.
And that Toshiie was about to depart as if following his lord. At his bedside was Matsu, the wife with whom he had piled up hardship.
Hideyoshi's Will
On the verge of death, Hideyoshi made the daimyō swear loyalty to the young Hideyori.
To Toshiie above all he begged, again and again, to protect and raise Hideyori as his own child.
He believed that Toshiie — his sworn friend since Nobunaga's day, known throughout the realm as a faithful man — would guard the Toyotomi blood to the end.
Toshiie answered that trust, and pressing his sick body, protected Hideyori in Ōsaka Castle and checked Ieyasu's moves.
Two aged warriors continued their last maneuvering with the young lord between them.
The Check on Ieyasu
After Hideyoshi's death, Ieyasu began to amass power openly, with such acts as unauthorized marriages with the daimyō.
Pressing his illness, Toshiie went right into Ieyasu's residence, or received Ieyasu in Ōsaka, and restrained his arrogation head-on.
The warriors of the realm, so long as Toshiie lived, could not move lightly. Toshiie's very existence was the last counterweight supporting the balance between the Toyotomi and the Tokugawa.
But that counterweight grew lighter by the day.
The Day the Counterweight Came Off
On the third day of the intercalary third month, Toshiie breathed his last. The day after the report spread, the seven generals including Katō Kiyomasa and Fukushima Masanori (this site's id 64) attacked the residence of Ishida Mitsunari.
The instant they lost the check that was Toshiie, the Toyotomi vassals split into the militarist and administrative factions, and conflict burst forth.
This fissure led in a straight line to the Battle of Sekigahara the following year.
The death of the man who had risen from an Owari kabukimono to the lord of million-koku Kaga was also the very sound of one age's balance breaking.
"'Look after Lord Hideyori,' my lord said again and again. This promise alone, Matsu, I will carry to the next world."
PRIMARY SOURCES & ARCHIVES
- PRIMARY
Taikōki
Transmits Hideyoshi's will and Toshiie's guardianship
- SCHOLARSHIP
Maeda Toshiie
Iwasawa Yoshihiko / Yoshikawa Kōbunkan (Jinbutsu Sōsho)
Examines Toshiie as one of the Five Elders
- ARCHIVE
RELATED REPORTS
- SA-0076Maeda Toshiie— The kabukimono called 'Mataza of the spear' who built the foundation of the million-koku Kaga domain and supported the Toyotomi government as one of the Five Elders
- SA-0002Toyotomi Hideyoshi— The peasant who rose to rule all Japan
- SA-0003Tokugawa Ieyasu— The patient warlord whose dynasty ruled Japan for 250 years