Ikeda Terumasa (池田 輝政, January 31, 1565 – March 16, 1613) was a Japanese daimyō of the early Edo period. His court title was Musashi no Kami. Terumasa was also known by the nickname saigoku no shōgun, or, "The Shōgun of Western Japan". Terumasa fought in many of the battles of the late Azuchi–Momoyama period, and due to his service at the Battle of Sekigahara, received a fief at Himeji. His childhood name was Araokojimaru (荒尾古新丸). He was the son of Ikeda Tsuneoki and brother of Ikeda Sen.
In 1579, during the Siege of Itami (1574), Terumasa was stationed at Settsukura Bridge with his father.[1] Then later in 1580, during the Siege of Hanakuma castle, they camped at Kitasuwagamine,[2] and on March 2nd, Terumasa performed notable action where he personally killed six enemies during the battle.[3] Due to his military exploits, he was awarded a letter of commendation from Nobunaga.[2]
In 1584 on April 9th, during the Battle of Nagakute, Terumasa served under the Ikeda Tsuneoki and Mori Nagayoshi who commanded 3,000 and 2,000 soldiers respectively.[4] During this battle, Nagayoshi was shot and killed in action, while Tsuneoki was also killed by Nagai Naokatsu's spear and died in battle. Terumasa was then persuaded by his vassals to retreat. Eventually, the Tsuneoki and Mori forces were crushed, and the battle ended in victory for the Tokugawa forces.[5][4]
In 1590, following the transfer of Tokugawa Ieyasu to the Kanto, Terumasa was established at Yoshida in Mikawa, a 152,000-koku fief. In 1594 Terumasa married one of Tokugawa's daughters, and after Hideyoshi died in 1598, the Ikeda drifted into Ieyasu's camp.
In 1592, Terumasa participated in Japanese invasions of Korea. He stays in the castle and is in charge of guarding the East Country. As for his duties regarding the dispatch of troops to Korea, Terumasa was ordered to build large ships and transport provisions and rice to Nagoya Castle.[6] He also worked on constructing Fushimi Castle and Toyotomi Hideyasu's Yamatotanai Castle.[2]
In 1594, Terumasa married to Tokuhime, the daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu with Hideyoshi's mediation.[7]
Conflict with Ishida Mitsunari
According to popular theory In 1598 after the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the government of Japan have an accident when seven military generals consisted of Fukushima Masanori, Katō Kiyomasa, Ikeda Terumasa, Hosokawa Tadaoki, Asano Yoshinaga, Katō Yoshiaki, and Kuroda Nagamasa planned a conspiracy to kill Ishida Mitsunari. It was said that the reason of this conspiracy was dissatisfaction of those generals towards Mitsunari as he wrote bad assessments and underreported the achievements of those generals during the Imjin war against Korea & Chinese empire.[8] However, despite the classical historiography depiction of the event as "seven generals against Mitsunari", modern historian Watanabe Daimon has pointed out there were more generals involved such as Hachisuka Iemasa, Tōdō Takatora, and Kuroda Yoshitaka also brought their troops and entourage to confront Mitsunari.[9]
At first, these generals gathered at Kiyomasa's mansion in Osaka Castle, and from there they moved into Mitsunari's mansion. However, Mitsunari learned of this through a report from a servant of Toyotomi Hideyori named Jiemon Kuwajima, and fled to Satake Yoshinobu's mansion together with Shima Sakon and others to hide.[8] When the seven generals found out that Mitsunari was not in the mansion, they searched the mansions of various feudal lords in Osaka Castle, and Kato's army also approached the Satake residence. Therefore, Mitsunari and his party escaped from the Satake residence and barricaded themselves at Fushimi Castle.[10] The next day, the seven generals surrounded Fushimi Castle with their soldiers as they knew Mitsunari was hiding there. Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was in charge of political affairs in Fushimi Castle trying to arbitrate the situation. The seven generals requested Ieyasu to hand over Mitsunari, which refused by Ieyasu. Ieyasu then negotiated the promised to let Mitsunari retire and to review the assessment of the Battle of Ulsan Castle in Korea which became the major source of this incident, and had his second son, Yūki Hideyasu, to escort Mitsunari to Sawayama Castle.[11]
However, modern historians such as Daimon, Junji Mitsunari, and Goki Mizuno has stated from the primary and secondary sources text about the accident this was more of a legal conflict between those generals with Mitsunari, rather than a conspiracy to murder him. The role of Ieyasu here was not to physically protect Mitsunari from any physical harm from them, but to mediate the complaints of those generals.[12][9]
Nevertheless, historians viewed this incident not just as simply personal problems between those generals and Mitsunari, but rather as an extension of the political rivalries of greater scope between the Tokugawa faction and the anti-Tokugawa faction led by Mitsunari. Since this incident, those military figures who were on bad terms with Mitsunari would later support Ieyasu during the conflict of Sekigahara between the Eastern army led by Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Western army led by Ishida Mitsunari.[8][13] Muramatsu Shunkichi, writer of "The Surprising Colors and Desires of the Heroes of Japanese History and violent womens”, gave his assessment that the reason of Mitsunari failure in his war against Ieyasu was due to his unpopularity among the major political figures of that time.[14]
When the Sekigahara Campaign began in the fall of 1600, Terumasa immediately sided with his father-in-law, Tokugawa.[15] He also manages to convince Nakagawa Hidenari to side with Ieyasu during this conflicts.[7]
In August 21, the Eastern Army led by Terumasa Ikeda, began crossing the river from Kawada. Terumasa army engaged in a battle at Yoneno against Oda Hidenobu. After the Hidenobu army routed, the Eastern army led by Naomasa and Fukushima crossed the river and directly attacked Takegahana Castle at 9:00 AM on the August 22nd. Shigekatsu himself setting the castle on fire and committed suicide as a final act of defiance.[16]
At the Battle of Sekigahara, Ikeda commanded 4,560 troops[15] in the rear guard and saw some desultory fighting with Chosokabe Morichika's contingent as the battle wound down.
Grave of Ikeda Terumasa
Following the Tokugawa victory, Terumasa was given a 520,000-koku fief and the province of Harima.[17][18] He also rewarded by his father-in-law, Ieyasu, with Himeji Castle.[19] which he expanded and completed in 1609.[20] In 1603 Bizen was added to Terumasa's territory, and this he assigned to his eldest son, Toshitaka (1584–1616).
By the time of Terumasa's death in 1613, the Ikeda had grown to rule over Harima, Bizen, Inaba, and Awaji, with a combined income of around 1,000,000-koku.[citation needed]
Following the death of Toshitaka, the Tokugawa Bakufu took steps to reduce the alarming power of the Ikeda and eventually reduced the family to Tottori (Inaba) and Okayama (Bizen).
Ōkanehira sword
Tati Ōkanehira sword
Ōkanehira or Great Kanehira, refers to the extraordinary size of the katana's blade. Work of Kanehira from Bizen Province, owned by Ikeda Terumasa and passed down in the Ikeda clan.
^ ab参謀本部 編 (1978). 日本戦史第13巻 小牧役 [Japanese War History Volume 13: Komaki Role] (in Japanese). p. 35-39. Retrieved 12 May 2024. modern digital library edit of original edition 1908
^Kasaya Kazuhiko (2000). "豊臣七将の石田三成襲撃事件―歴史認識形成のメカニズムとその陥穽―" [Seven Toyotomi Generals' Attack on Ishida Mitsunari - Mechanism of formation of historical perception and its downfall]. 日本研究 (in Japanese) (22集).
^Kasaya Kazuhiko (2000). "徳川家康の人情と決断―三成"隠匿"の顚末とその意義―" [Tokugawa Ieyasu's humanity and decisions - The story of Mitsunari's "concealment" and its significance]. 大日光 (70号).
