33 Facts About Kobayakawa Takakage

Kobayakawa Takakage was the third son of Mori Motonari who was adopted by the Kobayakawa clan and became its 14th clan head.

Kobayakawa Takakage merged the two branches of the Kobayakawa, the Takehara-Kobayakawa clan and Numata-Kobayakawa clan.

Kobayakawa Takakage was born in 1533 with the childhood name Tokujumaru as the third son of Mori Motonari and his main wife Myokyu.

The other branch of the Kobayakawa Takakage clan was the Numata-Kobayakawa Takakage clan.

The head of the family, Kobayakawa Shigehira was young and blind due to an eye disease so in 1550 it was decided that Takakage would become heir of the Numata branch and finally merge the two rival branches of the clan.

In 1552 Kobayakawa Takakage decided to build a new main castle across the Numata River and called it is Niitakayama Castle.

Kobayakawa Takakage married Lady Toida, daughter of Kobayakawa Masahira and sister of the blind Kobayakawa Shigehira in order to cement his succession.

The Kobayakawa Takakage would become an important naval force under the direct control of his father.

In 1555 at the Battle of Miyajima, Kobayakawa Takakage led his naval forces under control of the Mori clan and broke the naval blockade of the Ouchi clan forces under the command of Sue Harukata.

Kobayakawa Takakage sailed straight toward Miyao Castle in a feint, then retreated so he could be in a position to return the following day, his attack synchronized with the overland assault.

In 1557 Kobayakawa Takakage took part of the Conquest of Bocho and the Mori forces took both Suo Province and Nagato Province of the Ouchi clan and Ouchi Yoshinaga committed suicide.

Under Takamoto, Kobayakawa Takakage continued to be a main force of the Mori along with his second older brother Kikkawa Motoharu.

Kobayakawa Takakage worked on diplomacy, taking advantage of the information gathering capabilities of the military.

Kobayakawa Takakage was then dispatched to fight the Otomo clan in Kyushu.

When Murakami Michiyasu died that year Kobayakawa Takakage sent his widow who was a daughter of Kono Michinao to marry Shishido Takaie.

In 1568 Kobayakawa Takakage fought in the Battle of Torisaka and the 1568 Battle of Tatarahama.

In 1571, Kobayakawa Takakage was sent to help the Mimura clan of Kojima, Bizen Province against Urakami Munekage but the Murakami and Awa Pirates helped and Kobayakawa Takakage was forced to withdraw to Aki Province.

In 1563, on the New Year's Day of 6th year of Eiroku, a large army led by Mori Takamoto and Kobayakawa Takakage arrived to relieve Moji castle.

The situation was described as dire for the Otomo side before Dosetsu charged towards a gap in the formation of Kobayakawa Takakage's army, allowing other Dosetsu generals to reorganize themselves and rearrange their artillery.

The army of Motoharu and Kobayakawa Takakage was unable to resist and was pushed back.

However, in the end Kobayakawa Takakage forced to relinquish the castle of Tachibana again to Dosetsu, since the Mori and Otomo clan sign truce peace negotiation with the result that Mori clan should give back the Tachibana castle to Otomo.

That same year at the First Battle of Kizugawaguchi, Kobayakawa Takakage led the Mori naval forces with Murakami Takeyoshi.

Two years later in 1578 at the Second Battle of Kizugawaguchi, Kobayakawa Takakage was leading the naval forces again.

Kobayakawa Takakage had increasingly intense tactics and the Mori forces continued to be pushed backwards.

Kobayakawa Takakage led the main force of the Mori along with Mori Terumoto and Kikkawa Motoharu leading 30,000 men.

Kobayakawa Takakage proposed peace if the Mori would cede to him the provinces of Hoki, Mimasaka and Bitchu.

That year in 1582, Kobayakawa Takakage had moved his main castle of Niitakayama Castle to Mihara Castle facing the Seto Inland Sea.

Kobayakawa Takakage took the former secretary of the Kaneko clan, Saionji Kinmochi as a vassal.

However, Takakage tried to object saying that it was impossible for the three clans of Mori, Kikkawa and Kobayakawa to administer these provinces adequately since they already had seven to eight provinces in the Chugoku region and now on top of that the three in Kyushu.

Kobayakawa Takakage proposed to install substitute officers in Chikuzen and Chikugo and would alternate with Sassa Narimasa every half a year or year.

Hideyoshi refused his resignation of the provinces and this was an opportunity for Kobayakawa Takakage to become an independent lord under the Toyotomi administration.

Kobayakawa Takakage was then relocated in 1593 to Gyeonggi Province where he fought in the Battle of Byeokjegwan with Tachibana Muneshige where they repelled the reinforcement forces of the Ming dynasty.

In 1595 Kobayakawa Takakage was appointed to the Council of Five Elders by Hideyoshi along with Ukita Hideie, Maeda Toshiie, Uesugi Kagekatsu, and the famous Tokugawa Ieyasu.