Who Is Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Kinoshita Tokichiro)?
From Nobunaga's retainer to ruler of Japan
Toyotomi Hideyoshi was a warlord who rose from humble origins as Nobunaga's retainer and completed the unification of Japan after Nobunaga's death. In the period this series covers he still goes by Kinoshita Tokichiro, and that is the name he appears under in the Shincho Koki.
In Episode 6, he joins the attack on Mitsukuri Castle as one of its commanders during the march on Kyoto. Episode 7 records him as a general left behind in the castle at Kanegasaki after Nobunaga withdraws. In Episode 8, after the Battle of Anegawa, he is entrusted with the defense of the surrendered Yokoyama Castle. Bit by bit, he is given bigger roles.
His work at Kanegasaki is often told as part of his rags-to-riches story under the name "the Kanegasaki retreat," though parts of it are thought to have been inflated by later generations. When Nobunaga fell in the Honnoji Incident, Hideyoshi defeated Akechi Mitsuhide at the Battle of Yamazaki and raced to take his place as Nobunaga's successor.
Episodes featuring this character4
NEWEpisode 6
Keep the Title. Give Me the Ports.Nobunaga's March on Kyoto
Backing a nobleman who has lost everything, Oda Nobunaga takes a mountain castle in a single day and fills Kyoto with long vermilion spears. Then, drawing on the stories told about him, this episode shows the man who turned down the high rank a weeping shogun offered with the word "Father," and asked only for a few towns of ports and roads.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 7
He Was Winning. Then He Ran for His LifeThe Retreat from Kanegasaki
With victory in sight, Nobunaga hears that his sister's husband has turned on him. He laughs it off, but the reports keep coming. "Right or wrong hardly matters now," he says, then leaves the win and his pride behind and races through dark mountain trails to Kyoto.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 8
He Came Back for His Sister's HusbandThe Battle of Anegawa
Betrayed by his sister's husband, Nobunaga fled home caked in mud. In under two months he marches north again, trusts his one remaining ally with half the battlefield, and wins the battle at the river. But the mountain castle does not fall, and that autumn, the banners he failed to wipe out climb another mountain.
19 pages
NEWEpisode 10
The New Year's Feast Had One More CourseThe Golden Skulls
"The Golden Skulls." Oda Nobunaga drives out of Kyoto the shogun who once called him "Father," then wipes out a great house and his own sister's husband's family in under two months. On New Year's Day, after the guests have gone, he cheerfully announces: "There's one more dish."
19 pages