Who was Toyotomi Hideyoshi?

He was a general (1537 to 1598) who rose from common birth to serve Oda Nobunaga, then completed the unification of Japan and ruled it as imperial regent.

What is Toyotomi Hideyoshi famous for?

For his rise from the ranks, avenging Nobunaga at Yamazaki, unifying Japan by about 1590, and for the sword hunt and his failed invasions of Korea.

Was Hideyoshi really born a commoner?

Yes; he was of humble, non-samurai origin and rose through ability and service, a remarkable career in the rigid society of his day.

Why did Hideyoshi invade Korea?

He aimed to conquer Korea as a route to Ming China; the two campaigns of 1592 and 1597 failed at great cost and were withdrawn after his death.

Was Hideyoshi a shogun?

No. By tradition, because he was not of the right lineage he could not become shogun, so he ruled as Kampaku, or imperial regent, instead.

What happened after Hideyoshi died?

His death in 1598 left a young heir, and rivalry among his regents led to the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 and the triumph of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi: the peasant who ruled Japan

Few careers in Japanese history are as improbable as that of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Born a commoner, he rose through the ranks of¹ Oda Nobunaga's army to become one of his greatest generals, and on his lord's death seized the moment to make himself master of all Japan.

Avenging Nobunaga

When Nobunaga was betrayed and killed in 1582¹, Hideyoshi moved with astonishing speed. Within two weeks he turned his army back from a distant campaign², met the traitor Akechi Mitsuhide at Yamazaki and destroyed him, seizing the position of Nobunaga's true heir over the dead man's kin and rivals.

Japanese woodblock triptych of samurai armies fighting by a river below wooded hills — The Great Battle of Yamazaki, where Hideyoshi destroyed Akechi Mitsuhide in 1582. Woodblock triptych by Utagawa Sadahide, 19th century, Metropolitan Museum of Art. CC0 (public domain)

Completing the unification

Over the next years Hideyoshi finished what Nobunaga had begun, by war and by shrewd diplomacy. His great siege of Odawara in 1590 broke the powerful Hojo clan¹ and left him, for the first time in over a century, the undisputed ruler of a united Japan. Never named shogun (by tradition his humble lineage barred him³), he ruled instead as Kampaku, imperial regent.

Painted portrait of Hideyoshi seated in white robes and a black court cap, with an inscription above — Toyotomi Hideyoshi in white court dress, portrait by Kano Mitsunobu, about 1601. Kodai-ji, Kyoto. Public domain

The sword hunt and a frozen order

To secure his peace he ordered the sword hunt, disarming the peasantry, and carried out sweeping land surveys⁴, fixing people to their status as farmer or warrior. These measures, harsh in their way, laid the groundwork for the long peace that followed.

The invasions of Korea

Hideyoshi's ambition then overreached. In 1592 and again in 1597 he launched huge invasions of⁴ Korea, aiming ultimately at China. Both bogged down against Korean and Ming Chinese resistance⁵, were waged with great brutality against the Korean population, and were abandoned after his death in 1598¹. His young son Hideyori was left in the care of regents, chief among them Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Black and white map of southern Korea, Tsushima and northern Kyushu marking Japanese operations in 1592 — Map of the Japanese military operations of 1592 in Korea, from William Elliot Griffis, Corea, the Hermit Nation. Public domain

Read on with the other great commanders of feudal Japan.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

World History Encyclopedia, “Toyotomi Hideyoshi: Unifier of Japan” ↩ a b c d
Stephen Turnbull, Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Command series) (Osprey Publishing, 2010). ↩
Mary Elizabeth Berry, Hideyoshi (Harvard University Press, 1982). ↩
Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Toyotomi Hideyoshi (summary)” ↩ a b
Kenneth M. Swope, A Dragon's Head and a Serpent's Tail: Ming China and the First Great East Asian War, 1592–1598 (University of Oklahoma Press, 2009). ↩
Wikipedia, “Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Wikipedia”