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Mar 17, 1538
The birth of Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Toyotomi Hideyoshi, born on the 17th of march 1538 CE. -
1581
Himeji Castle
Toyotomi built the first version of the Himeji Castle in 1581 CE which consisted three-stories. The famous castle as seen today belongs to the remodelling done by Ikeda Terumasa. -
1582
The fall of Nobunaga
Oda Nobunaga, was a feudal lord who was betrayed by one of his vassals, Akechi Mistuhide. Hideyoshi killed Mistuhide to gain support of Nobunaga's relations to important daimyo's and feudal lords. Hideyoshi was then able to install himself as the new military supremo in Japan. -
Osaka Castle
In order to secure and maintain his
power, Hideyoshi built various amount of fortifications. The Osaka Castle was Hideyoshi's third and most successful castle built by the Kiso river with seven stories and a massive stone wall surrounding it. -
Christian Missonaries
In 1587 CE, Hideyoshi expelled all Christian missionaries from Japan. Hideyoshi was concerned that Christians were encouraging persecution of Buddhist and Shinto believers. -
Hideyoshi's Edict on Commoner Weaponry
In 1588 CE, Hideyoshi secured peace and safety by forbidding anyone but members of the warrior class from carrying weapons, a strategy used by his predecessors. In order to ensure that nobody outside his army possessed swords, bows, spears, or muskets. Hideyoshi sent 'Sword Hunters' to confiscate their weapons, confiscated weapons were melted down and casted into a giant Buddha for Heiankyo. The effect for this decision is that the risk of misuse of weapons were nearly impossible. -
The Invasion of Korea (Attempt One)
In 1592 CE, Hideyoshi attempted to conquer Korea. Hideyoshi formed an army consisting 158,000 Samurai and a navy with 9,200 mariners. This army was sent by Hideyoshi to invade Korea but he remained himself in Japan. All went well for Japan until logistics became decisive and supplies were dwindled eventually giving Korea a much bigger advantage and leading them to their victory. -
The Execution of Christians
This time, a more serious attempt was established with the execution by crucifixion of 26 Christians. After the second edict, foreign religion was abandoned as impractical. -
Invasion of Korea (Attempt Two)
After the first attempt of invading Korea, peace negotiations were then being discussed. The breakdown of the peace negotiations led to Hideyoshi's second attack on Korea sending 140,000 warriors to war. Following Hideyoshi's death, there were many negative effects towards Japan. Hideyoshi's death caused the invasion of Korea to ultimatley terminate and abandoned. In result to this, 38,000 Koreans were returned as prisoners and at least 100,000 Japanese soilders died from both invasion attempts. -
The death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Toyotomi Hideyoshi died at the age of 62 to natural causes. The effect of Hideyoshi's death was that he had no viable heir to his position due to his only son being 5 years old at the time of his death. In result, Hideyoshi selected his nephew, Hidetsugu, as his offical heir. When Hidetsugu found out about his sons birth he was casted aside and Tokugawa leyasu became the new supremo of Japan and was established Shogunate which completed the unification of Japan.