Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598)

Japanese general, who suppressed the warring daimyo (feudal lords) and completed the unification of Japan begun by Oda Nobunaga. Born in Nakamura, the son of a peasant, he joined Nobunaga's army as a young man and rose rapidly to become the ablest general of his time. When Nobunaga was murdered in 1582, Hideyoshi took his place and continued his work of conquest, rapidly consolidating his core power base round the capital Kyoto. After initial clashes, he made peace with Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was later to succeed him as overlord of Japan. In 1585 the emperor appointed him regent. In 1587 he prohibited Christianity and expelled Jesuit missionaries from Japan as potentially seditious. In 1588 all the daimyo pledged allegiance to the emperor and Hideyoshi, who then carried out his famous "sword hunt", disarming the peasantry. By 1591 Hideyoshi had crushed his last enemies in north-eastern Japan and reunified the country under his rule. Showing growing megalomania, he launched an invasion of Korea in 1592, which collapsed after determined Korean and Chinese counter-attacks. Suspecting his nephew of disloyalty, he ordered him to commit suicide, a fate also suffered by his court tea master, the great Sen no Rikyu. Infuriated by condescending Chinese peace terms, Hideyoshi launched a second campaign in Korea in 1597, which once again was halted, then ended when Hideyoshi died on September 18, 1598, leaving a last order for a general withdrawal. Tokugawa Ieyasu soon toppled Hideyoshi's young heir and founded the Tokugawa shogunate.