Hosokawa Fujitaka

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Hosokawa Fujitaka was the son of Mibuchi Harusada. Fujitaka was a member of the Ashikaga court and served under Yoshiteru. In 1565, Yoshiteru was assassinated. When Fujitaka found out of his master's death, he left the capital city with Ashikaga Yoshiaki. He served under Oda Nobunaga. When Nobunaga established Yoshiaki in Kyoto, Fujitaka continued acting as an advisor for Nobunaga. fujitaka was given a big fief in Tango in 1580. In 1582, when Akechi Mitsuhide defeated Nobunaga, he tried to get the support of Fujitaka. He refused to help Mitsuhide. In 1587, he helped Hideyoshi in the Kyushu Campaign and helped hideyoshi in the Odawara Campaign as well in 1590. Fujitaka retired from wars after these campaigns. When Ishida and Tokugawa Ieyasu went to war, Fujitaka was surrounded in his main residence, Tanabe Castle in August, 1600. The besiegers had 15,000 men, while Fujitaka only had 500. He had many valuable paintings and writings in his house, and wrote an appeal to have those removed before the bombardment. The request was granted. he was forced to surrender because of his lack of troops. He opened the doors to his castle on October 19, two days before the Battle of Sekigahara. Because of the close dates, the troops besieging his home could not help Mitsunari in time for the battle. After the war ended, Fujitaka returned to retirement.