Kobayakawa Hideaki

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Kobayakawa Hideaki (小早川秀秋, 1582–December 1, 1602) was fifth son of Kinoshita Iesada and the nephew of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

He was adopted by Hideyoshi and called himself Hashiba Hidetoshi(羽柴秀俊) and Shusen(秀栓). He was then again adopted by Kobayakawa Takakage and renamed himself to Hideaki. Because he gained the rank of Saemon no Toku(左衛門督) or in China Shikkingo(執金吾) at genpuku and held the title of Chunagon(中納言), Hideaki was also called Kingo Chunagon(金吾中納言).

During the Battle of Keicho, he led reinforcements to rescue Ulsan Castle from the Ming army. Fighting in the front line with a spear, he managed to capture an enemy commander and successfully broke the siege. However, Hideyoshi saw the danger of a reckless charge by the general commanding an army and deprived him of his domain, Chikugo after returning. Hideaki, angered by this, believed the lie circulated by Tokugawa Ieyasu that this had been the doing of a jealous Ishida Mitsunari. He never forgot or forgave Mitsunari and worked to undermine his position.

Before the battle of Sekigahara, Hideaki happened to be in Osaka and acted as though he would go along with Mitsunari, even though he had intended to betray him, having secretly communicated with Ieyasu. Cautious, knowing Hideaki held ill feelings, Mitsunari and Otani Yoshitsugu offered Hideaki the position of kampaku until Toyotomi Hideyori grow old enough to rule himself and two additional domains around Osaka upon the victory. On the day of the battle, Ieyasu's force did not fare well, with Ukita Hideie winning against Fukushima Masanori, Otani Yoshitsugu also winning against Todo Takatora. Hideaki did not move and was agitated and desperate. Ieyasu ordered troops to fire blanks against Hideaki troop to force a betrayal. Hideaki then ordered an attack into Otani troop and while this attack was beaten back temporarily, the rest of the samurai who promised betrayal turned and attacked and the battle was over in a day with Mitsunari's force being wiped out.

Afterwards, he also had success in the siege of Sawayama held by Mitsunari's father Ishida Masatsugu and gained Bizen and Mimasaka for a total of 550,000 koku. However, Hideaki suddenly died two years later after supposedly going mad, and with no one to succeed him, the Kobayakawa clan disbanded.

[edit] In popular culture

Kobayakawa has been portrayed as a backstabbing coward in modern fiction, probably due to his sudden alliance with Tokugawa.

In the video game Kessen he is portrayed as an overweight and pathetic general. While in the manga Kagemusha No Tokugawa Ieyasu he is seen with a childish mind. However in the anime Sanada Juyushi Special he is portrayed as a sympathetic person due to his many disappointment in his childhood and also the broken promise of not being managed to be Hideyoshi heir when Hideyori was born.

In Samurai Warriors 2 (Sengoku Musou 2), he is portrayed as young, inexperienced, and very indecisive. Shima Sakon refers to him as "Bitty Baby Kobayakawa". As mentioned previously in this article, he panics and joins the Tokugawa ranks when he is fired upon by, Magobei Fuse, an officer of the Eastern Army. He is also present in Nene's Dream Stage, acting as her 'son', where in fact he feared Nene more than the rifles that supposedly drove him to defect to the Eastern Army.