Hosokawa Tadaoki

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In this Japanese name, the family name is Hosokawa.
Hosokawa Tadaoki
Hosokawa Tadaoki

Hosokawa Tadaoki
In office
1600 – 1602
Preceded by none
Succeeded by Ogasawara Nagatsugu
In office
1602 – 1620
Preceded by none
Succeeded by Hosokawa Tadatoshi
Born November 28, 1563(1563-11-28)
Died January 18, 1646 (aged 82)
Nationality Japanese
Spouse Hosokawa Gracia

Hosokawa Tadaoki (細川忠興?) (November 28, 1563-January 18, 1646) was the eldest son of Hosokawa Fujitaka. He fought in his first battle at the age of 15. In that battle, he was in the service of Oda Nobunaga. He was given the Province of Tango in 1580. Soon after that, he married the daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide. In 1582, Akechi Mitsuhide rebelled against Nobunaga and Nobunaga was killed. Akechi turned to Hosokawa Fujitaka and Hosokawa Tadaoki for help. They refused to help him, and Mitsuhide was defeated.

Grave of Tadaoki and his wife Gracia, at Daitokuji, Kyoto
Grave of Tadaoki and his wife Gracia, at Daitokuji, Kyoto

Tadaoki was present on Hideyoshi's side in the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute (1584) and the Odawara Campaign (1590), where he took part in the siege of Nirayama (Izu province) and later joined the main army outside Odawara. During the 1590s he became friends with Tokugawa Ieyasu (who had lent him money to assist in some debts owed Toyotomi Hidetsugu) and in 1600 sided with him against Ishida Mitsunari. In July Ishida had attempted to gain some leverage over those leaning towards Ieyasu by taking as hostages all those whose families were in Osaka Castle. This happened to include Tadaoki's wife - who was by now a Christian, baptized 'Gracia'. To avoid capture, Gracia ordered a servant to kill her and set fire to their quarters. While there is little reason to believe that Hosokawa was emotionally scarred by the incident, it was considered an appalling act of trickery, and served to drive Tadaoki - among others - into Ieyasu's camp.

At the Battle of Sekigahara (21 October 1600) Tadaoki commanded 5,000 men in the Tokugawa vanguard and clashed with the forces of Shima Sakon. He was awarded a fief in Buzen (Kokura, 370,000 koku) and went on to serve at the siege of Ōsaka (1614-1615). He was succeeded by Tadatoshi (1586-1641), an ardent enemy of Christianity and present at the Siege of Shimabara (1637–1638). In 1632 Tadatoshi received a huge fief in Higo (Kumamoto, 540,000 koku), where the Hosokawa family remained until 1871.

Preceded by
none		 Lord of Nakatsu
1600-1602		 Succeeded by
Ogasawara Nagatsugu
Preceded by
none		 Lord of Kokura
1602-1620		 Succeeded by
Hosokawa Tadatoshi

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