How Did a Peasant's Son Rule Japan? The Rise and Overreach of Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598) unified Japan by rising through Oda Nobunaga's army, seizing leadership after Nobunaga's death in 1582, and then defeating or winning over every remaining regional power until the Odawara campaign of 1590 completed the job. What makes his story extraordinary is where he started: he was born into a peasant family whose father was a foot soldier, with no samurai lineage at all, yet he became the first commoner to hold the court title of kampaku, imperial regent. His career is also a warning, because the same ambition that unified Japan drove him into disastrous wars in Korea.

"Little Monkey" from Owari

Hideyoshi was born in 1537 in Owari Province, probably in what is now the city of Nagoya. He was small and, by most accounts, not handsome; people called him Kozaru, "little monkey", or simply Saru, "monkey". In a society built on birth and rank, he had almost nothing to start with except energy, wit and an exceptional talent for reading people.

Serving Nobunaga

He entered the service of Oda Nobunaga, the lord of Owari, and rose by being useful. He distinguished himself in campaign after campaign and in 1573 was made lord of northern Ōmi Province. Along the way he took the name Hashiba Hideyoshi. Many famous stories about his early devotion, such as warming Nobunaga's sandals inside his clothing, belong to legend rather than documented history.

1582: the race to avenge his master

When Nobunaga was killed at Honnō-ji in 1582 by his general Akechi Mitsuhide, Hideyoshi was campaigning far to the west. He made peace with his enemy there, marched his army back with remarkable speed and defeated Mitsuhide at the Battle of Yamazaki. Avenging Nobunaga gave him enormous prestige. He then defeated his rival general Shibata Katsuie and outmanoeuvred others to become the de facto leader of Japan.

A commoner at the top

Because only certain noble families could become shogun, Hideyoshi took another route to legitimacy: court titles. He became kampaku in 1585 and chancellor of the realm in 1586, and later retired with the title taikō, passing the regency to his nephew Hidetsugu. The emperor granted him the new surname Toyotomi.

Completing unification

Hideyoshi conquered the island of Shikoku in 1585 and Kyūshū in 1587. In 1590 the siege of Odawara brought down the powerful Hōjō clan in eastern Japan, and with the suppression of a final rebellion in 1591, the whole country was under his control.

Freezing society in place

Having climbed from the bottom, Hideyoshi made sure nobody else could repeat his journey. In 1588 his famous "sword hunt" ordered peasants to give up their weapons, separating farmers from warriors. He also carried out a national land survey to register fields and their output for taxation. These policies laid foundations for the rigid social order of the following Edo period.

He built on a grand scale too, beginning Osaka Castle in 1583. And in 1587 he issued a directive expelling Jesuit missionaries and banning Christianity, reversing Nobunaga's tolerance.

The invasions of Korea

Not satisfied with ruling Japan, Hideyoshi aimed at the conquest of Ming China, and his route led through Korea. He invaded in 1592 and again in 1597. The first campaign began with rapid advances on land, but Korean resistance, Ming Chinese intervention and the Korean navy, led by Admiral Yi Sun-sin, stalled the invasion.

The wars caused immense suffering in Korea and achieved nothing lasting for Japan. After Hideyoshi's death, Japanese forces withdrew.

An heir too young

Hideyoshi's family life was full of anxiety about succession. His son Tsurumatsu died in 1591; in 1595 he had his nephew and designated successor Hidetsugu executed, and he named his infant son Hideyori as heir. He died at Fushimi Castle on 18 September 1598, leaving a council of senior lords to govern for the boy.

It did not work. Tokugawa Ieyasu, the most powerful of those lords, won the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 and founded the shogunate that ruled Japan for more than 250 years.

Learn with Hideyoshi: English phrases

Phrase	Meaning	Example
rags to riches	rising from poverty to great wealth or power	His was a true rags-to-riches story.
to climb the ladder	to rise step by step in an organisation	She climbed the ladder from intern to manager.
to pull up the ladder	to stop others from following your path	Once rich, he pulled up the ladder behind him.
to overreach	to try to do more than you can	The company overreached and went bankrupt.
a self-made man	someone who succeeds without family advantages	He was the ultimate self-made man.

Try this: Write three English sentences about your own "climb up the ladder" in a language, from your first word to today, using "climb the ladder" and "self-made".