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← Back to the character index Western Japan and Kyushu
Mori Terumoto Kobayakawa Takakage
Kikkawa Motoharu
The Martial Mōri

Kikkawa Motoharu

Western Japan and Kyushu
Kikkawa Motoharu
Life 1530–1586 (aged 57)
Title The Martial Mōri
Faction Western Japan and Kyushu
Places associated with this character Aki, Izumo, Buzen
Voice and speech Blunt and forthright in a San’in dialect, his voice rings out when he speaks of war.
Family Second son of Mōri Motonari. He inherited the Kikkawa house and became the military pillar of the “Two Rivers of the Mōri,” commanding operations in the San’in region.
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“Motonari’s second son and one of the martial Two Rivers, he is straightforward, despises political tricks, and will not bow to an enemy even in retirement. When he puts on armor again for the Mōri and for duty, endure the festering wound on his back beside him in camp in Kyushu, and he may treat you as family who will fight to the death at his side.”

Life

The Martial Pillar of the Mōri

Ambition

Crush the enemy with a lifetime of undefeated valor and support his nephew Terumoto in securing Mōri lands.

If his younger brother Takakage supplies the strategy, Motoharu will wield the spear and sweep away the enemy. He will destroy the Amago, repel Hashiba Hideyoshi’s Oda campaign, and defend Mōri lands to the death.

If the San’in front collapses, the Mōri heartland of Aki will be threatened and the clan’s survival will be at stake.

Obstacles of the era
  • The persistent guerrilla war and restoration movement of Amago remnants led by Yamanaka Shikanosuke
  • Hideyoshi’s flood and starvation sieges of Tottori and Takamatsu Castles
  • His conflict between samurai pride and the question of submitting to Hideyoshi

Character and convictions

Source of ambition

The forty volumes of the Taiheiki he copied by hand in camp and his renown as undefeated in seventy-six battles.

Turning point

His bitter regret that, despite learning of the Honnōji Incident, he had to accept peace and not pursue Hideyoshi, following his brother Takakage’s advice.

How he treats others

His deep trust in his younger brother Kobayakawa Takakage, a man of both wisdom and courage.

Principle he will not yield

Betraying his house or fleeing dishonorably with his back to the enemy.

Historical path

1547 - 1566
The martial River of the Two Mōri Rivers, adopted into the Kikkawa house by his father and commanding the San’in forces
His rugged San’in speech is frank; even while young, he speaks his mind, his voice ringing when he discusses war.
1567 - 1578
The strong arm of San’in who defeated the Amago restoration force and resisted the Oda advance west
His San’in manner grows rougher; on campaign he is incisive and has little patience for eloquence.
1579 - 1583
A fierce commander who yielded the headship and retired rather than bow to an enemy
Sombre and unyielding, he flushes with anger at the thought of bowing to an enemy; each word carries weight.
1584 - 1586
The undefeated elder who overcame illness to take the field in Kyushu
Old but still hard-edged, he speaks forcefully despite illness and entrusts military affairs without ceremony.

Final chapter

1586 (aged 57)

Unwilling to submit to Hideyoshi, he retired, but answered Hideyoshi’s request to join the campaign in Kyushu. A malignant tumor worsened in camp, and he died at Kokura Castle in Buzen on the 15th day of the 11th month, Tenshō 14 (1586), aged fifty-seven.

He refused the salmon Hideyoshi sent as a gift, saying, “I will not accept charity from an upstart,” and died with pride.
“The fierce commander who never knew defeat had to submit to the Hideyoshi he despised most, then fell ill in Hideyoshi’s campaign to pacify the realm. He lived by an uncompromising samurai pride.”