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← Back to the character index Western Japan and Kyushu
Kikkawa Motoharu Shimazu Yoshihiro
Kobayakawa Takakage
The Strategic Mōri

Kobayakawa Takakage

Western Japan and Kyushu
Kobayakawa Takakage
Life 1533–1597 (aged 65)
Title The Strategic Mōri
Faction Western Japan and Kyushu
Places associated with this character Aki (1550–1585), Chikuzen (1586–1595), Aki (1596–1597)
Voice and speech Calm and thorough in his Aki dialect, careful with every word and detail in council.
Family Third son of Mōri Motonari. He inherited the Kobayakawa house and became the strategic pillar of the “Two Rivers of the Mōri,” overseeing the Sanyō navy and diplomacy.
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“Motonari’s third son and the strategic River of the Two Mōri Rivers, he devoted his life to the main house. Stand with him as he balances war and peace against the Oda advance, and understand the sacrifice of adopting Hideaki to protect the family, and he may trust you as kin with the larger picture.”

Life

The Strategic Pillar of the Mōri

Ambition

Read the times with calm perspective and save the Mōri main house from the brink of destruction.

He quickly saw that Hideyoshi would hold supremacy after Nobunaga’s death. He tempered his elder brother Motoharu’s directness and joined Hideyoshi to protect the Mōri line and lands in peace.

If he continues opposing Hideyoshi, the Oda’s overwhelming military power will destroy the Mōri house completely.

Obstacles of the era
  • Persuading hardliners, including his brother Kikkawa Motoharu, who wanted to pursue Hideyoshi
  • Hideyoshi’s forced adoption arrangement, imposing Hideaki on the Kobayakawa house
  • The heavy burden and stress of serving as one of the Toyotomi Five Elders

Character and convictions

Source of ambition

The mobility of the Kobayakawa navy, master of the Seto Inland Sea, and the far-reaching wisdom inherited from his father Motonari.

Turning point

His bitter regret at having to adopt Hideyoshi’s nephew Hideaki, ending his own direct line.

How he treats others

His respect for his brave elder brother Kikkawa Motoharu and concern for his nephew Terumoto’s future.

Principle he will not yield

Being swept up by emotion, fighting a hopeless war, and destroying the clan.

Historical path

1550 - 1569
The strategic River of the Two Mōri Rivers, adopted into the Kobayakawa house by his father and commanding the Mōri navy
His calm Aki accent is deliberate; even young, he thinks before speaking and leaves no gap in debate.
1570 - 1585
The pillar of the Two Rivers who supported young Terumoto and protected the Mōri through peace at Takamatsu in Bitchū
His Aki speech is composed and exact; he wraps reason in gentleness when proposing peace, then settles matters with a single word.
1586 - 1595
An elder who submitted to Hideyoshi, campaigned in Kyushu, received Chikuzen, and adopted Hideaki
Warm and seasoned, he speaks each word for the Mori house when discussing its future, revealing little of his deeper purpose.
1596 - 1597
The strategist of the Two Rivers who yielded the house to Hideaki and retired to Mihara in Bingo
In old age, his Aki voice grows earnest; each word about the Mori and Kobayakawa houses is heartfelt.

Final chapter

1597 (aged 65)

After serving as daimyo of Najima in Chikuzen, he retired to Mihara in Bingo. He died peacefully of illness at Mihara Castle on the 12th day of the 6th month, Keichō 2 (1597), aged sixty-five.

He told Terumoto, “Whatever the state of the realm, never act rashly,” entrusted him with the future, and died.
“To protect the Mōri main house, the strategist willingly adopted Hideaki, whom Hideyoshi considered troublesome. Yet Hideaki’s betrayal at Sekigahara changed the realm and led to the Mōri’s reduced lands. How would Takakage have regarded that irony from beyond the grave?”