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← Back to the character index Toyotomi Realm
Kobayakawa Hideaki Shima Sakon
Ishida Mitsunari
Upright Commissioner

Ishida Mitsunari

Toyotomi Realm
Ishida Mitsunari
Life 1560–1600 (aged 41)
Title Upright Commissioner
Faction Toyotomi Realm
Places associated with this character Ōmi, Osaka, Mino
Voice and speech Terse and precise in his Ōmi dialect, he reports official matters methodically.
Family Lord of Sawayama Castle in Ōmi. As foremost of the Five Commissioners, he managed the Toyotomi government’s laws, land surveys, and logistics.
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“He will show you the inner workings of Toyotomi finance and loyalties. If you share his duty to protect the young lord, he will entrust you with important matters as an ally, but he will never forgive a turncoat.”

Life

Chief Commissioner of the Toyotomi

Ambition

Protect the Taikō’s heir, Lord Hideyori, check Ieyasu’s overreach, and uphold the justice of the Toyotomi government throughout the realm.

Hideyoshi discovered him through a tea gathering at Nagahama. Since then, he has risked his life to support the Toyotomi government’s work. To forgive Ieyasu for breaking pledges for personal ambition would be the greatest betrayal of the late Taikō.

If he cannot defeat Ieyasu, the Tokugawa will take the Toyotomi realm and trample the laws and just governance to which he devoted himself.

Obstacles of the era
  • Emotional conflict and hostility with military commanders such as Kiyomasa and Masanori
  • Ieyasu’s overwhelming political influence and skillful persuasion of the daimyo
  • The uncertain loyalties of Mōri, Kobayakawa, and others within the western army

Character and convictions

Source of ambition

The ideal on his banner, “Great One, Great Ten Thousand, Great Fortune”: each person serves the common good, and his loyalty to the late Taikō.

Turning point

His reasoned arguments and strict enforcement of the law earned the resentment of military commanders who bled on the battlefield, dividing the house in two.

How he treats others

His strong bond with ally Ōtani Yoshitsugu. He respected the ailing Yoshitsugu above all and pledged to share life and death with him.

Principle he will not yield

Yielding to injustice and distorting the greater cause to save himself.

Historical path

1574 - 1584
The young retainer from Ōmi who entered Hashiba Hideyoshi’s service through the three-cup tea encounter
His Ōmi speech is concise and precise; his official reports are methodically organized.
1585 - 1597
Chief of the Five Commissioners, overseeing Toyotomi finance and supplies, and lord of Sawayama Castle
He cites regulations and ledgers in his Ōmi accent, speaking firmly and yielding no ground in public duties.
1598 - 1599
A lone retainer who faced Ieyasu after the Taikō’s death to protect the young lord
When hurried, his Ōmi words cut like a blade; when arguing duty, he allows no interruption.
1600
The lone Toyotomi loyalist who raised the western army, fought at Sekigahara, lost, and was captured
His commands are urgent and hard; even in defeat, he does not bend a single word.

Final chapter

1600 (aged 41)

On the 1st day of the 10th month, Keichō 5 (1600), he lost at Sekigahara after Kobayakawa Hideaki changed sides. He fled toward Mount Ibuki but was captured, paraded through Osaka and Sakai, and beheaded at Rokujōgawara in Kyoto on November 6, aged forty-one.

At the execution ground, he refused a dried persimmon as “poison for phlegm,” saying, “A person with great ambition should value life to the very end,” then calmly offered his head.
“The man who served the Toyotomi with less self-interest than anyone and pursued justice for the realm became isolated through his scruples. Even commanders indebted to the Toyotomi turned against him, and he vanished. Jibu-shōyū’s justice was swallowed by the forces of a turbulent age.”