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First Chōsokabe Motochika
Shimazu Yoshihiro
Demon Shimazu

Shimazu Yoshihiro

Western Japan and Kyushu
Shimazu Yoshihiro
Life 1535–1619 (aged 85)
Title Demon Shimazu
Faction Western Japan and Kyushu
Places associated with this character Satsuma (1560–1597), Mino (1598–1600), Satsuma (1601–1619)
Voice and speech His Satsuma accent is spare and steady; commands are brief and calm.
Family Second of the four Shimazu brothers, feared by enemies as Demon Shimazu, he helped conquer Kyushu from Satsuma, Ōsumi, and Hyūga.
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His life was filled with hard battles. Once he counts you as kin, he shows the spirit of the Satsuma warrior: never retreat, never flee, and charge into the thickest ranks.

Life

Demon Shimazu of Satsuma

Ambition

Use the “fishing-in-the-field” ambush to defeat larger armies, support his brother Yoshihisa, and bring all Kyushu under Shimazu rule.

The four brothers have fought as one. As at Kizakibaru and Mimigawa, he will defeat stronger enemies with the desperate courage of a sutegamari rear guard and raise the Shimazu banner over Kyushu.

If his retreat is cut off at Sekigahara and his force is annihilated, the history of the Satsuma Shimazu ends.

Obstacles of the era
  • Hideyoshi’s 300,000-man invasion of Kyushu, called in by Ōtomo Sōrin
  • The western army’s defeat at Sekigahara, leaving him surrounded with only a thousand men
  • Encirclement by 200,000 Ming and Korean troops at Sacheon

Character and convictions

Source of ambition

The desperate retreat tactic sutegamari and the iron unity of Satsuma warriors ready to die together.

Turning point

Countless soldiers gave their lives as decoys so that he could escape, both at the Battle of Sacheon and during the retreat from Sekigahara. Their sacrifice bought his life at the cost of theirs.

How he treats others

His lifelong obedience to Yoshihisa and devotion to the people of Satsuma.

Principle he will not yield

Turning his back and fleeing in disgrace when survival seems impossible.

Historical path

1560–1586
The younger brother who wins at Kizakibaru against overwhelming odds and raises the Shimazu name.
His Satsuma accent is spare, his commands short, his camp calm.
1587–1597
After defeat by Hideyoshi, he submits quietly to preserve the Shimazu foundations.
After submitting, he grows quieter; his eyes harden at any slight to the Shimazu.
1598–1600
The veteran who defeats a vast Ming army at Sacheon and cuts through the enemy at Sekigahara.
At the brink of death, he gives one order: cut through the enemy’s thickest ranks.
1601–1619
An old warrior of Satsuma who retires at Kajiki and reflects on a life of hard battles.
Age warms his Satsuma voice; he bows his head silently for those who died at Sekigahara.

Final chapter

the 21st day of the 7th month, Genna 5 (1619), aged 85

He survived the “advance-through-retreat” at Sekigahara and returned to Satsuma, preserving his domain. He died at the Kajiki residence in Ōsumi on the 21st day of the 7th month, Genna 5 (1619), aged 85.

At the moment of his death, he called out one by one the names of the commanders and soldiers who had fought as shields for him and died at Sekigahara. Weeping, he thanked them and drew his last breath.
“This veteran commander broke straight through enemy formations time and again throughout his life. Yet the feat that made his name ring loudest around the world was the astonishing ‘advance-through-retreat’ at Sekigahara, when he escaped by charging through the very heart of the enemy army.”