Why was Kato Kiyomasa the strongest of the Seven Spears? – Kato Higo-no-Kami Kiyomasa –

He was a rare believer of the Nichiren sect for military commanders.

Kato Kiyomasa is said to have been the child of a blacksmith in Nakamura, Owari. Furthermore, it is also said that he had connections to Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s family. The truth lies in the distant past of history, but looking at several theories, more than half can be considered correct, while more than half remains unknown.

Kiyomasa was born in June of the fifth year of Eiroku (1562) as the son of Kato Kiyotada, a retainer of Saito Dosan. There are various theories regarding his mother, such as being the younger sister, cousin, or aunt and niece of Hideyoshi’s mother. In any case, it seems that Kiyomasa and Hideyoshi had a deep connection through Hideyoshi’s mother. Kiyomasa’s well-known childhood name was “Toranosuke.”

The following story was passed down through word of mouth. Kiyomasa’s father, Kiyotada, was injured in a battle where Dosan clashed and was killed by his son, Saito Yoshitsuna. Kiyotada sought the help of an acquaintance in Owari Nakamura, a blacksmith named Seibei. Kiyotada developed tetanus due to the battle wound and became unable to walk, so he learned the trade of a blacksmith from Kyubei. It was through this that he married Kyubei’s daughter and gave rise to the birth of Toranosuke (Kiyomasa). However, when Toranosuke was two years old, his father passed away. His last will was to “raise Toranosuke splendidly and revive the prestigious Kato family.”

From then on, his mother made efforts to fulfill this last will. She entrusted Toranosuke to the chief priest of a temple called Myoenji, which belonged to the Nichiren sect, named Nisshun, and had him trained in the basics of human development. Even later, it is said that Kiyomasa, unlike most military commanders, was a fervent believer in the Nichiren sect due to this experience.

In the first year of Genki (1570), his mother took eight-year-old Toranosuke to Gifu and visited Naka, the mother of a relative named Kinoshita Fujiyoshiro (Hideyoshi), to entrust Toranosuke’s future to her. Since Hideyoshi had no retainers of his own, he gladly accepted Toranosuke and took both the mother and child into the Kinoshita family. From then on, Hideyoshi and his wife affectionately raised Toranosuke as their own child.

This happened during the period when the Asai and Asakura allied forces were in battle against Oda Nobunaga. After Hideyoshi defeated Asai Nagamasa and became the lord of Nagahama Castle, Toranosuke, who had turned fifteen, underwent the coming-of-age ceremony and adopted the name “Kiyomasa”. As Kiyomasa, he learned spear techniques from Hozo-in Tanehide. He also had three young boys who would later be known as the “Three Heroes of the Kato Clan,” Morimoto Gidayuu, Iida Kakubee, and Shobayashi Hayato, serving under him.

Kiyomasa’s first military achievement was the siege of Tottori Castle in the 9th year of Tensho (1581), which was part of Hideyoshi’s campaign in Chugoku Region. It was a battle employing the tactic of blockading Tottori Castle and cutting off its supplies, known as the “drying out” strategy. Before beginning the siege, Kiyomasa and Hachisuka Masakatsu went on a reconnaissance mission to gather information on the enemy. During this reconnaissance, Kiyomasa defeated enemy soldiers who attacked from the shadows using his bow and spear.

Furthermore, in the following year, during the water attack on Bitchu Takamatsu Castle, while the allied forces’ soldiers were struggling to capture the enemy’s supporting castle, Kanmuriyama Castle, Kiyomasa, ignoring his allies, infiltrated the castle from the back gate and loudly proclaimed, “Hashiba Chikuzen’s retainer, Kato Toranosuke Kiyomasa, is the first to enter!” This became the trigger for the fall of Kanmuriyama Castle.

Then came the Incident at Honnoji, and in the decisive battle against Akechi Mitsuhide, the Battle of Yamazaki, Kiyomasa defeated Akechi’s warrior, Kondo Hansuke, in a one-on-one fight. Overjoyed by his repeated military achievements, Hideyoshi personally wrote a letter of commendation and rewarded him with a short sword as an immediate prize. And now, the focus shifted to the Battle of Shizugatake.

Written by Emiya Takayuki

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