Toyotomi Hideyoshi - Decline and Death

Decline and Death

His health beginning to falter, but still yearning for some accomplishment to solidify his legacy, Hideyoshi adopted the dream of a Japanese conquest of China that Oda Nobunaga had contemplated, and launched the conquest of China's Ming Dynasty by way of Korea. Though he actually intended to conquer Ming China, Hideyoshi had been communicating with the Koreans since 1587 requesting unmolested passage into China. As vassal of Ming China, the Koreans at first refused talks entirely, and in April and July 1591 refused demands that Japanese troops be allowed to march through Korea. The Koreans were also concerned that allowing Japanese troops to march through Korea (Joseon) would mean that masses of Ming Chinese troops would battle Hideyoshi's troops on Korean soil before they could reach China—effectively ruining the the tributary system of the China. In August, Hideyoshi ordered preparations for invasion. Under Chinese tributary system, Korean aristocrats (Yangban) were devoted to factional disputes in politics. While Japan was preparing war, Korea was not alarmed at all.

In the first campaign, Hideyoshi appointed Ukita Hideie to the field marshal, and had them go to the Korean peninsula in April, 1592. Konishi Yukinaga occupied Seoul which had been the capital of Joseon Dynasty Korea on May 10. After Seoul fell easily, Japanese commanders held a war council in June in Seoul and determined targets of subjugation called Hachidokuniwari (literally, dividing the country into eight routes) by each corps (the First Division of Konishi Yukinaga and others from Pyeongan Province, the Second Division of Kato Kiyomasa and others from Hangyong Province, the Third Division of Kuroda Nagamasa and others from Hwanghae Province, the Forth Division of Mōri Yoshinari and others from Gangwon Province; the Fifth Division of Fukushima Masanori and others from Chungcheong Province; the Sixth Division by Kobayakawa Takakage and others from Jeolla Province, the Seventh Division by Mōri Terumoto and others from Gyeongsang Province, and the Eighth Division of Ukita Hideie and others from Gyeonggi Province). and in only four months, Hideyoshi's forces had a route into Manchuria and occupied much of Korea. Korean king Seonjo of Joseon escaped to Uiju, and requested military intervention from China. In 1593, Ming Chinese Emperor Wanli sent an army under general Li Rusong to block the planned invasion of China and recapture the Korean peninsula. the Ming Army of 43,000 soldiers headed by Li Ru-song attacked Pyongyang. On January 7, 1593, the Chinese relief forces under Li eventually recaptured Pyongyang, and surrounded Seoul, but Kobayakawa Takakage, Ukita Hideie, Tachibana Muneshige and Kikkawa Hiroie, won the Battle of Byeokjegwan in the suburbs of Seoul.

The birth of Hideyoshi's second son, Hideyori, in 1593 created a potential succession problem. To avoid it, Hideyoshi exiled his nephew and heir Hidetsugu to Mount Kōya and then ordered him to commit suicide in August 1595. Hidetsugu's family members who did not follow his example were then murdered in Kyoto, including 31 women and several children.

On February 5, 1597, Toyotomi Hideyoshi had twenty-six Christians killed as an example to Japanese who wanted to convert to Christianity. They are known as the Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan. They included five European Franciscan missionaries, one Mexican Franciscan missionary, three Japanese Jesuits and seventeen Japanese laymen including three young boys. They were executed by public crucifixion in Nagasaki.

After several years of negotiations (broken off because envoys of both sides falsely reported to their masters that the opposition surrendered), Hideyoshi appointed Kobayakawa Hideaki to lead the invasion forces, but their efforts on the Korean peninsula met with less success than the first invasion. Japanese troops remained pinned in Gyeongsang province. By June 1598, The Japanese forces fought with desperation, turning back several Chinese offensives in Suncheon and Sacheon as the Ming army prepared for a final assault. The Koreans guerrilla warfare, aided by the fact that they were fighting on their homeland, continually harassed Japanese forces. While Hideyoshi's last battle at So-chon, was a major Japanese victory, all three parties to the war were exhausted. and Hideyoshi himself now accepted that the war could not be won. He told his commander in Korea: "Don't let my soldiers become spirits in a foreign land.", Toyotomi Hideyoshi died September 18, 1598 of complications caused by the bubonic plague. His death was kept secret by the Council of Five Elders to preserve morale, and Japanese troops were withdrawn from the Korean peninsula.

Because of his failure to capture Korea, Hideyoshi's forces were unable to invade China. Rather than strengthen his position, the military expeditions left his clan's coffers and fighting strength depleted, his vassals at odds over responsibility for the failure, and the clans that were loyal to the Toyotomi name weakened. The dream of a Japanese empire encompassing Asia ended with Hideyoshi. The Tokugawa government not only prohibited any military expeditions to the mainland, but closed Japan to nearly all foreigners during the years of the Tokugawa Shogunate. It was not until the late 19th century that Japan again fought a war against China through Korea, using much the same route that Hideyoshi's invasion force had used.

After his death, the other members of the Council of Five Regents were unable to keep the ambitions of Tokugawa Ieyasu in check. Two of Hideyoshi's top generals Katō Kiyomasa and Fukushima Masanori had fought bravely during the war, but returned to find the Toyotomi clan castellan Ishida Mitsunari in power. He held the generals in contempt, and they sided with Tokugawa Ieyasu. Hideyoshi's underaged son and designated successor Hideyori lost the power his father once held, and Tokugawa Ieyasu was declared Shogun following the Battle of Sekigahara.