Kuroda Kanbei

His grandfather Shigetaka moved from Ōmi to Harima, served the Kodera and lived at Gochaku Castle. In 1567, aged 21, Yoshitaka succeeded his retired father Mototaka as head of the house and lord of Himeji Castle. After 1567, introduced to Oda Nobunaga by Hashiba Hideyoshi, he presented an analysis of the Harima situation, sent his ten-year-old heir Nagamasa as hostage, persuaded Kodera Masamoto to submit, and Himeji Castle was peacefully handed over to Hideyoshi. In 1578–1579 he went to Arioka Castle (Itami Castle) to persuade Araki Murashige to surrender, but was instead imprisoned for about a year, leaving him lame and blind in one eye (the after-effects account). During the Chūgoku campaign he served as Hideyoshi's strategist, taking part in the sieges of Miki, Tottori and Takamatsu. In 1585 he was baptised a Christian, taking the baptismal name Simeon (Don Simeon, aged 38); he later abandoned the faith and took the Buddhist name Josui in his later years. He accompanied the Kyushu campaign of 1587 and the Korean campaigns of 1592–1598. At Sekigahara he and Nagamasa stood with the Tokugawa: Nagamasa fought on the main Sekigahara battlefield, while Yoshitaka himself campaigned in Kyushu (defeating Ōtomo Yoshimune at Ishigakihara and besieging Yanagawa). The claim that he at one point controlled seven provinces in Kyushu is one account (some scholars consider it exaggerated, marked as uncertain). After the war Nagamasa was enfeoffed in Chikuzen (first lord of Fukuoka Domain), and from 1601 built Fukuoka Castle (also called Maizuru Castle; Nagamasa was the formal lord, with Josui assisting from experience).

• Birthplace: Himeji, Harima Province (present-day Himeji, Hyōgo Prefecture).
• Places of activity: Himeji Castle, Gochaku Castle (present-day Himeji, Hyōgo Prefecture), Arioka Castle (present-day Itami, Hyōgo Prefecture), the Chūgoku sieges (present-day Okayama and Tottori Prefectures), Kyushu, Fukuoka Castle (present-day Fukuoka City).
• Place of death: Iizuka, Chikuzen Province (present-day Iizuka, Fukuoka Prefecture).
• Burial place: Two accounts recorded side by side — the Namazuta area of Iizuka (near the old Namazuta Castle site); and Sōfuku-ji in Hakata Ward, Fukuoka City, which also holds the Kuroda family graves (Sōfuku-ji was founded at Dazaifu in 1240 and moved to its present site by Nagamasa around 1600; its main gate was originally the main gate of Fukuoka Castle's inner citadel, and its Chinese-style gate reused materials from Najima Castle). Neither may be chosen over the other as certain.
• Further reading places: Himeji Castle, the Fukuoka Castle ruins, Sōfuku-ji, Dazaifu.

Cultural significance

Kanbei is the archetype of "Hideyoshi's strategist": from hostage diplomacy to siege strategy, from baptism to abandoning the faith, his career mirrors the history of Christian mission in the Sengoku period. The name "Ryōbei" pairs him with Takenaka Hanbei as the two great strategists of the Sengoku period. He was the founder of Fukuoka Domain (in an assisting capacity), and Fukuoka City still uses the Kuroda father and son as its historical brand.