Kobayakawa Takakage

Kobayakawa Takakage
小早川隆景
Head of Kobayakawa clan
In office 1574–1597
Preceded by	Kobayakawa Shigehira
Succeeded by	Kobayakawa Hideaki
Personal details
Born	1533 Yoshida, Aki Province
Died	July 26, 1597(1597-07-26) (aged 63–64) Mihara Domain, Bingo Province
Spouse	Lady Toida
Parents	Mōri Motonari (father) Lady Myōkyū (mother)
Nickname(s)	Tokujumaru (徳寿丸) “Mōri Ryōsen", or “Mōri's Two Rivers" (毛利両川).
Military service
Allegiance	Mōri clan Toyotomi clan
Rank	Daimyō, Chūnagon
Unit	Kobayakawa clan
Commands	Mihara Castle
Battles/wars	Battle of Miyajima (1555) Siege of Moji (1561) Battle of Torisaka (1568) Battle of Tatarahama (1569) Siege of Takamatsu (1582) Invasion of Shikoku (1585) Kyūshū Campaign (1586) Siege of Odawara (1590) Korean Campaign (1592)

Kobayakawa Takakage (小早川 隆景, 1533 – July 26, 1597) was a samurai and daimyō (feudal military lord) during the Sengoku period and Azuchi–Momoyama period. He was the third son of Mōri Motonari who was adopted by the Kobayakawa clan and became its 14th clan head. He merged the two branches of the Kobayakawa, the Takehara-Kobayakawa clan (竹原小早川氏) and Numata-Kobayakawa clan (沼田小早川氏). He became an active commander of the Mōri army and he with his brother Kikkawa Motoharu became known as the “Mōri Ryōsen", or “Mōri's Two Rivers" (毛利両川). As head of the Kobayakawa clan, he expanded the clan's territory in the Chūgoku region (western Honshū), and fought for the Mōri clan in all their campaigns

At first he opposed Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi but later swore loyalty and became a retainer of Hideyoshi who awarded him domains in Iyo Province on Shikoku and Chikuzen Province on Kyūshū, totalling 350,000 koku. Hideyoshi gave him the title Chûnagon also appointed him to the Council of Five Elders but died before Hideyoshi himself.^[1]