Tōdō Takatora

Who was Tōdō Takatora?

Tōdō Takatora was a Japanese daimyo of the Azuchi–Momoyama period through Edo period. He rose from relatively humble origins as an ashigaru to become a daimyo. During his lifetime he changed his feudal master seven times and worked for ten people, but in the end he rendered loyalty to Tokugawa Ieyasu, who became his last master.

Todo Takatora was promoted rapidly under Hashiba Hidenaga, the younger brother of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and he participated in the invasions of Korea as a commander of Toyotomi's fleet. His fiefdom at that time was Iyo-Uwajima. During the Edo period, the wealth of each fiefdom was measured as a volume of rice production in koku. Iyo-Uwajima was assessed at 70,000 koku.

At the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, although he was one of Toyotomi's main generals, he sided with Tokugawa Ieyasu. After the war he was given a larger fiefdom, Iyo-Imabari, assessed at 200,000 koku. Later in life he was made lord of Tsu, a domain of 320,000 koku.

After the death of Akai Naomasa, some members of the Akai clan became retainers to the Tōdō house.

Todo Takatora is also famous for excellence in castle design. He is said to have been involved in building as many as twenty castles.