Torii Mototada

• Born: 1539
• Died: 1600

Mototada served Tokugawa Ieyasu from childhood (whom he attended to while both were hostages of the Imagawa at Sumpu) and was served in many campaigns, including Nagashino (where he helped erect that battle's well-known palisades) and the abortive 1585 attempt to bring Sanada Masayuki of Shinano into line. Following the 1590 Odawara Campaign he was given a fief in Shimosa (Yahagi, 40,000 koku) and at the opening of the Sekigahara Campaign (1600) was entrusted with Fushimi castle (Yamashiro province). Once hostilities commenced, Fushimi was besieged on 27 August and fierce fighting continued until 8 September, at which point, with his garrison all but eliminated and undone by treachery, Mototada committed suicide. His final parting with Ieyasu just prior to the start of the campaign (made in the knowledge of the inevitability of Mototada's death) was said to have been quite moving, and the news of his death reportedly saddened Ieyasu greatly.