Mizuno Katsushige

Mizuno Katsushige was a son of Mizuno Tadashige, and a direct cousin of Tokugawa Ieyasu. He served as lord of Yamato-Kôriyama domain for a time before being transferred to Fukuyama han in Bingo province in 1619.

Considered something of an eccentric with a quick temper, Katsushige left the Mizuno’s home of Kariya castle and wandered about for the first part of his career, serving under Sasa Narimasa in the Kyushu Campaign, then participating in the invasion of Korea. Even there he moved from place to place within the army, serving under both Konishi Yukinaga and Katô Kiyomasa. Following the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1598, Katsushige and the Mizuno began to drift back into the Tokugawa camp. In 1600 Katsushige declared for Tokugawa Ieyasu and later served him in the Osaka Summer Campaign (1615). He was afterwards made a daimyô at Kôriyama han in Yamato province, later being transferred to Fukuyama han in Bingo province, a fief worth 100,000 koku. He capped his unusual career with participation in the suppression of the Shimabara Rebellion and was succeeded by an adopted son, Mizuno Katsutoshi.

Preceded by:
Fukushima Masanori

Lord of Fukuyama han

Succeeded by:
Mizuno Katsutoshi

References

Initial text from Sengoku Biographical Dictionary (Samurai-Archives.com) FWSeal & CEWest, 2005
Aono Shunsui 青野春水, "Edo jidai Tomo-chô no seiritsu to kôzô" 江戸時代鞆町の成立と構造, Tomo no tsu Nakamura-ke monjo mokuroku IV 鞆の津中村家文書目録 IV (2009), 253.