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Honmyō-ji

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Honmyō-ji ( 本妙寺 ) is a Buddhist temple of the Nichiren sect, Rokujōmon-ryū (六条門流), in Nishi-ku, Kumamoto , Japan . It is the most high-ranking temple of the sect in Kyushu . In Honmyō-ji is the grave of Katō Kiyomasa , (1562–1611), a Japanese daimyō , builder of Kumamoto Castle and a dedicated buddhist of Nichiren Buddhism .

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30-477: Honmyō-ji consists of two parts, the grave of Katō Kiyomasa which is called Jōchibyō, and Honmyō-ji temple. He was a dedicated believer of Nichiren Buddhism . There is a straight road beginning at Kamikumamoto, through a big torii , dotted with 12 smaller temples called tatchū , leading to the Honmyō-ji temple. From the temple, a steep slope consisting of 176 stone steps called Munatsuki Gangi begins, which leads to

60-562: A conspiracy to kill Ishida Mitsunari. It was said that the reason of this conspiracy was dissatisfaction of those generals towards Mitsunari as he wrote bad assessments and underreported the achievements of those generals during the Imjin war against Korea & Chinese empire. At first, these generals gathered at Kiyomasa's mansion in Osaka Castle , and from there they moved into Mitsunari's mansion. However, Mitsunari learned of this through

90-639: A formidable warrior were it not for two factors that decided Kiyomasa, otherwise a Toyotomi loyalist. First, the Western forces were led by Ishida Mitsunari, whom Katô loathed as a civilian interloper and had quarreled with during the Korean campaign; and second, the Western forces included Konishi Yukinaga . Although Konishi's navy had aided Kiyomasa quite a bit at the Siege of Ulsan, the two men despised each other as much as ever. Katô joined with Tokugawa and during

120-504: A major Shikoku lord who had been defeated by Hideyoshi the previous year, and had thus joined him. Though Bungo province ultimately fell to the Shimazu, Sengoku and Chōsokabe delayed them and weakened them in preparation for the arrival of Hideyoshi's armies and those of the Mōri clan under Kobayakawa Takakage , another ally of Hideyoshi. Hashiba Hidenaga , half-brother to Hideyoshi, landed to

150-706: A mediator for the increasingly complicated relationship between Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyori . In 1611, en route by sea to Kumamoto after one such meeting, he fell ill, and died shortly after his arrival. He was buried at Honmyō-ji temple in Kumamoto, but also has graves in Yamagata Prefecture and Tokyo . Kiyomasa is also enshrined in many Shinto shrines in Japan , including Katō Shrine in Kumamoto. His son, Katō Tadahiro, succeeded him as Higo no kami 肥後守 (provincial governor of Higo), but his fief (Kumamoto)

180-516: A report from a servant of Toyotomi Hideyori named Jiemon Kuwajima, and fled to Satake Yoshinobu 's mansion together with Shima Sakon and others to hide. When the seven generals found out that Mitsunari was not in the mansion, they searched the mansions of various feudal lords in Osaka Castle, and Kato's army also approached the Satake residence. Therefore, Mitsunari and his party escaped from

210-592: Is observed to console the spirit of Katō Kiyomasa, by writing the long Lotus Sutra during one night by many priests. The original temple was built in 1585 in Osaka to console the spirit of the father of Katō Kiyomasa. The temple in Osaka was moved to Kumamoto Castle in 1600 and the grave of Katō Kiyomasa, which is called Jōchibyō was built in the present site of Mount Nakao in 1611. The temple in Kumamoto Castle

240-632: The kampaku in the summer of 1585, Kiyomasa received the court title of Kazue no Kami (主計頭, head of the accounting bureau) and junior 5th court rank, lower grade ( ju go-i no ge 従五位下). In 1587, he fought in the Kyūshū campaign against the Shimazu clan . Later, after Higo Province was confiscated from Sassa Narimasa , he was granted 250,000 koku of land in Higo (roughly half of the province), and given Kumamoto Castle as his provincial residence. Kiyomasa

270-476: The Imjin war he built several strategic Japanese-style castles in the territories he conquered. Ulsan castle was one of such fortresses and the site of Kiyomasa's most famous battle — the Siege of Ulsan on December 22, 1597. Kiyomasa led the defense of the castle, successfully holding at bay Chinese general Yang Hao 's army, which numbered 60,000. He defended the castle until November 23, 1598. However, his bravery

300-471: The Satake residence and barricaded themselves at Fushimi Castle . The next day, the seven generals surrounded Fushimi Castle with their soldiers as they knew Mitsunari was hiding there. Tokugawa Ieyasu , who was in charge of political affairs in Fushimi Castle trying to arbitrate the situation. The seven generals requested Ieyasu to hand over Mitsunari, which refused by Ieyasu. Ieyasu then negotiated

330-514: The Sekigahara campaign (August–October 1600) fought Ishida's allies on Kyushu and took a number of Konishi's castles. He was preparing to invade the Shimazu domain when the campaign ended and Ieyasu ordered him to stand down. For his service, Katô was awarded the other half of Higo (formerly owned by Konishi, who was executed in the wake of Sekigahara), bringing his income to nearly 500,000 koku. In his later years, Kiyomasa tried to work as

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360-702: The conflict of Sekigahara between the Eastern army led by Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Western army led by Ishida Mitsunari. Muramatsu Shunkichi, writer of " The Surprising Colors and Desires of the Heroes of Japanese History and violent womens ”, gave his assessment that the reason of Mitsunari failure in his war against Ieyasu was due to his unpopularity among the major political figures of that time. Later, Kiyomasa started approaching Tokugawa Ieyasu . both Tokugawa Ieyasu and Ishida Mitsunari courted his support. Ishida's so-called Western forces might well have gotten themselves

390-461: The country. 32°49′01″N 130°41′22″E  /  32.81694°N 130.68944°E  / 32.81694; 130.68944 Kat%C5%8D Kiyomasa Katō Kiyomasa ( 加藤 清正 , July 25, 1562 – August 2, 1611) was a Japanese daimyō of the Azuchi–Momoyama and Edo periods . His court title was Higo-no-kami . His name as a child was Yashamaru , and first name was Toranosuke . He

420-415: The grave. On the central part of the road are many stone lantern structures, contributed by believers. People pray before the altar of the grave of Katō Kiyomasa. There is a museum housing various traditional items of historical importance. There is a big statue of Katō Kiyomasa, 300 steps upwards. On July 23, one day before the death day of Katō Kiyomasa, a festival is observed which is called Tonsha-e. It

450-478: The island. In 1586, Shimazu clan heard of Hideyoshi's plans for invasion, and lifted their siege of Tachibana castle , withdrawing a great portion of their forces back to Higo province , while the rest stayed in Bungo province . There, they seized Funai Castle from the Ōtomo clan and prepared for the invasion. The Ōtomo were supported by armies under Sengoku Hidehisa , Sogō Masayasu , and Chōsokabe Motochika

480-579: The promised to let Mitsunari retire and to review the assessment of the Battle of Ulsan Castle in Korea which became the major source of this incident, and had his second son, Yūki Hideyasu , to escort Mitsunari to Sawayama Castle. However, historian Watanabe Daimon stated from the primary and secondary sources text about the accident this was more of legal conflict between those generals with Mitsunari, rather than conspiracy to murder him. The role of Ieyasu here

510-427: The single-mindedness and Spartan attitudes of the man, [they] demonstrate emphatically that the warrior's first duty in the early 17th century was simply to 'grasp the sword and die'. Kiyomasa married a daughter of Mizuno Tadashige , Shōjō-in, who was adopted by Tokugawa Ieyasu prior to their marriage. Their daughter, Yōrin-in, would go on to marry Tokugawa Ieyasu 's 10th son, Tokugawa Yorinobu . In 1910, Kiyomasa

540-522: The south of Bungo, attacking the Shimazu at Takajō , on Kyūshū's eastern coast, in 1587. Meanwhile, Hideyoshi took his own forces down a more westerly route, attacking Ganjaku Castle in Chikuzen province , which was held by the Akizuki clan . Later that year, the two brothers would meet up in the Shimazu's home province of Satsuma, to assault their home castle at Kagoshima . Ultimately, Kagoshima itself

570-699: The temple attracted many people from Kumamoto for recreation. Ever since the Edo period or Meiji period, leprosy patients had gathered around the temple, so they could live, begging for money from many people coming to the temple. Around 1930, there occurred the "No Leprosy Patients in Our Prefecture" movement and the Government intended to hospitalize all leprosy patients in sanatoriums. On July 9, 1940, 157 leprosy patients living around Honmyō-ji temple were forcibly hospitalized in many sanatoriums throughout

600-417: The war, he apparently hunted tigers for sport, using a yari ( spear ), and later presented the pelts to Hideyoshi. Some versions of the story say he was in fact hunting tigers to catch them alive, in order to bring their meat to Hideyoshi, as he thought it would improve his lord's health, but later, the tigers were killed because of the lack of food for his men. Kiyomasa was a renowned castle-builder. During

630-423: Was a Christian, Kiyomasa being noted for brutally suppressing and persecuting Christianity . At the battle of Hondo, he ordered his men to cut open the bellies of all pregnant Christian women and cut off their infants' heads. William Scott Wilson describes Katō Kiyomasa thus: "He was a military man first and last, outlawing even the recitation of poetry, putting the martial arts above all else. His precepts show

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660-589: Was burned and moved to the present site considerably under the grave of Katō Kiyomasa in 1614. In 1871, the Shinto shrine part grave was moved to Kumamoto Castle in the name of Katō Shrine under the policy of the separation of Shintoism and Buddhism. During the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877, the temple was partly burnt. Later the temple and the grave were reconstructed. Throughout the Edo period and Meiji period ,

690-435: Was confiscated, and he was exiled (kaieki; attaindered) in 1632 by Tokugawa Iemitsu on suspicion of conspiring against him, possibly with the likes of Tokugawa Tadanaga , who was ordered to commit seppuku in 1633. A devoted believer of Nichiren Buddhism , Kiyomasa encouraged the building of Nichiren temples across his domains. He came into conflict with Konishi Yukinaga , who ruled the other half of Higo province, and

720-654: Was granted a stipend of 170 koku . In 1582, he fought in Hideyoshi's army at the Battle of Yamazaki , and later in 1583 at the Battle of Shizugatake . Owing to his achievement in that battle, he became known as one of the Seven Spears of Shizugatake and was rewarded with 3,000 additional koku . In 1584, Kiyomasa took part in the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute against the Tokugawa clan . When Hideyoshi became

750-570: Was not reported to Hideyoshi by his rival and superior Ishida Mitsunari . Hideyoshi recalled him to Kyōto . As did a number of other daimyōs who participated in the invasion of Korea , he took a group of captive Korean potters back to his fief in Kyūshū . According to popular theory In 1598 after the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the government of Japan have an accident when seven military generals consisted of Fukushima Masanori , Katō Kiyomasa , Ikeda Terumasa , Hosokawa Tadaoki , Asano Yoshinaga , Katō Yoshiaki , and Kuroda Nagamasa planned

780-571: Was not to physically protect Mitsunari from any physical harm from them, but to mediate the complaints of those generals. Nevertheless, historians viewed this incident not just as simply personal problems between those seven generals and Mitsunari, but rather as an extension of the political rivalries of greater scope between the Tokugawa faction and the anti-Tokugawa faction led by Mitsunari. Since this incident, those military figures who were on bad terms with Mitsunari would later support Ieyasu during

810-426: Was one of Hideyoshi 's Seven Spears of Shizugatake . Kiyomasa was born in what is now Nakamura-ku, Nagoya (situated in contemporary Aichi District , Owari Province ) to Katō Kiyotada. Kiyotada's wife, Ito, was a cousin of Toyotomi Hideyoshi 's mother. Kiyotada died while his son, Kiyomasa (then known as Toranosuke), was still young. Soon after, Toranosuke entered into Hideyoshi's service, and in 1576, at age 15,

840-682: Was one of the three senior commanders during the Seven-Year (Imjin) War (1592–1598) against the Korean Joseon . Together with Konishi Yukinaga , he captured Seoul , Busan and many other cities. He defeated the last of the Korean regulars at the Battle of Imjin River and pacified Hamgyong . The Korean king Seonjo abandoned Seoul before Kiyomasa's forces. Kiyomasa held two Korean princes who had deserted as hostages and used them to force lower-ranking Korean officials to surrender. During

870-514: Was part of the campaigns of Toyotomi Hideyoshi who sought to dominate Japan at the end of the Sengoku period . Having subjugated much of Honshū and Shikoku , Hideyoshi turned his attention to the southernmost of the main Japanese islands, Kyūshū . Battles had raged for the previous few years between the daimyō of Kyūshū, and by 1585 the Shimazu family of Satsuma were the primary power on

900-736: Was posthumously promoted to junior 3rd court rank ( jusanmi 従三位). Katō Kiyomasa is a character in the Koei video games Kessen , Kessen III , Samurai Warriors 3 , Samurai Warriors 4 , Mōri Motonari: Chikai no Sanshi and Age of Empires III . He is a playable character in Pokémon Conquest ( Pokémon + Nobunaga's Ambition in Japan), with his partner Pokémon being Fraxure and Haxorus . [REDACTED] Media related to Katō Kiyomasa at Wikimedia Commons Ky%C5%ABsh%C5%AB campaign The Kyūshū campaign of 1586–1587

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