Toyotomi clan (豊臣氏)
The surname, Toyotomi, was a honsei (original name of the clan which indicate its lineage) given to Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI, who became Kanpaku (chief adviser to the Emperor) and took control of the political power in the Tensho period.
The character of the Toyotomi clan
Hideyoshi HASHIBA, who was appointed Kanpaku on August 6, 1585, became an adopted child of Sakihisa KONOE, and used the name of the Fujiwara clan (kanpaku soron [disagreement over Kanpaku position]), however, many backlashes were anticipated against this unprecedented appointment, in which a person whose sei (surname) was not the inherited honsei (original name). Then, after consulting many academic experts, Hideyoshi reached a conclusion that it would be justifiable to be granted a newly created honsei (original name) by the Imperial Court, matching the genpeitokitsu (general term of four major honseis : the Minamoto clan, the Taira clan, the Fujiwara clan, and the Tachibana clan). As a result he, who chose 'Toyotomi' as an auspicious surname, reported to the Imperial Court on the use of it, and on October 21, 1586, he attained the imperial permission.
After that, Hideyoshi and the other members of the Hashiba family began to use solely 'Toyotomi' to present themselves, and not a single use of any other myoji (family names) by them is traced. During this period, 'Toyotomi' was used as honsei (original name) as well as myoji (family name).
There is an observation that Hideyoshi and his family's latent myoji had been always 'Hashiba.'
However, there was no strict rule on that myoji (family name) and honsei (original name) had to be different as these examples show: in the cases of the Miyatsuko family of Kii Province, and the Tsumori family, the honsei (original name) existed but they had no myoji (family name), on the other hand, the Minamoto clan, the line of MINAMOTO no Yoshitaka (Sahyoe no gon no suke [provisional assistant captain of the Left Division of Middle Palace Guards]), the sei (surname) and myoji (family name) were the same, and therefore, it is impossible to conclude what was the myoji of the head family of TOYOTOMI.
Toyotomi' was its honsei (original name) and it is different in character from the myoji (family name) in such cases as the 'Oda clan' (honsei was Taira no Ason) and the 'Tokugawa clan' (honsei was Minamoto no Ason). When one presented himself or herself by sei (or honsei, original name), the full name should be read by inserting 'no,' in between his or her sei (authentic surname) and imina (personal name), to indicate his belonging. According to this rule, 'Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI' should be read 'TOYOTOMI no Hideyoshi,' although there are numerous exceptions that does not follow this principle.
The family members of the Toyotomi clan usually were called without placing 'no,' such as 'xxxx (personal name) TOYOTOMI.'
The origin of the "Toyotomi" is not clear, and there is no established opinion on it, although there are some theories including that, it derived from the name of Prince Shotoku, 'Toyotomimi.'
Toyotomi clan as a pseudo-family
Hideyoshi, who was from a family of ordinary commoner and had no hereditary vassals of the family, tried to strengthen his reign as the head of the uji no choja (the head) of the Toyotomi clan, by granting the name of the 'Toyotomi' or his myoji (family name) 'Hashiba' to those influential daimyo (feudal lords) and samurai families, when he appointed them to a certain government post. For example, as 'Hashiba, (government post), TOYOTOMI no Ason, personal name,' (ex. Ieyasu TOKUGAWA), he granted his sei and myoji, or, he did not grant his myoji, but made them call themselves as 'X, (government post), TOYOTOMI, personal name,' (ex. Katsumoto KATAGIRI), then he regarded them as his family members. While the Tokugawa government only allowed a limited number of daimyo to use its myoji, the 'Matsudaira' clan, those who were allowed to use Toyotomi's sei (original name) were widened, including some retainers of powerful daimyo.
Toyotomi clan in the Edo period
Later, in the process of the hegemony of the Tokugawa clan becoming secured, those daimyos who were once allowed to use the denomination of TOYOTOMI no Ason and/or the Hashiba clan gradually abandoned this honsei (original name) 'TOYOTOMI no Ason,' and stopped using the myoji 'Hashiba' in public. The Kinoshita clan was the family home of Kodai-in, the lawful wife of Hideyoshi, and among the daimyo families, this was the only clan which maintained the TOYOTOMI no Ason as its honsei (original name) through the Edo period. The Kinoshita family did not change its honsei (original name) until after the Meiji Restoration, when honsei (original name) and myoji (family name) were legally integrated into one, as the form which is seen today.
In books and TV programs related to Japanese history, it is often explained that 'the Toyotomi clan became downfallen in Osaka Natsu no Jin (Summer Siege of Osaka no Eki). However, this is because in general 'Toyotomi family' only refers to the head family of Toyotomi, the lord of Osaka-jo Castle, and, this is an inaccurate explanation that might lead to a misunderstanding that the whole Toyotomi clan was destroyed there. As mentioned above, the Toyotomi clan of the maternal relative lineage (the Kinoshita family line of the Kodaiin side) was not destroyed and the Toyotomi clan itself, therefore, continued through the Edo period as a daimyo. Kodaiin of the head family of TOYOTOMI adopted her nephew's son and made him call himself 'Toshitsugu HASHIBA,' appointing him as the successor to shashoku (the reign) of the family. After Kodaiin's death, the Edo bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) forbade him to use the 'Hashiba' as his family name, and, therefore, he changed his name to Toshitsugu KINOSHITA and survived as hatamoto (a direct retainer of the Shogun), succeeding the posthumous estate of Kodaiin.
History of the Toyotomi as a shizoku (clan)
It can be said that the Toyotomi clan was formed by Hideyoshi HASHIBA's brothers and sisters as well as their descendents.
Hideyoshi promoted his limited relatives, and granted a territory of a stipend of 1million koku crop yield in Koriyama of Yamato Province to his younger brother Hidenaga, and a territory of a stipend of 430,000 koku crop yield in Yawata of Omi Province to his nephew Hidetsugu. In 1589, his biological child Tsurumatsu was born, and Hideyoshi had decided Tsurumatsu to be his successor, however, soon after Hideyoshi achieved the unification of the whole country in 1590, Hidenaga and Tsurumatsu died successively in 1591.
Downhearted Hideyoshi decided his nephew Hidetsugu as his successor, and he passed over the position of Kanpaku (chief adviser to the emperor) in 1591. However, Hideyoshi did not hand over all of his authorities, and he continued to rule the direct control territory of the head family of Toyotomi and the military power although he became to be called Taiko (father of the Imperial adviser) (*Taiko refers to the person who passed over his position of Kanpaku to his successor), and consequently, the contradictions derived from this dualism of power came up to the surface. Moreover, in 1593 another biological son, Hideyori, was born to Hideyoshi, and the conflict between Hideyoshi and Hidetsugu became definitely serious. In 1595, Hideyoshi expelled Hidetsugu to Mt. Koya, and obliged him to commit seppuku (suicide by disembowelment). By Hidetsugu's death, the dual government was dissolved and the Toyotomi administration was unified again under Hideyoshi, however, the head family of TOYOTOMI lost the post of Kanpaku, by which the government could justify itself. In addition, Hideyasu, who succeeded Hidenaga also died around that time, and the blood relatives that could be a guarding wall to support the head family of Toyotomi disappeared.
After Hideyoshi died in 1598, Ieyasu TOKUGAWA began to emerge out of the powerful daimyo who were consigned by Hideyoshi to take care of the posthumous affaires, and in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Ieyasu defeated the daimyo who were in support of the Toyotomi administration, including Mitsunari ISHIDA, and achieved to dominate the country. In 1603, he became the seii taishogun (literally, 'great general who subdues the barbarians") and established the Edo bakufu (feudal government headed by Ieyasu), and in 1605, he passed over the shogunate to his son Hidetada TOKUGAWA in order to secure the legitimacy of the Tokugawa Administration, and consequently, the head family of Toyotomi completely lost its authority over the country.
However, Hideyori TOYOTOMI, who was cast down to a daimyo, did not accept the submission to the Tokugawa Shogunate as a mere retainer, although witnessing the process of establishment of the Tokugawa Administration. Ieyasu, who felt an anxiety about this, arose Osaka no Eki (The Siege of Osaka) in 1614, and in the following year when Ieyasu surrendered Osaka-jo Castle in the second siege of Osaka no Eki, he brought Hideyoshi and others to kill themselves. Hideyori's posthumous child, Kunimatsu, was executed on June 19, 1615 at Sanjo-gawara Riverside in Kyoto, and hereto, the head family of TOYOTOMI, which Hideyoshi founded, died out.
In addition, there is a theory in which, Kunimatsu who escaped to Satsuma Province, was sheltered by the Shimazu clan, then became Nobutsugu KINOSHITA, the ancestor of the Kinoshita family and a family of Kotaiyoriai (a status of samurai warriors in the Edo period which was in charge of a rotating member of the top decision-making organ) as well as a branch family of the Hinode Domain in Bungo Province. It is said that the descendents of the Toyotomi today still use their ancestor's name as their family names. However, the Toyotomi clan's official successor approved by the bakufu was Toshitsugu HASHIBA, the adoptive son that Kodai-in took in her late life (Toshitsugu's real father was said to be Toshifusa KINOSHITA, Hideaki KOBAYAKAWA's older brother).
Family of Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI
Kodaiin (Sadatoshi SUGIHARA's daughter, Hideyoshi's lawful wife)
Kita no Mandokoro (legal wife of regent or chief adviser to the Emperor).
Formal name was Yoshiko TOYOTOMI)
Hidekatsu HASHIBA (Ishimatsumaru) (premature death)
Tsurumatsu TOYOTOMI (premature death, Hideyoshi's concubine, Yodo-dono son)
Hideyori TOYOTOMI (Hideyoshi's concubine, Yodo-dono's son)
Kunimatsu TOYOTOMI (Hideyori's son, death by decapitation)
Naahime (Hideyori's daughter)
Hidekatsu HASHIBA (Hideyoshi's adopted son, Nobunaga ODA's son)
HidekatsuTOYOTOMI (Hideyoshi's adopted son, the son of his older sister, Nisshu, and the second son of Yoshifusa MIYOSHI)
Sadako TOYOTOMI (the daughter of Nisshu's son, Katsuhide TOYOTOMI, and Yukiie KUJO's wife)
Hideyoshi's relatives
Omandokoro (Mother of a Kanpaku)
(Hideyoshi's mother, Yaemon KINOSHITA's wife, Chikuami's wife, her official name was Nakako TOYOTOMI)
Nisshu (Yaemon KINOSHITA's daughter, Hideyoshi's older sister, Yoshifusa MIYOSHI's wife)
Asahihime (Chikuami's daughter and Hideyoshi's younger half-sister by different father, Ieyasu TOKUGAWA's second wife)
Family of Hidetsugu TOYOTOMI
Hidetsugu TOYOTOMI (Hideyoshi's adopted son, the son of Nisshu, Hideyoshi's older sister, and the first son of Yoshifusa MIYOSHI)
Senchiyomaru TOYOTOMI (executed)
Hyakumaru (百丸) TOYOTOMI (executed)
Otomaru TOYOTOMI (executed)
Tsuchimaru TOYOTOMI (executed)
Ichinohime (executed)
Ryuseiin (Nobushige SANADA's concubine)
Okiku
Family of Hidenaga TOYOTOMI
Hidenaga TOYOTOMI (Chikuami's son and Hideyoshi's younger half-brother by different father)
Daughter (Hidenaga's daughter, Hideyasu TOYOTOMI's wife)
Daughter (Hidenaga's daughter, Hidemoto MORI's wife)
Hideyasu TOYOTOMI (Hidenaga's adopted son, the son of Nissho, Hideyoshi's older sister, and the third son of Yoshifusa MIYOSHI)
Family of Hidekatsu TOYOTOMI
Hidekatsu TOYOTOMI (Hideyoshi's adopted son, the son of Nissho, Hideyoshi's older sister, and the second son of Yoshifusa MIYOSHI)
Relatives of Kodaiin
Hideaki KOBAYAKAWA
(Hideyoshi's adopted son, the fifth son of Iesada KINOSHITA, the older brother of Kodaiin, Hideaki KOBAYAKAWA)
Toshitsugu HASHIBA
(Kodaiin's adopted son, the son of Toshifusa KINOSHITA, the nephew of Kodaiin)