Kiyosu conference (清洲会議)
The Kiyosu conference was held on the 27th of June (according to the old calendar) during the Azuchi-Momoyama period. The purpose was to discuss the matter of a successor and the redistribution of territories of the Oda clan.
In the Honnoji Incident of 1582, the head of the Oda family, Nobunaga ODA was killed by his samurai general Mitsuhide AKECHI in Kyoto. Nobunaga's legitimate son, Nobutada ODA also died in Nijo-jo Castle. As Mitsuhide was killed during the Battle of Yamasaki, the conference was held at Kiyosu-jo Castle in Owari Province (Kiyosu City, Aichi Prefecture) for the purpose of deciding who should succeed the Oda family and how to distribute properties inherited from Nobunaga. The four vassals of the Oda family, Katsuie SHIBATA, Nagahide NIWA, Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI, and Tsuneoki IKEDA gathered to participate in the conference. Kazumasu TAKIGAWA was absent because he was at war in the Kanto region.
(There is another theory that he was refused to participate in the conference because he had been defeated in the latest war.)
The matter of successor in the Oda family was the major point at the conference. There was a conflict between Katsuie, who backed up the third son of Nobunaga, Nobutaka ODA (who was absent from the conference), and Hideyoshi, who backed up Sanboshi (Hidenobu ODA), the legitimate son of Nobutada, who was the legitimate grandchild of Nobunaga. Hideyoshi, who had played a lively part in the subjugation of Mitsuhide, acquired the support from Nagahide. In addition, as the third son of Nobunaga, he had more inheritable blood than Nobutaka, who had been adopted by the Kanbe clan. For these reasons, Sanboshi was chosen as the successor and Hideyoshi was appointed a guardian for him.
As the conclusion to the issue of territory redistribution, Nobukatsu ODA inherited Owari Province as the second son, and Nobutaka inherited Mino Province as the third son, while HideKatsu HASHIBA, the fourth son of Nobunaga as well as the adopted son of Hideyoshi, inherited Tanba Province, which had been the territory of Mitsuhide AKECHI. For the vassals, Nagahama City, which had been the territory of Hideyoshi, was ceded to Katsuie upon his request, in addition to the ratification of his ownership of Echizen Province, and Nagahide acquired two districts of Omi Province, in addition to the ratification of his ownership of Wakasa Province, and Tsuneoki acquired three districts of Settsu Province. As the new head of the family, Sanboshi inherited Sakata-gun in the Province of Omi and Azuchi-jo Castle, while Hideyoshi acquired Yamashiro Province.
In the Kiyosu conference, the influence of Katsuie, who had had the biggest say as a head of vassals, was diminished. Instead, Hideyoshi took the rank as the head of the vassals. In this way, the conference re-drew the power map of the Oda family. The conflict generated at the conference led to the Battle of Shizugatake during the following year and influenced the collapse of the Oda family and Hideyoshi's taking the reins of government.
It is said to have been the plan of Yoshitaka KURODA, a trustworthy assistant of Hideyoshi, that Hideyoshi backed up Sanboshi in the conference and that the consensus was secretly built among other chief vassals in advance.