Toida Kikakumaru (問田亀鶴丸)
Kikakumaru TOIDA was a member of the Ouchi clan.
He was the son of Yoshitaka OUCHI. Okimori NAITO, Kikakumaru's maternal grandfather, lived in Toida Village (the present Yamaguchi City) and was called Toida dono, and Kikakumaru was raised there, so Kikakumaru began to use the family name of Toida. At Daineiji no hen, (the revolt of Daineiji) in 1551, Yoshitaka (義隆) OUCHI (Kikakumaru's father) and Yoshitaka (義尊) OUCHI (the heir and Kikakumaru's older bother) were both killed by Takafusa SUE (also called Harukata SUE), but Takafusa spared Kikakumaru's life.
This Takafusa SUE was defeated in the Battle of Itsukushima by Motonari MORI. And Yoshinaga OUCHI, who became the head of the Ouchi clan with the support of the Sue clan, was also attacked by Motonari MORI, and Yoshinaga killed himself in May (or June) 1557, so the Ouchi clan died out.
Being backed as the head of the Ouchi clan by the remaining retainers, such as the Kusaba clan, the Ohara clan and the Kawagoe clan, Kikakumaru raised an army on December 10, 1557, and shut themselves in Shojigatake-jo Castle (in the present Fukuoka Prefecture). However, Kikakumaru's uncle Takaharu NAITO, who sided with the Mori clan, raided them, so they were defeated in the Battle of Myokenzaki on the next day. The warriors, such as those of the Kusaba clan, were killed in the battle, and Kikakumaru was captured and executed.
According to a folklore, Kikakumaru fled by sea, changed his name into Ikunoshin TOYOTA, ran a sake (rice wine) winery and lived up to the age of 93.