Saionji Kinhiro (西園寺公広)
Kinhiro SAIONJI was a Sengoku daimyo (Japanese territorial lord in the Sengoku period) in Iyo Province. He was a castellan of Kurose-jo Castle.
Biography
In 1537, he was born as a son of Kinnobu SAIONJI. Originally, he was a Buddhist monk at Kishi-dera Temple in Iyo Province; however in 1556, because the family head Sanemitsu SAIONJI's biological child, Kintaka died in a battle, Kinhiro became the adopted heir of Sanemitsu and returned to secular life in 1565. Kinhiro became the husband of Nishi-hime Princess, a daughter of Sanemitsu to take over as head of the family. In the same year, he fought against Kanesada ICHIJO.
In 1568, in cooperation with the Mori clan and the Kono clan he fought against Kanesada ICHIJO, Toyotsuna UTSUNOMIYA and the Tsuno clan and won. In 1572, he fought against the Tosa Ichijo clan, but was attacked by Yoshishige OTOMO who was related to the Ichijo clan and suffered a crushing defeat.
In 1584, he was attacked by Motochika CHOSOKABE and surrendered, then in 1585, attacked by Takakage KOBAYAKAWA, a retainer of Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI who aimed to subjugate Shikoku and surrendered. After that, only Kurose-jo Castle was left to Kinhiro and he became a retainer of Takakage KOBAYAKAWA but in 1587, he was killed by a retainer of Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI, Katsutaka TODA who was newly assigned as the feudal lord of Uwa County. He died at the age of 51. The death put a complete end to the Saionji clan as a daimyo.