Nanate-gumi (七手組)
Nanate-gumi (Hideyoshi's seven troops) is a group of vassals that was organized by Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI.. They are also called Nana-taicho or Oumamawari-shichigashira.
Nanate-gumi indicates military units which Hideyoshi selected about 10,000 elite warriors and divided into seven during his life, and they worked as bodyguards of the Toyotomi family and for rituals for the Imperial Court, and the like. Kumigashira (commander of each group) owned the territory valued approximately 10,000 koku. They served Hideyori TOYOTOMI after the death of Hideyoshi, and mainly focused on protecting the Osaka Castle during the Battle of Sekigahara.
(A part of Nanate-gumi participated in the battle to support the Western Army in Sekigahara.)
In later days the Kumigashiras appointed directly by Hideyoshi retired and their sons succeeded the post, however the troops' fighting force had weakened significantly. In Osaka-no-eki (the Siege of Osaka) in 1615, four out of seven Nanate-gumi Kumigashiras died a heroic death at the time of the fall of the castle. Among them, Kazushige Aoki was a former vassal of the Tokugawa family, but was transferred to the Toyotomi family by the Hideyoshi's special request to Ieyasu TOKUGAWA. Therefore, he returned to the Tokugawa family after Osaka Fuyu no Jin (Winter Siege of Osaka). Ito became a vassal of the Tokugawa family, and Mano became that of Takatora TODO later on.
Main Kumigashiras
Morihisa HAYAMI (a leader of Nanate gumi)
Kazushige AOKI
Nagazane ITO
Moritaka HOTTA
Ujitane NAKASHIMA
Sukemune MANO (His son Yorikane MANO succeeded the position later)
Yoshiyasu NONOMURA
Hideto MATSUURA
Muneyasu KOHRI is sometimes added to the above.