Kurume History Walks
No.45 Following the Footsteps of the Lords around 1600
小早川・田中の時代をたずねてThe three lords ruled Kurume for about three decades around 1600. It was a period when the Tokugawa
Shogunate was about to begin after successive wars had ended. They formed both the governance structure andthe foundation of the castle town that the Arima family, the inheritor, continued to utilize during their rule of
240 years. We present the achievements of the lords that led to the modern era of the Kurume and the places
linked to them.

The Reign of Kobayakawa Hidekane
In 1587, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, regarded as one ofHe became a Christian upon the recommendation

three unifiers of Japan, marched into Kyushu with hisof Kuroda Josui. He married Otomo Sorin’s daughter,large armies and forced the Shimazu family, whicha devoted Christian, in 1587 with Hideyoshi’s

had resisted until the end, to surrender. He reassignedintermediation.
*‘Koku 石’ was a volume unit for measuring the rice quantity andfor evaluating the income of a samurai in feudal Japan. One koku
is about 180 liters of rice, enough to support one person for a singleyear.

the feudal lords and distributed the territory to them.
Kobayakawa Hidekane became the lord of Kurume
Castle and received the area around the current

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Kurume city and Ogori city. As well as governing theKobayakawa-jinja Shrine
During his rule, the main bailey is supposed toterritory, he participated in two of Hideyoshi's

exist near the current ground of the medical school ofcampaigns against Korea. He also exercised strong

Kurume University, with the main gate facing east.

authority over territorial control, destroying theToday, there is the Kobayakawa-jinja Shrine in theKusano clan, a powerful clan in Chikugo Provinceprecinct of Sasayama-jinja Shrine on Kurume Castle

since the Middle Ages, and killing the heads of theRuins. This miniature shrine, dedicated to him, ispriests of Mount Kora, a powerful military force.

inscribed with Saint Andrew's Cross, a Christiansymbol.

Kobayakawa Hidekane 小早川秀包 (1567-1601)

At that time, there was a church in the castle town

was the 9th son of Mori Motonari, the lord of thewith about 7,000 followers.

Chugoku Region. In 1579, Hidekane was adopted byTakakage, his brother. In 1583, he was sent as ahostage to Hideyoshi, who named him “Toshiro
Hidekane 藤四郎秀包” with the characters “秀” and“藤” from Hideyoshi’s past and present names. In1585, he received Uwa district in Iyo Province with35,000 kokus* for his war success during the attack on
Shikoku. In 1586, he participated many battles inKyushu offensive and rendered distinguished service.

Kobayakawa-jinja Shrine

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Kurume History Walks / No.45 Following the Footsteps of the Lords around 1600

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Monument of the Eight GravesIn 1591, Hidekane invited Rinkei, the chief priestof Mount Kora, and Ryoha, his son, to the castle for adrinking party. When they left the castle, Hidekane
had his samurais kill these two and their eight retainers
running away to Kora Mountain. Eight graves werebuilt at the place, where the eight were attacked, on
the north side of today’s Nihon Seimei Building. A
monument was built after the gravestones had been
moved to the precinct of the Io-ji Temple due to theconstruction of the building in August 1980. The paththey run on has existed since the Middle Ages.

Monument of the Eight Graves

Yanagawa Okan Road (Tanaka Road)
Yoshimasa was based in Yanagawa Castle anddeveloped a transportation system to and from branch
castles in the territory. Above all, he constructedYanagawa Okan, a major road called between his
castle and Kurume Castle, the second base.
Later, during the reign of the Arima family,
Fudanotsuji, meaning a crossroad with information
boards, became the starting point of Yanagawa Okan.
3The Reign of the Tanaka Family
In 1600, during the Battle of Sekigahara, thelargest and most significant battle in Japanese feudalhistory, Kobayakawa Hidekane belonged to theWestern Army, which included the loyalists ofHideyoshi and many lords from western Japan. But
they were defeated by the Eastern Army underTokugawa Ieyasu.
After Hidekane, Tanaka Yoshimasa, from theEastern Army, entered Yanagawa Castle as lord of theentire province of Chikugo. Yoshimasa excelled inpolitics and military affairs and had a great knowledgeof civil and hydrological engineering. He pursued anambitious policy on his own, although Tadamasa, hisson, built a bureaucratic system.
They also donated to temples and shrines ravagedby the successive wars, such as the Zendo-ji Temple
and the Daizen-ji Tamatare-gu Shrine.
Tanaka Yoshimasa 田 中 吉 政 (1548-1609) wasborn in the present Shiga prefecture. Under the rule ofHideyoshi, he became the lord of Okazaki Castle inMikawa Province.
In the Battle of Sekigahara, he joined Ieyasu’s
Eastern Army and captured Ishida Mitsunari, generalof the enemy army. For a series of his exploits, he wastransferred from Okazaki Domain of Mikawa
Province with 100,000 kokus to the entire province ofChikugo with over 300,000 kokus.

Former Fudanotsuji Site

The road was changed due to damage from World WarII, but there is a trace in front of the old Kurume City
Library West Branch. The current Fukuoka Prefectural
Road 23 traces most of the Yanagawa Okan.
Yoshimasa set up towns along the road andestablished markets. In later generations, people
erected shrines dedicated to Yoshimasa in honor of hisachievements. These shrines are handed down along
the road, while some shrines were relocated or merged.
Our city has the Tsubuku-hachiman Shrine and theYasutake-hachiman Shrine, both dedicated to him.
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In front of the old Kurume City Library West Branch

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Memorial Tower of Tanaka Yoshimasa

Tanaka-jinja Shrine (Tsubuku-hachiman Shrine)

In 1609, Yoshimasa died in Kyoto on the way toEdo, the capital. He was 62 years old. His remains
were buried in the Shinsho-ji Temple in Yanagawa,and the memorial tower to him was erected in theZendo-ji Temple in Kurume.
Before Yoshimasa restored the latter temple, it hadsuffered disasters. In the middle of the 16th century, thearmy of Bekki Dosetsu, a subordinate of the Otomo
family killed trainee monks and burnt down its halls.
On the occasion of the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600,
Kuroda Josui had its halls again destroyed.
Yoshimasa, as lord of the whole province ofChikugo, contributed to the revival of the temple.
Tadamasa, the successor, erected a mausoleum

Memorial Tower to Tanaka Yoshimasa

dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder and first
shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan. Its
memorial tower remains in the precinct.
5 Memorial Tower to Tanaka Norimasa
There is a memorial tower to Norimasa, the second
son of Yoshimasa. The father was based in Yanagawa
Castle, made Norimasa the lord of Kurume Castle, andplaced his retainers in other branch castles. This factshows the importance of Kurume Castle. There are
two theories about the day of Norimasa’s death: in1606 or 1610.

Memorial Tower to Tanaka Norimasa

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6Stone Torii Gate of the Daizenji-tamataregu Shrine
Yoshimasa gave generous protection to the shrineby giving the temple territory of 300 kokus in 1601and donating a temple bell in 1604. The stone torii gate
was offered by Tadamasa, the fourth son and thesuccessor, in 1618. There is an inscription of
Tadamasa’s name on a pillar on the right side whenfacing the shrine and other inscriptions of some names
and the donation time (spring, Genna 4th [1618]) on thepillar on the left side. This torii, municipally
designated as cultural property, is the second oldest
gate after the one of Kitano-tenmangu Shrine,constructed in 1607 and prefecturally designated ascultural property.

Stone Torii Gate of Daizenji-tamataregu Shrine

After Yoshimasa died in 1609, Tadamasa inherited the territory but died of illness at 36 in 1620. The
body was buried at Kichijoji, Edo. The memorial tower was built in the Senko-ji Temple in Kurume.
He did not have a male child as a successor. The Tanaka family is extinct. Tokugawa government took overChikugo Province for a while before Arima Toyouji entered Kurume Castle as lord of the Northern Chikugo of
210,000 kokus in 1621.
1 Kobayakawa-jinja
ShrineTosu City

2 Monument of theEight Graves

Zendo-jiTemple

Fudanotsuj

Chikugo River

Tsubuku-hachiman
ShrineSta.
JR Kurume

Yasutake-hachiman
ShrineSta. Zendoji

Senko-ji Temple (Tadamasa’s
Memorial Tower)

Sta. Nishitetsu Kurume

Mt. Kora
Sta.
Tsubuku

4,5 MemorialTowers to Tanaka
Yoshimasa andNorimasa

6 Stone Torii Gate of
Daizenji-Tamataregu Shrine
Yame City

Sta. Daizenji

Following the Footsteps of the Lords around 1600
Cultural Properties Protection Department of Kurume
Address: 15-3 Jonan Kurume Fukuoka Japan 830-8520 Tel: 0942-30-9225
Date of Publication: March 31st, 2022 / Translated in May 2022
4Kurume History Walks / No.45 Following the Footsteps of the Lords around 1600