Katō Kiyomasa
The decisive Battle of Sekigahara (October 21, 1600) cleared the path to the Shogunate for Tokugawa Ieyasu. In Kyūshū, Katō Kiyomasa, and other samurai lords such as Kuroda, Nabeshima, Hosokawa took the side of Tokugawa Ieyasu; while Konishi Yukinawa, Shimazu, Ōtomo, Tachibana acted on behalf of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Katō Kiyomasa attacked Uto Castle, and he won the battle when the news of the defeat of Ishida and the capital punishment and defeat of Konishi Yukinaga reached Uto. Katō Kiyomasa was given the province of Higo with the exception of Hitoyoshi and Amakusa. His rice income reached 540,000 "koku" (bales of rice) and he was asked to add his followers, and accepted the previous samurai belonging to Konishi Yukinaga and Tachibana. He started to strengthen Kumamoto Castle and completed it in 1607. Kiyomasa was one of the three senior commanders during the Seven-Year War (1592–1598) against the Korean dynasty of Joseon. Together with Konishi Yukinaga, he captured Seoul, Busan and many other crucial cities. He defeated the last Korean regulars in the Battle of Imjin River and pacified Hamgyong.