Toyotomi Hidetsugu
However, the final years of Hideyoshi's reign were troubled. While rivals in the Hojo clan were defeated at the Siege of Odawara in 1590, failures in the invasions of Korea significantly weakened the Toyotomi clan's power and its support from bureaucrats who served in the government. Additionally, Hideyoshi ordered the execution of Toyotomi Hidetsugu and his entire family in 1595. Hidetsugu was his nephew and heir as well as the regent at the time who had been trained and expected to take up leadership after Hideyoshi. When Hideyoshi died in 1598, the new heir Toyotomi Hideyori was only 5 years old, necessitating a regency government. His death created a power vacuum; there was no appointed shōgun over the armies. The respected regent Maeda Toshiie, a neutral party between the clashing factions, kept the peace for a time, but he too died in 1599.