page_title: History of Kumamoto Prefecture
section_title: Katō Kiyomasa
hierarchical_section_title: History of Kumamoto Prefecture / Katō Kiyomasa
caption_attribution_description: 加藤清正　肖像画　Portrait of Katō Kiyomasa.
context_page_description: The history of Kumamoto Prefecture has been documented from paleolithic times to the present. Kumamoto Prefecture is the eastern half of Hinokuni, and corresponds to what was once called Higo Province. Exceptions are the part of Kuma District, which had once been part of Sagara Domain, and Nagashima which was included in Kagoshima Prefecture.
  Kumamoto Prefecture is roughly divided into three areas, namely, the northern area with Kikuchi River, Shirakawa River and Mount Aso Area; the Kumagawa Area including the Hitoyoshi Basin and the Amakusa Island Area. The first one is the Kumamoto han, and the second the Hitoyoshi han and the third one is the Amakusa Area, once controlled by the Tokugawa shogunate.
  The history of Kumamoto is characterized by kofuns in natural beauties or volcanic activities, the ritsuryō and the following rise of samurais, the arrival of Katō Kiyomasa from Nagoya, wars around the Bakumatsu including the Satsuma Rebellion, and public problems concerning Minamata disease. After the establishment of the Yamato Government or Yamato Ouken, the history of Kumamoto has been constantly under the influence of the Central Government.
context_section_description: 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.
  Some Korean artisans were taken to Kumamoto by Kiyomasa. A town named Ulsan (Urusan) is in Kumamoto now. Kato shrine is a shrine in Kumamoto Castle, Kumamoto, in which Katō Kiyomasa, Ōki Kaneyoshi and Kin Kan, a Korean who followed Katō, are enshrined.
  Kiyomasa was an excellent architect of castles and fortification. During the Imjin war, he built several Japanese style castles in Korea to better defend the conquered lands. Ulsan castle was one of these fortresses that Kiyomasa built, and it proved its worth when Korean-Chinese allied forces attacked it with far superior force, yet the outnumbered Japanese successfully defended the castle until the Japanese reinforcements arrived. After the meeting of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyori, he became ill on a ship on his way to Kumamoto, and died shortly after arrival in 1611. His child, Katō Tadahiro, was transferred to Dewa Maruoka-han in the Tōhoku region  in 1632, for fear of his becoming too powerful and thus the Kato clan came to an end.
caption: Katō Kiyomasa
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