Torii Mototada
Early life. Torii was born in Okazaki, the son of Torii Tadayoshi. As a boy, he was sent as hostage to the Imagawa clan. The young Mototada served the then-Matsudaira Takechiyo as a page. After Ieyasu's return from the Imagawa clan, and his unification of Mikawa Province, Mototada served as one of his chief generals. In 1572, Mototada succeeded the Torii family headship, following the death of his father. He fought at the Battle of Mikata-ga-hara and Battle of Suwahara Castle the following year and was wounded in the legs, which rendered walking difficult  for him from then on. Service under Ieyasu. Mototada served in all of Ieyasu's major campaigns. With only 2,000 men he mounted a rearguard action against the Hōjō clan's force of over 10,000, and defeated them; soon after, Ieyasu granted him Tanimura Castle in Kai Province. Later, in 1585, he joined Ōkubo Tadayo and Hiraiwa Chikayoshi in laying siege to the Sanada clan's Ueda Castle. After Ieyasu's move to the Kantō region, Torii was granted the 40,000 koku fief of Yasaku in Shimōsa Province, which made him a "Daimyō". Last stand and death. In August 1600 , Mototada was forewarned by spies that an army of 40,000 battle-hardened followers of Toyotomi Hideyori were annihilating everything in their path on their march to Fushimi Castle. The 1800 men garrison at Fushimi Castle was badly outnumbered, yet escape for the men inside was still possible. In an act of loyalty to his lord Tokugawa Ieyasu, Torii chose to remain behind, pledging that he and his bastion would fight to the finish. In a last statement addressed to his son Tadamasa, Mototada described how his family served the Tokugawa for generations and how his own brother had been killed  in battle. In the letter, Torii stated that he considered it an honor to die first so that he might give courage to the rest of the Tokugawa warriors. He requested that his son raise his siblings to serve the Tokugawa Clan "In both ascent and decline" and to remain humble desiring neither lordship nor monetary reward. Lifelong friends, Torii Mototada and Tokugawa Ieyasu parted ways sadly knowing that they would never see each other again: In the end, with the castle in flames around him, Torii ordered his men to charge headlong into battle over and over again until  only ten remained. The castle defenders fought heroically to the last man. As was custom, Torii killed himself rather than be captured alive. Torii Mototada's actions had a great impact on the course of Japanese history. Tokugawa Ieyasu would raise an army of 90,000 and confront Ishida Mitsunari's forces at Sekigahara in what would be one of the bloodiest battles in the Sengoku period. Forty-thousand heads would be taken in the first hours of battle and 70,000 would perish in the next two days as the remnants of Mitsunari's vanquished army were hunted down and executed . The battle of Sekigahara was a decisive one, resulting in the unification of Japan. Tokugawa’s family would rule the entire country for the next 268 years. Mototada's suicide at the fall of Fushimi is one of the most celebrated acts of "seppuku" in Japanese history. Descendance. Among his descendants, Ōishi Yoshio (1659-1703), Karō (Chief retainer) of the Akō Asano clan, leader and hero of the Forty-seven Rōnin's revenge against Kira Yoshinaka, was his great-great-grandson, through Yoshio's father Ōishi Yoshiaki, maternal grandson of Torii Tadakatsu, fourth son of Torii Mototada. Torii Mototada Early