Ikeda Terumasa

Who was Ikeda Terumasa?

Ikeda Terumasa was a Japanese daimyo of the early Edo period. His court title was Musashi no Kami. Terumasa was also known by the nickname saigoku no shogun, or, ‘The Shogun of Western Japan’.

Terumasa fought in many of the battles of the late Azuchi-Momoyama Period, and due to his service at the Battle of Sekigahara, received a fief at Himeji.

The 2nd son and heir of Ikeda Nobuteru, Terumasa held Ikejiri Castle and joined his father in fighting for Hideyoshi in the Komaki Campaign. He led troops at Nagakute, the battle in which his father was killed. In 1590, following the transfer of Tokugawa Ieyasu to the Kanto, Terumasa was established at Yoshida in Mikawa, a 152,000 koku fief. In 1594 Terumasa married one of Tokugawa’s daughters, and after Hideyoshi’s death in 1598, the Ikeda drifted into Ieyasu’s camp. When the Sekigahara Campaign began in the fall of 1600, Terumasa immediately sided with Tokugawa; on 28 September he competed with Fukushima Masanori to be the first to attack Gifu, held by Oda Hidenobu. At the Battle of Sekigahara Ikeda commanded 4,500 troops in the rear guard and saw some desultory fighting with Chosokabe Morichika’s contingent as the battle wound down. Following the Tokugawa victory, Terumasa was given a 520,000-koku fief in Harima, centered on Himeji Castle. In 1603 Bizen was added to Terumasa’s territory, and this he assigned to his eldest son, Toshitaka. By the time of Terumasa’s death in 1613, the Ikeda had grown to rule over Harima, Bizen, Inaba, and Awaji, with a combined income of around 1,000,000-koku. Following the death of Toshitaka, the Tokugawa Bakufu took steps to reduce the alarming power of the Ikeda and eventually reduced the family to Tottori and Okayama.