Imagawa Yoshimoto was a pre-eminent daimyō in the Sengoku period Japan. Based in Suruga Province, he was one of the three daimyōs that dominated the Tōkaidō region. He died in 1560 while marching to Kyoto to become Shōgun. He was killed in the village of Dengakuhazama in Okehazama by Oda Nobunaga.
Early life and succession
Yoshimoto was born in 1519, the third son of Imagawa Ujichika of the Imagawa clan-which claimed descent from Emperor Seiwa. His childhood name was Yosakimaru. His family branched from Minamoto clan by the Ashikaga clan. As he was not the eldest son, he was not an heir to his father's lordship. As a result, the young boy was sent to a temple where his name was changed to Baigaku Shōhō or Sengaku Shōhō. In 1536, his older brother Ujiteru died suddenly, unleashing successional disputes. His elder half-brother, Genkō Etan, tried to seize the lordship, but the clan split into two factions. Yoshimoto's faction argued he was the rightful heir because Yoshimoto's mother was the consort of Ujichika. Genkō Etan's faction disputed this based on Genkō's seniority, and that his mother was a member of the Kushima family. However, the Genkō faction was eliminated in the Hanagura Disturbance. Baigaku Shōhō changed his name to Yoshimoto at this point and succeeded the clan.
Campaigns
After Yoshimoto succeeded to family headship, he married the sister of Takeda Shingen of Kai. This allowed Yoshimoto to cement an alliance with the Takeda when he helped Shingen imprison his father, Takeda Nobutora, in 1540. Soon after, Yoshimoto fought against the Hōjō of Sagami. In 1542, Yoshimoto began his advance into Mikawa Province, in an effort to fight the growing influence of Oda Nobuhide in that region, but was defeated in the Battle of Azukizaka. In campaigns over the course of the ensuing decades, Yoshimoto wrested control over the Suruga, Totomi, and Mikawa provinces. In 1552, Shingen's son, Takeda Yoshinobu, married Yoshimoto's daughter. Yoshimoto and the Hōjō clan reached a peace agreement in 1554 with the marriage of Yoshimoto's son Ujizane to the daughter of Hōjō Ujitsuna. In 1558, Yoshimoto left the clan's political affairs in Ujizane's hands, in order to focus on dealing with the advance westward into Mikawa.
In the summer of 1560, after forming a three-way alliance with the Takeda and the Hōjō, Yoshimoto headed out to the capital with Matsudaira Motoyasu of Mikawa in the vanguard. Despite having a strong force of 25,000, Yoshimoto deliberately announced that he had 40,000 troops. While this statement put fear in many factions, Oda Nobunaga of Owari Province saw through it. With many victories, Yoshimoto's army was letting its guard down, celebrating with song and sake. A surprise attack by the Oda army of 3,000 following a downpour left Yoshimoto's army in complete disorder. Two Oda samurai ambushed the Imagawa army and killed Yoshimoto, in the village of Dengakuhazama. Imagawa Ujizane succeeded to family headship after Yoshimoto's death, but the Imagawa clan fell from power. Ujizane was later summoned by Tokugawa Ieyasu and became a kōke in the administration of the Tokugawa clan. Yoshimoto's niece was Lady Tsukiyama, the wife of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Yoshimoto has several graves; his body itself is buried at Daisei-ji, a temple in the city ofToyokawa in modern Aichi Prefecture.
See People of the Sengoku period in popular culture. He is a playable character in Pokémon Conquest, with his partner Pokémon being Pineco and Forretress. In the Samurai Warriors series, Yoshimoto is represented as a foolish old-fashioned nobleman. His weapon is a kemari which is inspired by his son, Ujizane's historical obsession towards kemari. A female version of Yoshimoto appears in anime The Ambition of Oda Nobuna. In this version, instead of dying Yoshimoto is spared and later installed as a figurehead Shōgun to legitimize Nobuna's claim to Kyoto. In Sengoku Basara game and anime series, he was shown to be a weak leader, using his vassals as decoys while trying to retreat. In anime version, he was killed by Oda Nobunaga.
