Motonari Mori (16 April 1497 – 6 July 1571) was the daimyo of the Mori clan of Aki Province during the Sengoku Jidai.
Biography[]
A painting of Motonari with his books.
Motonari was born on 16 April 1497 to Hiromoto Mori, the daimyo of the Mori clan until his retirement in 1500, upon which Motonari's older brother Okimoto Mori became the new daimyo. In 1523 Motonari became the daimyo at the age of 26, and he inherited a clan that possessed superior warships. He was an ally of the Ouchi clan, and prior to 1545, he became an enemy of the Amako clan of Izumo Province. The Amako daimyo died early in the conflict and their invasion of Aki was defeated, and Motonari won several auspicious victories on the road to Izumo.
However, he was defeated at the capital, so he was forced to return to Aki to gather his forces. In the Battle of Koriyama, he defeated Naotomo Sakakibara's Amako army, and he proceeded to conquer the Amako clan. Into the 1550s, the Mori clan expanded against their rivals, which later grew to be the Takaoka, Matsuda, Kikkawa, Bessho, and Hatano clans, and the Mori became a powerful clan. In 1551, Harukata Sue forced the Ouchi daimyo Yoshitaka Ouchi to commit suicide in a rebellion, and Harukata wasted all of the clan's resources in expansionist wars.
Motonari hated to see the clan go to ruin, so in 1555 he fought and defeated Harukata at the Battle of Itsukushima, forcing Harukata to commit suicide. He won the battle despite being outnumbered three-to-one, and the Mori became a prominent clan. Just as the plan rose to prominence, Motonari decided to pretend to die, and in 1571 he retired to write several books on history while almost everyone believed him to be dead. His son Terumoto Mori became the new daimyo while he lived in peace and wrote books.
The Mori were at peace until 1576, when the exiled shogun Yoshiaki Ashikaga sought safe passage through his lands and his assistance in defeating the Oda. Nobunaga Oda sent an army under Hideyoshi Hashiba to destroy the Mori, while the Tachibana invaded the Mori from Kyushu to the south. Terumoto came to his father to seek his help, as the clan was in danger of being destroyed. Motonari used his brilliance to figure out that Hideyoshi was merely a decoy and the Tachibana were the real threat, and he defeated the Tachibana army at Chugoku. He forced Ginchiyo Tachibana and her husband Muneshige Tachibana to serve under him, and together they won the First Battle of Kizugawa. Motonari proceeded to win at the 1577 Battle of Kozuke Castle against Hideyoshi, but in 1578 the Mori clan faced a stronger Oda navy at Kizugawa again. With iron ships, the Oda fleet was much more powerful than the smaller Mori ships, and Motonari was slain in the battle with Nobunaga's fleet. Soon after, the Mori were forced to submit to the Oda.
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