吉川元春

Kikkawa Motoharu (1530–1586), second son of the great Mōri strategist Motonari, was the most formidable battlefield commander in western Japan — a warrior with a record of never having lost a battle throughout his entire life. He was adopted into the Kikkawa clan and commanded the eastern and northern military forces of the Mōri confederation, systematically defeating rival clans across San'in and San'yō while his younger brother Kobayakawa Takakage handled the naval forces and diplomacy. Motoharu's absolute refusal to submit to Toyotomi Hideyoshi is one of the great stories of samurai pride: he found it impossible to bow before a man of peasant origins, and Hideyoshi reportedly lamented that Motoharu's existence was the greatest obstacle to peaceful negotiations with the Mōri. Motoharu died on campaign in 1586, aged fifty-seven — a warrior who went to his death on the march, which was entirely consistent with how he had lived. The swords he carried reflected the military traditions of the Mōri domain: blades from the great Bizen and備中 traditions, chosen by a man who measured a sword the same way he measured everything else — by whether it worked.