毛利輝元

Mori Terumoto (1553–1625) inherited the vast western domain built by his grandfather Mori Motonari, ruling at the peak of Mori power over much of western Honshu. As one of the Five Elders (Gotairō) under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he held the highest rank in the late Toyotomi system. At Sekigahara in 1600, he was named nominal head of the Western Army but remained in Osaka Castle rather than leading the field — a decision that drew lasting criticism. After the Western Army's defeat, he surrendered to Tokugawa Ieyasu, having his domain reduced from 1.2 million to approximately 370,000 koku. The domain he effectively founded — Chōshū (Hagi) han — would become the epicenter of the movement that overthrew the Tokugawa shogunate two and a half centuries later, making Terumoto an unwitting ancestor of the Meiji Restoration.