Toyotomi Hideyoshi was born a peasant but fought his way (both figuratively and literally) up to become the man who finally unified Japan. Oda Nobunaga died having brought about one third of Japan under rule. After his assassination, Nobunaga's followers were quick to avenge his death. Hideyoshi offered generous peace terms to the Mori in an effort to be done with that business as soon as possible. Once the agreement was settled, he blazed his army back across Japan to find the traitor Mitsuhide. When the armies finally did meet, Mitsuhide met a fitting death: while trying to escape the battle, he was recognized and beaten to death by peasants.
[Image: ]The great issue now became 'Who will succeed Nobunaga?' Hideyoshi, seeing his opportunity, began acting as though he were the new ruler, which drew no small amount of resent from Nobunaga's other former followers. Within two years Hideyoshi had managed to defeat or persuade each of these enemies, and by 1584 held all of Nobunaga's former territory. He did not stop there, and continued to subdue the remaining lands until by 1590 he had accomplished the unification of Japan.
In 1583, Hideyoshi had started to build Osaka castle. If it was Hiroshima castle (1589), Ukita Hidei's Okayama castle (1590), Gamou Ujisato's Aizuwakamatu castle (1592), and Hideyoshi's own Hizennagoya (1591) and Fushimi castles (1592).
In 1588, Hideyoshi declared that all peasants must surrender their weapons to the government. His justification for this order (called the 'Sword Hunt') was that the weapons were to be melted down and the metal used to construct a gigantic statue of the Buddha. Of course, this was not his only reason. By disarming the peasants, he defused the threat of any possible uprisings, and ensured that the burgeoning samurai class could not gain any new members. In fact, this edict served to make very clear the distinctions between social classes, with samurai being the only class allowed to carry weapons.
Even with the Sword Hunt, the decades of warring leading up to unification had resulted in a surplus of samurai in Japan. Hideyoshi was aware that having so many warriors around could pose a threat to his rule, so he endeavored to give them something to do; he was going to invade China. In 1592, invasion forces were sent to Korea, which they would soon subdue and use as an entryway into China. However, this plan was foiled when the Chinese allied with Korea to stop Japan's progress on land. Meanwhile, the powerful Korean navy, under legendary general Yi Sun Shin, completely disrupted Japanese supply lines. Toyotomi Hedeoshi died on September 18, 1598, and the war in Korea was abandoned.