Hosokawa Terutsune (細川輝経)

Terutsune HOSOKAWA was a Japanese military commander who lived from the Sengoku Period (Period of Warring States) to the Azuchi-Momoyama period. He was the head of the Hosokawa-Oshu family, which belonged to the Hosokawa clan. He was a son of Harutsune HOSOKAWA. He was the Mutsu no kami (Governor of Mutsu Province). His wife was a sister of Yasuyuki MATSUI.

The Hosokawa-Oshu family descended from Akiuji HOSOKAWA, who lived during the period of the Northern and Southern Courts. Nariuji HOSOKAWA, who was an adopted son of Akiuji, was a biological son of Kazuuji HOSOKAWA.

He was granted a henki (one character of the name of a shogun or a daimyo) by Shogun Yoshiteru (written as 義輝 in Japanese) ASHIKAGA, and he began to call himself Terutsune (written as 輝経 in Japanese). He adopted Tadaoki HOSOKAWA, the eldest son of Fujitaka HOSOKAWA. He served the Shogun family as an attendant together with Fujitaka and Fujinaga ISSHIKI. He also served Yoshiaki ASHIKAGA, a younger brother of Yoshiteru, and when Nobunaga ODA banished Yoshiaki from the capital, he and other vassals of the Muromachi bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) accompanied Yoshiaki all the way to Tomo, Bingo Province in the Chugoku region.

Afterward, Yasuyuki MATSUI, who was a key vassal of his adopted son Tadaoki and was a younger brother-in-law of Terutsune, invited him to Yasuyuki's place as a guest commander. Before the Battle of Sekigahara, Terutsune guarded the Hosokawa residence to keep Tadaoki's wife, Gracia HOSOKAWA, safe. He was appointed as the defense general of Kumihama-jo Castle in Tango Province, but he was commanded to commit seppuku (suicide by disembowelment) after the battle due to suspicions of secret communication with the Western Camp.

[Original Japanese]