Kato Kiyomasa

Born 1562; died 1611. Japanese general.

Kato Kiyomasa served his relative Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the second of the three feudal rulers of Japan in the late 16th century. He distinguished himself in several battles during the wars of unification fought by Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Kato commanded the vanguard troops during the Japanese campaign in Korea in 1592–93 and fought in battles near Ulsan during the second campaign in 1597–98. Both campaigns ended in the defeat of the Japanese. In the battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Kato fought on the side of Ieyasu Tokugawa, the third feudal unifier of Japan, but he later gave his support to Hideyori, the son of Hideyoshi Toyotomi.