Mori Motonari

Sengoku period warrior. He lost his mother at the age of 5 and his father at 11, and so was brought up by a retainer family, the Inoue. They gave him no preferential treatment, and during his adolescence Motonari suffered just like a common person. In 1523, at the age of 27 he succeeded to the family headship, although at this point the Mori were fairly small-time landholders, even if esteemed by the Amako - the ruling family of Izumo. But Motonari distanced himself from the Amako and affiliated himself with the Ouchi of Suo, becoming more and more powerful. He sent his second son for adoption by the Kikkawa of Aki, and his third by the Kobayakawa of Nuta, ensuring a powerful alliance with those two houses. He took the dominant role in this alliance, and used the others for his own ends. Subsequently, he overthrew Sue Harukata, Ouchi Yoshinaga and Amako Yoshihisa to gain control of all Chugoku Motonari was a founder of strategic studies in Japan, and a worthy successor to the ancient Oe Masafusa. He was the most formal thinker among Sengoku daimyo and the most brilliant battle planner.