The Taiko: Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣 秀吉) - Mania, Dementia, or Syphilis?

Welcome back, we have another episode today on one of the three modern unifiers of Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a true "rags to riches" story. Hideyoshi rose from a peasant upbringing to be the most powerful man in Japan until his death is 1598. Although known for restraint, caution, and diplomacy in his younger years, he became increasing erratic, impulsive and cruel in his later years. What was the cause of this? Did he have mania, dementia or syphilis? Listen to find out my thoughts.

A History of Japan 1334-1615 by George Bailey Sansom

Hideyoshi by Mary Elizabeth Berry

The Life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, by Walter Dening

Methods in Madness: The Last Years of Toyotomi Hideyoshi by David Douglas Neilson. 

A Narrative Review of the Many Psychiatric Manifestations of Neurosyphilis: The Great Imitator: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10560128/

Episode Transcript

(00:08):
Odawara Castle, Japan, 1590 For the past decade, after avenging
his master Odinubanaga's death, Toyoto Muhiyoshi had gradually
begun to consolidate power, winning many of the Daimio over
to his 'cause as he turns eastward, it is only the Hojo
clan entrenched in Odawara Castle that stands in his way.

(00:31):
With its large stone walls, deepmoats, and formidable natural
defenses, Hideyoshi understands that a direct assault will
result in thousands of casualties on both sides.
And so a stalemate develops. One day, around 80 days into the
siege, the unthinkable happens. The Ottawa Garrison awakens to

(00:55):
see a massive castle across themthat had seemingly been built
overnight. Heaven must be on Hideyoshi's
side. Perhaps, they wondered, as only
divine intervention could account for this structure.
They tamely throw down their weapons in submission.
And with this victory, Hideyoshihas united Japan after over a

(01:15):
century of warfare. The Empire, long divided, must
unite, long united, must divide.Thus it has ever been.

(01:36):
Welcome back everyone. Today we're going to cover the
life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the man who managed to unify Japan
after over a century of constantwarfare.
If you remember last episode I spoke of the famous Japanese
parable about the cuckoo bird who refused to sing.
And I mentioned how if Nobunaga was there he would say if you

(01:56):
don't sing I will kill you. In comparison to Hideyoshi, who
would say, if you don't sing, I will make you sing?
So I think the contrast we see in this story really illustrates
the differences that history perceives between these two men.
Whereas Nobunaga was seen as a great military innovator who
achieved his aims with force andsometimes cruelty, Hideyoshi is

(02:20):
remembered as a shrewd, crafty strategist with more diplomatic
skills. Something else that I want to
discuss later on is whether or not Hideyoshi was mad.
As he got into his later years, his behavior became increasingly
erratic, and explanations offered by historians include
mania, dementia, depression withpsychotic features, and even

(02:43):
sexually transmitted infections.Well, as a psychiatrist that has
probably worked with hundreds ofpatients with some of those
conditions, I'm going to give mytake.
So let's get started. My sources for this episode
include A History of Japan 1334 to 1615 by George Bailey Sansom,

(03:03):
which I used for the last episode as well.
It's a good overview about the time period in general, but it
doesn't focus on individuals quite as much.
I also read 2 biographies, The Life of Toyotomi Hideyoshi by
Walter Denning and Hideyoshi by Mary Elizabeth Berry.
The Denning biography is much older and probably more

(03:24):
entertaining to read. It actually feels like a novel
at times. However, the Berry biography I
would say is much more scholarly, although it can be a
bit dense. So I'd probably recommend the
Berry biography if you're more serious about Hideyoshi.
A couple of more housekeeping things before we begin the
narrative. Hideyoshi was born under a
different name and changed his name multiple times in his life.

(03:48):
For simplicity sake, I'm going to mention the alternate names
once and then just refer to him as Toyotomi Hideyoshi for the
rest of the episode to avoid confusion, but do be aware of
this. Next, I'm not going to go over
the background story of the Sengoku Jedai period, because I
already did that in the last episode on ODA Nobunaga.

(04:09):
So if you want to learn about the context in which Hideyoshi
grew up, listen to the 1st 5 minutes of that episode.
Lastly, the sources on young Hedioshi's childhood and early
life are not the most rigorous because he came from a peasant
upbringing. It seems that when he looked
back at his formative years, he may have exaggerated some things

(04:30):
as he wanted to pump himself up a little and #2 he was a little
sensitive about his lower class upbringing.
Despite this, I'm still going totell the story of his young life
for completion's sake, but take what I say with a grain of salt
as a lot of this sounds like colloquial history to me anyway.
Toyotomi Hidioshi was born as Kinoshita Tochikiro on the 27th

(04:52):
of March 1537, a mere three years after Nobunaga, to
Kinoshita Yeman and his wife Omando Koro in Owari province.
Hidioshi would tell people that prior to his birth, his mother
had a dream that the sun was inside her and the room was
filled with bright light, indicating that his rise to
power was preordained. So yeah, my BS alarm is going

(05:15):
off already. Hideyoshi's father, Yemen, was
of the ashigaru, or peasant class, but did provide some
military service to the Daimio Vawari province, who was ODA
Nobuhide at the time as a foot soldier.
He had to return to the fields due to injury and died in 1543
when Hideyoshi was only 7 years old.

(05:37):
Hideyoshi's mother later remarried a man named Jaquani,
who was to be Hideyoshi's stepfather.
Physically, the descriptions from Hideoshi from childhood to
the end of his life are less than flattering.
Here's an excerpt from the Denning biography.
Nonetheless, the Hideoshi of these sympathetic

(05:57):
interpretations is an unexpectedly small and ugly man.
The body is squat and emaciated.The eyes are called the mouth
sour. The portrayal gives substance to
Odinobenaga's reference to Hideyoshi as a bald rat and the
epithet used in a piece of contemporary graffiti.
Monkey Regent. While he was eventually able to

(06:18):
distinguish himself with the accoutrements of office, as a
young man, Hideyoshi must have resembled the person beneath the
robes. Slight, short, and I'll favored
of feature. Denied wealth and pedigree, he
seems also to have been denied height, beauty, and a powerful
body. Ouch.

(06:38):
Throughout his lifetime, Hideyoshi was called a monkey
due to his poor looks, and in a letter Nobunaga wrote to his
wife, he even referred to him asa bald rat, as Denning notes
above. Well, at least the story proves
that looks aren't everything because he later becomes the
most powerful man in Japan. So if you're listening right now
and your looks are not exactly your strong suit, well, don't

(07:01):
worry, you can still be successful.
As a child, Hideyoshi was said to be unteachable, untrainable
and mischievous, so he was sent to a temple for reformation.
But at the temple they have trouble with him as well, and he
was found to have the greatest aversion to learning.
Quoting the Denning biography again, he dawdled away the hours

(07:25):
of the writing desk, anxiously awaiting the time when he would
be allowed to play. Among his favorite pastimes was
the gathering together of a number of lads whom he would arm
with bamboos and set to fight with each other, he himself
watching the fight from an adjacent height and acting as
general. He hated the very sight of the
sacred books, and whilst listening to remarks on

(07:46):
religious subjects, manifested undisguised contempt.
Whenever it happened that some visitor at the temple discoursed
of war, he pricked up his ears, and his monkey like eyes
glistened with excitement and delight.
One day, when reproved for his inattention to religion, he
replied, You priests are all a set of beggars.
There is no reason why a brave child born into a world of

(08:08):
commotion and strife should learn how to become a beggar.
Ouch. Hideyoshi was also said to have
vandalized the statue of a Buddha with a Candlestick and
his mother worries. But his stepfather surprisingly
was not angry with him and treated him with leniency saying
he is self willed but he is not wicked.
We can do no good by crossing him.

(08:30):
He will right himself in time. I really like the style of
parenting from Hideyoshi's stepfather.
I think too many times we use cookie cutter cookie cutter
methods to try to mold the children into generic
standardized beings. This works for some kids but is
disastrous for others, especially the creative non
conformist, I like to do things my own way type of child.

(08:53):
When Hideyoshi is 13, he joins agang.
OK, maybe this is too much and his stepfather should parent
harder, but anyway, this gang isled by someone by the name of
Masakatsu who is very impressed with a young lad and gives him
his first sword. From my understanding, however,
they don't go around and cause real harm.

(09:14):
It's more like a band of youths trying to be cool and OK, maybe
occasionally they commit some petty thefts.
Eventually the monks, the templefind out about this and become
very upset and tell him that he must leave the gang.
The stubborn Hideyoshi claps back at them and says there's no
saying that because a person is employed by a robber that
therefore he must necessarily bebad.

(09:36):
There are men who, like the Lotus in the mud, retain their
purity and beauty even in the midst of robbers.
To condemn, then all in a lump, every person who has to do with
robbers shoes, a singular want of discernment.
The people around listening to his speech are very impressed by
his eloquence, and they're probably also surprised because

(09:58):
Hideyoshi was not interested in books, but yet is able to speak
and argue well. The next year, when Hideyoshi
turns 14, he meets a fencing master by the name of Matsushita
Yukitsuna who accept them, who accepts him as a pupil.
Now Yukatsuna was subordinate ofthe Daimio Imogawa Yoshimoto, a

(10:19):
rival of the OTA clan that Hideyoshi's father had served.
Unlike the pedantic school teachers and monks he has been
around for so much of his life, Yukatsuna is a warrior and
favorably impresses a young Hideyoshi.
He spends each day practicing his swordsmanship and archery,
and at night time he carefully listens to his new master give

(10:39):
lectures on books about the art of war.
So it isn't that Hideyoshi wasn't interested in books or
learning, he just wasn't taught the right subjects.
So for the next three years, Hideyoshi keenly devotes himself
to self improvement. And by the time he is 17, his
master remarks that although he is still only a youth, he has
the intelligence of a man of 50.Seeing his progress, you could

(11:04):
sooner presents him with a sword.
However, Hideyoshi complaints that the sword is of poor
quality. His fellow peoples get upset and
call him out for being rude. It's the thought that counts,
right? But the quick thinking slick
Hideyoshi replies. It is not from self will that a
desire to possess a good sword, but an order that I'm a better

(11:24):
fulfill my duties to my master. A sandal bearer, you know, is
one that is always near his Lord.
He can never tell when he may have to fight in his master's
defense and therefore he ought to possess a weapon that may be
relied on. So he basically turns it around
and says it's not that I want a better sword for myself, but
rather I want a better sword to be able to protect my master if

(11:47):
anything goes wrong. Eventually, these comments were
brought to the attention of Yukut Sunna who was very
impressed and did grant Hideyoshi a better sword.
Let's Fast forward a few years later when Hideyoshi is 21, he
is married off to a woman named Kiku who was really not happy
with his arrangement due to Hideyoshi's physical appearance.

(12:09):
He basically says hey stay with me and you'll be proud of having
me as a husband one day. But she replies the idea of such
a monkey faced man as you ever becoming famous, I wish to be
divorced. They do end up getting divorced
and Hideyoshi gets sent back to Awari province on some business.
While he is there he hears of the exploits of the young ODA

(12:31):
Nobunaga who is quickly making aname for himself.
A local in the area tells him who is there left in this part
of the country but ODA Nobunaga.From all accounts this Baron is
a man of far more character thanhis father, and is endowed with
both courage and intelligence. Knights of discernment are, I
hear, anxious to get in his service.

(12:53):
You had better endeavor to enlist under him.
And so Hideyoshi abandoned Yukatsuna and went to join
Nobunaga. The way he went about it was
pretty bold and interesting to say the least.
Nobunaga was going on a hunting expedition and had set up camp.
Hideyoshi thought this would be a good time to make an
introduction so he just straightup goes to Nobunaga's tent,

(13:15):
whereupon he is stopped by a guard.
Hideyoshi in a loud voice proclaims.
I have a request to make and there surely can be no harm in
making my this request in person.
The guard, exasperated and angryand maybe even a little amused,
tells Hideyoshi to go make this request in an office and says to
approach the Baron without any introduction when he is out on a

(13:38):
hunting expedition. In this way is a very irregular
proceeding. I shall arrest you.
Hediyoshi, unperturbed, persistsin his request, and this guard
gets increasingly annoyed and even threatens to cut him down
before arresting him, binding him in robes, ropes, and
delivering him to Nobunaga. When Hideyoshi is brought before

(14:00):
Nobunaga, he pleads his case, speaks of his intention to join
him, and says that his grandfather, Nakamura Yasuke had
served under Nobunaga's father. So they look in the records, and
they do find this name in there,and in fact, the records speak
very, very highly of Yasuke's service.
So Nobunaga orders Hideyoshi to be freed and offers to give him

(14:23):
the land that his grandfather once owned.
But Hedioshi refuses this and says what I receive, I wish to
receive from my own merits. I care not for things inherited.
So basically he wants to make his own way.
The two of them begin spending afair amount of time together and
Hedioshi quickly rises to be 1 of Nobunaga's favorites.

(14:43):
And I think part of this is because the two men were quite
similar in their ways, particularly in their ambition
and pursuit of greatness. There's an anecdote in the
Denning biography that tells of a story of Nobunaga rising early
on the morning of a cold, bleak day to go riding.
He ventures about his castle andonly sees Hideyoshi awake, which

(15:04):
surprises him because everyone is still asleep, and so he asks
Hideyoshi, How is it that you'realways awake in the morning
before me? Hideyoshi replies.
Service of the kind I render is no great hardship regarded in
the proper light. It is because men look upon
service as simply service, apartfrom the benefits that are

(15:24):
reaped by the performer, that they esteem it onerous.
So in basically a roundabout way, he tells Nobunaga if you do
what you love, you'll never worka day in your life, hey?
Yoshi soon rises to the positionof Nobunaga's sandal bearer and
gets affectionately referred to by Nobunaga as Young Monkey.

(15:45):
I'm going to quickly skim through the next few decades
because I already covered many of the events in the last
episode on Nobunaga. But anyway, just quickly
summarizing. Hideyoshi distinguished himself
in many battles, include Okazama, where Nobunaga, with a
small force of a few thousand men, launches a lightning attack
against the much bigger force ofImagawa Yoshimoto and wins.

(16:09):
Supposedly, right before the battle, Nobunaga's men are
nervous, especially because of the numerical disadvantage.
And so Hideyoshi brings them together, give them, gives them
some wine, and to motivate them,sings the following verse.
Man's life lasts but 50 years. It fades like a dream, it passes

(16:29):
away like a vision. Wherever there is life, sooner
or later there must be death. What is there then that brave
men have to complain of? So basically he's trying to tell
the soldiers, don't be scared, everyone dies one day.
So it's more about what you accomplish in the short time
that you're here, and this is togalvanized them to fight to the

(16:51):
death. Legend also tells of the story
of Hideyoshi starring in a role at the siege of Inabayama Castle
as he leads his men to climb themountain near the fortress and
then signals Nobunaga's force toattack by waving gourds that
they carried up to store water. Hideyoshi also participates in
Nobunaga's most famous battle atNagashino, where he commanded

(17:14):
the center stationed in front ofNobunaga himself.
In these years, he changes his surname to Hashiba and also
changed his given name to Hideyoshi, so Kinoshita
Tochikiro becomes Hashiba Hideyoshi, for now at least.
It's also early in his service with Nobunaga, possibly after
the Battle of Okohizama, that hefinds another wife who goes by

(17:35):
many names, but the easiest and most fun name to say is Nene.
She quickly rises to become his favorite principal wife and
becomes one of his closest confidants and advisors.
She was noted to be very intelligent, and Hideyoshi would
write to her throughout his lifeto ask her opinion on worldly
events as well as informing her on how his military campaigns

(17:56):
were going. Her advice would even affect
some of Hideyoshi's later administrative policies, such as
tax exemptions. Many of Hideyoshi's letters to
her still survive to this day and are incredibly valuable for
people to read to get insights into his mind and life.
These types of marital relationswere probably less common during
that time and place, so I did want to make a point of it.

(18:18):
She wasn't able to bear any children of her own, but would
support Hideyoshi's children from other women even after his
death. And many of the original toy
Tony retainers would Revere her as a maternal figure even after
the fall of the clan. So let's now skip ahead to the
early 1580s when Hideyoshi is now in his mid 40s.
Nobanaga has now conquered most of central Japan and continues

(18:40):
to further expand as one of his senior generals.
Hideyoshi is sent on a western expedition to battle the Mori
clan. He achieved some early success,
but is held up at Takamatsu Castle, which is reinforced and
a siege begins. Hideyoshi manages to flood the
castle, but quickly sends a messenger to Nobanaga requesting
reinforcements, who in turn sends a catchy Mitsuhide with a

(19:03):
force of 13,000 troops to come to his aid.
As we learned in the last episode, however, Mitsuhide,
instead of coming to reinforce the siege of Takamatsu, instead
swings around to betray his master at Honuji, leading to the
death of Nobunaga. Mitsuhide loots Azuchi Castle
and trying to win popular favor,introduces tax exemptions and

(19:25):
makes friendly overtures to the Emperor.
He then declares himself Shogun and sends a messenger to the
Mori clan to try to coordinate A2 front attack against
Hideyoshi, who right now is the biggest threat to his power.
In a stroke of pure luck, the messenger is captured by
Hideyoshi before he can reach the Mori, and although he must
have been greatly shocked, Hideyoshi issues a flurry of

(19:47):
orders to try to stabilize a situation.
He decides to sue for peace, offering the Mori clan very
favorable terms who still unaware of the Honuji incident,
except one of the terms of the peace was for the commander of
Takumatsu Castle. Shimizu Munuharu to commit
seppuku. And so there's this very
dramatic scene as if you remember the castle's flooded.

(20:09):
So Munuharu sails in a small boat by himself between the two
armies and performs the ACT publicly.
Hideyoshi then gathers his army and forced marches of troops in
a lightning retreat back to Kyoto to confront the usurper
Mitsuhide at the Battle of Yamazaki.
There were many things going on at this time that put Mitsuhide

(20:30):
at a disadvantage. For one, he did not get support
from many of the regional Daimio.
In fact, even the Hosokawa clan who he had married his daughter
at Kechi Tama to, refused to support him and her husband
Hosokawa Tadioki even divorces her.
And for those who have either read James Clavell's novel
Shogun or have watched the recent TV series by the same

(20:54):
name at Kechi, Tama is the historical basis for the
character Mariko, who due to herfather's treachery, has to later
change her family name to Hosokawa.
Furthermore, some of Mitsuhide soldiers probably were not fully
committed to his cause because they had only found out
afterwards that at Honoji it wasOto Nobunaga whom they attacked

(21:15):
and killed. There's also the problem of
manpower. After all, Mitsuhide was
initially only given a force of 13,000 by Nobunaga, whereas
Hideyoshi had a force around twice that size or more.
As Hideyoshi advanced, he saw the strategic importance of a
mountainous wooded area known asMount Tenozan and quickly sent a

(21:37):
subordinate with a contingent oftroops to hold that position on
his left wing. The evening before the battle,
he even allegedly sent out some shinobi or ninjas to sneak into
Mitsuhite's cab to burn buildings and provisions to
cause chaos and lower the moraleof the army.
On the day of the Battle of Yamasaki, the two armies line up

(21:59):
against each other and Mitsuhidealso sees the importance of
Mount Penelzan, so he sends his right wing to occupy the
position, but they are surprisedby Hideyoshi's force, who is
already in camp. There, heavy fighting began, but
it's an uphill battle, literallyfor the Mitsuhide force, and
they are gradually beaten back. Meanwhile, Hideyoshi's center

(22:20):
and right wing engaged the enemy.
At a critical point of the battle, Hideyoshi's left wing
comes charging down from the hill and encircles the Akechi
forces, who slowly begin to break and collapse.
Mitsuhire escapes, but at a nearby village he is speared and
killed by a gang of bandits. One quick point I want to touch

(22:41):
on now. The Mori clan, although
initially unaware of Nobunaga's death, found out about it as
Hideyoshi was retreating but chose not to pursue.
Why? Well, it's unclear exactly, but
perhaps they wanted Hideyoshi and Mitsuhide to battle it out
and potentially take advantage of the situation.
It's also possible that they didnot want to assist someone with

(23:02):
the reputation of a traitor. It also seems that a few of Mori
Turomoto's advisors persuaded him not to pursue.
But whatever the reason, they did not break the truce and
eventually became 1 of Hideyoshi's closest supporters.
And so Akechi Mitsuhide's brief attempt at seizing power ends as
quickly as it started. He's been referred to as the 13

(23:24):
Day Shogun and his name is synonymous with betrayal.
Kind of the way the name Benedict Arnold is seen in the
United States. Hideyoshi later obtains the head
of Mitsuhide and presents it at Honoji in tribute to the late
Ona Nobunaga. With the death of Mitsuhide,
there is now a succession crisis, so should power now be

(23:46):
in the hands of Hideyoshi, who has avenged Nobunaga's death, or
should it go to Nobunaga's sons?During that time period, and
during many time periods in history, power would usually be
transferred to the eldest legitimate son.
However, the problem is that Nobunaga's eldest son Nobutata
was also killed at Hanaji alongside his father.

(24:08):
The second and third sons of theOTA clan remain, however, ODA
Nobukatsu and ODA Nobutaka respectively.
Well, guess what? The shrewd and crafty Hideyoshi
instead chose OTA Hidenobu, who was Nobunaga's grandson through
his eldest son Nobutada as heir.Hidenobu was still a toddler at

(24:28):
this point and no threat to Hideyoshi, so it was a genius
move. By portraying himself as a
supporter of Hidenobu, Hideyoshiwould still be able to wield
power in the name of the ODA while pursuing his own
interests, yet he could still claim loyalty to them,
officially at least. Nobunaga's living sons are
understandably very upset with his arrangement, and they soon

(24:50):
begin to cause trouble. ODA Nobutaka allies himself with
a senior ODA general, Shibata Katsuye, who was in his 60s at
this point, and the two of them lead an army to invade Omi
Province. Hediyoshi then declares Nobutaka
as a traitor instead of himself,as he claims that he is the
protector of the true heir. At first, the ODA Shibata armies

(25:12):
achieved some success, capturingsome strongholds in the area
known as Shizukitake under Katsuye's nephew Sekuma
Mortimasa. However, Hideyoshi makes a
lightning advance allegedly covering 52 kilometers from Mino
province to Shabata Katsuya's camp in only five hours,
surprising and routing Morimasu's army and killing

(25:33):
them. Several of Hideyoshi's generals
distinguish them in the battle and are named the Seven Spears
of Shizukitake. A few of them, including
Wakizaka, Yasuharu and Kato Kiyomasa, become quite famous
and would later take part in Hideyoshi's foreign invasions.
In the future. Shabbata is forced to retreat to

(25:53):
his base at Kitanosho Castle, and badly outnumbered, he knows
the end is inevitable. He climbs to the 9th floor of
the castle and makes a speech about his desire to serve as an
example to future generations asa paragon of loyalty.
He then proceeds to kill his family and then commits Sepuku
himself and the war is over. Nobutaka, isolated, is pressured

(26:17):
by Hideyoshi and his brother to die by his own hand.
Meanwhile, where is Tokugawa Iyasu in all of this?
Well, after Nobunaga's death, hehad fled east and had been
building up his own power base. Ever patient, he did not take
sides during the Battle of Shizuka Take, but in 1584, two
years after Nobunaga's death, hedecides to take the side of

(26:40):
Obanobukatsu. Nobukatsu had previously allied
with Hideyoshi against his brother, but after the conflict
is over, he becomes dissatisfiedwith his position and attempts
to seize power himself. Iyasu brings his Ford westward
to occupy a Wari province, the original stronghold of the ODA
clan. Hideyoshi quickly brings his
force to the area himself, and the Battle of Komaki and

(27:04):
Nagakute was about to begin. This was a battle of two Titans,
two of the most powerful men in Japan at the time who had been
long time allies and had fought at battles like Nagashino
together, which was ODA Nobunaga's masterpiece.
I'm going to skim to the detailshere because I'm going to save a
more detailed account from my upcoming episode on Iyasu

(27:25):
himself. But basically, there's appeared
a smaller skirmishes leading to a stalemate than the Battle of
Komaki Nagakute, which Iyasu wins tactically but still has to
retreat due to his overwhelming numerical inferiority and
troops. After another period of relative
inaction, the restless Onanobukatsu goes behind Iyasu's
back to sue for peace, and Hideyoshi accepts.

(27:48):
Iyasu was initially furious about this, but later accepts
the peace, probably for the better.
Although he was able to win the battle during the war, his
military and resources were dwarfed by Hideyoshi's in
comparison, and furthermore, with Nobukatsu conceding he had
no just cause for war anymore prior to the battle, many of his
territories were also hit with earthquakes and floods,

(28:11):
weakening his economy. And I think ultimately, both
Hedioshi and Iyasu respected theabilities of each other, and
while maybe they each believed that they would be able to win
the war eventually, there would be so much collateral damage on
both sides in the process that Iwouldn't be worth it for either.
Think about perhaps, you know, perhaps another Daimio either

(28:32):
from the West or the east that could take advantage of the
situation and seize power himself.
There's an old Chinese proverb that goes when 2 tigers fight,
one is injured beyond repair andthe other one is dead.
And I think this would have applied here of an all out war
developed between these two clans.
And so the two men develop an uneasy but amicable piece

(28:54):
exchanging hostages on both sides.
When I use the word hostage, I don't mean a person who is
mistreated and held at gunpoint all the time.
So during that period of time, and during periods of other
times as well, different powers would exchange close family
members, friends or important political figures with the
opposing side. They were usually well treated

(29:14):
and sometimes even adopted. But the point of the hostage was
to deter fighting. The unspoken implication was,
well, if you attack me, I'm going to kill your son or your
mother who is in my territory. So just don't attack, OK?
Iyasu finally went to Kyoto to pay Hideyoshi a visit and
formally submits to him as a vassal.

(29:35):
And thus Hideyoshi solidified himself as the man and control
the majority of central Japan. These events were to repeat time
and time again through Hideyoshi's rise.
Unlike Nobunaga, who preferred to fight his way to power,
Hideyoshi preferred a mixed strategy.
While there are sometimes when he launched military campaigns
against his adversaries, other times he was able to win their

(29:58):
allegiance through diplomacy. He would often allow the
regional daimio to rule their ancestral lands and give them
some degree of freedom and independence as long as they
submitted and publicly declared their loyalty to him.
Less bloodshed, political upheaval, and more consistent
governance were some of the benefits of the system.
Hostages would usually be exchanged, and marriage

(30:20):
alliances would further strengthen these bonds.
As Berry writes, Hideyoshi too had a taste for compromise.
Through apprehension, gratitude and esteem for his fellow
daimyo, he had confirmed Tozama fiefs and neglected to
concentrate land in his own house.
He had been willing as well to absorb the defeated into his

(30:40):
coalition. Neither ruthless in victory nor
arrogant in alliance, neither dependent upon insiders nor
greedy for land control. He offered promise of that
departure from Nobunaga's pattern which might make
political cohesion possible. Besides his military and
diplomatic activities, Hideyoshialso made a substantial amount

(31:02):
of administrative and economic reform forms around this time.
In 1583, a year after avenging Nobunaga's death, he began to
implement a land survey. For both fiscal and control
reasons. He would send government
officials to the different provinces he controlled to
evaluate both the type and quality of land in the country.

(31:22):
So for example, lands could be classified as first, second, or
third class, and could be identified as a wet field to
determine both the types and quantity of crop that could be
produced. Hideyoshi had a strict set of
regulations that were to be followed to minimize bribery,
which would be punished harshly,but I'm sure a lot of them still

(31:42):
managed to get away with it. The land survey brought taxes
that were quite harsh, so 2/3 ofthe income was to go to the
ruling Daimio, while only one third would be kept by the
farmers. This was, among other reasons,
to supply Hideyoshi's growing army, which was preparing to
make future invasions on a largescale.
So I guess I shouldn't complain about my taxes then.

(32:04):
I already talked about Hideyoshi's supreme confidence
in his abilities as a youth, andthis did not seem to wane even
in middle age. After Nobunaga's death, he
claimed that he could preserve the nation in peace for 50 years
and boldly predicted that the government of Japan will be
superior to anything since Yoritomo.
So Yoritomo was the founder and 1st Shogun of the Kamakura

(32:27):
Shogunate back in the 1100s. So Hideyoshi, by referencing his
name, was perhaps insinuating that he was about to found a new
order of power in Japan. Being of common birth, he was
not eligible to declare himself Shogun, but instead would later
receive the titles of kampaku, which was kind of the equivalent
of Regent and then taiko or retired Regent.

(32:49):
This ambition and burning desirefor greatness he possessed is
perhaps physically manifested nowhere clearer than the
construction of Osaka Castle which began in 1583.
Hideyoshi's motivation for building this castle is probably
multifold. For one, it was located in a
prime position to check any potential attacks from the West,
but also psychologically, it wassuch a grand structure that

(33:12):
would inspire awe, respect and fear from the daimio and
civilians alike. The castle occupied an area of
15 acres, consisted of A5 story tower and massive stone walls
that dwarfed the other castles of its time.
It still stands today in Osaka as a popular tourist attraction,
although it's been completely rebuilt and restored and

(33:33):
repaired multiple times. Part of me also thinks that
Hideyoshi has had a kind of internal competition going on
with his former Lord ODA Nobunaga, who had built a Zucchi
castle almost a decade prior. Perhaps Hideyoshi wanted to one
up him and accomplish more both militarily and politically, but
also construct a bigger and better castle.

(33:57):
And just like Nobunaga, Hideyoshi began to soon get into
a confrontation with the militant Sohei monks which had
caused Nobunaga so much frustration.
In 1585, he marched his army against the monks of Nagoro and
Jodhu Shinshu and their opposition to him was quickly
crushed. Lives were lost, building
buildings were raised as Nagoro temple was destroyed.

(34:21):
Hideyoshi sent out a warning to religious groups.
Writing the contemplative monks,the priests in the world and
others have not been prudent in the religious studies.
The manufacturer or attention ofsenseless weapons, muskets and
the like is treacherous and wicked.
And as much as you saw with yourown eyes that Mount Hailey and
Nagorno Temple were finally destroyed for acting with enmity

(34:44):
against the realm, you should bediscerning in this matter.
So, like Nobunaga, Hediyoshi waswary of the threat of religion
to his rule. He did not persecute religious
groups in themselves, but had little tolerance for religious
political interference. Unlike Nobunaga, however,
Hideyoshi did seem to extend an olive branch to these groups, as

(35:07):
he issued permission to the priest of Mount Hailey to
rebuild their sanctuary and evencontributed money to this, and
he also even established land for a new temple in Osaka.
This, along with a further desire to establish
authoritative rule, likely prompted the sword hunt in 1588,
a campaign to confiscate all weapons from civilians,

(35:30):
including monks. This was an attempt to enact
further control on the countryside and by disarming the
civilian population, would act as a powerful check to any
potential peasant uprisings, which had historically been a
way to topple regimes. Additionally, this would also
make it more difficult for localdaimyo to recruit ashigaru or

(35:50):
peasants to bolster the ranks ifthey decided to rebel.
If you remember from last episode, Nobunaga, relative to
other daimyo, was willing to employ a higher percentage of
ashigaru in his army, and they played a large role in his
military success and rise to power.
Symbolically, the weapons were melted down and used to create a

(36:11):
great bronze Buddha statue in Kyoto.
This probably did somewhat appease the militant monks in
Japan, and although there had been recent conflict, the Buddha
traditionally was a symbol of peace.
And so figuratively Hideyoshi's trying to frame the sword hunt
and probably his rule as a wholeas an attempt to transform
violence into peace. Feeling his reign and the center

(36:35):
of the country secure, Hideyoshinow began to desire conquest the
whole nation, turning his army Wtowards the Kyushu region.
For reference, this was actuallyjust before the Sword hunt,
around 1586 to 1587. Hushu was a very Christian area
for the time being, geographically closer to Europe
relative to the rest of Japan, including Portugal.

(36:57):
I'll kind of skip over this partrelatively quickly, but
Hideyoshi levied a force of around 200,000 troops or more
from the various Daimio that hadsurrendered to him.
There was some initial resistance from the Shimazu clan
of Satsuma, who were the predominant power in the region,
but they were vastly outnumberedand they quickly realized that
resistance is futile, so they decide to surrender.

(37:21):
Hideyoshi, like he had did previously with other clans,
gave much of the conquered land back to the Shimazu and they
swore loyalty to him. Kyushi was an important as a
naval port, which Hideyoshi would later use as a launchpad
in his invasions of Korea duringthe Imjin War.
What's interesting is that a letter Hideyoshi sent to his
wife at this time already revealed his future plans for an

(37:44):
overseas invasion, as he writes by fast ships.
I have dispatched orders to Korea to serve the throne of
Japan. Should Korea fail to serve our
throne, I have dispatched the message by fast ships that I
will punish that country next year.
Even China will enter my grip. I will command it during my
lifetime. And he also wrote a proclamation

(38:06):
beginning with Japan is the landof the gods.
So you really see his hubris swelling, which would become
full scale megalomania later on.And you also see the advantage
of diplomacy, how he gets all these daimio under his command,
and he's able to kind of manipulate them into sending
their armies against his enemies.

(38:27):
With the West secure, Hideyoshi made preparations in the
following years eastward, where the powerful Hojo clan, among
others, remain. The Hojo had an established
history on top of a marital alliance with Tokugawa Iyasu.
And additionally, there was the Date clan just northward of
their position, who had also notsurrendered yet to Hideyoshi, so
perhaps they felt secure in their position.

(38:49):
Hideyoshi had previously asked the leader of the clan, Hojo
Yujimasu, to make an official visit to Kyoto, but he refused,
which strained their relationship.
So a couple of years later, Hayoshi levied another force of
several 100,000 troops from the various daimio that served him
to move eastward. Yujimasu, instead of engaging
Hideyoshi in a pitched battle, decides to hold up in Otawara

(39:13):
Castle, a strong defensive position with imposing walls,
deep moats and cliffs in the surrounding areas.
He knows that Hideyoshi's army, while large, is going to require
a lot of food and provisions. Doing the unexpected.
Instead of a conventional siege attack, which would have

(39:36):
resulted in many casualties, Hideyoshi instead decides to put
on a show. So, as Barry writes, in the long
weeks thereafter, the Ottawa environs took on the atmosphere
of a carnival. If Yuji Moss had hoped that
confusion, fatigue, dwindling supplies, and the sheer misery
of action would reduce Hideyoshi's forces, he hoped in

(39:58):
vain. Hideyoshi gathered his
concubines and his team, men around him.
His generals summoned their women and their entertainers as
well. Merchants hawked their wares.
Burlesque players were abundant.Musicians and dancers relieved
the tedium of summer evenings. Hideyoshi found ample time to
compose the letters to his spouse that chronicled his days.

(40:22):
So Hideyoshi was a master of psychological warfare, and
instead of expressing frustration and fear that a long
siege might exhaust his supplies, he puts on a lavish
display of wine, women, bread and circuses.
There are a couple of smaller skirmishes, such an opportunity
that arose when miners were ableto dig under some of the walls,
but the Hojo stabilized, at least for the time being, while

(40:44):
Hideyoshi during this time makeshis way around the Hojo lands
and takes many smaller strongholds, leaving Ottawa
Castle isolated. About 80 or so days into the
siege, the unthinkable happens. One morning, the defenders of
Ottawa had awakened to a large castle towering across them that

(41:06):
had seemingly been built overnight.
It had large stone walls, a central watchtower, and was
named Ishiga Kiyama Ichiya Castle.
This seemingly supernatural featof engineering, as well as the
surrender of Date Masamune, breaks the Hojo psychologically
and they surrender. So it turns out that over the

(41:27):
past three months, Hidiyoshi hadordered his men to secretly
build a stronghold in a wooded area with tall trees.
After it was completed, he or the trees cut down, giving the
Hojo the the impression that thecastle had been built overnight.
And this really reminds me of some of the Roman sieges back in
the day where they would use their engineering skills to
build structures around the enemy to win.

(41:49):
And you can think of Caesar at the Battle of Elysia as the as
the perfect example of this. After their surrender, perhaps
Hojo Yujimasu expected to be spared and restored to his
ancestral lands like many of theother daimyo.
Hideyoshi, however, perhaps angered by their prolonged
resistance, ordered him and his brother to commit seppuku.

(42:11):
And so, as the final strongholdsin the East fell, Hideyoshi had
done it. He had united Japan under one
rule. After centuries of warfare, the
Empire, long divided, must unite.
Long united, must divide. Thus it has ever been.

(42:31):
After the defeat of the Hojo, Hideyoshi distributed many of
their territories in the Kanto province to Tokugawa Iyasu.
This was some of the wealthiest land in Japan, which made Iyasu
even wealthier than Hideyoshi himself.
And this was a sacrifice for Hideyoshi, who likely allowed
this because it would move Iyasufurther E away from the capital
Kyoto, lessening his influence on political events.

(42:55):
Furthermore, he was hoping that with new warriors in a foreign
territory, Idiosu would have a harder time securing their
loyalty. In the mid 1580s he changed his
name one last time as he was granted the clan name Toyotomi,
whereas previously he was known as Hashiba.
Perhaps this was symbolic of theultimate self-made man who arose
from impoverished peasant upbringing to become the most

(43:18):
powerful man in Japan. Sort of like how James Gats
becomes Jay Gatsby. As he began to secure more and
more authority, Hideyoshi began to be increasingly preoccupied
about consolidating his power inthe family even after his death.
So kind of in a dynastic rule. The problem was that he had
difficulty producing a biological heir despite having a

(43:41):
self-proclaimed weakness for women and having many wives and
concubines besides Nene, he was not able to produce many
children and there was even sometalk that he was infertile.
So Hideyoshi possibly had a daughter, but not much is known
about her, including her name, and he was not able to have a
male biological hair until 1589 when his concubine and later

(44:05):
wife Lady Cha Cha gave birth to Toyotomi Surumatsu.
Great names for his wives, by the way.
Unfortunately for Hideyoshi, hisfirst son died prematurely in
only his second year, which absolutely crushed him.
As a result, he named his oldestmale relative.
Toyotomi Hitsugu was also his nephew.

(44:27):
As Imperial Regent. Hitsugu was a young man in his
20s, and this signaled Toyotomi Hideyoshi's desire to make
Hitsugu his heir. Their relationship began to
deteriorate and become awkward, however, as in 1595 Hideyoshi
was able to have a second son, Toyotomi Hideyori, again by Lady

(44:49):
Cha Cha. So perhaps to prevent a
contested succession crisis, Hidiyoshi had Hiditsugu killed.
In the same year Hidiyori was born along with his entire
family of around 40 people, including women and children.
Even the 15 year old daughter ofthe Mogami clan, who was set to
marry Hiditsugu but had never met him, could not escape the

(45:10):
bloodbath which turned her family against the Toyotomi clan
in future conflicts. Hideyoshi had also began to
develop significant paranoia andsuspicion that the Daimio of
Japan would not support Hideyoriafter his death, and so he would
summon them to swear loyalty notjust verbally but also in a

(45:31):
written oath, and this was repeated multiple times.
He also began to kill much more freely compared to his younger
years. We already talked about
Hiditsugu and his family where there was a political motive,
but he even killed his nearly 70year old tea master Seno Riku
whom he had greatly admired and this was for unknown reasons.

(45:53):
Hedioshi would later greatly regret these events and this is
actually explored in the 1989 film Riku.
Previously tolerant of Christianity before his death,
Hedioshi even began torturing Christians who which included
missionaries and young children,and some say that he was
descending into madness at this time.

(46:15):
And so, as multiple sources note, Hedioshi, who was in his
50s and early 60s around this time, began to have significant
changes in his personality. He appeared to have cognitive
decline, worsening mood swings, poor impulsivity, increased
cruelty, paranoia, and erratic judgement.
This is in contrast to the younger man who is known for

(46:36):
restraint, diplomacy, shrewdnessand avoiding bloodshed when
possible. As one of my sources writes, the
contrast between his skillful and prudent conduct at the
height of his powers and the excesses of the last years leads
1 to suspect that he was suffering from some mental
deterioration. His pride and ambition had
become insatiable after his successes in Kyushu and the

(46:57):
Canto. His monster projects in building
and entertainments betrayed a touch of mania.
His frequent rages, which led him into errors of judgement,
were so unlike his usual calm and difficult situations that
they came near to madness. His treatment of Sen no Riku was
unpardonable and sprang from a burst of ungoverned temper.

(47:20):
His treatment of Hitsugu's family was as insane as
Hitsugu's conduct. It was a mad vengeance for mad
crimes. One begins to wonder whether
there was an unfortunate strain in Hideyoshi's parentage,
transmitted perhaps by his sister to her sons who were, to
say the least, unbalanced. Her brother Hideyoshi was a

(47:41):
genius who showed signs of derangement as his health
failed. And here's another excerpt
reflecting upon these and similar events.
At this juncture, it is hard to suppress a feeling that
Hideyoshi was losing his judgement.
His affection for Hideyory had reached the point of mania.
He could not bear the thought that the great fugitoris might

(48:01):
not submit to his son. It was no doubt some fear of
this kind that causes violent Rage Against Hititsugu and the
murder of Hititsugu's children. It was presumably at his order
that Hititsugu's son and heir and innocent child was buried at
the execution ground, deep underthe corpses, under score of
other victims and covered by a great mount.

(48:22):
Only a morbid fear could explainsuch inhuman precautions.
So something was definitely going on here.
People have proposed that Hideyoshi was suffering from
things like mania, dementia, depression with psychotic
features, and even venereal disease.
So I'm going to touch on it morein the discussion at the end of
the episode, but let's finish upwith a narrative.

(48:43):
In 1592, with his megalomania onfull blast, Hideyoshi sends a
large army overseas to invade Korea, which was then the Chosan
Dynasty, and this started the engine war.
Now there are a few proposed reasons for this decision.
For one, if you remember earlier, even after the conquest
of the Kyushu region, he had dreams of foreign conquest.

(49:05):
He seemed to have a vision of a Pan Asian empire that he could
rule with Japanese supremacy. So remember he declared Japan as
the land of the gods. But also, after the Sengoku
Jedai, a period of almost constant warfare, peace between
these warlords and samurai that were used to fighting could be
dangerous. Perhaps they would eventually

(49:26):
become restless and start a rebellion.
So instead of waiting for that, Hideyoshi thought that perhaps
you could keep them occupied in an international war.
The big fish in Asia at this time was Ming China.
So first he asks King Sanjo of Korea for free passage, which
was denied. Furious Hideyoshi attacks Korea

(49:47):
and initially he's very successful, so he forces King
Sanjo to flee the capital all the way to the north in just a
few weeks. But although the land offensive
is successful, he gets held up at sea by the brilliant Admiral
Yi Sun Shin, who did not lose a single battle in the six years
of war. Even on land.
Volunteer righteous armies arise, stubborn siege defenses

(50:09):
hold out, and eventually Ming Chinese support arrives which
pushes the Japanese army S. I'm not going to go over the
engine war too much here becauseI have a two-part series on Yi
Sun Shin which highlights that in more detail, but in essence,
there were two invasions between1592 and 1598 which both end in
failure, and it's a bit of a stain on Hideyoshi's legacy.

(50:34):
In September of 1598, Hideyoshi,who was in poor health for some
time, dies and he leaves five year old Hideyori as his heir.
Now obviously Hideyori is not fit to rule by himself yet, so
Hideyoshi assigns 5 regions, known as the Council of Five
Elders to assist him. These included Tokugawa Iyasu,

(50:56):
Yukita, Hidiye Maeda Toshi, Yuasuki Kakakatsu, Kobayakawa
Takakake, and Mori Turidmoto. You might be wondering, isn't
that six people, not five? Well, you'd be right.
So Kobayakawa actually died before Hidiyoshi, and as a
result, Mori Terumoto was selected in his place.

(51:20):
The council of five elders wouldnot only be beneficial in their
wisdom and governing abilities to Hideyoshi, but would act as
checks and balances against eachother to prevent any one person
becoming too powerful and perhaps usurping the throne.
As he lay dying in Fushimi Castle, Hideyoshi's last words
to his friends and colleagues were.

(51:40):
I depend on you for everything. I have no other thoughts to
leave behind. It is sad to part from you in
his last days. I wonder how he reflected on his
life. Unlike Nobunaga or Ieyasu,
Hideyoshi's life was truly a rags to riches story.
He was born as a peasant or ashugaru and slowly rose to the

(52:03):
ranks of Nobunaga, distinguishing himself in battle
until eventually he became the man to unite Japan after over a
century of constant warfare. I'd like to end this episode
from an excerpt from Mary Elizabeth Berry's biography,
which is a great summary of his life.
So here it is. It is usually agreed that

(52:25):
Hedyoshi is the greatest man in the history of Japan.
Yet while opinion on his military and political
achievement is almost unanimous,there are various readings of
his character judged by the written record of his life.
He was without doubt a man of frank and open temperament,
clever, ingenious, shrewd, but without guile.
He enjoyed friendly relations with people of all ranks,

(52:48):
affable and familiar. He was indeed impatient of
social distinctions and tiresomeetiquette.
He was of an affectionate nature, with a strong feeling of
duty to his family and his friends.
His gifts as a soldier were eminent.
He combined patients with the power of rapid decision and
crucial situations. In his early days, he said that
he disliked killing and wounding, and it is true that he

(53:11):
would never waste the lives of his soldiers if he could find
other ways of gaining the object.
Nor did he slaughter his defeated enemies, for he was
free from the cold hatred which led Nobinaga to such cruel
revenge. All right, let's.
Cut to the chase with the discussion.
First, I want to comment on Barry.
Starting off the above passage with It is usually agreed that

(53:32):
Hideyoshi is the greatest man inthe history of Japan.
Pretty bold and I would say controversial as well.
I mean sure he's in the conversation, but usually
agreed. Just looking at some of the
bigger surveys. Don, a 2006 program aired on
Nippon Television had Hideyoshi 3rd and actually behind Obanobu
not a who was ranked first. Personally I'm quite partial to

(53:55):
Satoshi Tajiri who is the mastermind behind the Pokémon
series. But anyway, next topic.
Why did Hideyoshi, who is known for being a cautious, careful,
diplomatic, restrained man in his younger years, all of a
sudden become erratic, impulsive, violent, with a
decline in cognition in his later years, which were not even

(54:17):
that late because he died at 61 and he started having these
symptoms in his 50s? Well, let's go through all the
possibilities. Was it mania from bipolar
disorder? Because multiple sources I read
use the word mania to describe his later behavior.
Well, based on the facts I have,I would say very, very unlikely.

(54:37):
First of all, the timeline just doesn't match.
First, episode mania typically happens much earlier in life,
usually late teens or early to mid 20s, whereas we know that
Hideyoshi's behavioral changes happened in his 50s.
Secondly, mania is typically episodic for days, weeks, maybe
in some cases months, often followed by a crash into

(54:59):
depression or at least a crash into baseline Hey.
Yoshi's mood swings and impulsivity, on the other hand,
seemed to start in his 50s and gradually worsened over time.
I also don't see any documented changes in sleep patterns and
energy, which are very characteristic of mania.
After all, you can think of bipolar disorder as a disorder

(55:19):
of circadian rhythm. So if any of the listeners right
now had to watch online lecturesas part of schooling or training
in the past, and either because they were really boring or it
was the night before the exam and you had to cram so you
decided to put the lecture on 1.5 or two times speed, well, it
it looks like they're talking much faster and moving much

(55:41):
faster than usual. Right.
That's what many looks like and I just don't see it in
Hideyoshi. So very very unlikely in my
opinion. OK, what about psychotic
depression? Well, I mean this.
Is possible because Hideyoshi was very distressed after his
first born son Surumatsu died prematurely.

(56:01):
Once Hideori was born, he seemedto have a lot of paranoia and
fear that his son would not be supported and as a result
executed many of those around him, including his nephew and
former heir Hideitsugu. The problem is, I wouldn't
really call these delusions. In fact, after his death spoiler
Hideyori is betrayed and eventually killed by one of the

(56:22):
men Hideyoshi entrusted to mentor him.
You can say his behavior was erratic and cruel with poor
judgement, but I have a hard time calling these thoughts
delusions. So talking more about psychotic
depression, it is more common inlater life and presents with
delusions of guilt, worthlessness and theme often
times and sometimes even nihilistic in nature.

(56:43):
So delusions involving death or the world ending, something even
known as Cotard's delusion is a specific type of nihilistic
delusion. So this is when you think your
body is rotting or even specificparts or organs or decaying.
Psychotic depression also presents with anhedonia, which
means difficulty feeling pleasure, sometimes psychosmotor

(57:04):
slowing as well. So this is a general slowing of
moving, speaking and thinking. Edioshi, on the other hand, was
described as being more labile. So a lot of shifts in mood with
impulsivity. I guess in summary, I, I just
don't think he had psychotic depression, you know, maybe
depressed mood from events like the death of his first born son,

(57:25):
but I don't think it was the primary cause for his erratic
behavior in late life. Maybe somewhat contributory, but
not primary. All right, next, what about
dementia? Well, dementia or major
neurocognitive disorder is a very broad term.
There's a lot of different typesof dementia, and I'll go over
some of them quickly. Probably most famously is

(57:48):
Alzheimer's disease, thought to be due to a buildup of amyloid
plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain.
Alzheimer's usually has a gradual onset with cognitive
decline later in the illness especially.
There's also commonly psychosis later in the illness,
specifically paranoia, delusions, and hallucinations.

(58:11):
It can also affect personality, leading to impulsivity and poor
judgments. So so far a lot of this is
checking out. Except timeline it seems like.
Hey, Yoshi's decline started in his 50s and he died at 61, which
is much earlier than usual. Alzheimer's dementia typically
doesn't present with a lot of the symptoms I mentioned until

(58:32):
usually 10 to 20 years later compared to Hideoshi.
So usually you see it mid 60s, late 60s, early 70s, and this is
quite a bit later than when Hideoshi first had symptoms,
although there are definitely early onset variations.
Though rare, there are other types of dementia like Lewy body
disease dementia and Parkinson'sdisease dementia which are

(58:54):
characteristic of visual hallucinations and resting
tremor and I don't see evidence of.
Either in Hideoshi. There's also vascular dementia,
which is secondary to impaired blood flow in the brain, such as
from strokes. This type of dementia, depending
on where the stroke is, often presents with movement
difficulties, facial weakness, etcetera, and decline occurs

(59:15):
very rapidly in noticeable drops.
So the buzzword we were taught in medical school was stepwise
fashion. So once again, I don't see any
obvious signs of this, and his declines seem to be more
gradual. So dementia overall, while
possible just the ones I've mentioned so far, Hideyoshi

(59:36):
doesn't seem to fit well into. At least the most compelling
argument to me for Hideyoshi's change in behavior is that he
suffered from neurosyphilis, a later stage presentation of
syphilis if untreated. And there's actually.
A doctoral thesis published on this very topic titled Methods
and Madness, the Last Years of Toyotomi Hedioshi by David

(59:59):
Douglas Nielsen. So to talk about syphilis, it's
a bacterium that's often transmitted through sexual
activity and was likely first brought to Japan from the
Portuguese in the 1500s. It's been known as the great
imitator because it can cause somany different presentations
that will mimic other illnesses,including neurological and
psychiatric illnesses. The theory is based on many

(01:00:23):
aspects of Hideyoshi, so let's start with the basics.
So first, Hideyoshi was known tohave produced a daughter quite
early in life, I think before hemet Nene, and then was unable to
produce any more biological children until his late 50s with
a single woman, Lady Cha Cha. This is despite the fact that he
had numerous wives and concubines, so at least 15

(01:00:44):
documented, but likely many manymore.
There is some evidence that one of Hideoshi's concubines in mid
life had syphilis and in fact later went blind and became a
nun, so this is a potential source of infection for him.
Untreated syphilis can possibly lead to infertility, which would
explain the difficulty producingbiological children.

(01:01:05):
But the question is how did he have children with Lady Cha Cha
then? Well, this is actually.
Hinted in the 2024 TV show Shogun that there were rumors
even the years immediately afterHideyoshi in the Edo period,
that Lady Cha Cha was having an affair with her foster brother,
whom she was quite close with but not biologically related to.

(01:01:26):
And so Hideyori was hypothesizedto actually not be the
biological child of Hideyoshi. Obviously we don't know for
sure. I don't think there was genetic
testing at that time, but the fact that he himself admittedly
had a weakness for women and washaving so many sexual relations
with at least 15 women, if not more, and was only able to have

(01:01:49):
two biological children past his20s, both the same woman, makes
it plausible, at least in my opinion.
So, moving on. Next, let's talk about the
behavioral changes. Looking at a 2011 retrospective
study from China, the most common psychiatric presentations
of syphilis include personality changes, dementia, abnormal

(01:02:09):
behavior, and emotional problems, so all things that
Hideyoshi seemed to struggle with in his late life.
The paper also notes that depression, psychosis and mania
have also been noted as possiblesymptoms and in fact, in
psychiatry, if there are sudden changes in personality, mood or
psychosis with no history, no family history, no substance use

(01:02:31):
or very. Early or very?
Late onset, we'll actually do anti antibody testing for it
sometimes. Now the vast majority of the
time it comes back negative. In fact, I've probably only seen
maybe like one or two positive tests in my entire life.
But it's still good to rule out in these cases.

(01:02:52):
And obviously back in Hideyoshi's day, there were no
antibiotics. So untreated syphilis would
often involve into late neurosyphilis, sometimes known
as paretic neurosyphilis or dementia paralytica.
So a kind of dementia in itself.Specifically, there are studies
showing the similarities in presentation between
neurosyphilis and frontotemporaldementia, which is

(01:03:15):
characteristically associated with personality changes and
impulse control. One of the most famous
psychiatrists of all time was Emile Kraepelin.
One of the. Greatest psychiatric minds I've
ever read about. So he lived in the, I think mid
late 19th century to the early 20th century, and he spent a lot
of his time observing and writing about syphilis and

(01:03:37):
actually compare the symptoms incourse of illness to other
psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia.
He wrote a book in 1913 titled General Paresis, and this book
is all about the neuropsychiatric manifestations
of syphilis and actually holds up pretty well over a century
later. The acronym paresis can describe

(01:03:58):
a lot of the symptoms of neurosyphilis.
So the P stands for personality,A for affect, R for reflexes, E
for I. So I didn't mention this before,
but syphilis can cause problems with constriction of pupils to
light, and this is known as Argyle Robertson pupil or
sometimes colloquially known as prostitutes pupil.
But anyway, S for sensorium, I for intellect, and S for speech.

(01:04:24):
Anyway, that was a lot and I spent a lot of time on this
topic, but I find this theory really, really interesting and I
am somewhat convinced that hey, Yoshi's decline was due to
syphilis. Obviously we'll never know, but
if you want to read up more on this topic, read up on Methods
and Madness, The Last Years of Toyota Mahidioshi because it's a

(01:04:45):
lot more detailed than what I presented.
Regarding neurosyphilis and the psychiatric manifestations.
I referenced a an article titledA Narrative Review of the Many
Psychiatric Manifestations of Neurosyphilis, The Great
Imitator. It's a pretty good article, I'll
link it in the notes if you wantto learn more about the
neuropsychiatric manifestations of syphilis.

(01:05:08):
So in conclusion, while we'll never know for sure, I think
it's plausible that hey, Yoshi suffered from syphilis and all
the proposed theories for the behavioral changes in his later
life. I think this is the one that's
most convincing to me, a psychiatrist.
OK, before we finish up, let's talk about what made Hideyoshi

(01:05:29):
successful because he lacks so many of the other advantages in
early life. He was born of humble origins,
was very small and described as very ugly by numerous sources.
So I think there are many factors, but one thing that
stuck out to me was that he was able to seize the opportunity.
Whether it was with his first fencing master, his initial an

(01:05:49):
opportunity with ODA Noba, not aseizing control of power after a
catchy Mitsuhide betrayal, or even the diplomatic alliances he
made, Edioshi is able to quicklyseize the moment turn to turn
things in his favor. He was able to make decisions
very quickly yet without rushing.
You can think of the situation immediately after the Hanaji

(01:06:10):
incident where he quickly maneuvers to appease the Mori
clan and then rushes back to thecapital to engage Mitsuhide in
only a few days. And then a.
Couple years later he does the same thing again against Shabata
Katsui at the Battle of Shizukatake, where he covered
over 50 kilometers in a few hours.
So yes, there's value in planning.

(01:06:31):
But there's also. Too much planning.
Sometimes execution, execution, execution is more important
nowadays. Sometimes you have a bunch of
people sitting around a table and they're just talking,
talking, talking, pontificating about nothing really and just
wasting time. So yeah, a certain amount of
planning is important, but once again, there's also over

(01:06:54):
planning. Sometimes seizing the moment and
just doing it is the best courseof action.
On the flip side, spoiler What led to the eventual downfall of
the Toyotomi clan only a generation later?
Well I think the biggest thing was that Hediyoshi made a 5 year
old his heir after his death. For those that are familiar with

(01:07:17):
history, time and time again we see child rulers causing a
significant amount of political instability, sometimes even
leading to the end of a dynasty.And why?
Well obviously young children cannot rule independently, So
what ends up happening is they have ministers or Regents behind
the scenes making decisions who often eventually grab power

(01:07:39):
themselves. And so even when the child ruler
becomes of age, they have no real authority, instead being a
puppet. And you can see this a lot in
Chinese history, where many of the dynasties ended after rule
from child emperors. Well, anyway, this episode's
getting a little long, so I'm going to end it right here.
e-mail me at the address in the description if you'd like to

(01:08:00):
comment on who you'd like me to cover next.
And if you enjoy this episode, feel free to drop me a follow
comment, rating review and sharewith your friends as this helps
me reach larger audiences.