Nagayoshi Asano (1546-29 May 1611), later Nagamasa Asano, was the brother-in-law of Hideyoshi Hashiba and one of his strategists.
Biography[]
Asano accompanied his brother-in-law Hideyoshi Hashiba on his campaign against the Mori clan of Chugoku in western Honshu, and he captured Edo Castle from the Hojo in 1590 before taking part in the greatest project of the Toyotomi Shogunate: the invasion of Japan.
As one of the Go-Bugyo, the five leaders of the Toyotomi government under Hideyoshi, he held seniority over Mitsunari Ishida, Gen'i Maeda, Nagamori Mashita, and Masaie Natsuka and he devised the land survey and many other policies under Hideyoshi's rule.
In 1598 Nagayoshi headed to Korea to command the army. While the generals said that the war was going well, Mitsunari debated that the Japanese forces should withdraw, and the dispute between the Go-Bugyo turned into a governmental rift. Eventually the council was disbanded and replaced by the Five Elders, and Hideyoshi died soon after.
After the passing of his brother-in-law, Nagayoshi supported the Tokugawa-Toyotomi faction in the Siege of Kyoto, in which an Anti-Ishida Coalition led by Masanori Fukushima and Kiyomasa Kato attempted to slay Mitsunari and Tokugawa in Kyoto. After the war he was granted land in the Wakayama Domain, and he was succeeded by his son Yoshinaga Asano.