Hideyoshi Executes His Nephew

1595

Toyotomi Hideyoshi accused his adopted heir Hidetsugu of plotting rebellion and ordered him to commit seppuku on Mount Koya. He then had Hidetsugu's women and children, thirty-nine in all, beheaded in public beside a sandy pit in Kyoto. Hideyoshi had cleared the path for his toddler son Hideyori. The public execution of Hidetsugu's women and children revealed a cruelty that shocked even his most loyal retainers.