Portrait of Ii Naotaka

TokugawaIi

Ii Naotaka

井伊直孝

“The Red Devil of Ii (Second)”

1590–1659 (aged 70)

Rank / office
Director of the Palace Storehouse / Middle Captain of the Left
Domain / base
Hikone, Ōmi
Banner / crest
Hikone tachibana
Battles in 3D
1 battle

Portrait · Source: Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Born the second son of Ii Naomasa, he was ordered by Ieyasu to lead the Ii forces in place of his elder brother Naotsugu. In the winter siege of Osaka, seeing the Maeda in difficulty, he raced them for the honour and charged the Hatchōme gate, but was caught in crossfire from the Sanada-maru and the outer wall and lost many men. In the summer campaign the following year he killed Kimura Shigenari at Wakae and led the vanguard in the decisive battle at Tennōji and Okayama, making his name throughout the realm. After the war he was formally made lord of Hikone, and as adviser to the third shogun Iemitsu and the fourth, Ietsuna, carried great weight in the shogunate. Hikone grew to 300,000 koku and became the senior house among the hereditary vassals.

Life and battlesGold dots mark battles you can watch in 3D

  1. 1590Tenshō 18

    Birth

    Born the second son of Ii Naomasa.

  2. 1614Keichō 19
  3. 1615Keichō 20

    Battle of Wakae

    Killed Kimura Shigenari in the summer siege of Osaka and made his name.

  4. 1633Kan'ei 10

    300,000 koku

    Through repeated grants Hikone reached 300,000 koku, establishing the senior rank among hereditary vassals.

  5. 1659Manji 2

    Death in Edo

    Died at seventy, a pillar of the shogunate.

Related sites