Japan: Portrait of Hosokawa Takakuni (1484 - 1531), silk painting by Kano Motonobu (1476 -...

Hosokawa Takakuni (1484-1531) was the most powerful military commander in the Muromachi Period under the 12th shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiharu. He was a member of the Hosokawa clan, and adopted brother to Hosokawa Sumimoto. In 1507, he aided his brother in avenging the death of their adopted father, Hosokawa Masamoto, at the hands of Hosokawa Sumiyuki. However, he betrayed his adopted brother and the head of the Hosokawa clan when the previous shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiki, was returned to power in 1508. He became the new head of the clan, monopolising much of the shogunate's power in the next few years, turning Yoshiki into a puppet shogun. When Yoshiki escaped his 'captivity' in 1521, Takakuni made Ashikaga Yoshiharu the new shogun. He was eventually purged from Kyoto, the capital, in 1527, by an alliance between Myoshi Motonaga and Hosokawa Harumoto. His army was defeated in 1531, and he tried to hide in an alcohol storage room in Amagasaki, Settsu Province, before he was discovered and, rather than be captured, committed suicide.