Kiyomasa Kato

Kiyomasa 1s appeared in Kessen.

Samurai Warriors
In Samurai Warriors 2, Kiyomasa is always seen alongside Masanori Fukushima. They act as Nene's closest "children" and are very loyal to her. They address her as "Lady Nene" at all times. However, he can't stand Mitsunari and often berates him. When Sekigahara takes place, he is one of the generals in the Eastern Army. He apologizes for his rash behavior in Nene's dream stage. During Kojiro's story mode, he is one of the men who leads the anti-Ieyasu Coalition in Kyoto and helps Hideyori escape. He pleads for his lord to observe Ieyasu's vile intentions for the Toyotomi family. Kiyomasa is friends with both Masanori and Mitsunari in Samurai Warriors 3. He joins the battle front at Shizugatake and Komaki-Nagakute with his two friends, eager to defend his "home" with Hideyoshi. In the latter battle, Sakon jokes that the trio are idiots and hopes that their idiocy can prove to be useful for the wars. Even if they bicker, the trio swear to establish and protect Hideyoshi's dream together. They subjugate the Shimazu family in Kyushu and Hideyoshi's land of happiness is soon a reality. Unfortunately, Hideyoshi dies not long after its creation and Ieyasu's influence grows significantly. Believing that there is no guarantee of the Toyotomi family's future by resisting the daimyo, Kiyomasa and Masanori leave Mitsunari to join Ieyasu. Determined to uphold his duty to his departed lord no matter what the cost, Kiyomasa supports Kanbei's assault in Kyushu at Ishikagibaru. After the fall of the Western army, Kiyomasa stays at Nijō Castle to keep vigilance over his "home", Osaka Castle. Kanbei bluntly states that Kiyomasa's efforts have only backfired on him, but Kiyomasa's resolve is unchanged. Since Ieyasu wants to end the land's chaos by destroying Osaka Castle, Kiyomasa stakes his life to defend it and defies the daimyo's advance. A dying Ieyasu warns that this will not end the chaos, but the youth doesn't care since he is willing to mend and rebuild his home. No matter what mistakes his home is currently marred with, Kiyomasa is pleased to see the Toyotomis still standing.

Kessen
Kiyomasa is a general who appears with Josui in Kessen. He's Masanori's childhood friend and won't fight him if they're on opposing sides. He's usually mute in the game's cutscenes but will talk if he meets Masanori in battle. Depending on the actions of the player, both of them can fight together on the field. He leads a sturdy cavalry and is one of the faster units in the game. Kiyomasa can be recruited into Nobunaga's army in Kessen 3. If Hideyoshi's unit survives the battle at Anegawa, he will appear. He has a high cavalry proficiency and can serve as a good spear unit. If he is put in an unit with Masanori, their morale will rise and they will perform well.

Voice Actors

 * Dean Marshall - Kessen (English)
 * Shinichi Yamada - Samurai Warriors 2 (Japanese)
 * Tomokazu Sugita - Samurai Warriors 3 (Japanese)
 * Yasuhiko Tokuyama - Kessen (Japanese)

History
Kiyomasa was born in Owari Province to Katō Kiyotada. Kiyotada's wife, Ito, was a cousin of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's mother.[citation needed] Kiyotada died while his son (then known as Toranosuke) was still young. Soon after, Toranosuke entered service with Hideyoshi, and in 1576, at age 14, was granted a revenue of 170 koku. He fought in Hideyoshi's army at the Battle of Yamazaki, and later, at the Battle of Shizugatake. Owing to his distinguished conduct in that battle, he became known as one of the Seven Spears of Shizugatake.[1] Hideyoshi rewarded Kiyomasa with an increased revenue of 3000 koku.

When Hideyoshi became the kampaku in the summer of 1585, Kiyomasa received the court title of Kazue no Kami (主計頭) and junior 5th court rank, lower grade (ju go-i no ge 従五位下). In 1586, after Higo Province was confiscated from Sassa Narimasa, he was granted 250,000 koku of land in Higo (roughly half of the province), and given Kumamoto Castle as his provincial residence.

In 1592, he joined in the invasion of Korea.

Kiyomasa was one of the three senior commanders during the Seven-Year War (1592-1598) against the Korean dynasty of Joseon. Together with Konishi Yukinaga, he captured Seoul, Busan, and many other crucial cities. Kiyomasa was an excellent architect of castles and fortification. During the Imjin war, he built several Japanese style castles in Korea to better defend the conquered lands. Ulsan castle was one of these fortresses that Kiyomasa built, and it proved its worth when Korean-Chinese allied forces attacked it with far superior force, yet the out-numbered Japanese successfully defended the castle until the Japanese reinforcements arrived, which forced the sino-korean allies to retreat.

The Korean king Seonjo abandoned Seoul in fear of Kiyomasa. Kiyomasa held two Korean princes who had deserted as hostages and used them to force lower-ranking Korean officials to surrender[2] [3]. He killed a tiger while hunting in Korea peninsula, and presented to Hideyoshi the fur.[4] Kiyomasa's most famous fight is the Siege of Ulsan (蔚山城の戦い) on December 22, 1593. Kiyomasa bravely succeeded in the fight defense though Chinese general Yang Hao (楊鎬) encircling Ulsan with 60,000 military forces.[citation needed] He defended frequent attacks from the Chinese army with Ulsan until November 23, 1598. However, his brave fight was not reported to Hideyoshi by his rival's overseer Ishida Mitsunari. After Hideyoshi's death, he conflicted with Ishida Mitsunari, and approaches Tokugawa Ieyasu.[5]

William Scott Wilson describes Kato Kiyomasa thus: "He was a military man first and last, outlawing even the recitation of poetry, putting the martial arts above all else. His precepts show the single-mindedness and Spartan attitudes of the man, (they) demonstrate emphatically that the warrior's first duty in the early 17th century was simply to "grasp the sword and die." Contemporary accounts of Kato describe him as awe-inspiring, yet not unfriendly, and a natural leader of men."

A devoted member of Nichiren Shu Buddhism, Kiyomasa encouraged the building of Nichiren temples.[6] He did not see eye-to-eye with Ishida Mitsunari, and Hideyoshi recalled him to Kyoto. He came into conflict with Konishi, who ruled the neighboring domain in Higo, and was a Christian. Kiyomasa was noted for suppressing Christianity.[7] At the battle of Hondo, he ordered his men to cut open the bellies of all pregnant Christian women and cut off their babies' heads.[8]

During the Battle of Sekigahara, Kiyomasa remained in Kyūshū, siding with the eastern army of Tokugawa Ieyasu. For his loyalty to the Tokugawa, Kiyomasa was rewarded with the former territories of his rival Konishi (who had sided with Ishida), which when added to his existing territory, increased the Kumamoto domain to around 530,000 koku.[citation needed]

In his later years, Kiyomasa tried to work as a mediator for the increasingly complicated relationship between Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyori. In 1611, en route by sea to Kumamoto after one such meeting, he fell ill, and died shortly after his arrival. He was buried at Honmyō-ji temple in Kumamoto, but also has graves in Yamagata Prefecture and Tokyo. Kiyomasa is also enshrined in a Shinto shrine in Kumamoto.

In 1910, Kiyomasa was posthumously promoted to junior 3rd court rank (jusanmi 従三位).