Kanbei Kuroda

Kanbei Kuroda 1st appeared in Kessen.

Samurai Warriors
Kanbei is one of Hideyoshi's generals who follows him in many of his campaigns. In Samurai Warriors 2, Kanbei arrives with an engineer team during the western siege of Odawara Castle. If he is safely escorted to the makeshift castle in the middle of the map, the foundations for the castle can be built at a quicker rate. He will also serve in Hideyoshi's army during the conquest of Kyushu and, in Hanzo and Kotaro's story mode, he will defend Osaka Castle. The Xtreme Legends expansion has Kanbei serving the Oda and Toyotomi armies as reinforcements at Shikoku. He starts as one of the two talented strategists at Nagashino in Samurai Warriors 3. He is responsible for ensuring the enemy's complete elimination while Hanbei blocks the Katsuyori's escape path. Both he and Hanbei use their talents once more when Motonori raises an uprising at Kizugawaguchi. They win the conflict, but Hanbei tires from the effort and soon collapses. Kanbei visits his bedside and Hanbei assures that he will always be the "light" for his friend. Hanbei eventually dies but Kanbei acts unaffected by the loss, stating that an obstacle in the path for peace has just been eliminated. Hideyoshi suppresses Motonori's forces after the conflict, but Nobunaga is soon assassinated at Honnoji. At first, Hideyoshi denies his lord's death and doesn't seem intent to take action. However, Kanbei goads for Hideyoshi to take Nobunaga's ambition for himself as there are no other in the land who could stop him. Stating that the flames at Honnoji have merely opened the gates for Hideyoshi's ambitions, Kanbei's words convince Hideyoshi to march against Mitsuhide at Yamazaki. Though Hideyoshi achieves his dreams, he passes away due to illness and power shifts to Ieyasu's favor. Kanbei decides to serve Ieyasu for the land's peace and faces the Tachibana and Motochika at Ishigakibaru. Suppressing the Western army at Ishigakibaru, Kanbei is unimpressed by the remaining Toyotomi officers and sees their survival as the last "flame of chaos" that needs to be extinguished. He therefore continues to serve under Ieyasu during the siege of Osaka Castle. His views are at odds with the pro-Toyotomi Kiyomasa and they fight in the battle. After Ieyasu's victory, Kanbei inspects Kiyomasa's body, states that the Toyotomi are now finished, and walks away. Kiyomasa, who was playing dead when Kanbei had his attention to him, uses the last of his strength to strike down the strategist. Although he tries to make a snide remark about Kiyomasa's effort, Kanbei figures that he possibly stands as the greatest threat to peace and accepts his fate to die with the rest of the Toyotomis.

Kessen
In Kessen, Kanbei is known under one of his other historical names, Josui. He is an ambitious and scheming war veteran who desires his own stake of power. In spite of his son's allegiance to Ieyasu, Josui acts as a sympathizer for the Toyotomi cause. After he tries to conquer Kyushu, he convinces Kiyomasa and several others to serve him. Should Mitsunari win at Sekigahara, Josui is an unpredictable ally who could switch his loyalties at any time during the Battle of Harima. Josui will act as the leading commander for the Toyotomi forces if Mitsunari is defeated at Sekigahara. His independent and capricious mindset, however, continues to make him a distrustful ally to the remaining Toyotomi forces. Despite his previous claim that he would have no mercy on the field, Josui will retreat his army if they clash with his son. In both scenarios, whether he is victorious or defeated, he dies due to illness or battle wounds. In the latter scenario for the Toyotomi side, he pleads Yukimura to take his place before he passes away. A younger Kanbei returns in Kessen 3. He voluntarily joins Hideyoshi when he separated from Nobunaga's army. When Murashige Araki betrays Nobunaga, Kanbei acts as a mediator to ask Murashige's reasons for his treachery. In Murashige's residence, he is quickly held hostage and discovers that his former ally was consorting with the shogunate from the start. After he is rescued, Kanbei returns to assist Hideyoshi.

Voice Actors

 * Richard Newman - Kessen (English)
 * Masaya Takatsuka - Samurai Warriors 2~3 (Japanese)
 * Osamu Saka - Kessen (Japanese)
 * Fumihiko Tachiki - Kessen III (Japanese)

Early Life
Kuroda Yoshitaka was born in Himeji on December 22, 1546, the son of Kuroda Mototaka. The Kuroda clan are believed to have originated in Ōmi Province. Yoshitaka's grandfather Shigetaka brought the family to Himeji and took up residence at Otsuki Castle (御着城), east of Himeji Castle.

Shigetaka served as a senior retainer of Kodera Masamoto, the lord of Himeji, and was so highly praised that Shigetaka's son Mototaka was allowed to marry Masamoto's adopted daughter and to use the Kodera name.

Military Career
Yoshitaka succeeded to the family headship in 1567. A few years later, with Toyotomi Hideyoshi spearheading the Oda clan's advance into the Chugoku region, he pledged loyalty to the Oda. Yoshitaka, together with the sickly Takenaka Hanbei, served as Hideyoshi's strategists and assisted in the campaign against the Mōri clan.

Shortly before 1587, Yoshitaka was ordered by Toyotomi Hideyoshi to lead an attack into Kyushu. Along with him was the famous Christian daimyo Takayama Ukon. After seeing the thriving Christian population of Kyushu and under Ukon's influence, Yoshitaka was baptized with the name ドン・シメオン (Dom Simeão = Don Simeon). After a visit to the Jesuit-controlled port of Nagasaki, Toyotomi Hideyoshi became fearful of the powerful influence that Jesuits and the Christian daimyos wielded and in 1587 made his famous edict that expelled foreign missionaries and ordered all the Christian samurai under his rule to abandon their faith. While Takayama Ukon resisted the edict and lost his fief, Yoshitaka shrewdly gave up his new religion and adopted a monk's habit calling himself (如水) Josui. His most prominent act during his short time as a Christian was his arrangement to save a Jesuit mission from Bungo when the Christian daimyo of that province, Otomo Sorin, was under attack from the Shimazu clan.