Hashiba Yoichiro (also called Kinoshita Yoichiro) was the eldest son of Hashiba Hidenaga, the younger brother of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His real name is unknown. He is known mainly from two Edo-period works, the Mori family chronicle and the Takayama family records, which are considered reliable on this point. Historians generally place his death around 1582 or earlier.
Life and family
Yoichiro is not mentioned in contemporary documents but appears in the Edo-period texts Morike sendai jitsuroku and Takayama-ko jitsuroku. According to the former, he was Hidenaga's true son and married Iwa, daughter of Nako Inaba no Kami. After Yoichiro's death, Iwa became Hidenaga's adopted daughter and married Mori Tadamasa in 1594. A later account in the Takayama records states that a son of Hidenaga died young, leading to Chimaru, son of Niwa Nagahide, being adopted in 1582.
Confusion and the Miki campaign
The Morike record says Yoichiro died of illness at a hot spring in Totsukawa, Kii Province, but this is thought to be a confusion with the death of Hidenaga's adopted heir Hidekatsu. A figure called Kinoshita Yoichi-ro also appears in documents on the Miki campaign, where he is described as the lord of Kimigamine Castle, a fortress built to besiege Miki Castle in Hyogo Prefecture. Whether he is the same person is not established.