My mother says that the cemetery is full of people who thought they were indispensable - but in Hideyoshi’s case, he would have been right. His fervent desire was to ensure that his son, Hideyori, would be able to maintain the Toyotomi rule over Japan. In the end, he had to rely on promises of men he clearly didn’t trust.
In 1592 and 1598 Hideyoshi pointed the enormous Japanese capacity for warfare at the task of conquering one of the greatest civilizations in the world, China. In this episode we discuss why he decided that that was a good idea and how it all went.