Hideaki Kobayakawa

Hideaki Kobayakawa is considered to be Hideyoshi's nephew, Takakage's adopted son and the infamous turncoat of Sekigahara. He is remembered for defecting to the Eastern Army at Sekigahara and turning the tide of the battle.

In Saihai no Yukue, he is 16 years old and his height is 170 cm (close to 5'7"). His hobby is practicing his smiles and his favorite food is bamboo shoots.

Samurai Warriors
In Samurai Warriors 2, he is a young and indecisive general often referred to by his family name. At Sekigahara, he is stationed in a garrison and hesitates to take action. Ieyasu often orders his men to force him into action, such as ordering Magobei Fuse to fire at him or sending Hanzō to threaten him. Should these methods succeed, a frightened Kobayakawa will defect, giving his Eastern allies a significant morale boost. If the Western Army prevent these from succeeding, he will finally charge for the Western Army, reasoning that he doesn't want to be labeled as a traitor. He is alternatively seen to have already defected at the start of battle. In Motochika's version of the stage, he can return to the Western Army if Motochika can turn the tide of the battle. If Hideaki defects, Ieyasu will send assassins to threaten Hideaki, and he must be rescued.

During Nene's dream stage, he's one of her allies and defends the main camp. She fondly addresses him by his given name. Though Ieyasu tries to break his will, he will remain loyal to his aunt, stating that she is more frightening than anything else. Masamune's dream stage has him not defect and rush towards Ieyasu's camp due to Hideyori, much to Ieyasu and Masamune's surprise. In the Edo Castle dream scenarios, he is forgiven for the betrayal at Sekigahara and participates in the siege, only to defect again to the Eastern Army, convinced that he made the right choice (in the Japanese script, he claims that it couldn't be helped). An unsurprised Mitsunari bluntly accepts his defection and Kobayakawa, along with Kikkawa and Mōri, is killed in the battle. He also humorously appears to serve Mitsuhide as a "changed man" during Kojirō's dream stage. When his life is put into danger, he betrays Mitsuhide.

Samurai Warriors 3 presents Kobayakawa as a reliable ally in the siege of Fushimi Castle for the Western Army though he resumes his role as the distrustful turncoat at the battle of Sekigahara. By default, he will defect and charge for the Western camp, much to Mitsunari's distress and Ginchiyo's disgust. Alternatively, Kanbei will personally go to Mt. Matsuo to convince Kobayakawa to turn on his allies. If the player stops Kanbei before he can reach Kobayakawa, the latter will charge for the Eastern Army, muttering that he was supposed to defect. In Mitsuhide's storyline, Ieyasu sends Nagamasa Kuroda to Mt. Matsuo to fire on him. Like the second title, he debates on whether to defect but, he will if Nagamasa fires his rifles at him. If the Eastern Army performs poorly before Nagamasa's rifles fire, Kobayakawa will instead stay loyal and then charge through Nagamasa's army.

Samurai Warriors 4 has him reprise his role as the unreliable turncoat for the Western Army. He is only with them because of Ekei and Yoshitsugu Ōtani's suspicions towards him, preventing the man from making any movements. Once the Eastern Army gains the advantage, however, Kobayakawa defects without thought. In the Western Army scenario, he will always defect to the Eastern army and will kill Yoshitsugu in all versions except Yoshitsugu's own version of Sekigahara, where he can survive the attack. Nonetheless, Hideaki's betrayal causes the battle to swing to the Eastern army's favor.

In the expansion, Hideaki's loyalties and betrayal at Sekigahara vary in the different stories. In the Friends and Rivals and Visions of Hope storylines, Hideaki's betrayal, and the subsequent collapse of the Western Army is retained. In the Clash of Wills, Tides of Fate and Bonds of Fealty storylines, Yoshitsugu detects Hideaki's impending betrayal, and eliminates his unit to mobilize the Kikkawa and the Mori. In the Trials of Trust storyline, Ieyasu tells Nobuyuki Sanada that Hideaki refused to defect, and has besieged the Eastern main camp.

Warriors Orochi
In the first game, Kobayakawa appears in during the Wei campaign as part of Nene's resistance army.

In the second game, he acts as a reinforcement for Nene's ninja army at the dream stage of Zuo Ci, Pang Tong, and Zhang Jiao in Ji Province. He is one of the officers called by Nene's ninpo in the end of the battle, alongside Hideyoshi and others.

Kessen
Kobayakawa appears as a member of the Western army in Kessen. He is relatively the same as his Samurai Warriors counterpart except that he acts frightened by the mere sight of his comrades. He came in contact with Ieyasu prior to the battle and promised to move out against his side immediately. However, he spends a majority of the battle contemplating and will refuse to take any action. If the Western army does poorly, he will defect to the East and charge for Mitsunari's camp. Should the Western Army win, he remains a reluctant yet massive unit. He disappears from the ranks before the late battles of the game.

Saihai no Yukue
In Saihai no Yukue, Kobayakawa is a young and cheerful looking teenager. Most people only want to use Kobayakawa for his political influence. After he was denounced as Hideyoshi's successor, Kobayakawa became envious of the infant Hideyori. Swearing to make a name for himself, he swore loyalty to Ieyasu. His smiling visage is a ruse to wan off suspicion. When Mitsunari asks why he refuses to move, he will blame Yoshihiro Shimazu as the cause. He states that he is too frightened by the war veteran's presence and feels he cannot move until the old timer marches out.

He betrays the Western Army in the third chapter, not long in the battle's progress. He shows his true colors as a grumpy, insane and maniacal villain. He cusses and belittles his troops for struggling against Yoshitsugu. After his defeat, he returns once more as reinforcements for the Eastern Army's last defense.

Voice Actors

 * Vic Mignogna - Samurai Warriors 3 (English)
 * Alessandro Juliani - Kessen (English)
 * Hiroshi Okamoto - Samurai Warriors 2 (Japanese)
 * Daisuke Sakaguchi - Kessen (Japanese)
 * Kouki Miyata - Nioh

Quotes

 * "Master Kobayakawa, loyalty or death? Make your choice."
 * "I'm not supposed to hang out with you! My mom says you're a bad influence!"
 * Hanzō and Hideaki in Nene's dream stage; Samurai Warriors 2


 * "Argh - Why do I always make the wrong decision in the heat of the moment?"
 * Samurai Warriors 2: Xtreme Legends


 * "Yoshitsugu. Why have your men stopped and begun looking at us suspiciously?"
 * "I merely told them to stay and assist you once you began to make your move."
 * Hideaki and Yoshitsugu; Samurai Warriors 4


 * "That sniveling Kobayakawa! What is he waiting for?! I told him to attack immediately!"
 * "What can he be doing? Why doesn't he move?! Kobayakawa must rise and attack!"
 * Ieyasu and Mitsunari during Sekigahara; Kessen


 * "Victory lies just before them... How will they feel when their precious trump card stabs them in the back...? Shock? Or perhaps despair? (pauses before he laughs hysterically) This feels magnificent! The grand stage has been finally set! Kobayakawa soldiers, all 15,000 of you... Commence the attack!"
 * Betraying Mitsunari; Saihai no Yukue

Historical Information
Kinoshita Hidetoshi was born as the fifth son of Kinoshita Iesada, who is Toyotomi Hideyoshi's brother-in-law. His mother was a daughter of Sukihara Iesugu, one of Hideyoshi's vassals. He is also one of the many cousins of Mōri Terumoto, who later becomes of one of the five regents (tairo) entrusted to care for Toyotomi Hideyori. Technically, he was born as Nene's nephew.

On 1585, he was adopted by Hideyoshi and his name was changed to Hashiba Hidetoshi. Seven years later, he was appointed as a third rate councilor. On Hideyoshi's order, he was adopted once more by Kobayakawa Takakage two years later. When his foster father retired the same year, he gained a large and wealthy inheritance.

During Hideyoshi's attempt to invade Korea, he was ordered by his uncle to participate in the campaign in 1597. Near the end of the year, he was fifteen years old and formerly known as Kobayakawa Hideaki. During the siege of Ulsan Castle, he rescued Yamaguchi Munenaga by leading a massive army towards Sosenbowan Castle. He claims to have received a rescue request from Katō Kiyomasa and is shocked to hear there are no records of it (the existence of this report is unknown). In January the following year, Hideyoshi called him back to Japan. When he returned home at the end of May, he was scolded for recklessly charging out into battle since he was supposed to be focusing on defense. As punishment, the old Kobayakawa territory in Kyushu was rewarded to Asano Nagamasa. To add insult to injury, Ishida Mitsunari spoke jeering remarks at him during this time. Though the order to transfer ownership of the land was inevitably canceled due to Hideyoshi's death and impoverished crops, Hideaki never forgave Mitsunari's scornful words and grew to distrust him.

When tensions were rising for Sekigahara, Hideaki was allegedly displeased by Mitsunari. Although Mitsunari offered him the position as kampaku, Hideaki expressed wishes to join the Eastern Army. The popular account is that he respected Tokugawa Ieyasu since the older man stood in his defense after he returned from Korea. He apparently believed his chances to side with the Eastern Army were poor since he participated in the siege of Fushimi Castle, which led to death of one of Ieyasu's friends, Torii Mototada. A second account states that he contacted the Eastern Army prior to the battle but was initially denied; when Hideaki tried a second time, his request was accepted. A third theory is that he had no desire to fight and was forced into battle by his mentor, Kuroda Yoshitaka. During his time of doubt, he paid a visit to Nene and was told to follow his heart, wherever side it may be.

When the Battle of Sekigahara took place, Hideaki was stationed at Mount Matsuo with an army of 15,600 men at his command. He was far east of Mitsunari's position and was located -from a bird's eye view- underneath Otani Yoshitsugu's army. Many historians believe that he was already allied with the Eastern Army at this time as one of Kuroda Nagamasa's liaisons, Okudaira Sadaharu, was spotted in his camp. Otani noticed that the young man was acting suspiciously and told his men to keep an eye on Hideaki.

Though technically sided with the Eastern Army, Hideaki remained inactive when the battle commenced. Several messengers from both sides gave him the orders to attack but his troops didn't budge. Ieyasu finally threatened to shoot at his army with rifles and it compelled the man into action. Around noon the same day, Hideaki marched down the mountain for Mitsunari's camp. After a tough battle, he routed Otani's army. Demoralized by the loss of one of their biggest assets, many generals in the Western Army fled from the field. Two hours later, Ieyasu declared his forces to be the victors. Hideaki meets Ieyasu personally and apologizes for causing Torii's death.

Afterwards, he also had success in the siege of Sawayama Castle held by Mitsunari's father, Ishida Masatsugu, and gained Bizen and Mimasaka for a total of 550,000 koku. Hideaki suddenly died two years later at the age of 21. Various theories surround the nature of his death since his brothers in the Kinoshita family reportedly died on the same day. Since Hideaki had no heirs, the Kobayakawa clan fell into ruin. However, in the late 1930s, a descendant of the Mōri clan, Mōri Saburo, accepted a royal order to revive the Kobayakawa family.