Hideaki Kobayakawa

Hideaki Kobayakawa (小早川 秀秋) is considered to be Hideyoshi's nephew and is the famous turncoat at Sekigahara. He is voiced by Alessandro Juliani in the English dub for Kessen.

Samurai Warriors
In Samurai Warriors 2, he is a young and indecisive general 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 Hattori to threaten him. If the Western Army prevent these from succeeding, he will finally charge for the Western Army. He is alternatively seen to have already defected at the start of battle. In Motochika's stage, he comes back to the Western Army and is touched to see anyone come to his rescue.

In Nene's dream stage, he's one of her allies and defends the main camp. Though Ieyasu tries to break his will, he will remain loyal to his mother.

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.

Saihai no Yukue
In Saihai no Yukue, Kobayakawa is a young and cheerful looking teenager. He hopes to make a name for himself under Mitsunari's troops. His behavior is quite erratic and, though he acts with good intentions, many people don't trust him. Most people only want to use Kobayakawa for his political influence.

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


 * "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

Historical Information
Kinoshita Hidetoshi was born in 1582 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 Mori 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 on 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 Munenaga Yamaguchi by leading a massive army towards Sosenbowan Castle. He claims to have received a rescue request from Kato 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 lead to death of one of Ieyasu's friends, Torii Mototada. Another theory suggests 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 liasons, 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 bugde. 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 1930's, a descendant of the Mori clan, Mori Saburo, accepted a royal order to revive the Kobayakawa family.