Kyōgoku Takatsugu

was a daimyō (military feudal lord) of Ōmi Province and Wakasa Province during the late Sengoku period of Japan's history.

Biography His childhood name was Koboshi (小法師). Takatsugu is recognized as the founder of the modern Kyōgoku clan. His forebears had been powerful since the 13th century, but their fortunes had waned after the Ōnin War. Takatsugu is credited with restoring his family's lost prominence and position.

Takatsugu allied himself with Oda Nobunaga; and after Nobunaga's death, Takatsugu became a fudai (hereditary vassal) daimyo of the Toyotomi. Hideyoshi installed Takatsugu at Ōtsu Castle (60,000 koku) in Ōmi province. In that same year, Takatsugu was rewarded with the fief of Obama (92,000 koku) in Wakasa Province. They represent a branch of the Sasaki clan who were adopted by the Seiwa Genji.

The older sister of Takatsugu's wife, Yodo-dono, was the concubine of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and mother of his heir Toyotomi Hideyori. Takatsugu's sister and Yodo-dono's cousin, Kyōgoku Tatsuko, also became Hideyoshi's concubine. In marriage, Takatsugu became a brother-in-law of Hideyoshi. With connections to both the Toyotomi and the Tokugawa, the Ohatsu had long served as a liaison between the rivals. She continued in this role until 1615 when the Tokugawa eliminated the Toyotomi in Osaka.

Kyōgoku Tadataka (1593–1637) was Takatsugu's son. In 1607, Tadataka married the fourth daughter of Shōgun Hidetada. He died without leaving any heirs, which meant that his holdings reverted to the shogunate. However, the bakufu acted to continue his line by posthumously designating Kyōgoku Takakazu as an heir. Takakazu was Tadataka's nephew, the son of his brother Takamasa. Tadakazu was initially enfeoffed at Tatsuno (50,000 koku) in Harima Province.

In 1658, Takakazu was transferred to Marugame in Sanuki Province, where the contrived descendants of Takatsugu remained until the abolition of the han system in 1871. The head of this Kyōgoku clan branch were ennobled as an hereditary viscount in the Meiji period.