Kimotsuki Yoshikane
肝付良兼
Kimotsuki Clan
Sengoku Daimyō
Ōsumi Province
Lifespan: Tenbun 4 (1535) to Unknown
Other Names: Saburō (common)
Rank: sengoku daimyō
Title: Head of the Imperial Cavalry of the Left Division, Governor of Kawachi
Clan: Kimotsuki
Bakufu: Muromachi
Father: Kimotsuki Kanetsugu
Mother: Onan (eldest daughter of Shimazu Tadayoshi)
Siblings: Sister (formal wife of Nejime Shigetake), Yoshikane, Kanenaga (?), Kaneshige, sister (wife of Kimotsuki Gyōbu-Shōyū), sister (wife of Ei Kaneari), Kanesada, Kaneaki, Kanenori, Kanemori
Wife: [Formal] Taki (eldest daughter of Itō Yoshisuke)
Children: Daughter (wife of Ijichi Shigemasa), Masumaru, daughter (wife of Kimotsuki Kaneaki)
Kimotsuki Yoshikane served as a sengoku daimyō of Ōsumi Province during the Sengoku period. He was the seventeenth head of the Kimotsuki clan.
In 1535, Yoshikane was born as the eldest son of Kimotsuki Kanetsugu.
At Yoshikane’s coming-of-age ceremony, Shimazu Tadayoshi, an influential figure in the Shimazu clan who was the head of the Sōshū-Shimazu family, served in the honorary role to place black-lacquered headgear called an eboshi on Yoshikane. On this occasion, he received one of the characters from the name of Tadayoshi and adopted the name of Yoshikane.
In 1553, accompanying the retirement of his father, Kanetsugu, Yoshikane became the next head of the clan, but Kanetsugu continued to retain his grip on power. Kanetsugu died in 1566, after which Yoshikane consolidated power and, in 1568, launched counterattacks against the Shimazu clan. First, he allied with the Itō clan, attacked Obi, and repelled the Shimazu forces. In 1571, Yoshikane gave support to Ijichi Shigeoki and repulsed the Shimazu again. Soon thereafter, however, he died of illness at the age of thirty-seven.
The family name was carried on by his son-in-law, Kimotsuki Kaneaki, his younger brother and son-in-law.
