[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ToyotomiHideyoshi_5579.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"If the cuckoo does not sing, make it sing."'']]

The second of the unifying warlords of UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} during the UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod and a prime example of RagsToRiches. He was born Kinoshita Tōkichirō in March 1537, and his early life remains somewhat obscure. His parents apparently wanted him to become a priest, but he ran away from the temple and became a soldier instead. In 1558, he became the sandal-bearer of UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga. He was eventually drafted into Nobunaga's army, changed his name to Hashiba Hideyoshi, and used his resourcefulness to become a valuable asset. Hideyoshi proved to be very competent that he rose through Nobunaga's ranks, showcasing the effect of Nobunaga valuing meritocracy.

When Nobunaga was slain, Hideyoshi was the one who inherited his ambition to reunite Japan and avenged his lord by defeating UsefulNotes/AkechiMitsuhide in Battle of Yamazaki. However, he could not become the official shogun due to his commoner origins, the best he could get was ''[[RegentForLife kampaku]]''. Regardless, Hideyoshi redistributed the land's incomes and applied several policies to stabilize them (one of them including the Sword Hunt, by seizing the blades of samurai so they can't cause trouble in times of peace again), but then made a fatal mistake to sate his own ambition by invading Korea. The campaign was already failing before his death, and had to be stopped completely when Hideyoshi died in September 1598. However, one unintended outcome of the Korean Campaign was the weakening of the Ming Dynasty; the huge costs to the Ming in helping to defend Korea contributed to its fall less than 50 years after Hideyoshi's death.

Since Hideyoshi's heir, Toyotomi Hideyori, was only five when his father died, Hideyoshi left his administration in charge of five magistrates: Ukita Hideie, Maeda Toshiie, Mōri Terumoto, Uesugi Kagekatsu and Tokugawa Ieyasu. It was Tokugawa, not Toyotomi, that would become the ruling family of Japan, after Ieyasu won a decisive victory over Ukita Hideie and Mōri Terumoto at the famous Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Fourteen years later, Ieyasu finally moved against Hideyori (whose list of offences against the shogunate ranged from rebuilding the great fortress of Osaka and gathering an army of the Tokugawa clan's enemies to, of all things, sponsoring a temple bell with an inscription that the shogunate claimed contained subversive wordplay), who perished the next year when Ōsaka Castle fell after a long siege.

A controversial topic in regards of the Korean Campaign and Hideyoshi's actions revolve around an order referred as the 'nose hunt'. In order to ensure discipline and his soldiers were fighting, Hideyoshi demanded that his soldiers brought proofs back to Japan in form of the heads of their enemies. His soldiers decided that it's too much of a hassle to bring their enemies' heads so they decided to just cut off the noses of the Korean people and use them as proofs. In his own megalomania, Hideyoshi then built a monument of those noses to celebrate the campaign. This is a monument that still existed today, known as Mimizuka ("ear mound", a euphemistic renaming from the original Hanazuka, "nose mound"), and still remains one of the main reasons Korean and Japanese people do not get along, especially when later Japanese governments took a defensive stance on Hideyoshi's controversial monument.

Hideyoshi is most known for his resourcefulness and his ability to manipulate events. Some historians to this day ''still'' argue that Mitsuhide's betrayal was secretly engineered by Hideyoshi. That being said, props should be given that he actually succeeded in unifying Japan and actually did good to his people's welfare. Too bad that his dynasty didn't last past two generations. It should be pointed out that Hideyoshi was also ruthless. He forced his heir-apparent Hidetsugu to commit suicide after an unsuccessful coup, but that apparently was not enough for Hideyoshi, who ordered Hidetsugu's entire family, including 31 women and children, executed. Moreover, his failure at the Korean Campaign was credited as one of the reasons why the Toyotomi dynasty didn't last and it left a sour note to his legacy (not to mention the Mimizuka monument, as mentioned above). It is probably also why very few productions in the modern day ever touch that campaign in any fictional portrayal that features Hideyoshi, regardless of how he's portrayed, and only featuring the UsefulNotes/SengokuPeriod. The Korean Campaign, nevertheless, has begun to become a period of interest for some nuanced fictional works[[note]]such as the American video game ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII'' (which covers a more general history of the world), the 2014 {{Creator/NHK}} Taiga drama ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunshi_Kanbei Gunshi Kanbei]]'' (which portrays the affair as an entirely bad idea borne out of Hideyoshi's megalomania, which destabilized the Toyotomi ripe for Sekigahara), as well as the 2014 Korean war film ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Admiral:_Roaring_Currents The Admiral: Roaring Currents]]'' (about the heroics of Admiral Yi Sun-shin, who repelled Hideyoshi's navy) and the 2015 Korean drama ''{{Series/Jingbirok}}'', both understandably coming from a pro-Joseon/anti-Hideyoshi POV.[[/note]].

His nickname by Oda Nobunaga was 'monkey' and 'bald-rat', though nobody except Nobunaga would dare call him that to his face. Usual portrayals would depict him being a wannabe schemer, though positive portrayals of him do exist, being an eager and hard-working man that earns his peers via hard work (close enough of being a Shonen hero that defies HardWorkHardlyWorks), that could seep into being a bumbling man as his vices. The middle-ground portrayal of him tends to be a FallenHero type of character, when he was younger, he was an idealistic hero, but at one point of time (usually after his unification of Japan or even as early as Nobunaga's death or another time), he was faced with harsh realities that made him do a lot of morally questionable things and became much more ruthless, no longer the ideal hero he was before. He's also included in one issue of Website/BadassOfTheWeek.

!Notable Campaigns of Hideyoshi

For the most part, Hideyoshi was mostly accompanying Nobunaga with his campaign. But some of his more notable successes will be listed below:

* '''Inabayama''' (vs. Saitou Tatsuoki): This was Hideyoshi's first big break. The castle of Inabayama was impregnable for a full on assault. However, Hideyoshi knew some relatives he could use/convince to help him complete the task given to him by Nobunaga: "Build a castle in the nearby Sunomata ''right in the line of enemy fire''." Legends has it that due to his outside help, and knowing the area well enough and letting nature do a majority of his job (the river flow, especially), Hideyoshi completed the task in just ''one day'', thus the castle is known as the 'One Night Castle'. He managed to convince a few local warlords (and one particular bandit-turned-samurai named Hachisuka Koroku) to join forces with him as well as colluding with the Saitou strategist Takenaka Hanbei, making him defect. And then, he just prepared to build a fortress in the site of Sunomata, a process somehow done very quickly it was done within a day and the fortress was 'majestic enough' to look like a castle that was built in just one day. Hideyoshi would later finish the whole building as a castle anyway, allowing Nobunaga's men to use it as a base. Then Hideyoshi participated in yet another diversion so Nobunaga's forces can storm the castle unimpeded, scoring victory for Nobunaga.

* '''Kanegasaki''' (vs. Azai Nagamasa & Asakura Yoshikage): After the Azai clan ambushed the Oda when they were busy dealing with the Asakura clan, Hideyoshi once again volunteered to take a few men to act as a rear guard, allowing Nobunaga to at least escape and live to fight another day.

* Sieges of '''Kozuki, Itami/Arioka and Takamatsu''' (vs Western Mouri clan): Once Nobunaga's dealing with the Eastern famed clans like Takeda and Uesugi eased up, Nobunaga sent Hideyoshi to pacify the West, starting with the Mouri clan.
** ''Kozuki'': The Amako clan (TheRemnant of one of the Mori's competitors during the earlier war-torn phase of the Sengoku period) were holding this castle--bolstered by political alliances forged by Hideyoshi, his brilliant-but-sickly strategist Takenaka Hanbei, and his fellow strategist Kuroda Kanbei. However, due to multiple campaigns occurring, Hideyoshi eventually had to bail on the Amako, leaving them to be overrun.
** ''Itami/Arioka'': Save the unfortunate loss of Kozuki, progress was swimming pretty well against the Mori. However, one treasonous fellow Oda general, Araki Murashige, defected to the Mori and took Kanbei hostage for trying to negotiate. Hanbei, by this point actually dying of his illness, nonetheless advised Hideyoshi [[DyingMomentOfAwesome to the end of the campaign]] (even instrumental in ensuring Kanbei's family will be protected from Nobunaga's suspicions of betrayal). While Kanbei was rescued, he will remain scarred and limping from one leg for the rest of his life, forced to focus on being a strategist and HandicappedBadass.
** ''Takamatsu'': This particular episode, arguably, is the defining moment of Hideyoshi's rise. When Hideyoshi reached Takamatsu castle, he decided to use a flood attack, but the enemies remained quite steadfast even from the impending doom. Thinking that it was taking a bit too long even with a drawn out victory at hand, Hideyoshi sent a request for reinforcements from Nobunaga. But, later, his messenger returned, giving shocking news: The year was 1582, Nobunaga has been slain by his other trusted general UsefulNotes/AkechiMitsuhide while resting in Honnoji. Knowing this, Hideyoshi had to act fast, so he and Kanbei modified his plans a little. Rather than continuing the siege, he approached the castellan of Takamatsu, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimizu_Muneharu Shimizu Muneharu]], stated that he really has urgent business, so he gave the castle master a choice: He could just continue on and more people will suffer via the prolonged flood attack, or he could just surrender alone, commit {{Seppuku}} and his castle given to Hideyoshi, and his men and people will be spared from the flood attack. Quite magnanimously, Hideyoshi also offered peace with the clan on top of that. Shimizu (allegedly even against the command of the Mori, [[TrueCompanions who clearly value his loyalty]]) naturally chose the second; allowing Hideyoshi to march back and avenge Nobunaga. (When the news about the Seppuku reached his ears, Hideyoshi was impressed with the heavy burden said master took that when he came to power, he elevated the act of Seppuku into greater levels of 'taking responsibility by suicide'.)

* '''Yamazaki''' (vs. UsefulNotes/AkechiMitsuhide): While the methods were not exactly known, Hideyoshi commanded his battalion to blitz through from Takamatsu to the capital that he reached Mt. Tennou at the Yamazaki area where the army of the traitorous Mitsuhide was currently stationed at ''all within 13 days after Nobunaga's death''. The Akechi army was completely unprepared with Hideyoshi's sudden arrival. Hideyoshi then wasted no time to completely crush the Akechi army. He didn't get to deliver the personal coup de grace to Mitsuhide, though, as Mitsuhide would retreat and not being seen again, with the most popular info being that he got killed by peasants for his betrayal. Not that it'll be a big deal for Hideyoshi, at least with this battle, he has become the official avenger of Nobunaga. So with that being said, he should be the one to inherit his conquest program... right?

* '''Shizugatake''' (vs. Shibata Katsuie): The bad news for Hideyoshi was that while a lot of Nobunaga's descendants (and his main heir) were killed by Mitsuhide earlier, some still survived, so it became a scramble on who would succeed Nobunaga and whoever supported this heir would basically control the remnants of the Oda clan. Hideyoshi supported the 3 year old Nobuhide, but a strong opposition came from one of his war companions under the Oda, namely Shibata Katsuie, who supported Oda Nobutaka. Despite Oda's other son Nobukatsu eventually coming to support Hideyoshi, Katsuie also had the support of Nobunaga's sister Oichi who re-married with him[[note]]While the truth is rather muddy, stories abound that despite Nobunaga's general trust on Hideyoshi, Oichi is suspicious at him for some reason, so she wouldn't want him of all people to be the one inheriting Nobunaga's legacy.[[/note]], and another veteran general Maeda Toshiie. A clash was inevitable, but in the end, Hideyoshi was the one prevailing thanks to the efforts of seven generals whom he dubbed 'Seven Spears of Shizugatake', although only two of them gained notoriety due to their participation at Sekigahara later: Fukushima Masanori and Katou Kiyomasa. Hideyoshi managed to convince Toshiie to turn over for him, but after his inevitable defeat, Katsuie chose to commit a honorable seppuku while urging Oichi to escape, but Oichi has had enough of tragedies in her life (especially after the death of her first husband Azai Nagamasa), so chose to commit seppuku too, but she let her daughters escape. Her eldest one, Yodo/Chacha, would end up being taken as a consort for Hideyoshi (who already had a legal wife named Nene long since he started his career).

* '''Komaki & Nagakute''' (vs. UsefulNotes/TokugawaIeyasu): Hideyoshi's growing power did not sit well with Nobukatsu, and so he ran off to the next big ally of Nobunaga that has any hopes to keep him in check: UsefulNotes/TokugawaIeyasu. And so it was, the two forces clashed several times in many areas, showcasing their respective strengths, but none were able to gain an upper hand, it was a very long stalemate. Eventually, both Hideyoshi and Ieyasu came face to face... and sat down, had a chat about each other and realizing that maybe this is a futile battle after all, since both were like equals in strength. Both agreed to make peace and Hideyoshi coming out like the winner, so it'd look like Ieyasu would become Hideyoshi's vassal. Hideyoshi gained a personal respect on Ieyasu, so he gave him one special privilege when he would one day succeed unifying Japan: If Ieyasu wanted, he could choose to withdraw his forces from joining Hideyoshi's campaign... but only once.

* '''Shikoku & Kyushu''' (vs. Chosokabe, Shimazu, Otomo, Tachibana and the rest of the Western clans): Now that the scramble to succeed Nobunaga's power was over and Hideyoshi was the de facto successor, he could continue where he left off at Takamatsu and the Mouri. His next target was the island of Shikoku, pacifying the Chosokabe clan led by Chosokabe Motochika. However, Motochika managed to retreat to the neighboring Otomo clan and opposing Hideyoshi there until they were beaten too and Hideyoshi enrolled them into their forces, where the rest of the campaigns in Kyushu would be against the Tachibana clan led by the BattleCouple Muneshige and Ginchiyo and the Shimazu clan led by brothers Yoshihisa, Yoshihiro, Toshihisa and Iehisa. Hideyoshi nonetheless defeated and impressed them enough that they joined forces with him.

* '''Odawara''' (vs. Hojo Ujimasa): News of Hideyoshi's pacification of the West reached the ears of the northern Japan which has been unified by UsefulNotes/DateMasamune. Knowing Hideyoshi's influence and not wanting to risk their existence with his massive army, Masamune opted to surrender to Hideyoshi. With that said, only one obstacle remained for Hideyoshi for the unification of Japan: The late Hojo clan within the massive Odawara Castle. Hideyoshi made a call to arms for the clans he pacified to help him take down Odawara, only to get involved with a long drawn out battle where the Hojo clan just acted like nothing happened, partying all day and pretty much discouraging the Toyotomi to fight. But then, someone managed to dug a wall within the castle due to small skirmishes, and Hideyoshi's men came swarming in. Then Hideyoshi repeated his legendary 'one night castle' back in Inabayama, demoralizing the Hojo and instead of fighting to the bitter end, [[KnowWhenToFoldEm they just surrendered.]] And so, Hideyoshi finally unified Japan for good.

* '''''Empresa de China''''' (along with Spain/Portugal vs. China): A campaign that never left the drawing board, as well as little known but quite insane historical curiosity. Commerce between Japan and the Spanish and Portuguese territories was already there in the 1580s, but things got interesting when the Toyotomi regency scouted Spain as a potential ally, upon which admiral Konishi Yukinaga was sent to propose to team up against any common enemy, including China, Borneo and Siam. A cabal of Spanish and Portuguese higherups under UsefulNotes/PhilipII had been planning a possible conquest of China by kickstarting a local revolt, the same trick they had used against the [[UsefulNotes/SpanishConquestOfTheAztecEmpire Aztecs]] and [[UsefulNotes/SpanishConquestOfTheIncaEmpire Inca]], and therefore Japanese help was greatly welcomed. However, the project was controversial in Spain about its legitimacy, and was abandoned in order to focus their naval resources on the English after the [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOfTheSpanishArmada Spanish Armada]].

* '''Korea''' (vs. Korean/Chinese alliance): Hideyoshi never participated in this campaign directly, but he did order it. Four years after the failure of the previous, in a combination of ambition, desire to emulate Nobunaga's ideals to go beyond Japan to at least China, trying to ensure a strengthening to his legacy after unifying Japan, ensuring an era of peace after his Sword Hunt policy caused many Japanese soldiers to be out of job and the only thing they're good at are fighting (thus, risking rebellion and destroying the efforts he made to unify Japan) and most importantly, ''senility'', Hideyoshi declared that he's going to conquer China by himself. He first tried to ally with Korea, but he got blocked from entry when all Hideyoshi wanted was just to offer alliance, and when that failed, Hideyoshi just declared war anyway in 1592. He made both great progress and controversies (including the Mimizuka), but was repulsed, and in the process he almost caused a simultaneous conflict with Spain by whimsically demanding vassalage from them to help the military effort. He launched a second campaign, but this one ended up as a complete failure for the fact that the Japanese soldiers under him were not experienced with naval battle, something that the Koreans excelled at (and bolstered with the leadership of Admiral Yi-Sun Shin). By 1598, Hideyoshi's age caught up to him and he died of sickness, and thus all the Japanese soldiers had to fall back. And thus, the second unifier's life came to an end, tragically with those supporting him feeling kind of disgusted with this one particular decision, which paved way for [[UsefulNotes/TokugawaIeyasu the third unifier]] to act...

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!!Examples of works featuring Hideyoshi:

!!'''AnimeAndManga'''
* In ''Franchise/OnePiece'', Admiral Kizaru of the Marines is likened to him for his craftiness and manipulation of his enemies and underlings alike.
* Hideyoshi makes an appearence in ''Manga/{{Genzo}}'' without playing a major role. Here he looks like a monkey dressed as a samurai. His expansionistic tendencies are frequently mentioned, to the point that Kiku thinks that if he could he would try to conquer not only Korea and China, but Philippines, Spain and Portugal as well.
* Hideyoshi (or rather, Yoshino Hide) is the main character of ''Anime/BattleGirlsTimeParadox'', here {{gender flip}}ped into a young, somewhat clumsy girl with blond hair who gets thrown into the past, and may very well [[YouWillBeBeethoven become the actual Hideyoshi]].
* ''Anime/NobunagaConcerto'' portrays Hideyoshi with a '''heavy''' dose of HistoricalVillainUpgrade. At the start of the series, he was an unnamed spy for Imagawa Yoshimoto, sent into Owari to join the Oda army. He was sent away by Hirate Masahide, who could tell something was off about the man. The spy proceeded to kill Masahide later that day, being found by Saburo (the real Nobunaga's stand-in), but was never caught. While Saburo told the world he committed ''kanshi'', the spy met a salesman named Kinoshita Tokichiro, whom he proceeded to kill and whose name he stole. After that he became a stable worker, and (in the manga) caused the Oda brothers to have a civil war. On the eve of the Battle of Okehazama, Kinoshita mistakenly believed the Oda would prepare for a siege against the advancing Imagawa army and sent letters to Yoshimoto telling him this, unaware that Saburo was riding into war. When he found out, it was too late, with Yoshimoto killed and his army scattered and put to flight, and the last of the Imagawa spies approached him ready to assassinate him for the apparent betrayal. Kinoshita killed the assassin, and swore revenge on the Oda, not for Yoshimoto, but for his ruined honor. He'd spend the rest of the series fixated on this, and would grow an ambition to become more powerful than the Oda (likely sparking his eventual failed invasion of China). When he met Princess Oichi, she had thought he looked like a monkey, which makes him decide that she'll be kneeling before him soon (referencing how after Nobunaga's death, she'd serve her future husband Shibata Katsuie in war with Hideyoshi that she'll later die in, and that her most famous daughter will be his concubine and mother of his heir). He is disliked and mistrusted by several retainers, including Shibata Katsuie, due to his (fake) obsession on pleasing Nobunaga, and is not trusted to go into battle without Takenaka Hanbei and Akechi Mitsuhide (secretly the real Nobunaga) to keep a close eye on him for betrayal. And given the close bond Saburo and Mitsuhide/Nobunaga have, it is heavily implied that he will be the orchestrator of the Honno-Ji incident.
* Not appearing as a person, but protagonist Makoto Edamura of ''Anime/GreatPretender'' looks up to him as [[FromNobodyToNightmare someone obscure who managed to "hoodwink" the whole country]] into bringing him into power. He also invokes him as a model [[EvilVirtues worthy of emulation by any con-man]].
* ''Manga/SamuraiDeeperKyo'': Toyotomi Hideyoshi is mentioned by Sanada Yukimura, who depicts him in a highly romanticized light as a simple and good ruler and the best thing that could happen to Japan, as well as a reason why to hate Tokugawa Ieyasu, who took the country from him.

!!'''LiveActionTV'''
* While there are multiple instances of him being part of the {{Creator/NHK}} Taiga Dramas whenever the Azuchi-Momoyama period is covered, a few recent series stand out:
** ''Dokuganryu Masamune'' ((独眼竜政宗, 1987, which starred Creator/KenWatanabe as the titular [[UsefulNotes/DateMasamune Masamune]]) had him portrayed with [[LargeHam significant aplomb]] by Shintaro Katsu (of ''{{Film/Zatoichi}}'' fame). Owing perhaps to Katsu's [[BigFun larger frame]], Hideyoshi comes off for the most part as a very capricious AdiposeRex, though not without [[SadClown some tragic edge as well]].
** Character actor Naoto Takenaka[[note]]Mainly a J-Film/Drama actor, but is also the official dub actor for ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'''s incarnation of ComicBook/NickFury as portrayed by Creator/SamuelLJackson.[[/note]] would play the role in two notable instances, and he has been celebrated in his turns that he is among the preferred ones to play Hideyoshi--even outside NHK series.
*** 1996's ''Hideyoshi''(秀吉). In the 1996 series, being the title character, ProtagonistCenteredMorality is clearly at play. To an extent, Hideyoshi's portrayal is designed to appeal and inspire 90's-era [[{{Salaryman}} salarymen]], by upholding Hideyoshi's rise from footsoldier to Taiko as the SelfMadeMan dream extraordinaire.
*** 2014's ''Gunshi Kanbei'' (軍師官兵衛). In contrast, the series takes him from being a WorkingClassHero and SelfMadeMan to a FallenHero [[TheCaligula and capricious Taiko]], with both him and Kanbei (his strategist) realizing [[DeathbedConfession on his deathbed]] [[TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget how far they've strayed]] from their intentions once in power.
** ''Sanadamaru'' (真田丸. 2016), by contrast, would attempt to portray a more multi-layered image of Hideyoshi (through Fumiyo Kohinata)--as someone who might have genuinely earned his role at the top through innovative thinking, but [[TradeYourPassionForGlory whose elevated position meant]] he's occupied by far more [[TheChainsOfCommanding personal and political issues he's not wholly willing to address]]. The series both takes a more positive spin on his certain policy choices (ex. couching the Korean invasion as, at least initially, a well-thought out GenghisGambit), while nonetheless acknowledging he has definitely [[MoralEventHorizon crossed over certain lines]] out of pride or a faltering mind (ex. the fallout over Hidetsugu). This choice, to some extent, is likely to justify protagonist UsefulNotes/SanadaYukimura's UndyingLoyalty to the Toyotomi.
** ''Awaiting Kirin'' (麒麟がくる, 2020), as portrayed by Sasaki Kuranosuke, takes a more unsympathetic (or at best, less-layered) portrayal of him--perhaps due to taking the perspective of UsefulNotes/AkechiMitsuhide. While we see him from being an unsuccessful peddler and then rising through the ranks of Nobunaga's army, he's rarely seen as someone who did it legitimately and more [[SocialClimber riding on the coattails of Nobunaga's increasingly-capricious favor]]. [[spoiler:He's not even portrayed as a genuine FatherToHisMen (being shown to have used a poor half-brother as a spy and then disposing of him). Furthermore, despite having received knowledge of the Honno-ji Incident, he did not even rush as fast as he could to try aiding Nobunaga, implying he actually wanted Jubei/Mitsuhide to kill Nobunaga to fuel the disorder, [[LetNoCrisisGoToWaste which he could now exploit for his rise]]]].


!!'''{{Literature}}'''
* The famous novel ''Literature/{{Taiko}}''. Chronicles with the life and times of Hideyoshi, from sandal-bearer to the Japanese unifier.
* In ''Literature/TheAmbitionOfOdaNobuna'', Hideyoshi dies saving the main character's life at the very beginning of the series, leaving him to serve Oda Nobuna under the "Monkey" nickname.
* In ''Literature/The39Clues'', he is really Thomas Cahill, the founder of the Tomas branch.
* In ''[[Literature/AsianSaga Shogun]]'', the novel by James Clavell, he is the inspiration for the character Nakamura, a former dictator of Japan.

!!{{Toys}}
* Has a character based off of him in the ''Franchise/SDGundam BB Senshi'' model series ''Toys/SDSengokudenBushinKourinHen'', Toyotomi Hideyoshi Gundam.

!!'''VideoGames'''
* In ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII'''s special mission, you actually control Hideyoshi's forces trying to beat down Mitsuhide after he killed Nobunaga. There's also a mission where the player must prevent Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea.
* In the ''VideoGame/{{Onimusha}}'' series, Hideyoshi starts out as Nobunaga's smug henchman. But when Nobunaga dies, Hideyoshi [[TookALevelInBadass levels up]] and unifies Japan off-screen. Then comes the [[VideoGame/OnimushaDawnOfDreams fourth game]], where he becomes the BigBad using the Genma forces to wreak havoc. [[spoiler:However, he does get an AlasPoorVillain moment when the Genma forces ditch him and he realizes that he's done something horrible, meaning, there was a time that Hideyoshi had a genuine HeelFaceTurn...]]
* ''VideoGame/SengokuRance'' where he's... a ''literal monkey''. He's also directly responsible for the DemonicPossession of Nobunaga as a catastrophic SpannerInTheWorks.
* Of course, KOEI's ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors''. Hideyoshi starts out as a [[SmugSnake smug]] sleazeball NPC in the first game, but at the first expansion, he's given a more sympathetic personality where he really wants to make Japan a place for happy people. That trait sticks to his future portrayals. Even though he also has a friendship with Saika Magoichi as well as being a much more fun and stern guy to be around, he still looks more of a goofball in future games...oh, and he also loves treasure. He wields a sansetsukon (three-section staff) in battle, and as a note to his monkey motif, WordOfGod made it so it was akin to a monkey's tail whipping at something.
** ''VideoGame/WarriorsOrochi'' is also notable of his inclusion, especially in the English version, whereas his voice now literally sounds like ''WesternAnimation/BugsBunny'' trying to sound like a monkey. [[{{Narm}} Eww...]]
*** In the ''Nobunaga's Ambition'' crossover with the ''Pokémon series'', ''VideoGame/PokemonConquest'', Hideyoshi appears with an Infernape (and through DLC Reshiram).
*** In all those games in the Japanese version after his second ''Warriors'' game appearance, he's subsequently portrayed by Creator/HideoIshikawa.
* The ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' series. Forget about scrawny monkey-like Hideyoshi and say hello to gorilla-sized Hideyoshi who fights with huge grappling gauntlets and solves all problems by punching them. Hard. If that fails, grab a nearby {{mook}} (usually a hostile one but friendly ones will do), then bludgeon the problem at hand with said mook. Instead of a SmugSnake, he becomes a WellIntentionedExtremist who'd do ruthless things to shape Japan into a strong nation. To put it simply, he's a CaptainErsatz of [[Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar Raoh]], with massive power shaped in the form of [[LightIsNotGood light]].
** Plus, he also is voiced by a seiyuu who does characters in the aforementioned ''Warriors'' franchise[[note]]Orochi, Motochika Chousokabe, Sima Shi and Sima Yi[[/note]]. That guy happens to be [[Creator/RyotaroOkiayu Ryoutarou Okiayu]].
* Hideyoshi is one of the main players in ''Hyouge Mono''. He is a friend and fellow tea enthusiast of main character Sasuke, and is also a deft manipulator who conspires to overthrow UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga by turning his vassals and generals against him.
* Hideyoshi is a teenager that meets Raimon 11 in ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven Go Chrono Stone'' after they traveled to the past. He idolizes UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga and wishes to fight by his side.
* ''VideoGame/{{Nioh}}'' occurs after Hideyoshi has died, but his legacy is still referenced by historical characters: Kuroda Kanbei was imprisoned during his tyrannical rule, while he [[{{Cuckold}} forced himself upon Tachibana Ginchiyo into an affair]] when her husband Muneshige was fighting for him during the CivilWar. Finally, UsefulNotes/IshidaMitsunari still continues to serve the Toyotomi clan as a vassal and leads their forces at the Battle of Sekigahara. For all his flaws, Mitsunari still saw values within Hideyoshi's dream to make Japan unified and strong. Also despite making Hideyoshi more tyrannical, Koei still had him not touching the Korean Campaign.
** [[VideoGame/Nioh2 The prequel game]] in 2019, however, depicted Hideyoshi in his younger days and he was much more heroic before he ended up being a tyrant. [[spoiler: Turns out, "Toyotomi Hideyoshi" is two people taking on the name, the first one is the default man himself, Kinoshita Tokichiro, who unfortunately suffered DemonicPossession by the game's BigBad, Kashin Koji, and eventually committed all those tyrannical actions in his name. The other one is the protagonist of the game, Hide, who eventually fixes things and generally being more heroic.]] [[CastingGag For a bonus]], Naoto Takenaka (from the NHK Taigas above) serves as InkSuitActor and voices him.
* ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'':
** ''Fate/Koha-Ace'': He doesn't appear, but he is mentioned as a hypothetical Servant, and Oda Nobunaga is a Servant who occasionally talks about him. He was later given a profile as a Saber class Servant. When summoned, he will start out as a child, but then his Noble Phantasm Child of the Sun will cause him to rapidly age into a powerful adult over the course of a week, and then into an elderly man the next week. This symbolizes his growth from a no-name farmer to one of the most important names in Japan, and also his rise as a no-name guy to the IdealHero that brought peace to Japan by unifying it at his peak (adult), but then decayed into the FallenHero that massacred Christians, ordered the disastrous Korean Campaign and killing his own family members for no reason as he got older and more senile.[[note]]According to [[UsefulNotes/UesugiKenshin Nagao Kagetora]], [[HistoricalGenderFlip she]] knew Hideyoshi as an upstanding man when he was with Nobunaga, but according to Chacha, who was with him after Nobunaga died, he's an 'incorrigible playboy with no sense of morals at all'. [[/note]] He also has Blade Taker: Sword Hunt, which gives him a chance to render his opponent's weapon useless and then at higher levels steal the weapon, and can summon the Sunomata Castle.
** He is still TheGhost in ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', but his liege lord Nobunaga and his second wife Chacha are playable characters in-game, with their characters colored by their perception of him. Furthermore, in the 3rd GUDAGUDA event, [[spoiler:much of the motivations of that chapter's main villain (Akechi Mitsuhide) is colored by his resentment of being AlwaysSecondBest to Hideyoshi in Nobunaga's eyes. Also, Mitsuhide [[CrazyJealousGuy is convinced]] Nobunaga and/or Hideyoshi were in love with each other]]. And beforehand, in the 2nd GUDAGUDA event, while he personally did not appear, one Demon Pillar took his name (or just his title Taikou) and recreated his golden castle after capturing Chacha, enabling it to get a perception of Hideyoshi from her to make it happen. And in the 4th GUDAGUDA event, he's deliberately the target of hatred for Katsuie Shibata, who hates how Hideyoshi avenged Nobunaga before he could, rose to power in the vacuum left by her death, and can be linked to Chacha's later suffering in life.
** ''Chibichuki!'': In a parody, several characters reenact ''Literature/{{Momotaro}}'' and he plays Monkey.
* In ''VisualNovel/IkemenSengoku'' he is a love interest, and far from being a schemer, he's almost fanatically loyal to Nobunaga, to the point that the main character considers the latter a love rival. The reason for his loyalty is that he was born very poor, stated specifically by himself to have been [[https://globalvoices.org/2011/05/05/japan-sanka-legendary-gypsies-living-in-the-wild/ sanka]], and ultimately was treated so badly by the world he gave up on himself and became a petty thief. But when he tried to rob a young noble one day, that noble turned out to be Nobunaga, who handily disarmed him. Hideyoshi waited for death, not seeing his life worth anything, but was told by Nobunaga that class and caste differences were meaningless and that he strove to create a unified Japan where all people would be equal. So moved was Hideyoshi that he tracked him down to become his sandal-bearer and rose through the ranks to be his right-hand man. When the main character meets him, he is a reliable, friendly TeamMom who is beloved by the town for his good nature, but widely acknowledged as a bad romantic prospect, due to his willingness to throw his life away for Nobunaga at a moment's notice. Later in his route, the main character catches a glimpse of what the future will be if she leaves the time period to go back home, seeing Hideyoshi as a bloodthirsty, wealth-obsessed tyrant totally unlike the man she knows. She realises that's what the historical Hideyoshi was like, and that's who he will become if she allows him to continue his self-destructive path in the wake of Nobunaga's (apparent) death.

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