Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537-1598) was a Japanese military leader who, along with his predecessor Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) and his successor Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), is credited with unifying Japan in the 16th century. Hideyoshi rose from a humble background to become the country's military supremo, and he then reorganised the class system, instigated tax reforms, built castles, restored temples, and launched two invasions of Korea. Hideyoshi's foreign ambitions may have met with disaster but his restructuring of the state would establish the social and political norms which endured in Japan until the 19th century.
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