The Mori family had first achieved prominence…

The Mori family had first achieved prominence in the early sixteenth century when some vassals of the Ouchi family, then the dominant power in west Honshu and probably the most powerful warriors in all Japan, had revolted against the Ouchi's autocratic rule.

Under the leadership of Mori Motonari (1497–1571), his family, though not directly involved in the uprising, had been able to profit by the revolt, and in 1557 he had become the new overlord of west Honshu.

Motonari's grandson, Mori Terumoto, had become the major opponent of Nobunaga when the great warrior made his bid to reunify Japan.

After a two-year siege against Bessho Nagaharu, a retainer of the Mori clan, the Hideyoshi clan in 1580 captures Miki, a city in western Honshu, Japan, that had developed around a castle built by Bessho Naganori in 1468.