was a Japanese daimyo

Daimyo

is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...

 of the early Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

.

Biography

Mitsunao was born in 1619, and was the eldest son of Hosokawa Tadatoshi

Hosokawa Tadatoshi

was a Japanese daimyo of the early Edo period, who ruled the Kumamoto Domain. He was a patron of the martial artist Miyamoto Musashi.Tadatoshi's grave is in Kumamoto. His Grandfather was Hosokawa Fujitaka-Gallery:...

. In 1637, he joined his father in the effort to subdue the Shimabara Rebellion

Shimabara Rebellion

The was an uprising largely involving Japanese peasants, most of them Catholic Christians, in 1637–1638 during the Edo period.It was one of only a handful of instances of serious unrest during the relatively peaceful period of the Tokugawa shogunate's rule...

, and fought with distinction. Succeeding his father in 1641, he became daimyo of the Kumamoto Domain

Kumamoto Domain

The was han or a Japanese feudal domain that was located in Higo Province apart from Kuma District and Amakusa District and part of Bungo Province . It was also known as...

.

Mitsunao's suppression of the Abe family's revolt in 1642 is famous, due to its fictionalization by Mori Ōgai

Mori Ogai

was a Japanese physician, translator, novelist and poet. is considered his major work.- Early life :Mori was born as Mori Rintarō in Tsuwano, Iwami province . His family were hereditary physicians to the daimyō of the Tsuwano Domain...

.