Mōri Motonari

Mōri Motonari (1497–1571) was the daimyo who transformed the Mōri clan from a minor western Honshu family into the dominant power of the Chugoku region, eventually controlling ten of its eleven provinces. He is especially famous for the parable of three arrows: advising his three sons that one arrow alone breaks easily but three together cannot be broken—a lesson on the strength of unity.

He is enshrined at Mōri Shrine in Yoshida (Hiroshima Prefecture) and is venerated as a patron of strategic wisdom, family unity, and political acumen.