A daimyo of the Sengoku-early Edo period and the father of Hosokawa Tadaoki, father-in-law of Hosokawa Gracia. After serving Ashikaga Yoshiteru and Yoshiaki he joined Oda Nobunaga. Just before Sekigahara, his home base Tanabe Castle was surrounded by the Western Army, but an imperial order from Emperor Goyozei — who regretted that the heir to "Kokin Denju" (secret transmission of Kokinshu poetry) might be lost — brought about a truce. He was the archetypal daimyo excelling in both letters and arms, versed in poetry, military strategy, and tea ceremony. Together with his son Tadaoki he consolidated the Hosokawa family foundation; his descendants include former Prime Minister Hosokawa Morihiro. He lived to seventy-seven.

A rare daimyo combining political flexibility with cultural depth. His devotion to culture — to the point of staking his life on preserving the Kokin Denju — was extraordinary.

Through the transmission of Kokin Denju, the tradition of Japanese waka poetry was preserved. The Hosokawa family's tradition of excellence in both letters and arms was inherited by descendants, becoming the source of the family's cultural influence to this day.