Maeda Hidetsugu's exact birth year is unknown. As Toshiie's youngest brother, he served under him and campaigned across the country. In August 1585, after Sassa Narimasa's surrender in Hideyoshi's subjugation of Toyama, Hidetsugu was granted 40,000 koku and installed as lord of Kifune Castle in Etchu. Just three months later, however, late on the night of November 29, a massive earthquake later known as the Tensho earthquake struck the Etchu region, and Kifune Castle collapsed as the very ground beneath it gave way. Hidetsugu and his wife were crushed to death along with many retainers, their bodies reportedly not recovered until three days later. The earthquake caused catastrophic damage far beyond Kifune Castle, across Etchu, Hida, Mino, and Omi, and the deaths of Hidetsugu and his wife are remembered as its symbolic tragedy. After his death, his son Toshihide became castellan of Imaisurugi Castle, which was developed as the region's new center in Kifune's place.

A loyal warrior who supported his brother Toshiie in campaigns across the land; though his tenure as lord of Kifune Castle was extremely brief, he is remembered as a figure struck down by sudden natural disaster.

The destruction of Kifune Castle and the deaths of Hidetsugu and his wife in the Tensho earthquake stand in history as a documented example of the large-scale natural disaster that struck Etchu at the end of the Sengoku period. The ruins of Kifune Castle remain today in Fukuoka-machi, Takaoka City, as a historic site preserving the memory of a castle town lost to earthquake.