Ōtani Yoshitsugu was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period through the Azuchi-Momoyama Period. He was also known by his court title Junior Assistant Minister of Justice or Gyōbu-shōyū (刑部少輔). He was born in 1558 to a father who was said to be a retainer of either Ōtomo Sōrin or Rokkaku Yoshikata. He became one of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's followers. He participated in the Toyotomi's Odawara campaign and Korean campaign.

The Japanese invasions of Korea, commonly known as the Imjin War, involved two separate yet linked invasions: an initial invasion in 1592, a brief truce in 1596, and a second invasion in 1597. The conflict ended in 1598 with the withdrawal of Japanese forces from the Korean Peninsula after a military stalemate in Korea's southern provinces.