Japon 123

Acrobats ca. 1800, Japanese Edo period

This handscroll depicts a variety of acrobatic feats, some purely imaginary but many others that would have been performed in the Edo period. Acrobatics was brought to Japan from China in the seventh century, and in the Muromachi period (1392–1573) a form of acrobatics called “spider dancing” was sponsored by aristocrats and military leaders as a type of religious entertainment.

With the growing urbanization and commercialization of Japan in the early Edo period, acrobatics began to be performed in urban areas as a kind of commercial enterprise for the enjoyment of all classes of society. 

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shiro-nakazumi:

Kikuchi Takemitsu (1319-1373)

Takemitsu was the 9th son of Taketoki and continued fighting for the Emperor as his father had done. He was a general of the Nanbokucho era, fighting on the side of the emperor, along with Prince Kanenaga (懐良親王) (1326-1383) (son of Emperor Go-Daigo). The scene where he fights a famous battle on the Chikugo river is drawn in the picture on the right. He was the strongest and most dependable ally of Prince Kanenaga in the struggle against the Bafuku. He was stuck with a triple threat by the armies of Ashikaga Yoshinori, Ashikaga Takasaki and Ashikaga Tadaaki. This made Takemitsu have to raise the siege of Takasaki and address himself to the defence of Daizaifu. The three Ashikaga armies enveoloped Daizaifu and it fell into their hands before the end of September 1372. Takemitsu had to retreat and escaped to Chikugo with Prince Kanenaga. When Takemitsu died he left the loyalist defence without a really tested leader, and his heir Takemasa, a promising soldier, died in 1374.[7]

The Battle of Oohobaru (The Battle of Chikugo River):

Forty thousands which followed Kikuchi Takemitsu as their head advanced northwards from Kikuchi in Kumamoto with Prince Kanenaga, and were opposed to North Dynasty’s Army across the Chikugo River. Kikuchi Takemitu commanded 5000 soldiers to cross the Chikugo River, and pitched a camp around present Miyase. The unit of Kikuchi Takemitsu went along the present Oomuta Railway Line northwards,and headed for Ajisaka. But,forces of the Shouni Family avoided the fight and retreated to the point near present Ooho station. Although, as for this battle line, the stalemate continued for half a month,on the midnight of August 15, Takemitsu finally took the suicide corps of 3000 and moved quietly on the east side of the forces of the Syouni, and attacked it from both sides. In a short while, 1000 horsemen headed by Kikuchi Takemasa arrived there for the help and the Battle of Oohobaru started. Although both armies repeated fierce fight of advance and retreat around Ogoori,the Kikuchi army pressed the Shouni army gradually, the Shouni army retreated along present the Amagi Railway Line toward northeast to arrive at Yamakumahara which spread over present Tachiarai. Although the Shoni army tried to reorganize the disrupted forces at Mt. Hanatateyama, they ran into Mt. Houmanzan 15 kilometers north because they were scattered by the fierce pursuit of the Kikuchi army which didn’t give any spare time for them.[9] 

Por este caminoni un solo hombre va:

tarde de otoño.

El haiku japonés. Historia y traducción (Fernando Rodríguez-Izquierdo). poesía Hiperión, 5ª edición, 2005.

the-next-emperor:

Yoshiko Kawashima [川島芳子] (24 May 1907 - 25 March 1948) was a Manchu princess brought up in Japan, who served as a spy in the service of the Japanese Kwantung Army and Manchukuo. Originally named Aisin Gioro Xianyu (愛新覺羅·顯玗) with the courtesy name Dongzhen (東珍, literally meaning “Eastern Jewel”). She

was later on, adopted at the age of eight by her father’s friend Naniwa Kawashima who worked as a Japanese spy. 

She was raped by Naniwa Kawashima at the age of 17 and ever since then, the will to fight for her own kingdom rose even though she followed her adoptive father’s rules and also became a spy. She dressed often as a man after the incident and in 1948 she was executed as a traitor by the Kuomintang after the Second Sino-Japanese War. 

fromthefloatingworld:

Ariko Weeps as her Boat Drifts in the Moonlight, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年) is considered the last great master of ukiyo-e, and one of its greatest innovators. During his career, Japan began to adopt Western technologies for the mass production of images, such as photography, while Yoshitoshi continued to work in the old woodblock printing method. He has been praised for his ability to use the new ideas that came from the West and his own innovations while still preserving the best points of old ukiyo-e. It is estimated that he produced over 10,000 prints, some of his most famous belonging to the series One Hundred Aspects of the Moon (to which the above image belongs), Twenty-Eight Famous Murders with Verse, and New Forms of Thirty-Six Ghosts. He is commonly recognized as the greatest Japanese artist of his era.

A display of three pots made by the Jōmon people – a culture which produced some of the oldest pottery in the world.

The display will feature three 'flame' and 'water' pots from ancient Japan. The pots are between 5,000 and 7,000 years old and are from one of the oldest ceramic cultures in the world. Loans of two pots from Nagaoka City in the Niigata prefecture in Japan will sit alongside the Museum’s own Jōmon pot which was featured in the British Museum and BBC Radio 4 series A History of the World in 100 Objects.

The Jōmon people lived in Japan around 16,000 to 2,500 years ago. The term 'Jōmon' means ‘cord-marked’ in Japanese, and is derived from the decorative markings on the pottery. More and more is being discovered about Jōmon origins and culture, and the extraordinary surviving examples of their pottery have sparked huge interest around the world.

The pots themselves were made for a number of reasons and are both functional and aesthetically beautiful. The display will look at some of the imagery and symbolism on the pots, and will try to provide an insight into this mysterious culture from the distant past. It will also demonstrate how Jōmon pots have been an inspiration to modern Japanese culture with references in music, manga, modern art and even manhole cover design.

Earthenware flame pot. Japan, c. 3000 BC. Nagaoka Municipal Science Museum, Niigata Prefecture, Japan.

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akirahiromu:

Nichiren (日蓮) (February 16, 1222 – October 13, 1282) was a Buddhist monk who lived during the Kamakura period (1185–1333) in Japan. Nichiren taught devotion to the Lotus Sutra (entitled Myōhō-Renge-Kyō in Japanese)— which contained Gautama Buddha’s teachings towards the end of his life — as the exclusive means to attain enlightenment. Nichiren believed that the sutra contained the essence of all of Gautama Buddha’s teachings, of which related to the law of cause and effect and karma. This devotion to the sutra entails the chanting of Nam(u)-Myōhō-Renge-Kyō (referred to as “daimoku”) as the essential practice of the teaching.

Nichiren Buddhism includes various schools with their own interpretations of Nichiren’s teachings, the most prominent being Nichiren Shu, Nichiren Shoshu and Soka Gakkai; however, despite the differences between schools, all Nichiren sects share the fundamental practice of chanting daimoku. While virtually all Nichiren Buddhist schools regard him as a reincarnation of the Lotus Sutra’s BodhisattvaSuperior Practices, Jōgyō Bosatsu (上行菩薩), some schools of Nichiren Buddhism’s Nikkō lineages regard him as the actual Buddha of this age, or the Buddha of the Latter day of the Law.

diamondcouldntbebroken:

IWAKURA Tomomi (岩倉具視,) one of the most influential nobles(kuge: 公家) during

the Meiji restoration (明治維新) and in the new government in Japan.

He was born as second son of a high class noble (kugyo: 公卿), HORIKAWA

Yasuchika (堀河康親) in 1825. At the age of 14, Tomomi was adopted as IWAKURA

Tomoyasu (岩倉具慶.) The family was descendent of one of four representative clans:

Genji (源氏,) which was related to Mikado(Ten-no: 天皇). Having been authorized by imperial court newly, Iwakura family’s income was not ideal. However, despite his rank, he showed unprecedented dynamism and persuasiveness among Mikado-supporting advocates such as revolutionary kuges and samurais belong to powerful domains(雄藩) for the political movement to defeat Tokugawa shogunate. His one of

written opinion during the activity, “Shinshu Banzai Kensaku” (神州万歳堅策) is exceedingly famous. Eventually Tomomi’s passion made a fruition as restoration of Mikado’s supremacy from shogunate for the first time in 700 years (大政奉還) in 1868. Now we can find his name in a list of the new government which centers around the Mikado as third position. Incidentally, a famous episode which tangibly represents his policy is that he never had his topknot(髷) cut even though new act about hairstyle change enacted, meant his will of objection to westernization. He finally had cut his stickiness to tradition off in Chicago, on his way travel around the Western countries as an ambassador of legation(岩倉使節団) in 1871. The beginning of that he took picture in traditional cloth and topknot. But in America, he was noticed why he got welcomed enthusiastically. That was people’s curiosities with his hairstyle. With embarrassment, he got rid of his topknot quickly.

omgthatartifact:

Gunsen

Japan, 1800-1850

Asian Art Museum

“Label: In Japan commanders of samurai combat teams used a gunsen, an instrument resembling a baton, which sometimes took the form of a folding fan. This instrument was an emblem of the rank of supreme commander of the army and was used to direct the movement of troops. Two heavy iron guards enclose the ten dark-colored bamboo ribs of this fan. Covered with lacquered paper, both ends of the ribs are glued to the iron guards. The lower ends of the ribs and guards are joined with a gilded copper alloy tube rivet. A design of the sun in red decorates the center of the fan. Simple and bold, this design would have been visible from some distance. Among other instruments used to direct the movements of large bodies of Japanese troops were gongs, drums, and conch horns.”

monstreux:

ace-su:

Real-life Grave of the Fireflies: (Photo) Stoic Japanese orphan, standing at attention having brought his dead younger brother to a cremation pyre, Nagasaki, by Joe O’Donnell 1945This photograph was taken by an American photojournalist, Joe O’Donnell, in Nagasaki in 1945.

He recently spoke to a Japanese interviewer about this picture:

“I saw a boy about ten years old walking by. He was carrying a baby on his back. In those days in Japan, we often saw children playing with their little brothers or sisters on their backs, but this boy was clearly different. I could see that he had come to this place for a serious reason. He was wearing no shoes. His face was hard. The little head was tipped back as if the baby were fast asleep.

“The boy stood there for five or ten minutes. The men in white masks walked over to him and quietly began to take off the rope that was holding the baby. That is when I saw that the baby was already dead. The men held the body by the hands and feet and placed it on the fire.

“The boy stood there straight without moving, watching the flames. He was biting his lower lip so hard that it shone with blood. The flame burned low like the sun going down. The boy turned around and walked silently away.”

.

Yūgen (幽玄): an awareness of the universe that triggers emotional responses too deep and mysterious to be described.

.

Yūgen (幽玄) is an important concept in traditional Japanese aesthetics. The exact translation of the word depends on the context. In the Chinese philosophical texts the term was taken from, yūgen meant “dim”, “deep” or “mysterious”. In the criticism of Japanese waka poetry, it was used to describe the subtle profundity of things that are only vaguely suggested by the poems, and was also the name of a style of poetry (one of the ten orthodox styles delineated by Fujiwara no Teika in his treatises).

Yugen suggests that beyond what can be said but is not an allusion to another world. It is about this world, this experience. All of these are portals to yugen:

“To watch the sun sink behind a flower clad hill. To wander on in a huge forest without thought of return. To stand upon the shore and gaze after a boat that disappears behind distant islands. To contemplate the flight of wild geese seen and lost among the clouds. And, subtle shadows of bamboo on bamboo.” Zeami Motokiyo

Zeami was the originator of the dramatic art form Noh theatre and wrote the classic book on dramatic theory (Kadensho). He uses images of nature as a constant metaphor. For example, “snow in a silver bowl” represents “the Flower of Tranquility”. Yugen is

said to mean “a profound, mysterious sense of the beauty of the universe… and the sad beauty of human suffering”. It is used to refer to Zeami’s interpretation of “refined elegance” in the performance of Noh. via: wiki - image: towardsmagz

mediumaevum:

Tomoe Gozen  (1157?–1247), was a late twelfth-century concubine of Minamoto no Yoshinaka.  

Tomoe was a rare female samurai warrior (onna bugeisha), known for her bravery and strength. She is believed to have fought and survived the Genpei War (1180–1185).

Tomoe was especially beautiful, with white skin, long hair, and charming features. She was also a remarkably strong archer, and as a swordswoman she was a warrior worth a thousand, ready to confront a demon or a god, mounted or on foot. She handled unbroken horses with superb skill; she rode unscathed down perilous descents. Whenever a battle was imminent, Yoshinaka sent her out as his first captain, equipped with strong armor, an oversized sword, and a mighty bow; and she performed more deeds of valor than any of his other warriors.

— The Tale of the HeikeImage

centuriespast:

Battle at the Bottom of the Sea off Daimotsu BeachARTIST:Kuniyoshi Utagawa Published by Keijiro_ Fujiokaya

DATE:1847-1852MEDIUM:Color woodblock print

Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159-89), a valiant warrior and a charismatic leader, was heading to the west in order to avoid a military conflict with his distrustful brother when he arrived at Daimotsu Beach in 1185. As soon as Yoshitsune and his men sailed out to sea, a sudden furious storm arose. Although Yoshitsune survived the ordeal, he lost many of his soldiers. People attributed this incident to the ghosts of the enemy warriors who had been killed by Yoshitsune’s army during a sea battle that had taken place not far from Daimotsu Beach several months before. Kuniyoshi depicted the imaginary battle under the water. Crabs possessed by the troubled sprits, suggested by the human faces that appear on their shells, are attacking one of Yoshitsune’s retainers who have fallen overboard into the turbulent sea.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Nanga (南画 lit. “Southern painting”?), also known as Bunjinga (文人画 lit. literati painting”?), was a school of Japanese painting which flourished in the late Edo period among artists who considered themselves literati, or intellectuals. While each of these artists was, almost by definition, unique and independent, they all shared an admiration for traditional Chinese culture. Their paintings, usually in monochrome black ink, sometimes with light color, and nearly always depicting Chinese landscapes or similar subjects, were patterned after Chinese literati painting, called wenrenhua (文人画) in Chinese. The name nanga is an abbreviation of nanshūga, referring to the Chinese Southern school of painting (nanzonghua in Chinese).

Chinese literati painting focused on expressing the rhythm of nature, rather than the technical realistic depiction of it. At the same time, however, the artist was encouraged to display a cold lack of affection for the painting, as if he, as an intellectual, was above caring deeply about his work. Ultimately, this style of painting was an outgrowth of the idea of the intellectual, or literati, as a master of all the core traditional arts - painting, calligraphy, and poetry.

Due to the Edo period policy of sakoku, Japan was cut off from the outside world almost completely; its contact with China persisted, but was greatly limited. What little did make its way into Japan was either imported through Nagasaki, or produced by Chinese living there. As a result, the bunjin (literati) artists who aspired to the ideals and lifestyles of the Chinese literati were left with a rather incomplete view of Chinese literati ideas and art. Bunjinga grew, therefore, out of what did come to Japan from China, including Chinese woodblock-printed painting manuals and an assortment of paintings widely ranging in quality.

Bunjinga emerged as a new and unique art form for this reason, as well as due to the great differences in culture and environment of the Japanese literati as compared to their Chinese counterparts. The form was to a great extent defined by its rejection of other major schools of art, such as the Kano school and Tosa school. In addition, the literati themselves were not members of an academic, intellectual bureaucracy as their Chinese

counterparts were. While the Chinese literati were, for the most part, academics aspiring to be painters, the Japanese literati were professionally trained painters aspiring to be academics and intellectuals.

Nanga or bunjinga paintings almost always depicted traditional Chinese subjects. Artists focused almost exclusively on landscapes and birds and flowers. Poetry or other inscriptions were also an important element of these paintings, and were often in fact added by friends of the artist, not by the painter himself.

Unlike in other schools of art which have definite founders who pass on their specific style to their students or followers, nanga was always much more about the attitude espoused by the painter and his love of Chinese culture. Thus, as mentioned before, every bunjin artist displayed unique elements in his creations, and many even diverged greatly from the stylistic elements employed by their forebears and contemporaries. As Japan became exposed to Western culture at the end of the Edo period, many bunjin began to incorporate stylistic elements of Western art into their own, though they nearly always avoided Western subjects and stuck strictly to traditional Chinese ones.

Ernest Fenollosa and Okakura Kakuzō, two of the first to introduce Japanese art in any major way to the West, are known to have criticized nanga as trivial and derivative. As a result, the style has only attracted academic attention in the West in recent decades, roughly 100 years later.

An onna-bugeisha (女武芸者?) was a type of female warrior belonging to the Japanese upper class. Many wives, widows, daughters, and rebels answered the call of duty by engaging in battle, commonly alongside samurai men. They were members of the bushi (samurai) class in feudal Japan and were trained in the use of weapons to protect their household, family, and honor in times of war. They also represented a divergence from the traditional “housewife” role of the Japanese woman. They are sometimes mistakenly referred to as female samurai, although this is an oversimplification. Onna bugeisha were very important people in ancient Japan. Significant icons such as Empress Jingu(top left), Tomoe Gozen(top right), Nakano Takeko(bottom left), and Hojo Masako(bottom right) were all onna bugeisha who came to have a significant impact on Japan.

History

[edit]Early history

Long before the emergence of the renowned samurai class, Japanese fighters were highly trained to wield a sword and spear. Women learned to utilize naginata, kaiken, and the art of tantojutsuin battle. Such training ensured protection in communities that lacked male fighters. One such woman, later known as Empress Jingu (c. 169-269 AD), utilized her skills to inspire economic and social change. She was legendarily recognized as the onna bugeisha who led an invasion of Korea in 200 AD after her husband Emperor Chūai, the fourteenth emperor of Japan, was slain in battle. According

to the legend, she miraculously led a Japanese conquest of Korea without shedding a drop of blood. Despite controversies surrounding her existence and her accomplishments, she was an example of the onna bugeisha in its entirety. Years after her death, Jingu was able to transcend the socioeconomic structures that were instilled in Japan. In 1881, Empress Jingū became the first woman to be featured on a Japanese banknote. Designed to stop counterfeiting, her image was printed on oblong paper.[1] In addition to economic changes in Japan, onna bugeisha also stretched social structures.

Tomoe Gozen

During the earlier Heian and Kamakura periods, women who were prominent on the battlefield were the exception rather than the rule. Japanese ideals of femininity predisposed most women to powerlessness, in conflict with a female warrior role.[2] Women warriors were nonetheless pioneers in this role, and some even went on to lead their own clans.

[edit]Kamakura Period

The Genpei War (1180–1185) marked the war between the Taira and Minamoto; two very prominent and powerful Japanese clans of the late-Heian Period. During this time, the epic Heike Monogatari was written and tales of courageous and devoted samurai were recounted. Among those was Tomoe Gozen, wife of Minamoto Yoshinaka of the Minamoto clan. Gozen assisted her husband in defending himself against the forces of his cousin, Minamoto no Yoritomo. During the Battle of Awazu on February 21, 1184, Gozen rode into the enemy forces, flung herself on their strongest warrior, unhorsed, pinned, and decapitated him.[2] In the Tale of Heike, Gozen was described as being “especially beautiful, with white skin, long hair, and charming features. She was also a remarkably strong archer, and as a swords-woman she was a warrior worth a thousand, ready to confront a demon or a god, mounted or on foot. She handled unbroken horses with superb skill; she rode unscathed down perilous descents. Whenever a battle was imminent, Yoshinaka sent her out as his first captain, equipped with strong armor, an

oversized sword, and a mighty bow; and she performed more deeds of valor than any of his other warriors.”[2]

Although she was not proven to be a historical figure, Gozen has impacted much of the warrior class, including many traditional Naginata schools. Her actions in battle also received much attention in the arts plays such as Tomoe no Monogatari and various ukiyo paintings. As time passed, the influence of onna bugeisha saw its way from paintings to politics.

After the Heike were thwarted towards the western provinces of Japan, the Kamakura shogunate (1185–1333) was soon established under the rule of Minamoto no Yoritomo. After he passed, his wife, Hojo Masako, was the first onna bugeisha to become a prominent player of politics – in the early years of the Hojo regency. Masako became a Buddhist nun, a traditional fate of samurai widows, becoming known as “The General in Nun’s Habit”. She bullied the samurai class into supporting her son, Minamoto no Yoriie, as the first Hojo Shikken (regent) in Kamakura.[3]

Through the collective efforts of Masako and a few political puppets, laws governing the shogun’s court in the early 13th century allowed women equal rights of inheritance with fraternal kin. Even though the primary role of women in ancient Japan continued to be the support to their family and their husbands, they acquired a higher status in the household. These laws also allowed Japanese women to control finances, bequeath property, the upkeep of the home, managed servants, and for raising their children with proper, loyal, samurai upbringing. Most importantly, Japanese women were also expected to defend their homes in times of war.

[edit]Edo Period and beyond

Nakano Takeko died at the Battle of Aizu.

Due to the influence of Neo-Confucian philosophy and the established marriage market of the Edo Period (1600–1868), the status of the onna bugeisha diminished significantly. The function of onna bugeisha changed in addition to their husbands. Samurai were no longer concerned with battles and war, they were bureaucrats.

Women, specifically daughters of most upper class households, were soon pawns to dreams of success and power. The roaring ideals of fearless devotion and selflessness were gradually replaced by quiet, passive, civil obedience.

Travel during the Edo Period was demanding and unsettling for many female samurai due to heavy restrictions. They always had to be accompanied by a man, since they could not travel by themselves. Additionally, they had to possess specific permits, establishing their business and motives. Samurai women also received much harassment from officials who manned inspection checkpoints.[4]

The onset of the 17th century marked a significant transformation in the social acceptance of women in Japan. Many samurai viewed women purely as child bearers; the concept of a woman being a fit companion for war was no longer conceivable. The relationship between a husband and wife could be correlated to that of a lord and his vassal. “Husbands and wives did not even customarily sleep together. The husband would visit his wife to initiate any sexual activity and afterwards would retire to his own room”.[5] Despite the social view of women as being mere means to an end, they were still expected to show solace for death when it came to defending their husband’s honor. A wife’s solidarity for the sake of her husband was a common and well receptive theme in Japanese culture. In addition to self-sacrifice, self-renunciation was also an imperative quality a Japanese woman had to possess until the dawn of the 20th century.

In 1868, during the Battle of Aizu, a part of the Boshin War, Nakano Takeko a member of the Aizu clan, was recruited to become leader of a female corps who fought against the onslaught of 20,000 Imperial Japanese Army of the Ogaki domain. Highly skilled at the naginata, Takeko and her corps of about 20 joined 3,000 other Aizu samurai in battle. The Hokai Temple in Aizu Bangemachi, Fukishima province contains a monument erected in her honor.

[edit]Weapons

The naginata is a long rod with a curved blade at the tip. Due to its versatility and convention, more women have been attracted to its use. It offers a wide variety of long ranged techniques due to its length. It also proved to be very efficient against marauders who often attacked on horseback. A bow and arrow would also be used due to its even wider attack range. Additionally, the naginata was proven to be effective in close quarter combat. Considering the usual strength advantage men had over women, a strong woman armed with a naginata could keep most combatants at bay. It was during those circumstances where strength, weight, or sword counted for less. Through its use by many legendary samurai women, the naginata has been propelled as the iconic image of a woman warrior. During the Edo Period, many schools focusing on the use of the naginata were created and perpetuated its association with women.[6]

The Death of Nobunaga

As mentioned earlier, Nobunaga was said to have treated his retainers haughtily, and this seems to have been nowhere more the case than with Akechi Mitsuhide. A relatively late addition to Nobunaga’s inner circle, Mitsuhide was a talented general and poet, perhaps provoking his lord’s jealousy as a result of the latter. The best-known story regarding the rift between the two men and just unusual enough to be true occurred in 1577. In that year, Akechi had been tasked with subduing Tamba, and in the course of his campaign besieged the castle of the Hatano clan. Akechi succeded in securing the bloodless surrender of Hatano Hideharu and brought him before Nobunaga. To Akechi’s shock, Nobunaga (for reasons unknown) ordered Hatano and his brother executed. The Hatano retainers blamed Akechi for the betrayal and in revenge kidnapped and brutally murdered Akechi’s mother (who lived on the Akechi lands in nearby Omi). Unsurprisingly, this whole business did not sit so well with Mitsuhide, although there is no real hint of his actively plotting until 1582. In that year, Nobunaga returned from his conquest of the Takeda clan in time for news of a crisis in the west. Hideyoshi was investing Takamatsu castle, but faced with the arrival of the main Môri army requested reinforcements. Nobunaga responded by speeding a large contingent of his personal troops westward while he himself entertained court nobles at the Honnoji in Kyôto on 20 June. He awoke the following morning in the Honnoji to find that during the night Akechi Mitsuhide had the temple surrounded. Raising an army on the pretext of going to Hideyoshi’s aid, Mitsuhide had taken a detour into Kyôto and now called for Nobunaga’s head. As Nobunaga had only a small personal guard in attendance on the morning of 21 June, the outcome was a forgone conclusion, and he died, either in the blaze that was started in the course of the fighting or by his own hand. Soon afterwards, Oda Hidetada was surrounded at Nijo and killed. 11 days after that, Akechi Mitsuhide would himself be killed, defeated by Hideyoshi at the Battle of Yamazaki.

Oda Nobunaga died one of most interesting and controversial figures in Japanese history who continues to inspire debate among scholars and enthusiasts of the Sengoku Period. Was he the tyrant so often portrayed in the history books, as his wholesale slaughter of religious adherents might indicate? Was there a method to his madness, where terror was a weapon he felt needed to be used were he ever to achieve his goals? Did he really believe himself a deity, as the contemporary observer Luis Frois recorded? How much further might he have gone had his career not been cut short?

Regardless of these questions and their possible answers, Oda Nobunaga, like Taira Kiyomori (his supposed antecedent), lives on in history as a complicated man who changed Japan forever.

The Battle of Nagashino (長篠の戦い Nagashino no Tatakai?) took place in 1575

near Nagashino Castle (長篠城) on the plain of Shitaragahara (設楽原) in the Mikawa

province (三河) of Japan. Forces under Takeda Katsuyori (武田勝頼) had besieged the

castle since the 17 June; Okudaira Sadamasa (奥平貞昌), a Tokugawa vassal, commanded the defending force. The Takeda forces attacked the castlebecause it threatened Takeda’s supply lines.

Both Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康) and Oda Nobunaga (織 田信長) sent troops to

break the siege and their combined forces defeated Takeda Katsuyori (武田勝頼). Nobunaga’s skillful use of firearms to defeat Takeda’s cavalry tactics is often cited as a turning point in Japanese warfare; many cite it as the first ‘modern’ Japanese battle. In fact, the cavalry charge had been introduced only a generation earlier by Katsuyori’s father, Takeda Shingen (武 田信玄). Furthermore, firearms had already been used in other battles. Oda Nobunaga’s innovation was the wooden stockades and rotating volleys of fire which led to a decisive victory at Nagashino.

The battle

Battle of Nagashino pictured on a Byōbuscreen

According to the Shinchō kōki Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu brought a total force of 38,000 men to relieve the siege on the castle by Takeda Katsuyori. Of Takeda’s original 15,000 besiegers, only 12,000 faced the Oda-Tokugawa army in this battle. Oda and Tokugawa positioned their men across the plain from the castle, behind the Rengogawa (連吾川), a small stream whose steep banks would slow down the cavalry charges for which the Takeda clan was known.

Seeking to protect his arquebusiers, which he would later become famous for, Nobunaga built a number of wooden stockades, setting up his gunners to attack the

Takeda cavalry in volleys. The stockades served to blunt the force of charging cavalry, provide protection from sword blows and spear thrusts, and provide limited protection from arrows. Ports or gates in the staggered and overlapping stockades were positioned to channel the cavalry charges into lanes where they would be vulnerable to further gunfire, arrows, and sword and spear thrusts from the stockade’s defenders. There were also approximately three gunmen for every four Takeda mounted samurai. Of Oda’s forces, an estimated 3,000 troops were samurai arquebusiers (and they were placed under the command of his horo-shu (母 衣衆), or elite bodyguards. Oda sent out small forces against Takeda to feign frontal attacks, which caused Katsuyori to move against Oda’s forces.

The Takeda army emerged from the forest and found themselves 200–400 meters from the Oda-Tokugawa stockades. The short distance, the great power of the Takeda cavalry charge, and the heavy rain, which Katsuyori assumed would render the matchlock guns useless, encouraged Takeda to order the charge. Takeda’s cavalry was feared by both the Oda and Tokugawa forces, who had suffered a defeat at the Battle of Mikatagahara (三方原の戦い).

The horses slowed to cross the stream and were fired upon as they crested the streambed within 50 meters of the enemy. This was considered the optimum distance to penetrate the armor of the cavalry. In typical military strategy, the success of a cavalry charge depends on the infantry breaking ranks so that the cavalry can mow them down. If the infantry does not break, however, cavalry charges will often fail—with even trained warhorses refusing to advance into the solid ranks of opponents.[1]

Between the continuous fire of the arquebusiers’ volleys and the rigid control of the horo-shu, the Oda forces stood their ground and were able to repel every charge. Ashigaru spearmen stabbed through or over the stockades at horses that made it past the initial volleys, andsamurai, with swords and shorter spears, engaged in single combat with Takeda warriors who made it past the wooden barricades. Strong defenses on the ends of the lines prevented Takeda forces from flanking the stockades. By mid-afternoon, the Takeda broke and fled, and the Oda forces vigorously pursued. According to Shinchō kōki, Takeda suffered a loss of 10,000 men, two-thirds of his original besieging force. However this figure is excessively high and is most likely an exaggeration. Other contemporary sources gives a number of 1000 killed in battle and another 2000 during the rout, and this seems much more likely. Eight of his famous ‘Twenty-Four Generals’ were killed in this battle, including Baba Nobuharu (馬場信春),

 Yamagata Masakage (山県昌景), and Naito Masatoyo (内藤昌豊).

_______

1576 - 1580

The reduction of the Takeda made Nobunaga’s dream of conquering Japan seem more and more plausible, although there were three enemies who were close enough to take active issue with his designs…

1) The Honganji. The Ishiyama Honganji stronghold proved no less formidable then before Nagashino. In June 1576 he dispatched Harada Naomasa with an army to attack

the Honganji-an effort that ended in failure and the loss of Harada’s life. Nobunaga responded by personally leading an attack that succeeded in taking quite a few heads but saw Nobunaga wounded in the course of the fighting. Realizing that a direct assault on the heavily defended fortress would prove extraordinarily costly even if it succeded at all, Nobunaga decided to change tactics. He began reducing the Ishiyama Honganji’s satellites, crushing the Saiga monto of Kii and weakening the warrior monks of the Negoroji. The Honganji itself held firm, drawing support from two powerful clans sympathetic to its cause - the Uesugi of Echigo and the Môri of Western Honshu.

2) The Uesugi. Uesugi Kenshin and Oda Nobunaga had maintained a wary relationship into 1576. For a time, Kenshin had cooperated with Nobunaga against the Takeda, but lost interest in their alliance after Nagashino. Two factors contributed to the rising tension between the two clans. Firstly, Nobunaga was gradually expanding deeper into the Hokuriku, a region Kenshin considered within the Uesugi sphere of influence. Secondly, ground was broken on Azuchi Castle in the spring of 1576, and Nobunaga made little secret that he planned to make his new capital the grandest castle ever built. Kenshin took this, or at least chose to take this, as a threatening gesture-after all, Azuchi would block any move by Kenshin into the Kinai Region and act as a staging area for attacks into the Hokuriku. Kenshin’s response was to step up his own expansion. He had already taken Etchu and in1577 attacked Noto, a province that Nobunaga had already made some political investment in. Nobunaga responded by leading a large army into Kaga and met Kenshin’s army at the Tedori River. Kenshin proved himself to be as wily a foe as his old enemy Shingen, and lured Nobunaga into making a frontal assault across the Tedori at night. In a hard-fought struggle, the Oda forces were defeated and Nobunaga was forced to retreat south. Kenshin returned to Echigo and made plans to return the following spring, this time to destroy Nobunaga. Unfortunately, time deserted Kenshin just as it had Shingen, when he was at the height of his power and in a position to thwart Nobunaga’s ambitions. In fact, Kenshin’s death on 13 April 1578 was so fortuitous for Nobunaga that rumors of assassination began circulating almost immediately. In actuality, it appears more likely that Kenshin died from natural causes - he was supposedly quite ill even as he prepared for the coming campaign season. Regardless of the circumstances of his death, Kenshin’s passing triggered a bitter civil war within the Uesugi and made Nobunaga’s life that much easier. Over the next four years Oda forces under Shibata Katsuie, Maeda Toshiie, and Sassa Narimasa would pick away at the Uesugi’s holdings, until they were at the borders of Echigo.

3) The Môri. In terms of sheer lands under their rule, the Môri were one of Japan’s most impressive clans. From humble beginnings under Môri Motonari, the Môri had expanded to control much of the Chugoku region, and now watched Nobunaga’s expansion with dismay. Motonari had been an early critic of Nobunaga and when he died in 1571 his successor, Môri Terumoto, carried on the Môri’s budding opposition. The Ishiyama Honganji proved a convenient place to oppose Nobunaga. In 1576 Nobunaga diverted the naval forces of Kûki Yoshitaka to the waters off Settsu and proceeded with a naval blockade of the Honganji, assisted by the Atagi of Awaji Island. The Môri responded by mobilizing their first rate navy, which was commanded by the Murakami family: men who, like the Kûki, had cut their teeth in piracy. Sailing east, the Môri brushed aside Atagi Nobuyasu’s forces off Awaji and proceeded to defeat Kuki Yoshitaka’s ships at the 1st Battle of Kizugawaguchi. The Honganji’s supply line was opened and supplies were funneled in via sea transport, making Nobunaga’s efforts at

blockade on land moot. Realizing that the Honganji would have to be isolated if he ever hoped to capture it, Nobunaga tasked Kûki with devising naval vessels that would offset the Môri’s numerical superiority. Yoshitaka dutifully went back to Shima and in 1578 unveiled six massive, heavily armed warships some have fancied were equipped with armored plates. These formed the core of a fleet that sailed back into the Inland Sea and drove off the Môri at the 2nd Battle of Kizugawaguchi. The next year, Môri Terumoto made another abortive attempt to lift the naval blockade but failed. By that point, the Môri were faced with a crisis of their own: Nobunaga’s generals were marching west. Akechi Mitsuhide was charged with conquering Tamba and then advancing along the northern coast of the Chugoku. Toyotomi (Hashiba) Hideyoshi entered Harima and began a number of sieges that would ultimately open the gates to the Môri’s hinterland.

1580 opened with the Honganji completely isolated and now rapidly running low on supplies. Finally, faced with Nobunaga’s seemingly endless energy and determination as well as starvation, the Honganji looked for a peaceful solution. The court stepped in (persuaded by Nobunaga) and requested that Kennyo Kosa and the commander of the Honganji garrison, Shimotsuma Nakayuki, honorably surrender. In August the Honganji came to terms, and threw open their gates. Somewhat surprisingly, Nobunaga spared all of the surviving defenders - even Kosa and Shimotsuma. After over a decade of bloodshed, Nobunaga had subdued the last of the great ikko bastions and cleared the way for an eventual rise to national hegemony.

One more difficulty remained to be dealt with in Nobunaga’s backyard: Iga province. Small, mountainous and strategically unimportant, Iga and its rustic warrior houses had been spared Nobunaga’s attentions for over a decade. Then in 1579 Oda Nobuo, Nobunaga’s 2nd son, sent in an invasion force under Takigawa Kazumasu to bring the province under Oda control. The operation was a fiasco and prompted Nobuo to lead an army into Iga himself. This campaign (October 1579) was a near-disaster as well, and earned Nobuo no small amount of criticism from his father. Of course, Nobunaga had little choice but to avenge this embarrassment to the Oda name, although other matters delayed him from doing so until 1581. In October of that year, an army of some 44,000 men descended on Iga and brutally quelled the independent-minded samurai there.

When 1582 began, Nobunaga found himself in a suitable position to finish off the Takeda clan once and for all. Massing all of his available forces (anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 men), Nobunaga made forKatsuyori’s still considerable territories. Supported by Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Hôjô clan, Nobunaga easily broke into Shinano and Kai, whose people had lost all confidence in their daimyo. Katsuyori himself, all but abandoned by his men, committed suicide in the shadow of the Temmoku-zan. Of all the Oda’s samurai enemies, Nobunaga seems to have despised the Takeda most of all, and gloated shamelessly over Katsuyori’s head.

On 21 May Nobunaga returned to Azuchi Castle and was greeted by an imperial court that promised him new titles including, if he wanted it, that of shôgun. Nobunaga gave no answer, nor would he ever. Already, Akechi Mitsuhide was plotting against him; within two months Nobunaga would be dead.

Nobunaga the Ruler

In early 1574, Nobunaga was promoted to the junior third rank (ju sanmi) and made a court advisor (sangi); court appointments would continue to be lavished on a near-yearly basis, perhaps in the hopes of placating him. By February 1578 the court had made him Daijo daijin, or Grand Minister of State - the highest post that could be given. Yet if the court had hoped that exalted titles would woo Nobunaga, they were to be mistaken. In May of 1574 Nobunaga resigned his titles, pleading unfinished work in the provinces, and stepped up a campaign to force Emperor Ogimachi into retirement. That Nobunaga did not succeed in having Ogimachi removed goes some way towards demonstrating that there was a limit to his power - although what exactly acted as a check on his ambitions is a matter of scholarly debate. Suffice it to say that Nobunaga was in every other way tantamount to a shogun in the lands he controlled. That he did not actually take the title of shogun is generally explained by his not being of Minamoto blood, which is misleading and possibly quite off the mark. A worthwhile discussion of this issue would likely require a careful examination of the rank of Shôgun taken in its greater historical context - beyond the scope of this writing. Let it be said that in all probability Nobunaga could well have taken the title, at least after 1582, but died without saying much on the business himself.

Nobunaga’s entry into Kyôto presented him with a situation very different from that which he had come. While Kyôto had come a long way since the dark days of the Ônin War, it was still in relative disrepair, with it’s population subject to myriad tollbooths along the roadways and hills infested with bandits. Nobunaga’s responsibilities increased exponentially, both militarily and politically after 1568. His first order of business, and that arguably most important to him, was to establish an economic power base and maximize the potential wealth of the Kinai. Among his many measures were included the abolition of tollbooths (perhaps partially as a PR move on his part, as the action was quite popular with the common people) and a series of cadastral surveys in Yamato, Yamashiro, Ômi, and Ise. Nobunaga moved to control the minting and exchange of coins, and brought the merchant city of Sakai under his influence, which in time proved to be worth it’s weight in gold. He used his gathering wealth to compensate for the generally poor quality of his common soldiery by buying as many rifles as he could get his hands on-and building his own when the arms factory at Kunimoto (Omi) fell into his hands after 1573.

Culturally Nobunaga was also active. An avid student of the tea ceremony and poetry (if not an exceptional poet) he collected tea items from near and far, and held tea and poetry gatherings with such learned and cultured men as Hosokawa Fujitaka, Imai Sokyu, and Sen no Rikyu. In the same vein he encouraged the giving of tea items and other objects as a reward for exceptional service, as opposed to the traditional grant of land, and the reward of a tea item from Nobunaga’s hand was felt to be an exceptional honor (regardless of whether the receiver was much of a tea man himself!).

Westerners fascinated Nobunaga and he showed a high degree of tolerance for their activities, to the extent that he is sometimes referred to mistakenly as a Christian. The chances that Nobunaga planned to convert are probably nonexistent - rather, the Jesuits fulfilled two uses for Nobunaga: 1) they provided him with some of the novelties and artifacts he habitually collected and probably added to his sense of power (the Jesuits tended to see Nobunaga as the real ruler of Japan - a distinction he could not have but enjoyed) and, 2), they acted as a foil to his Buddhist enemies, if only to increase their frustration. Much has always been made in western works of Nobunaga’s relationship

with the Jesuits - it is possible, however, that he saw them as merely useful and somewhat amusing diversions. Far more important to Nobunaga were his own retainers, and yet he does not come across as a particularly trustworthy leader. Few if any samurai entered his inner circle of top retainers after 1568. Even those top men he did employ were moved about from place to place, and often treated with at least some modicum of coldness. In 1580, after the fall of the Ishiyama Honganji, Nobunaga summarily dismissed and allowed to die in exile one of his oldest retainers - Sakuma Nobumôri, for alleged incompetence of command. He is recorded as teasing Hideyoshi with the nickname ‘Saru’, or Monkey, and deriding Akechi Mitsuhide for his poetic ability (actually considered rather good) and his hairline. There are other, more outrageous recordings, but, as always in Sengoku tales, it is sometimes difficult to discern where truth ends and hyperbole begins. For all that, it is likely that Nobunaga would not have been nearly as successful as he was had he been afraid to delegate. Shibata Katsuie, for instance, was dispatched to subdue the Hokuriku and with a few notable exceptions, Nobunaga left him to it for the better part of a decade. When Nobunaga decided to launch a campaign into the Chugoku region, he sent Hideyoshi and Akechi to lead the armies, never once commanding troops there himself.

In 1578 Azuchi Castle was completed in Ômi province and stood as the most impressive castle ever built in Japan. Lavishly decorated and immensely expensive, Azuchi was meant not so much for defense but as a way of clearly illustrating his power to the nation. He went to great lengths to draw merchants and citizens to Azuchi’s accompanying town, and probably saw it becoming the long-term capital of the Oda hegemony - in whatever form it took.

While in certain ways a sengoku Daimyô on a grand scale, Nobunaga was a tireless ruler and worked for years to create a military and economic super-state within the slowly widening borders of his realm. The success of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and by extension Tokugawa Ieyasu rests largely on the shoulders of the work Oda Nobunaga did before 1582.

In 1575, of course, there was still much work to be done…

1570-1573

Resistance

It was hardly surprising that the Daimyô who lived outside Nobunaga’s sphere of influence would become quite agitated by the developments in Kyoto. Naturally, upheaval in Kyoto was nothing new - but Nobunaga was. He was quite unlike any of the various Miyoshi, Hosokawa, or Hatakeyama contenders of the past. Those lords, the Hosokawa Sumimoto’s and Miyoshi Motonaga’s of 1500-1565, had struggled for personal gain and prestige. Nobunaga seemed different. Certainly, he aimed for personal gain and prestige as well, but the sort of gain he desired was most different. By 1568, it is safe to say that Nobunaga aimed to rule all of Japan. Of course, this particular wish was hardly unique among the Daimyô - in point of fact, it is quite misleading to say that Nobunaga somehow possessed a vision denied his contemporaries. Rather, Nobunaga was in the right place at the right time and presented with the right window. The other great warlords of his day (some arguably greater as men go), Môri Motonari, Takeda Shingen, Uesugi Kenshin, and Hôjô Ujiyasu were all far removed from the capital, and

in the case of the last three, unable to move due to the ambitions of their neighbors. The key was location. By taking Kyoto, Nobunaga positioned himself nicely in the center of Japan, which could be called the nation’s ‘soft under-belly’. While Nobunaga would face an implacable enemy in the Ikko-ikki that dwelled just beyond the Kinai, the weakness of the Daimyô within that region allowed him to build, by 1573, a considerable power-base. This is not to say, of course, that Nobunaga lacked the talents usually ascribed to him. But it is perhaps inaccurate to describe him as something other than a ‘sengoku Daimyô’. He was rather the ultimate expression of the ‘sengoku-Daimyô’. His power was based almost solely on the point of a sword, and as he grew in power, so did his use for diplomacy diminish. He kept a tight rein on his retainers, and was ruthless to his opponents, especially those who proved especially troublesome to him. His campaigns would be long and hard-fought as his reputation for cruelty grew. Few of his enemies had any illusion about what surrender would mean.

In early 1570, Nobunaga was presented with the first real challenge to his rise. Perhaps in an effort to feel out opposition, Nobunaga had evidently pressed Yoshiaki to request all the local Daimyô to come to Kyôto and attend a certain banquet. One of those who presence was requested was none other than Asakura Yoshikage, the very Daimyô who had frittered his own chance to champion Yoshiaki. Suspecting that Nobunaga was behind the ‘invitation’, Yoshikage refused, an act Nobunaga declared disloyal to both the shogun and the emperor. With this pretext well in hand, Nobunaga raised an army and marched on Echizen. Initially, all went well for the attackers, with the Asakura revealing their rather lack-luster leadership abilities. By March Nobunaga, supported by Tokugawa Ieyasu (the former Matsudaira Motoyasu), had penetrated Echizen’s southern approaches and was moving on Yoshikage’s capital (Ichijo-no-tani). Just then, Oda received startling news. His brother-in-law, Asai Nagamasa, had suddenly switched sides and gathered troops to help the Asakura. In fact, Nagamasa’s change of heart was probably not as great a surprise as one might think. The Asai and Asakura had been allies for decades, and a single marriage - even if it included the Daimyô of the clan - was not enough to nullify such a long friendship.

At any rate, Nobunaga was placed in a bit of a tricky spot by Nagamasa’s defection, but with the stout Tokugawa troops and wiles of Hashiba Hideyoshi at his disposal, he managed to extricate himself back to Kyoto without great loss. He wasted little time in taking issue with Nagamasa. In July he moved on the Asai’s stronghold - Odani Castle - combining his levied troops with a sizable contingent of Tokugawa men for a total of 28,000 soldiers. Asai Nagamasa and Asakura Kagetake marched out to meet this host, and with their combined 20,000-man army, faced Nobunaga at the Anegawa River. The battle was hotly contested on the part of the Asai, but resulted in a victory for Nobunaga and Ieyasu. It was by no means decisive, but Anegawa represented a turning point in Nobunaga’s career, in that while Okehazama may have been a fluke and the Saito and Rokkaku hardly impressive, Nobunaga was a man to be taken seriously.

But Asai and Asakura proved tenacious opponents. Later in 1570, they led another combined army along the coast of Lake Biwa and defeated an Oda army near Otsu, killing one of Nobunaga’s own brothers, Nobuharu. In a significant development, the warrior-monks of Mt Hiei lent their support to the Asai and Asakura, a fatal error, as Nobunaga would ruthlessly prove in late 1571. In the meantime, Nobunaga found Ikko and warrior-monk resistance to his expansion stiffening at every turn. In Kwatchi, the warrior-monks of the Ishiyama Honganji fortress, well equipped with firearms, assisted

the Miyoshi in their struggle against the Oda. In Ise, the Ikko-ikki of the Nagashima area openly defied Nobunaga and would cause him considerable difficulty until he dealt with them in 1574. An early struggle with the Ikko of Ise had already claimed the life of Nobunaga’s brother Nobuoki (1569) and a preliminary assault in May of 1571 on Nagashima developed into a complete and costly fiasco.

By 1571 Nobunaga’s position, while not in grave danger, was becoming a difficult one. Now actively arrayed against him were the Asai, Asakura, and Miyoshi clans, supported by Ikko and warrior monks from the Honganji, Enryakuji (of Mt. Hiei), Negoroji, and Nagashima. The Honganji proved the most formidable: head priest Kennyo Kosa and the Honganji’s fanatical adherents were destined to hold out for a decade, in time supported by the Môri clan.

At the same time, there is some evidence that the shogun was busy conspiring against his former patron, sending out letters to the Môri of Western Japan, and to the Takeda, Uesugi, and Hôjô of Eastern Japan. Evidently Yoshiaki had become frustrated with Nobunaga’s heavy-handedness, which only increased with the passage of time. By 1571 Oda had imposed a multitude of regulations and constraints on Yoshiaki’s administration (chiefly outlined in two documents issued in 1569 and 1570) that all but reduced the shogun to a puppet.

Yoshiaki’s best hope seemed to rest on the powerful Takeda Shingen of Kai, who by this point had taken control of Suruga and was pressing Oda’s staunch ally, Tokugawa Ieyasu. While historians continue to debate just how deep Yoshiaki’s schemes went, surviving documents and correspondence does lead one to believe that Shingen was seen by most as the greatest threat to Nobunaga and that Yoshiaki was proactive in getting the Takeda involved in the anti-Oda alliance.

Nobunaga, hardly willing to allow his enemies time to strangle him, responded with an act of brutality so unusual that even his own generals were shocked. In later 1571, Nobunaga’s troops surrounded Mt. Hiei and proceeded to work their way up the mountainside, killing any and all found in their path. By the next day, the once sprawling Enryakuji complex was reduced to ashes and thousands lay dead. The centuries old power of Mt. Hiei had been broken, and Nobunaga was afforded a little breathing room. An attempt to repeat this success at Nagashima, however, ended in failure, and Nobunaga was forced to hold off on further efforts to reduce this stronghold while the Takeda threatened.

In 1572 Takeda Shingen stepped up his forays into Tokugawa’s land, and Ieyasu requested military assistance. Nobunaga, despite the aid he had himself gotten from Ieyasu in the past, hesitated (he was, after all, still technically allied to Shingen). Ieyasu’s response was to hint that there was little that might otherwise stop the Tokugawa from actually joining the Takeda - a scenario that would put the Oda in a most precarious position. Wisely, Nobunaga agreed to help as much as his own situation allowed.

In the winter of 1572, Takeda led a large army down from Shinano into Totomi and threatened Ieyasu’s headquarters at Hamamatsu. Nobunaga sent a few thousand men under three generals of mixed quality - not enough to stave off the defeat that followed but enough to eliminate any pretext of civility that may have existed between Nobunaga

and Shingen. At the same time, Takeda troops actually penetrated Mino, and captured the imposing Iwamura Castle - an embarrassing event that no doubt made Oda furious.

Fortune was destined to smile on Nobunaga in 1573, however. By that May, Takeda Shingen was dead. While the specifics of his passing remain something of a mystery, the loss of Shingen would ultimately prove fatal to the Takeda clan and a boon for Nobunaga. The timing certainly could not have proved worse for Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who in March had fortified Nijo Castle and dispatched letters to Nobunaga’s enemies, urging them onward. While Shingen threatened, Nobunaga had been unable to respond to the shogun’s defiance, save for making a few good will overtures to Yoshiaki.

The Takeda clan had endeavored to keep Shingen’s death a secret, but it seems likely that Nobunaga at least intuited the truth. With all of the furious determination he would become famous for, Nobunaga turned on his remaining enemies in the Chubu region. On 3 May he surrounded Kyoto and caught Yoshiaki unprepared, forcing the shogun to negotiate. An uneasy truce was arranged through the intercession of the Emperor, one that neither side expected to hold for long. In the meantime, Nobunaga took charge of operations against the Nagashima Ikko stronghold and led an army there in July. He was defeated in a sharp struggle and forced to retreat, an embarrassing setback that may have helped goad Yoshiaki into rebelling again in the first week of August. Leaving Mizubuchi Fujihide in charge of Nijo, Yoshiaki barricaded himself in a fort astride the Uji River. His intention evidently was to hold off Nobunaga long enough for the Asai, Asakura, and Honganji to fall on Oda from behind. In fact, Yoshiaki’s position was strong - but in the event not strong enough. Realizing the danger inherent in Yoshiaki’s recalcitrance, Nobunaga acted swiftly. He assaulted Yoshiaki’s stronghold and by 18 August had breached the fort’s outer defenses. Yoshiaki sued for peace and pleaded for his life - a request Nobunaga granted. Instead, Yoshiaki was exiled, the last of the Ashikaga shoguns. From now until his death, Nobunaga would act as the defacto Shôgun.

Yoshiaki was barely on the road to refuge in the western provinces when Nobunaga marched north against the Asai and Asakura. He threatened Odani Castle, then ambushed and defeated the Asakura army dutifully dispatched in relief. Leaving a force to mask Odani, Nobunaga chased the fleeing Asakura into Echizen, easily capturing Ichijo-ga-tani. Asakura Yoshikage had abandoned his castle and ended up committing suicide in a temple on 16 September. Nobunaga then returned to Omi and surrounded Odani. Asai Nagamasa died a much less pathetic death then his ally Yoshikage, and made the honorable gesture of returning Nobunaga’s sister and her children before committing suicide.

With the Asai and Asakura gone, and the Takeda for the moment quiet, Nobunaga was free to inflict vengeance on the Ikko of Nagashima. Supported by the naval strength of Kûki Yoshitaka of Shima, Nobunaga blockaded Nagashima and captured its outlaying forts. During the August of 1574 the Oda forced the Ikko within the walls of their main fortifications and essentially imprisoned them there. The Nagashima complex was then set alight, and as many as 20,000 men, women, and children were massacred. This was not to be the last of Nobunaga’s blood baths, but in many ways it was the most shocking, though not nearly as well known as his destruction of Mt. Hiei.

Within one year, Nobunaga’s borders and military clout had grown substantiality, enough to allow him to conduct three initiatives at once: the continued siege of the Honganji, a war of extermination aimed at the Ikko of Echizen and Kaga, and a showdown with the Takeda. The last would culminate in the bloody struggle at Nagashino.

1561-1570

Nobunaga’s ambition

In 1561, Saitô Yoshitatsu, who had continued to fend off advances by the Oda, passed away, probably of leprosy. This left his son, Tatsuoki, in command and Nobunaga was quick to take advantage of the new lord’s weak character. By bribing away key Saito generals, Nobunaga was able to weaken the defenses of Mino and in 1567 he attacked Inabayama, the headquarters of the Saitô clan. According to tradition, the hill-top castle was brought down by Hashiba (Toyotomi) Hideyoshi, although this valuable Oda retainer does not begin appearing in written records until around 1576.

The following year, Nobunaga moved his capital to Inabayama and renamed the castle Gifu. Everything about the move was auspicious, and made possible by two alliances - one to Matsudaira Motoyasu, and another to Takeda Shingen of Kai and Shinano. The name Gifu was taken from the castle from which Wu Wang, ruler of the Chou, had set out in the 12th Century to unify China. Emperor Ogimachi sent a letter of congratulations and Nobunaga adopted the motto Tenka Fubu, or ‘the realm covered in military glory’ (or, alternatively, ‘The nation under one sword”).

The only real opposition to his moves in Mino came from the Asai, who had declared war on the Saito at around the same time. Asai Nagamasa considered Mino at least partly his, and a small war quickly brewed up on the Ômi-Mino border. Nobunaga quickly arranged a peace and sealed an alliance by marrying his sister (O-ichi) off to Asai Nagamasa.

Nobunaga’s ambition was given a powerful stimulant with the arrival of Ashikaga Yoshiaki at Gifu in 1567. The brother of the late shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru, murdered in 1565, Yoshiaki had spent the intervening years seeking out a patron. Yoshiteru’s assassins - the Miyoshi and Matsunaga clans - had seen fit to legitimize their domination of Kyoto politics by naming the 2-year old Ashikaga Yoshihide as Yoshiteru’s successor. When Yoshiaki heard the news, he gave up a Buddhist priesthood and fled with Hosokawa Fujitaka, both out of fear for his own life and in the hopes he would find a warlord strong enough to set things right in Kyôto. That he was the logical choice to follow Yoshiteru was clear…finding a Daimyô that would do something about it proved difficult. In his search, he approached the Takeda of Wakasa (not to be confused with the Takeda of Kai), the Uesugi of Echigo, and the Asakura of Echizen. The last seemed the most promising, in terms of military strength relative to a proximity to the capital, and indeed, Asakura Yoshikage promised to help. But Yoshikage stalled and in the end admitted that he was powerless to assist Yoshiaki’s nomadic party.

Then Yoshiaki turned to Oda Nobunaga, who fairly jumped at the opportunity. In fact, he had expressed a desire in late 1565 to do just what Yoshiaki was asking, and it may

be that Yoshiaki had been leery of approaching this young upstart to begin with. Uesugi and Asakura, after all, were names that carried quite a bit of prestige along with them. But, by 1567, Yoshiaki had evidently decided that beggars couldn’t be choosers.

In 1568 Nobunaga’s army marched westward in Yoshiaki’s name, brushing aside the Rokkaku of southern Omi and putting to flight Miyoshi and Matsunaga. Matsunaga Hisahide promptly submitted (for which he was confirmed Daimyô of Yamato) while the Miyoshi withdrew to Settsu. In the ninth month Nobunaga entered Kyoto and within three weeks Yoshiaki was installed as the fifteenth Ashikaga shogun with the approval of Emperor Ogimachi. The mutually beneficial relationship of Yoshiaki and Nobunaga had thus far borne sweet fruit. In time, it would grow quite sour, foreshadowed by Nobunaga’s refusal to accept the position of Kanrei, or deputy shogun, even when the Emperor himself requested he do so in 1569 . Nobunaga seemed determined to exist in a sort of political limbo, and expressed little interest in any orthodox rank or titles, including, as we shall see, that of shogun. That Nobunaga was the real ruler in Kyoto was the only part of the equation that lacked any sort of ambiguity.

THE STORY WILL CONTINUE

The Battle of Okehazama (桶狭間の戦い Okehazama-no-tatakai?) took place in June 1560. In this battle, Oda Nobunaga defeatedImagawa Yoshimoto and established himself as one of the front-running warlords in the Sengoku period

In May or June 1560, Imagawa Yoshimoto, with an army of perhaps 35,000 men, set forth on a march to Kyoto. Entering the Oda territories in Owari Province, he first took the border fortresses of Washizu and Marune before setting up camp in a wooded gorge known as Dengaku-hazama. This was all reported to Oda Nobunaga by his scouts and, in response, Nobunaga then led his own forces into position at a temple called Zenshōji, a short distance away, on the other side of the Tōkaidō.

Had Nobunaga decided on a frontal assault, the battle would have been deceptively easy to predict; his army was outnumbered ten to one by the Imagawa forces. A frontal assault would be suicidal and an attempt to hold out at Zenshō-ji would only last a few days. Because of the odds against their side, some of Nobunaga’s advisers even suggested a surrender. Nobunaga, however, decided to launch a surprise attack on the Imagawa camp. When he made his decision, he gave this speech:

“Imagawa has 40,000 men marching toward this place? I don’t believe that. He ‘only’ has 35,000 soldiers. Yes, that is still too many. So, Sado, you want me to surrender. What if we do surrender? Will you get content with losing your life that way? Or what if we hold on like Katsuie wants me to? What if we stay here in this castle, lock it up, and wait until the Imagawas lose appetite and stop the siege and go home? We will be able to prolong our lives for 5 or 10 days, and what we cannot defend will still be undefendable. We are at the bottom of the pit, you know. And our fate is interesting. Of course the misery is too great, too. But this is how I see it: this is a chance in a lifetime. I can’t afford to miss this. Do you really want to spend your entire lives praying for longevity? We were born in order to die! Whoever is with me, come to the battlefield tomorrow morning. Whoever is not, just stay wherever you are and watch me win it!”

Battle

Nobunaga left a small force at the temple with a large number of banners, to give the impression that this was the location of his main force. Meanwhile, Oda’s main force (about 1,500 men) moved through the forest undetected to the rear of the Imagawa army.

The Imagawa samurai did not expect an attack, and that afternoon was very hot. The histories say that the Imagawa were celebrating their recent victories with song, dance, and sake. An afternoon rainstorm further aided Oda’s soldiers who arrived at the Imagawa camp just as the rains came down (this was the afternoon of 12 June).

When the storm passed, Nobunaga’s men poured into the camp from the north, and the Imagawa warriors lost all discipline and fled from the attackers. This left their commander’s tent undefended, and the Oda warriors closed in rapidly. Imagawa Yoshimoto, unaware of what had transpired, heard the noise and emerged from his tent shouting at his men to quit their drunken revelry and return to their posts. By the time he realized, moments later, that the samurai before him were not his own, it was far too late. He deflected one samurai’s spear thrust, but was beheaded by another.

Aftermath

With their leader dead, and all but two of the senior officers killed, the remaining Imagawa officers joined Oda’s army. Soon the Imagawa faction was no more and Oda Nobunaga was famous as his victory was hailed by many in Japan as miraculous. The most important of the samurai lords who joined Oda after this battle was Tokugawa Ieyasu from Mikawa Province. Ieyasu would remain a loyal ally of Nobunaga from this time until the latter’s death.

[edit]List of notable samurai in the battle

Oda side

Oda Nobunaga Shibata Katsuie Hattori Kazutada Mōri Yoshikatsu Toyotomi Hideyoshi Maeda Toshiie

Imagawa side

Imagawa Yoshimoto Asahina Yasutomo Okabe Motonobu Tokugawa Ieyasu Ii Naomori Honda Tadakatsu Hattori Hanzō

1534 - 1559

The Oda of Owari

Nobunaga was born Oda Kippôshi, the second son of Oda Nobuhide (1508? -1549), a minor lord whose family once served the Shiba shugo. Nobuhide was a skilled warrior, and spent much of his time fighting the samurai of Mikawa and Mino. He also had enemies closer to home - the Oda were divided into two separate camps, with both vying for control of Owari’s eight districts. Nobuhide’s branch, of which he was one of three elders, was based at Kiyosu castle. The rival branch was to the north, in Iwakura Castle.

Many of Nobuhide’s battles were fought in Mikawa, against the Matsudaira and the Imagawa clan. The latter were old and prestigious, rulers of Suruga and overlords of Tôtômi. The Matsudaira were as obscure as the Oda, and while not as splintered politically, they were slowly coming under the Imagawa’s influence. The decade leading up to 1548 was dominated along the Mikawa-Owari border by the contention of three men - Oda Nobuhide, Matsudaira Hirotada, andImagawa Yoshimoto. In 1542, Imagawa, supported by the Matsudaira, marched as far west as the Owari border, and was met by Oda Nobuhide and his younger brother Tsuda Nobumitsu at Azukizaka. In this bitter fight, the Oda emerged victorious, but not decisively. In 1548 Nobuhide attempted to arrange the defection of a certain Matsudaira Tadamoto of Mikawa away from Hirotada. Tadamoto, however, ended up being killed in the attempt, and Oda launched an attack on Okazaki, evidently to make up for the disappointment. Matsudaira Hirotada thus found himself in difficult straights, and called on Imagawa for assistance. Yoshimoto replied that he would be happy to help - so long as Hirotada was willing to send along his young son as a hostage. Hirotada had little choice, and shipped off 6-year old Takechiyo (the future Tokugawa Ieyasu) westward. En-route to Suruga, unfortunately, Oda loyalists intercepted the hostage party and made off with Takechiyo, taking the child to Nobuhide. Nobuhide immediately made use of his new card and demanded that Hirotada give up Okazaki in return for his son’s life. Hirotada wisely refused, and Nobuhide, his bluff called, did no harm to the boy. Later in 1548, Imagawa and Oda met again in battle, and this time the Imagawa came out the winner. The following year Nobuhide died, leaving an Oda clan divided in every possible way.

Anxious to capitalize on the death of his rival, Imagawa Yoshimoto sent his uncle, the talented monk-general Sessai Choro, to attack Nobuhide’s heir, Nobuhiro. Sessai besieged Nobuhiro in Anjo Castle, and sent word to Nobunaga that unless he wished to see his elder brother made to commit suicide, he would have to send back Takechiyo. Nobunaga could hardly refuse, and so Takechiyo ended up in Suruga, even though his father Hirotada had passed away that same year.

The progress of the next three years is hazy. By 1551, however, Nobunaga was the leader of his faction of the Oda and master of Kiyosu. His principal enemy (beyond his own family) was his father’s nemesis, the Imagawa. Nobunaga’s northern borders (not counting the area of Mino controlled by the Iwakura Oda) were more or less secured, at least: before his death, Nobuhide had arranged for the marriage of Nobunaga to Saitô Dosan’s daughter. Saitô Toshimasa (Dosan) (1494-1556) was a colorful figure, a former oil-merchant (if tradition is to be believed) who supplanted the Tôki family of Mino.

Pausing for a monent, we see the young Nobunaga. He is estimated to have stood between 5’3” and 5’6” tall, and was a clear speaker with a strong prescence about him. He was considered a not unhandsome man, with a somewhat prominant nose and scarce beard. As a young man, Nobunaga was said to have been a brash and altogether rude fellow whose behavior often bordered on the disgraceful. Supposedly, he even acted out as his father’s funeral was being conducted at the Bansyô-ji. This popular view of Nobunaga’s early days is in part substantiated by the suicide of Hirate Kiyohide (1493-1553), one of Nobuhide’s old retainers tasked with helping Nobunaga rule. Hirade committed what was called kanshi, or remonstration through suicide. The old samurai wrote up a letter urging Nobunaga to change his ways and then slit his belly. His death is said to have had a dramatic effect on Nobunaga. He did mend his ways, and in time built the Seisyu-ji in Owari to honor his loyal retainer.

By 1558, Nobunaga had largely managed to unify his family, although he suffered the rebellion of two brothers in so doing. In 1556, Nobuhiro, his elder brother, had plotted with the new (and hostile) lord of Mino, Saitô Yoshitatsu, an act Nobunaga pardoned him for. The following year, his younger brother Nobuyuki conspired with Shibata Katsuie and Hayashi Michikatsu and, if the legend is true, Nobunaga’s own mother. Nobunaga learned of the treason and had Nobuyuki killed. Shibata and Hayashi, on the other hand, were spared - perhaps sending a powerful message to any other members of the Oda family who were thinking treacherous thoughts.

As just noted, Saitô Yoshitatsu was the new lord of Mino, having killed Dôsan at the Battle of Nagaragawa (1556), and he was no friend to the Oda. The Oda’s forts in Mino were quickly reduced, and Nobunaga’s attempts to make in-roads in that province were turned back. At the same time, Imagawa Yoshimoto was knocking on Owari’s southeastern door, having all but absorbed Mikawa and the Matsudaira clan. Imagawa’s army had lost some of it’s potency with the death of Sessai Choro in 1555 but Yoshimoto could call on the services of a young and skillful ally - Matsudaira Motoyasu, a man whose fate would prove inter-twined with that of Nobunaga. In 1558, Motoyasu fought his first battle - at Nobunaga’s expense. Oda had recently bribed Terabe Castle away from the Matsudaira, and Motoyasu, with the Imagawa’s blessing, took it back, defeating a relief force sent by Nobunaga. The next year, Imagawa did a little horse-trading of his own, and lured Otaka castle away from the Oda. Nobunaga was furious, and had the fort surrounded. Soon, the garrison began to run out of food, and to lead a relief effort, Imagawa sent Matsudaira Motoyasu. Using a crafty bit of diversion, Motoyasu successfully provisioned Otaka - much to Nobunaga’s chagrin.

THE STORY WILL CONTINUE

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3 months ago

An onna-bugeisha (女武芸者?) was a type of female warrior belonging to the Japanese upper class. Many wives, widows, daughters, and rebels answered the call of duty by engaging in battle, commonly alongside samurai men. They were members of the bushi (samurai) class in feudal Japan and were trained in the use of weapons to protect their household, family, and honor in times of war. They also represented a divergence from the traditional “housewife” role of the Japanese woman. They are sometimes mistakenly referred to as female samurai, although this is an oversimplification. Onna bugeisha were very important people in ancient Japan. Significant icons such as Empress Jingu(top left), Tomoe Gozen(top right), Nakano Takeko(bottom left), and Hojo Masako(bottom right) were all onna bugeisha who came to have a significant impact on Japan.

History

[edit]Early history

Long before the emergence of the renowned samurai class, Japanese fighters were highly trained to wield a sword and spear. Women learned to utilize naginata, kaiken, and the art of tantojutsuin battle. Such training ensured protection in communities that lacked male fighters. One such woman, later known as Empress Jingu (c. 169-269 AD), utilized her skills to inspire economic and social change. She was legendarily recognized as the onna bugeisha who led an invasion of Korea in 200 AD after her husband Emperor Chūai, the fourteenth emperor of Japan, was slain in battle. According to the legend, she miraculously led a Japanese conquest of Korea without shedding a drop of blood. Despite controversies surrounding her existence and her accomplishments, she was an example of the onna bugeisha in its entirety. Years after her death, Jingu was able to transcend the socioeconomic structures that were instilled in Japan. In 1881, Empress Jingū became the first woman to be featured on a Japanese banknote. Designed to stop counterfeiting, her image was printed on oblong paper.[1] In addition to economic changes in Japan, onna bugeisha also stretched social structures.

Tomoe Gozen

During the earlier Heian and Kamakura periods, women who were prominent on the battlefield were the exception rather than the rule. Japanese ideals of femininity predisposed most women to powerlessness, in conflict with a female warrior role.[2] Women warriors were nonetheless pioneers in this role, and some even went on to lead their own clans.

[edit]Kamakura Period

The Genpei War (1180–1185) marked the war between the Taira and Minamoto; two very prominent and powerful Japanese clans of the late-Heian Period. During this time, the epic Heike Monogatari was written and tales of courageous and devoted samurai

were recounted. Among those was Tomoe Gozen, wife of Minamoto Yoshinaka of the Minamoto clan. Gozen assisted her husband in defending himself against the forces of his cousin, Minamoto no Yoritomo. During the Battle of Awazu on February 21, 1184, Gozen rode into the enemy forces, flung herself on their strongest warrior, unhorsed, pinned, and decapitated him.[2] In the Tale of Heike, Gozen was described as being “especially beautiful, with white skin, long hair, and charming features. She was also a remarkably strong archer, and as a swords-woman she was a warrior worth a thousand, ready to confront a demon or a god, mounted or on foot. She handled unbroken horses with superb skill; she rode unscathed down perilous descents. Whenever a battle was imminent, Yoshinaka sent her out as his first captain, equipped with strong armor, an oversized sword, and a mighty bow; and she performed more deeds of valor than any of his other warriors.”[2]

Although she was not proven to be a historical figure, Gozen has impacted much of the warrior class, including many traditional Naginata schools. Her actions in battle also received much attention in the arts plays such as Tomoe no Monogatari and various ukiyo paintings. As time passed, the influence of onna bugeisha saw its way from paintings to politics.

After the Heike were thwarted towards the western provinces of Japan, the Kamakura shogunate (1185–1333) was soon established under the rule of Minamoto no Yoritomo. After he passed, his wife, Hojo Masako, was the first onna bugeisha to become a prominent player of politics – in the early years of the Hojo regency. Masako became a Buddhist nun, a traditional fate of samurai widows, becoming known as “The General in Nun’s Habit”. She bullied the samurai class into supporting her son, Minamoto no Yoriie, as the first Hojo Shikken (regent) in Kamakura.[3]

Through the collective efforts of Masako and a few political puppets, laws governing the shogun’s court in the early 13th century allowed women equal rights of inheritance with fraternal kin. Even though the primary role of women in ancient Japan continued to be the support to their family and their husbands, they acquired a higher status in the household. These laws also allowed Japanese women to control finances, bequeath property, the upkeep of the home, managed servants, and for raising their children with proper, loyal, samurai upbringing. Most importantly, Japanese women were also expected to defend their homes in times of war.

[edit]Edo Period and beyond

Nakano Takeko died at the Battle of Aizu.

Due to the influence of Neo-Confucian philosophy and the established marriage market of the Edo Period (1600–1868), the status of the onna bugeisha diminished significantly. The function of onna bugeisha changed in addition to their husbands. Samurai were no longer concerned with battles and war, they were bureaucrats. Women, specifically daughters of most upper class households, were soon pawns to dreams of success and power. The roaring ideals of fearless devotion and selflessness were gradually replaced by quiet, passive, civil obedience.

Travel during the Edo Period was demanding and unsettling for many female samurai due to heavy restrictions. They always had to be accompanied by a man, since they could not travel by themselves. Additionally, they had to possess specific permits, establishing their business and motives. Samurai women also received much harassment from officials who manned inspection checkpoints.[4]

The onset of the 17th century marked a significant transformation in the social acceptance of women in Japan. Many samurai viewed women purely as child bearers; the concept of a woman being a fit companion for war was no longer conceivable. The relationship between a husband and wife could be correlated to that of a lord and his vassal. “Husbands and wives did not even customarily sleep together. The husband would visit his wife to initiate any sexual activity and afterwards would retire to his own room”.[5] Despite the social view of women as being mere means to an end, they were still expected to show solace for death when it came to defending their husband’s honor. A wife’s solidarity for the sake of her husband was a common and well receptive theme in Japanese culture. In addition to self-sacrifice, self-renunciation was also an imperative quality a Japanese woman had to possess until the dawn of the 20th century.

In 1868, during the Battle of Aizu, a part of the Boshin War, Nakano Takeko a member of the Aizu clan, was recruited to become leader of a female corps who fought against the onslaught of 20,000 Imperial Japanese Army of the Ogaki domain. Highly skilled at the naginata, Takeko and her corps of about 20 joined 3,000 other Aizu samurai in battle. The Hokai Temple in Aizu Bangemachi, Fukishima province contains a monument erected in her honor.

[edit]Weapons

The naginata is a long rod with a curved blade at the tip. Due to its versatility and convention, more women have been attracted to its use. It offers a wide variety of long ranged techniques due to its length. It also proved to be very efficient against marauders who often attacked on horseback. A bow and arrow would also be used due to its even wider attack range. Additionally, the naginata was proven to be effective in close quarter combat. Considering the usual strength advantage men had over women, a strong woman armed with a naginata could keep most combatants at bay. It was during those circumstances where strength, weight, or sword counted for less. Through its use by many legendary samurai women, the naginata has been propelled as the iconic image of a woman warrior. During the Edo Period, many schools focusing on the use of the naginata were created and perpetuated its association with women.[6]

39 notes

5 months ago

The Death of Nobunaga

As mentioned earlier, Nobunaga was said to have treated his retainers haughtily, and this seems to have been nowhere more the case than with Akechi Mitsuhide. A relatively late addition to Nobunaga’s inner circle, Mitsuhide was a talented general and poet, perhaps provoking his lord’s jealousy as a result of the latter. The best-known story regarding the rift between the two men and just unusual enough to be true occurred in 1577. In that year, Akechi had been tasked with subduing Tamba, and in the course of his campaign besieged the castle of the Hatano clan. Akechi succeded in securing the bloodless surrender of Hatano Hideharu and brought him before Nobunaga. To Akechi’s shock, Nobunaga (for reasons unknown) ordered Hatano and his brother executed. The Hatano retainers blamed Akechi for the betrayal and in revenge kidnapped and brutally murdered Akechi’s mother (who lived on the Akechi lands in nearby Omi). Unsurprisingly, this whole business did not sit so well with Mitsuhide, although there is no real hint of his actively plotting until 1582. In that year, Nobunaga returned from his conquest of the Takeda clan in time for news of a crisis in the west. Hideyoshi was investing Takamatsu castle, but faced with the arrival of the main Môri army requested reinforcements. Nobunaga responded by speeding a large contingent of his personal troops westward while he himself entertained court nobles at the Honnoji in Kyôto on 20 June. He awoke the following morning in the Honnoji to find that during the night Akechi Mitsuhide had the temple surrounded. Raising an army on the pretext of going to Hideyoshi’s aid, Mitsuhide had taken a detour into Kyôto and now called for Nobunaga’s head. As Nobunaga had only a small personal guard in attendance on the morning of 21 June, the outcome was a forgone conclusion, and he died, either in the blaze that was started in the course of the fighting or by his own hand. Soon afterwards, Oda Hidetada was surrounded at Nijo and killed. 11 days after that, Akechi Mitsuhide would himself be killed, defeated by Hideyoshi at the Battle of Yamazaki.

Oda Nobunaga died one of most interesting and controversial figures in Japanese history who continues to inspire debate among scholars and enthusiasts of the Sengoku Period. Was he the tyrant so often portrayed in the history books, as his wholesale slaughter of religious adherents might indicate? Was there a method to his madness, where terror was a weapon he felt needed to be used were he ever to achieve his goals? Did he really believe himself a deity, as the contemporary observer Luis Frois recorded? How much further might he have gone had his career not been cut short?

Regardless of these questions and their possible answers, Oda Nobunaga, like Taira Kiyomori (his supposed antecedent), lives on in history as a complicated man who changed Japan forever.

3 notes

5 months ago

The Battle of Nagashino (長篠の戦い Nagashino no Tatakai?) took place in 1575

near Nagashino Castle (長篠城) on the plain of Shitaragahara (設楽原) in the Mikawa

province (三河) of Japan. Forces under Takeda Katsuyori (武田勝頼) had besieged the

castle since the 17 June; Okudaira Sadamasa (奥平貞昌), a Tokugawa vassal, commanded the defending force. The Takeda forces attacked the castlebecause it threatened Takeda’s supply lines.

Both Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康) and Oda Nobunaga (織 田信長) sent troops to

break the siege and their combined forces defeated Takeda Katsuyori (武田勝頼). Nobunaga’s skillful use of firearms to defeat Takeda’s cavalry tactics is often cited as a turning point in Japanese warfare; many cite it as the first ‘modern’ Japanese battle. In fact, the cavalry charge had been introduced only a generation earlier by Katsuyori’s father, Takeda Shingen (武 田信玄). Furthermore, firearms had already been used in other battles. Oda Nobunaga’s innovation was the wooden stockades and rotating volleys of fire which led to a decisive victory at Nagashino.

The battle

Battle of Nagashino pictured on a Byōbuscreen

According to the Shinchō kōki Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu brought a total force of 38,000 men to relieve the siege on the castle by Takeda Katsuyori. Of Takeda’s original 15,000 besiegers, only 12,000 faced the Oda-Tokugawa army in this battle. Oda and Tokugawa positioned their men across the plain from the castle, behind the Rengogawa (連吾川), a small stream whose steep banks would slow down the cavalry charges for which the Takeda clan was known.

Seeking to protect his arquebusiers, which he would later become famous for, Nobunaga built a number of wooden stockades, setting up his gunners to attack the Takeda cavalry in volleys. The stockades served to blunt the force of charging cavalry, provide protection from sword blows and spear thrusts, and provide limited protection from arrows. Ports or gates in the staggered and overlapping stockades were positioned to channel the cavalry charges into lanes where they would be vulnerable to further gunfire, arrows, and sword and spear thrusts from the stockade’s defenders. There were also approximately three gunmen for every four Takeda mounted samurai. Of Oda’s forces, an estimated 3,000 troops were samurai arquebusiers (and they were placed under the command of his horo-shu (母 衣衆), or elite bodyguards. Oda sent out small forces against Takeda to feign frontal attacks, which caused Katsuyori to move against Oda’s forces.

The Takeda army emerged from the forest and found themselves 200–400 meters from the Oda-Tokugawa stockades. The short distance, the great power of the Takeda cavalry charge, and the heavy rain, which Katsuyori assumed would render the matchlock guns useless, encouraged Takeda to order the charge. Takeda’s cavalry was feared by both

the Oda and Tokugawa forces, who had suffered a defeat at the Battle of Mikatagahara (三方原の戦い).

The horses slowed to cross the stream and were fired upon as they crested the streambed within 50 meters of the enemy. This was considered the optimum distance to penetrate the armor of the cavalry. In typical military strategy, the success of a cavalry charge depends on the infantry breaking ranks so that the cavalry can mow them down. If the infantry does not break, however, cavalry charges will often fail—with even trained warhorses refusing to advance into the solid ranks of opponents.[1]

Between the continuous fire of the arquebusiers’ volleys and the rigid control of the horo-shu, the Oda forces stood their ground and were able to repel every charge. Ashigaru spearmen stabbed through or over the stockades at horses that made it past the initial volleys, andsamurai, with swords and shorter spears, engaged in single combat with Takeda warriors who made it past the wooden barricades. Strong defenses on the ends of the lines prevented Takeda forces from flanking the stockades. By mid-afternoon, the Takeda broke and fled, and the Oda forces vigorously pursued. According to Shinchō kōki, Takeda suffered a loss of 10,000 men, two-thirds of his original besieging force. However this figure is excessively high and is most likely an exaggeration. Other contemporary sources gives a number of 1000 killed in battle and another 2000 during the rout, and this seems much more likely. Eight of his famous ‘Twenty-Four Generals’ were killed in this battle, including Baba Nobuharu (馬場信春),

 Yamagata Masakage (山県昌景), and Naito Masatoyo (内藤昌豊).

_______

1576 - 1580

The reduction of the Takeda made Nobunaga’s dream of conquering Japan seem more and more plausible, although there were three enemies who were close enough to take active issue with his designs…

1) The Honganji. The Ishiyama Honganji stronghold proved no less formidable then before Nagashino. In June 1576 he dispatched Harada Naomasa with an army to attack the Honganji-an effort that ended in failure and the loss of Harada’s life. Nobunaga responded by personally leading an attack that succeeded in taking quite a few heads but saw Nobunaga wounded in the course of the fighting. Realizing that a direct assault on the heavily defended fortress would prove extraordinarily costly even if it succeded at all, Nobunaga decided to change tactics. He began reducing the Ishiyama Honganji’s satellites, crushing the Saiga monto of Kii and weakening the warrior monks of the Negoroji. The Honganji itself held firm, drawing support from two powerful clans sympathetic to its cause - the Uesugi of Echigo and the Môri of Western Honshu.

2) The Uesugi. Uesugi Kenshin and Oda Nobunaga had maintained a wary relationship into 1576. For a time, Kenshin had cooperated with Nobunaga against the Takeda, but lost interest in their alliance after Nagashino. Two factors contributed to the rising tension between the two clans. Firstly, Nobunaga was gradually expanding deeper into the Hokuriku, a region Kenshin considered within the Uesugi sphere of influence. Secondly, ground was broken on Azuchi Castle in the spring of 1576, and Nobunaga

made little secret that he planned to make his new capital the grandest castle ever built. Kenshin took this, or at least chose to take this, as a threatening gesture-after all, Azuchi would block any move by Kenshin into the Kinai Region and act as a staging area for attacks into the Hokuriku. Kenshin’s response was to step up his own expansion. He had already taken Etchu and in1577 attacked Noto, a province that Nobunaga had already made some political investment in. Nobunaga responded by leading a large army into Kaga and met Kenshin’s army at the Tedori River. Kenshin proved himself to be as wily a foe as his old enemy Shingen, and lured Nobunaga into making a frontal assault across the Tedori at night. In a hard-fought struggle, the Oda forces were defeated and Nobunaga was forced to retreat south. Kenshin returned to Echigo and made plans to return the following spring, this time to destroy Nobunaga. Unfortunately, time deserted Kenshin just as it had Shingen, when he was at the height of his power and in a position to thwart Nobunaga’s ambitions. In fact, Kenshin’s death on 13 April 1578 was so fortuitous for Nobunaga that rumors of assassination began circulating almost immediately. In actuality, it appears more likely that Kenshin died from natural causes - he was supposedly quite ill even as he prepared for the coming campaign season. Regardless of the circumstances of his death, Kenshin’s passing triggered a bitter civil war within the Uesugi and made Nobunaga’s life that much easier. Over the next four years Oda forces under Shibata Katsuie, Maeda Toshiie, and Sassa Narimasa would pick away at the Uesugi’s holdings, until they were at the borders of Echigo.

3) The Môri. In terms of sheer lands under their rule, the Môri were one of Japan’s most impressive clans. From humble beginnings under Môri Motonari, the Môri had expanded to control much of the Chugoku region, and now watched Nobunaga’s expansion with dismay. Motonari had been an early critic of Nobunaga and when he died in 1571 his successor, Môri Terumoto, carried on the Môri’s budding opposition. The Ishiyama Honganji proved a convenient place to oppose Nobunaga. In 1576 Nobunaga diverted the naval forces of Kûki Yoshitaka to the waters off Settsu and proceeded with a naval blockade of the Honganji, assisted by the Atagi of Awaji Island. The Môri responded by mobilizing their first rate navy, which was commanded by the Murakami family: men who, like the Kûki, had cut their teeth in piracy. Sailing east, the Môri brushed aside Atagi Nobuyasu’s forces off Awaji and proceeded to defeat Kuki Yoshitaka’s ships at the 1st Battle of Kizugawaguchi. The Honganji’s supply line was opened and supplies were funneled in via sea transport, making Nobunaga’s efforts at blockade on land moot. Realizing that the Honganji would have to be isolated if he ever hoped to capture it, Nobunaga tasked Kûki with devising naval vessels that would offset the Môri’s numerical superiority. Yoshitaka dutifully went back to Shima and in 1578 unveiled six massive, heavily armed warships some have fancied were equipped with armored plates. These formed the core of a fleet that sailed back into the Inland Sea and drove off the Môri at the 2nd Battle of Kizugawaguchi. The next year, Môri Terumoto made another abortive attempt to lift the naval blockade but failed. By that point, the Môri were faced with a crisis of their own: Nobunaga’s generals were marching west. Akechi Mitsuhide was charged with conquering Tamba and then advancing along the northern coast of the Chugoku. Toyotomi (Hashiba) Hideyoshi entered Harima and began a number of sieges that would ultimately open the gates to the Môri’s hinterland.

1580 opened with the Honganji completely isolated and now rapidly running low on supplies. Finally, faced with Nobunaga’s seemingly endless energy and determination as well as starvation, the Honganji looked for a peaceful solution. The court stepped in

(persuaded by Nobunaga) and requested that Kennyo Kosa and the commander of the Honganji garrison, Shimotsuma Nakayuki, honorably surrender. In August the Honganji came to terms, and threw open their gates. Somewhat surprisingly, Nobunaga spared all of the surviving defenders - even Kosa and Shimotsuma. After over a decade of bloodshed, Nobunaga had subdued the last of the great ikko bastions and cleared the way for an eventual rise to national hegemony.

One more difficulty remained to be dealt with in Nobunaga’s backyard: Iga province. Small, mountainous and strategically unimportant, Iga and its rustic warrior houses had been spared Nobunaga’s attentions for over a decade. Then in 1579 Oda Nobuo, Nobunaga’s 2nd son, sent in an invasion force under Takigawa Kazumasu to bring the province under Oda control. The operation was a fiasco and prompted Nobuo to lead an army into Iga himself. This campaign (October 1579) was a near-disaster as well, and earned Nobuo no small amount of criticism from his father. Of course, Nobunaga had little choice but to avenge this embarrassment to the Oda name, although other matters delayed him from doing so until 1581. In October of that year, an army of some 44,000 men descended on Iga and brutally quelled the independent-minded samurai there.

When 1582 began, Nobunaga found himself in a suitable position to finish off the Takeda clan once and for all. Massing all of his available forces (anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 men), Nobunaga made forKatsuyori’s still considerable territories. Supported by Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Hôjô clan, Nobunaga easily broke into Shinano and Kai, whose people had lost all confidence in their daimyo. Katsuyori himself, all but abandoned by his men, committed suicide in the shadow of the Temmoku-zan. Of all the Oda’s samurai enemies, Nobunaga seems to have despised the Takeda most of all, and gloated shamelessly over Katsuyori’s head.

On 21 May Nobunaga returned to Azuchi Castle and was greeted by an imperial court that promised him new titles including, if he wanted it, that of shôgun. Nobunaga gave no answer, nor would he ever. Already, Akechi Mitsuhide was plotting against him; within two months Nobunaga would be dead.

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5 months ago

Nobunaga the Ruler

In early 1574, Nobunaga was promoted to the junior third rank (ju sanmi) and made a court advisor (sangi); court appointments would continue to be lavished on a near-yearly basis, perhaps in the hopes of placating him. By February 1578 the court had made him Daijo daijin, or Grand Minister of State - the highest post that could be given. Yet if the court had hoped that exalted titles would woo Nobunaga, they were to be mistaken. In May of 1574 Nobunaga resigned his titles, pleading unfinished work in the provinces, and stepped up a campaign to force Emperor Ogimachi into retirement. That Nobunaga did not succeed in having Ogimachi removed goes some way towards demonstrating that there was a limit to his power - although what exactly acted as a check on his ambitions is a matter of scholarly debate. Suffice it to say that Nobunaga was in every other way tantamount to a shogun in the lands he controlled. That he did not actually take the title of shogun is generally explained by his not being of Minamoto blood, which is misleading and possibly quite off the mark. A worthwhile discussion of this issue would likely require a careful examination of the rank of Shôgun taken in its greater historical context - beyond the scope of this writing. Let it be said that in all probability Nobunaga could well have taken the title, at least after 1582, but died without saying much on the business himself.

Nobunaga’s entry into Kyôto presented him with a situation very different from that which he had come. While Kyôto had come a long way since the dark days of the Ônin War, it was still in relative disrepair, with it’s population subject to myriad tollbooths along the roadways and hills infested with bandits. Nobunaga’s responsibilities increased exponentially, both militarily and politically after 1568. His first order of business, and that arguably most important to him, was to establish an economic power base and maximize the potential wealth of the Kinai. Among his many measures were included the abolition of tollbooths (perhaps partially as a PR move on his part, as the action was quite popular with the common people) and a series of cadastral surveys in Yamato, Yamashiro, Ômi, and Ise. Nobunaga moved to control the minting and exchange of coins, and brought the merchant city of Sakai under his influence, which in time proved to be worth it’s weight in gold. He used his gathering wealth to compensate for the generally poor quality of his common soldiery by buying as many rifles as he could get his hands on-and building his own when the arms factory at Kunimoto (Omi) fell into his hands after 1573.

Culturally Nobunaga was also active. An avid student of the tea ceremony and poetry (if not an exceptional poet) he collected tea items from near and far, and held tea and poetry gatherings with such learned and cultured men as Hosokawa Fujitaka, Imai Sokyu, and Sen no Rikyu. In the same vein he encouraged the giving of tea items and other objects as a reward for exceptional service, as opposed to the traditional grant of land, and the reward of a tea item from Nobunaga’s hand was felt to be an exceptional honor (regardless of whether the receiver was much of a tea man himself!).

Westerners fascinated Nobunaga and he showed a high degree of tolerance for their activities, to the extent that he is sometimes referred to mistakenly as a Christian. The chances that Nobunaga planned to convert are probably nonexistent - rather, the Jesuits fulfilled two uses for Nobunaga: 1) they provided him with some of the novelties and artifacts he habitually collected and probably added to his sense of power (the Jesuits tended to see Nobunaga as the real ruler of Japan - a distinction he could not have but

enjoyed) and, 2), they acted as a foil to his Buddhist enemies, if only to increase their frustration. Much has always been made in western works of Nobunaga’s relationship with the Jesuits - it is possible, however, that he saw them as merely useful and somewhat amusing diversions. Far more important to Nobunaga were his own retainers, and yet he does not come across as a particularly trustworthy leader. Few if any samurai entered his inner circle of top retainers after 1568. Even those top men he did employ were moved about from place to place, and often treated with at least some modicum of coldness. In 1580, after the fall of the Ishiyama Honganji, Nobunaga summarily dismissed and allowed to die in exile one of his oldest retainers - Sakuma Nobumôri, for alleged incompetence of command. He is recorded as teasing Hideyoshi with the nickname ‘Saru’, or Monkey, and deriding Akechi Mitsuhide for his poetic ability (actually considered rather good) and his hairline. There are other, more outrageous recordings, but, as always in Sengoku tales, it is sometimes difficult to discern where truth ends and hyperbole begins. For all that, it is likely that Nobunaga would not have been nearly as successful as he was had he been afraid to delegate. Shibata Katsuie, for instance, was dispatched to subdue the Hokuriku and with a few notable exceptions, Nobunaga left him to it for the better part of a decade. When Nobunaga decided to launch a campaign into the Chugoku region, he sent Hideyoshi and Akechi to lead the armies, never once commanding troops there himself.

In 1578 Azuchi Castle was completed in Ômi province and stood as the most impressive castle ever built in Japan. Lavishly decorated and immensely expensive, Azuchi was meant not so much for defense but as a way of clearly illustrating his power to the nation. He went to great lengths to draw merchants and citizens to Azuchi’s accompanying town, and probably saw it becoming the long-term capital of the Oda hegemony - in whatever form it took.

While in certain ways a sengoku Daimyô on a grand scale, Nobunaga was a tireless ruler and worked for years to create a military and economic super-state within the slowly widening borders of his realm. The success of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and by extension Tokugawa Ieyasu rests largely on the shoulders of the work Oda Nobunaga did before 1582.

In 1575, of course, there was still much work to be done…

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5 months ago

1570-1573

Resistance

It was hardly surprising that the Daimyô who lived outside Nobunaga’s sphere of influence would become quite agitated by the developments in Kyoto. Naturally, upheaval in Kyoto was nothing new - but Nobunaga was. He was quite unlike any of the various Miyoshi, Hosokawa, or Hatakeyama contenders of the past. Those lords, the Hosokawa Sumimoto’s and Miyoshi Motonaga’s of 1500-1565, had struggled for personal gain and prestige. Nobunaga seemed different. Certainly, he aimed for personal gain and prestige as well, but the sort of gain he desired was most different. By 1568, it is safe to say that Nobunaga aimed to rule all of Japan. Of course, this particular wish was hardly unique among the Daimyô - in point of fact, it is quite misleading to say that Nobunaga somehow possessed a vision denied his contemporaries. Rather, Nobunaga was in the right place at the right time and presented with the right window. The other great warlords of his day (some arguably greater as men go), Môri Motonari, Takeda Shingen, Uesugi Kenshin, and Hôjô Ujiyasu were all far removed from the capital, and in the case of the last three, unable to move due to the ambitions of their neighbors. The key was location. By taking Kyoto, Nobunaga positioned himself nicely in the center of Japan, which could be called the nation’s ‘soft under-belly’. While Nobunaga would face an implacable enemy in the Ikko-ikki that dwelled just beyond the Kinai, the weakness of the Daimyô within that region allowed him to build, by 1573, a considerable power-base. This is not to say, of course, that Nobunaga lacked the talents usually ascribed to him. But it is perhaps inaccurate to describe him as something other than a ‘sengoku Daimyô’. He was rather the ultimate expression of the ‘sengoku-Daimyô’. His power was based almost solely on the point of a sword, and as he grew in power, so did his use for diplomacy diminish. He kept a tight rein on his retainers, and was ruthless to his opponents, especially those who proved especially troublesome to him. His campaigns would be long and hard-fought as his reputation for cruelty grew. Few of his enemies had any illusion about what surrender would mean.

In early 1570, Nobunaga was presented with the first real challenge to his rise. Perhaps in an effort to feel out opposition, Nobunaga had evidently pressed Yoshiaki to request all the local Daimyô to come to Kyôto and attend a certain banquet. One of those who presence was requested was none other than Asakura Yoshikage, the very Daimyô who had frittered his own chance to champion Yoshiaki. Suspecting that Nobunaga was behind the ‘invitation’, Yoshikage refused, an act Nobunaga declared disloyal to both the shogun and the emperor. With this pretext well in hand, Nobunaga raised an army and marched on Echizen. Initially, all went well for the attackers, with the Asakura revealing their rather lack-luster leadership abilities. By March Nobunaga, supported by Tokugawa Ieyasu (the former Matsudaira Motoyasu), had penetrated Echizen’s southern approaches and was moving on Yoshikage’s capital (Ichijo-no-tani). Just then, Oda received startling news. His brother-in-law, Asai Nagamasa, had suddenly switched sides and gathered troops to help the Asakura. In fact, Nagamasa’s change of heart was probably not as great a surprise as one might think. The Asai and Asakura had been allies for decades, and a single marriage - even if it included the Daimyô of the clan - was not enough to nullify such a long friendship.

At any rate, Nobunaga was placed in a bit of a tricky spot by Nagamasa’s defection, but with the stout Tokugawa troops and wiles of Hashiba Hideyoshi at his disposal, he

managed to extricate himself back to Kyoto without great loss. He wasted little time in taking issue with Nagamasa. In July he moved on the Asai’s stronghold - Odani Castle - combining his levied troops with a sizable contingent of Tokugawa men for a total of 28,000 soldiers. Asai Nagamasa and Asakura Kagetake marched out to meet this host, and with their combined 20,000-man army, faced Nobunaga at the Anegawa River. The battle was hotly contested on the part of the Asai, but resulted in a victory for Nobunaga and Ieyasu. It was by no means decisive, but Anegawa represented a turning point in Nobunaga’s career, in that while Okehazama may have been a fluke and the Saito and Rokkaku hardly impressive, Nobunaga was a man to be taken seriously.

But Asai and Asakura proved tenacious opponents. Later in 1570, they led another combined army along the coast of Lake Biwa and defeated an Oda army near Otsu, killing one of Nobunaga’s own brothers, Nobuharu. In a significant development, the warrior-monks of Mt Hiei lent their support to the Asai and Asakura, a fatal error, as Nobunaga would ruthlessly prove in late 1571. In the meantime, Nobunaga found Ikko and warrior-monk resistance to his expansion stiffening at every turn. In Kwatchi, the warrior-monks of the Ishiyama Honganji fortress, well equipped with firearms, assisted the Miyoshi in their struggle against the Oda. In Ise, the Ikko-ikki of the Nagashima area openly defied Nobunaga and would cause him considerable difficulty until he dealt with them in 1574. An early struggle with the Ikko of Ise had already claimed the life of Nobunaga’s brother Nobuoki (1569) and a preliminary assault in May of 1571 on Nagashima developed into a complete and costly fiasco.

By 1571 Nobunaga’s position, while not in grave danger, was becoming a difficult one. Now actively arrayed against him were the Asai, Asakura, and Miyoshi clans, supported by Ikko and warrior monks from the Honganji, Enryakuji (of Mt. Hiei), Negoroji, and Nagashima. The Honganji proved the most formidable: head priest Kennyo Kosa and the Honganji’s fanatical adherents were destined to hold out for a decade, in time supported by the Môri clan.

At the same time, there is some evidence that the shogun was busy conspiring against his former patron, sending out letters to the Môri of Western Japan, and to the Takeda, Uesugi, and Hôjô of Eastern Japan. Evidently Yoshiaki had become frustrated with Nobunaga’s heavy-handedness, which only increased with the passage of time. By 1571 Oda had imposed a multitude of regulations and constraints on Yoshiaki’s administration (chiefly outlined in two documents issued in 1569 and 1570) that all but reduced the shogun to a puppet.

Yoshiaki’s best hope seemed to rest on the powerful Takeda Shingen of Kai, who by this point had taken control of Suruga and was pressing Oda’s staunch ally, Tokugawa Ieyasu. While historians continue to debate just how deep Yoshiaki’s schemes went, surviving documents and correspondence does lead one to believe that Shingen was seen by most as the greatest threat to Nobunaga and that Yoshiaki was proactive in getting the Takeda involved in the anti-Oda alliance.

Nobunaga, hardly willing to allow his enemies time to strangle him, responded with an act of brutality so unusual that even his own generals were shocked. In later 1571, Nobunaga’s troops surrounded Mt. Hiei and proceeded to work their way up the mountainside, killing any and all found in their path. By the next day, the once sprawling Enryakuji complex was reduced to ashes and thousands lay dead. The

centuries old power of Mt. Hiei had been broken, and Nobunaga was afforded a little breathing room. An attempt to repeat this success at Nagashima, however, ended in failure, and Nobunaga was forced to hold off on further efforts to reduce this stronghold while the Takeda threatened.

In 1572 Takeda Shingen stepped up his forays into Tokugawa’s land, and Ieyasu requested military assistance. Nobunaga, despite the aid he had himself gotten from Ieyasu in the past, hesitated (he was, after all, still technically allied to Shingen). Ieyasu’s response was to hint that there was little that might otherwise stop the Tokugawa from actually joining the Takeda - a scenario that would put the Oda in a most precarious position. Wisely, Nobunaga agreed to help as much as his own situation allowed.

In the winter of 1572, Takeda led a large army down from Shinano into Totomi and threatened Ieyasu’s headquarters at Hamamatsu. Nobunaga sent a few thousand men under three generals of mixed quality - not enough to stave off the defeat that followed but enough to eliminate any pretext of civility that may have existed between Nobunaga and Shingen. At the same time, Takeda troops actually penetrated Mino, and captured the imposing Iwamura Castle - an embarrassing event that no doubt made Oda furious.

Fortune was destined to smile on Nobunaga in 1573, however. By that May, Takeda Shingen was dead. While the specifics of his passing remain something of a mystery, the loss of Shingen would ultimately prove fatal to the Takeda clan and a boon for Nobunaga. The timing certainly could not have proved worse for Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who in March had fortified Nijo Castle and dispatched letters to Nobunaga’s enemies, urging them onward. While Shingen threatened, Nobunaga had been unable to respond to the shogun’s defiance, save for making a few good will overtures to Yoshiaki.

The Takeda clan had endeavored to keep Shingen’s death a secret, but it seems likely that Nobunaga at least intuited the truth. With all of the furious determination he would become famous for, Nobunaga turned on his remaining enemies in the Chubu region. On 3 May he surrounded Kyoto and caught Yoshiaki unprepared, forcing the shogun to negotiate. An uneasy truce was arranged through the intercession of the Emperor, one that neither side expected to hold for long. In the meantime, Nobunaga took charge of operations against the Nagashima Ikko stronghold and led an army there in July. He was defeated in a sharp struggle and forced to retreat, an embarrassing setback that may have helped goad Yoshiaki into rebelling again in the first week of August. Leaving Mizubuchi Fujihide in charge of Nijo, Yoshiaki barricaded himself in a fort astride the Uji River. His intention evidently was to hold off Nobunaga long enough for the Asai, Asakura, and Honganji to fall on Oda from behind. In fact, Yoshiaki’s position was strong - but in the event not strong enough. Realizing the danger inherent in Yoshiaki’s recalcitrance, Nobunaga acted swiftly. He assaulted Yoshiaki’s stronghold and by 18 August had breached the fort’s outer defenses. Yoshiaki sued for peace and pleaded for his life - a request Nobunaga granted. Instead, Yoshiaki was exiled, the last of the Ashikaga shoguns. From now until his death, Nobunaga would act as the defacto Shôgun.

Yoshiaki was barely on the road to refuge in the western provinces when Nobunaga marched north against the Asai and Asakura. He threatened Odani Castle, then ambushed and defeated the Asakura army dutifully dispatched in relief. Leaving a force

to mask Odani, Nobunaga chased the fleeing Asakura into Echizen, easily capturing Ichijo-ga-tani. Asakura Yoshikage had abandoned his castle and ended up committing suicide in a temple on 16 September. Nobunaga then returned to Omi and surrounded Odani. Asai Nagamasa died a much less pathetic death then his ally Yoshikage, and made the honorable gesture of returning Nobunaga’s sister and her children before committing suicide.

With the Asai and Asakura gone, and the Takeda for the moment quiet, Nobunaga was free to inflict vengeance on the Ikko of Nagashima. Supported by the naval strength of Kûki Yoshitaka of Shima, Nobunaga blockaded Nagashima and captured its outlaying forts. During the August of 1574 the Oda forced the Ikko within the walls of their main fortifications and essentially imprisoned them there. The Nagashima complex was then set alight, and as many as 20,000 men, women, and children were massacred. This was not to be the last of Nobunaga’s blood baths, but in many ways it was the most shocking, though not nearly as well known as his destruction of Mt. Hiei.

Within one year, Nobunaga’s borders and military clout had grown substantiality, enough to allow him to conduct three initiatives at once: the continued siege of the Honganji, a war of extermination aimed at the Ikko of Echizen and Kaga, and a showdown with the Takeda. The last would culminate in the bloody struggle at Nagashino.

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5 months ago

1561-1570

Nobunaga’s ambition

In 1561, Saitô Yoshitatsu, who had continued to fend off advances by the Oda, passed away, probably of leprosy. This left his son, Tatsuoki, in command and Nobunaga was quick to take advantage of the new lord’s weak character. By bribing away key Saito generals, Nobunaga was able to weaken the defenses of Mino and in 1567 he attacked Inabayama, the headquarters of the Saitô clan. According to tradition, the hill-top castle was brought down by Hashiba (Toyotomi) Hideyoshi, although this valuable Oda retainer does not begin appearing in written records until around 1576.

The following year, Nobunaga moved his capital to Inabayama and renamed the castle Gifu. Everything about the move was auspicious, and made possible by two alliances - one to Matsudaira Motoyasu, and another to Takeda Shingen of Kai and Shinano. The name Gifu was taken from the castle from which Wu Wang, ruler of the Chou, had set out in the 12th Century to unify China. Emperor Ogimachi sent a letter of congratulations and Nobunaga adopted the motto Tenka Fubu, or ‘the realm covered in military glory’ (or, alternatively, ‘The nation under one sword”).

The only real opposition to his moves in Mino came from the Asai, who had declared war on the Saito at around the same time. Asai Nagamasa considered Mino at least partly his, and a small war quickly brewed up on the Ômi-Mino border. Nobunaga quickly arranged a peace and sealed an alliance by marrying his sister (O-ichi) off to Asai Nagamasa.

Nobunaga’s ambition was given a powerful stimulant with the arrival of Ashikaga Yoshiaki at Gifu in 1567. The brother of the late shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru, murdered in 1565, Yoshiaki had spent the intervening years seeking out a patron. Yoshiteru’s assassins - the Miyoshi and Matsunaga clans - had seen fit to legitimize their domination of Kyoto politics by naming the 2-year old Ashikaga Yoshihide as Yoshiteru’s successor. When Yoshiaki heard the news, he gave up a Buddhist priesthood and fled with Hosokawa Fujitaka, both out of fear for his own life and in the hopes he would find a warlord strong enough to set things right in Kyôto. That he was the logical choice to follow Yoshiteru was clear…finding a Daimyô that would do something about it proved difficult. In his search, he approached the Takeda of Wakasa (not to be confused with the Takeda of Kai), the Uesugi of Echigo, and the Asakura of Echizen. The last seemed the most promising, in terms of military strength relative to a proximity to the capital, and indeed, Asakura Yoshikage promised to help. But Yoshikage stalled and in the end admitted that he was powerless to assist Yoshiaki’s nomadic party.

Then Yoshiaki turned to Oda Nobunaga, who fairly jumped at the opportunity. In fact, he had expressed a desire in late 1565 to do just what Yoshiaki was asking, and it may be that Yoshiaki had been leery of approaching this young upstart to begin with. Uesugi and Asakura, after all, were names that carried quite a bit of prestige along with them. But, by 1567, Yoshiaki had evidently decided that beggars couldn’t be choosers.

In 1568 Nobunaga’s army marched westward in Yoshiaki’s name, brushing aside the Rokkaku of southern Omi and putting to flight Miyoshi and Matsunaga. Matsunaga Hisahide promptly submitted (for which he was confirmed Daimyô of Yamato) while the Miyoshi withdrew to Settsu. In the ninth month Nobunaga entered Kyoto and within

three weeks Yoshiaki was installed as the fifteenth Ashikaga shogun with the approval of Emperor Ogimachi. The mutually beneficial relationship of Yoshiaki and Nobunaga had thus far borne sweet fruit. In time, it would grow quite sour, foreshadowed by Nobunaga’s refusal to accept the position of Kanrei, or deputy shogun, even when the Emperor himself requested he do so in 1569 . Nobunaga seemed determined to exist in a sort of political limbo, and expressed little interest in any orthodox rank or titles, including, as we shall see, that of shogun. That Nobunaga was the real ruler in Kyoto was the only part of the equation that lacked any sort of ambiguity.

THE STORY WILL CONTINUE

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5 months ago

The Battle of Okehazama (桶狭間の戦い Okehazama-no-tatakai?) took place in June 1560. In this battle, Oda Nobunaga defeatedImagawa Yoshimoto and established himself as one of the front-running warlords in the Sengoku period

In May or June 1560, Imagawa Yoshimoto, with an army of perhaps 35,000 men, set forth on a march to Kyoto. Entering the Oda territories in Owari Province, he first took the border fortresses of Washizu and Marune before setting up camp in a wooded gorge known as Dengaku-hazama. This was all reported to Oda Nobunaga by his scouts and, in response, Nobunaga then led his own forces into position at a temple called Zenshōji, a short distance away, on the other side of the Tōkaidō.

Had Nobunaga decided on a frontal assault, the battle would have been deceptively easy to predict; his army was outnumbered ten to one by the Imagawa forces. A frontal assault would be suicidal and an attempt to hold out at Zenshō-ji would only last a few days. Because of the odds against their side, some of Nobunaga’s advisers even suggested a surrender. Nobunaga, however, decided to launch a surprise attack on the Imagawa camp. When he made his decision, he gave this speech:

“Imagawa has 40,000 men marching toward this place? I don’t believe that. He ‘only’ has 35,000 soldiers. Yes, that is still too many. So, Sado, you want me to surrender. What if we do surrender? Will you get content with losing your life that way? Or what if we hold on like Katsuie wants me to? What if we stay here in this castle, lock it up, and wait until the Imagawas lose appetite and stop the siege and go home? We will be able to prolong our lives for 5 or 10 days, and what we cannot defend will still be undefendable. We are at the bottom of the pit, you know. And our fate is interesting. Of course the misery is too great, too. But this is how I see it: this is a chance in a lifetime. I can’t afford to miss this. Do you really want to spend your entire lives praying for longevity? We were born in order to die! Whoever is with me, come to the battlefield tomorrow morning. Whoever is not, just stay wherever you are and watch me win it!”

Battle

Nobunaga left a small force at the temple with a large number of banners, to give the impression that this was the location of his main force. Meanwhile, Oda’s main force (about 1,500 men) moved through the forest undetected to the rear of the Imagawa army.

The Imagawa samurai did not expect an attack, and that afternoon was very hot. The histories say that the Imagawa were celebrating their recent victories with song, dance, and sake. An afternoon rainstorm further aided Oda’s soldiers who arrived at the Imagawa camp just as the rains came down (this was the afternoon of 12 June).

When the storm passed, Nobunaga’s men poured into the camp from the north, and the Imagawa warriors lost all discipline and fled from the attackers. This left their commander’s tent undefended, and the Oda warriors closed in rapidly. Imagawa Yoshimoto, unaware of what had transpired, heard the noise and emerged from his tent shouting at his men to quit their drunken revelry and return to their posts. By the time he realized, moments later, that the samurai before him were not his own, it was far too late. He deflected one samurai’s spear thrust, but was beheaded by another.

Aftermath

With their leader dead, and all but two of the senior officers killed, the remaining Imagawa officers joined Oda’s army. Soon the Imagawa faction was no more and Oda Nobunaga was famous as his victory was hailed by many in Japan as miraculous. The most important of the samurai lords who joined Oda after this battle was Tokugawa Ieyasu from Mikawa Province. Ieyasu would remain a loyal ally of Nobunaga from this time until the latter’s death.

[edit]List of notable samurai in the battle

Oda side

Oda Nobunaga Shibata Katsuie Hattori Kazutada Mōri Yoshikatsu Toyotomi Hideyoshi Maeda Toshiie

Imagawa side

Imagawa Yoshimoto Asahina Yasutomo Okabe Motonobu Tokugawa Ieyasu Ii Naomori Honda Tadakatsu Hattori Hanzō

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5 months ago

1534 - 1559

The Oda of Owari

Nobunaga was born Oda Kippôshi, the second son of Oda Nobuhide (1508? -1549), a minor lord whose family once served the Shiba shugo. Nobuhide was a skilled warrior, and spent much of his time fighting the samurai of Mikawa and Mino. He also had enemies closer to home - the Oda were divided into two separate camps, with both vying for control of Owari’s eight districts. Nobuhide’s branch, of which he was one of three elders, was based at Kiyosu castle. The rival branch was to the north, in Iwakura Castle.

Many of Nobuhide’s battles were fought in Mikawa, against the Matsudaira and the Imagawa clan. The latter were old and prestigious, rulers of Suruga and overlords of Tôtômi. The Matsudaira were as obscure as the Oda, and while not as splintered politically, they were slowly coming under the Imagawa’s influence. The decade leading up to 1548 was dominated along the Mikawa-Owari border by the contention of three men - Oda Nobuhide, Matsudaira Hirotada, andImagawa Yoshimoto. In 1542, Imagawa, supported by the Matsudaira, marched as far west as the Owari border, and was met by Oda Nobuhide and his younger brother Tsuda Nobumitsu at Azukizaka. In this bitter fight, the Oda emerged victorious, but not decisively. In 1548 Nobuhide attempted to arrange the defection of a certain Matsudaira Tadamoto of Mikawa away from Hirotada. Tadamoto, however, ended up being killed in the attempt, and Oda launched an attack on Okazaki, evidently to make up for the disappointment. Matsudaira Hirotada thus found himself in difficult straights, and called on Imagawa for assistance. Yoshimoto replied that he would be happy to help - so long as Hirotada was willing to send along his young son as a hostage. Hirotada had little choice, and shipped off 6-year old Takechiyo (the future Tokugawa Ieyasu) westward. En-route to Suruga, unfortunately, Oda loyalists intercepted the hostage party and made off with Takechiyo, taking the child to Nobuhide. Nobuhide immediately made use of his new card and demanded that Hirotada give up Okazaki in return for his son’s life. Hirotada wisely refused, and Nobuhide, his bluff called, did no harm to the boy. Later in 1548, Imagawa and Oda met again in battle, and this time the Imagawa came out the winner. The following year Nobuhide died, leaving an Oda clan divided in every possible way.

Anxious to capitalize on the death of his rival, Imagawa Yoshimoto sent his uncle, the talented monk-general Sessai Choro, to attack Nobuhide’s heir, Nobuhiro. Sessai besieged Nobuhiro in Anjo Castle, and sent word to Nobunaga that unless he wished to see his elder brother made to commit suicide, he would have to send back Takechiyo. Nobunaga could hardly refuse, and so Takechiyo ended up in Suruga, even though his father Hirotada had passed away that same year.

The progress of the next three years is hazy. By 1551, however, Nobunaga was the leader of his faction of the Oda and master of Kiyosu. His principal enemy (beyond his

own family) was his father’s nemesis, the Imagawa. Nobunaga’s northern borders (not counting the area of Mino controlled by the Iwakura Oda) were more or less secured, at least: before his death, Nobuhide had arranged for the marriage of Nobunaga to Saitô Dosan’s daughter. Saitô Toshimasa (Dosan) (1494-1556) was a colorful figure, a former oil-merchant (if tradition is to be believed) who supplanted the Tôki family of Mino.

Pausing for a monent, we see the young Nobunaga. He is estimated to have stood between 5’3” and 5’6” tall, and was a clear speaker with a strong prescence about him. He was considered a not unhandsome man, with a somewhat prominant nose and scarce beard. As a young man, Nobunaga was said to have been a brash and altogether rude fellow whose behavior often bordered on the disgraceful. Supposedly, he even acted out as his father’s funeral was being conducted at the Bansyô-ji. This popular view of Nobunaga’s early days is in part substantiated by the suicide of Hirate Kiyohide (1493-1553), one of Nobuhide’s old retainers tasked with helping Nobunaga rule. Hirade committed what was called kanshi, or remonstration through suicide. The old samurai wrote up a letter urging Nobunaga to change his ways and then slit his belly. His death is said to have had a dramatic effect on Nobunaga. He did mend his ways, and in time built the Seisyu-ji in Owari to honor his loyal retainer.

By 1558, Nobunaga had largely managed to unify his family, although he suffered the rebellion of two brothers in so doing. In 1556, Nobuhiro, his elder brother, had plotted with the new (and hostile) lord of Mino, Saitô Yoshitatsu, an act Nobunaga pardoned him for. The following year, his younger brother Nobuyuki conspired with Shibata Katsuie and Hayashi Michikatsu and, if the legend is true, Nobunaga’s own mother. Nobunaga learned of the treason and had Nobuyuki killed. Shibata and Hayashi, on the other hand, were spared - perhaps sending a powerful message to any other members of the Oda family who were thinking treacherous thoughts.

As just noted, Saitô Yoshitatsu was the new lord of Mino, having killed Dôsan at the Battle of Nagaragawa (1556), and he was no friend to the Oda. The Oda’s forts in Mino were quickly reduced, and Nobunaga’s attempts to make in-roads in that province were turned back. At the same time, Imagawa Yoshimoto was knocking on Owari’s southeastern door, having all but absorbed Mikawa and the Matsudaira clan. Imagawa’s army had lost some of it’s potency with the death of Sessai Choro in 1555 but Yoshimoto could call on the services of a young and skillful ally - Matsudaira Motoyasu, a man whose fate would prove inter-twined with that of Nobunaga. In 1558, Motoyasu fought his first battle - at Nobunaga’s expense. Oda had recently bribed Terabe Castle away from the Matsudaira, and Motoyasu, with the Imagawa’s blessing, took it back, defeating a relief force sent by Nobunaga. The next year, Imagawa did a little horse-trading of his own, and lured Otaka castle away from the Oda. Nobunaga was furious, and had the fort surrounded. Soon, the garrison began to run out of food, and to lead a relief effort, Imagawa sent Matsudaira Motoyasu. Using a crafty bit of diversion, Motoyasu successfully provisioned Otaka - much to Nobunaga’s chagrin.

THE STORY WILL CONTINUE

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5 months ago

Minamoto Yoshiie

1041-1108

Minamoto Yoshiie, a man who came to embody the spirit of the samurai and a legend even in his own time, was the son of Minamoto Yoriyoshi (995-1082). Yoriyoshi, the third generation of theSeiwa Genji, was a noted commander, and in 1051 was commissioned to defeat the rebellious Abe family of Dewa Province. The Abe had for years held prominent posts in this distant, forbidding region, and had come to assume a certain autonomy. Like Taira Masakado, the Abe had been tasked with subduing the northern barbarians, and, from the Court’s point of view, become barbarians themselves. They were in fact described as ebisu, a somewhat generic term which was also applied to the Ainu.

Yoriyoshi’s chief opponent was Abe Yoritoki, an unscrupulous character who died of an arrow wound in 1057. By this point in the so-called Former Nine-Years War, Yoriyoshi’s son Yoshiie had joined the expedition. A promising young warrior, Yoshiie participated in the Battle of Kawasaki (later in 1057) against Yoritoki’s heir Sadato. In a snowstorm, the Minamoto assaulted Sadato’s stronghold at Kawasaki and were driven back; in the course of the hard-fought retreat Yoshiie distinguished himself and earned the nickname ‘Hachimantaro’, or ‘First son (or First born) of the God of War (Hachiman)’. Abe Sadato comes across as an altogether more impressive man than his father, and proved a formidable foe even for Yoshiie and Yoriyoshi. Yet the Minamoto cause was much assisted by the enlistment of Kiyowara Noritake, a locally powerful figure whose rugged northern men swelled Yoriyoshi’s ranks.

In 1057 the fighting culminated in a series of actions that further enhanced Yoshiie’s reputation. Sadato had attacked the Minamoto troops but suffering a reverse retreated into a fort by theKoromo River. Yoriyoshi ordered a spirit assault on the fort, which Sadato was forced to flee. During the chaotic retreat, Yoshiie was supposed to have chased Sadato and had an imprompturenga (linked verse) session with his enemy from horseback, afterwards allowing him to escape. The probability that the incident actually occurred is next to nil, but it made Yoshiie seem all the more colorful, and gave him an opponent worthy in both warfare and culture. In fact, the war was nearly over. Sadato continued his flight until he reached another fort, this one on the Kuriyagawa, and prepared for another stand. The government troops arrived and after a few days of fighting brought the fort down. Sadato and his son died, and his brother Muneto was captured. Yoshiie gave thanks to his namesake by establishing the Tsurugaoka Hachiman shrine near Kamakura on the way back to Kyoto. Yoriyoshi was awarded the governorship of Iyo Province for his services against the Abe while Yoshiie was named Governor of Mutsu. Interestingly, Abe Muneto was released into the custody of the Minamoto and lived in Iyo, becoming a companion of Yoshiie’s. In 1082 Yoriyoshi died.

In 1083 Yoshiie was commissioned by the Court to subdue another rebel, this time against the same Kiyowara family who had assisted the Minamoto in the previous war. After the Abe’s defeat, the Kiyowara had been elevated and filled the power vacuum in the north. A power struggle had broken out among various family members, and in the end Yoshiie was sent to quell the disturbance. The conflict became known as the Later Three-Year War and culminated, after a setback at Numu (1086), in the Battle of Kanazawa. In an incident that became a famous military anecdote, Yoshiie’s men were advancing to contact when a flock of birds began to settle in a certain spot then abruptly flew off. Yoshiie suspected an ambush and had the place surrounded, sure enough revealing the enemy army. Yoshiie went on to reduce Kanazawa through siege and the Later Three-Year War drew to a close. The Court was pleased that the Kiyowara had been suppressed, but viewed the conflict as outside the Court’s responsibility, as technically Yoshiie had not been commissioned by the emperor to fight. This meant that no rewards would be distributed to Yoshiie’s men, an unfortunate situation Yoshiie remedied by paying them himself with his own lands. This action greatly enhanced Yoshiie’s reputation and also secured lasting bonds of loyalty for the Minamoto in the Kanto region, bonds that would pay dividends in the following century.

Stinginess aside, the aristocracy held Yoshiie in near-awe, and Fujiwara Munetada dubbed him ‘The Samurai of the greatest bravery under heaven.’ At the same time, the Court kept Yoshiie at arm’s length. It did go so far as permitting Yoshiie to visit the Imperial Court in 1098; a rare honor that by it’s very rareness indicates the widening gulf between the Court and provincial houses. This alienation would in the end contribute to the eclipse of Imperial authority by the samurai in the later 12th Century.

Shrouded in mystery, elevated to an almost godlike status in the old chronicles, it is difficult to place Minamoto Yoshiie in a historical context. His greatest political contribution was probably in strengthening the Minamoto family, especially those branches residing in the Kanto. His other contribution was less tangible. The legend of Minamoto Yoshiie, who emerged from his northern wars and the chronicles as a cultured man of war, established a model for future samurai that would influence generations of warriors to come.

Kikuchi Takemitsu (1319-1373)

Takemitsu was the 9th son of Taketoki and continued fighting for the Emperor as his father had done. He was a general of the Nanbokucho era, fighting on the side of the emperor, along with Prince Kanenaga (懐良親王) (1326-1383) (son of Emperor Go-Daigo). The scene where he fights a famous battle on the Chikugo river is drawn in the picture on the right. He was the strongest and most dependable ally of Prince Kanenaga in the struggle against the Bafuku. He was stuck with a triple threat by the armies of Ashikaga Yoshinori, Ashikaga Takasaki and Ashikaga Tadaaki. This made Takemitsu have to raise the siege of Takasaki and address himself to the defence of Daizaifu. The three Ashikaga armies enveoloped Daizaifu and it fell into their hands before the end of September 1372. Takemitsu had to retreat and escaped to Chikugo with Prince Kanenaga. When Takemitsu died he left the loyalist defence without a really tested leader, and his heir Takemasa, a promising soldier, died in 1374.[7]

The Battle of Oohobaru (The Battle of Chikugo River):

Forty thousands which followed Kikuchi Takemitsu as their head advanced northwards from Kikuchi in Kumamoto with Prince Kanenaga, and were opposed to North Dynasty’s Army across the Chikugo River. Kikuchi Takemitu commanded 5000 soldiers to cross the Chikugo River, and pitched a camp around present Miyase. The unit of Kikuchi Takemitsu went along the present Oomuta Railway Line northwards,and headed for Ajisaka. But,forces of the Shouni Family avoided the fight and retreated to the point near present Ooho station. Although, as for this battle line, the stalemate continued for half a month,on the midnight of August 15, Takemitsu finally took the suicide corps of 3000 and moved quietly on the east side of the forces of the Syouni, and attacked it from both sides. In a short while, 1000 horsemen headed by Kikuchi Takemasa arrived there for the help and the Battle of Oohobaru started. Although both armies repeated fierce fight of advance and retreat around Ogoori,the Kikuchi army pressed the Shouni army gradually, the Shouni army retreated along present the Amagi Railway Line toward northeast to arrive at Yamakumahara which spread over present Tachiarai. Although the Shoni army tried to reorganize the disrupted forces at Mt. Hanatateyama, they ran into Mt. Houmanzan 15 kilometers north because they were scattered by the fierce pursuit of the Kikuchi army which didn’t give any spare time for them.[9] 

Hattori,Hanzō Hattori Hanzō (服部 半蔵?, ~1542[1] – December 23, 1596) 

also known as Hattori Masanari (服部 正成?), was a famous samurai and ninja master of the Sengoku era, credited with saving the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu and then helping him to become the ruler of united Japan.Today, he is often a subject of varied portrayal in modern popular culture. 

Biography 

Hanzō was born as the son of Hattori Yasunaga, a minor samurai in the service of the Matsudaira (later Tokugawa) clan.[4][5] He would later earn the nickname Oni no Hanzō (鬼の半蔵 Devil Hanzō?)[5] because of the fearless tactics he displayed in his operations; this is to distinguish him from Watanabe Hanzo (Watanabe Moritsuna), who is nicknamed Yari no Hanzō (槍の半蔵 Spear Hanzō?).[6]

Though Hanzō was born and raised in Mikawa Province, he often returned to Iga Province, home of the Hattori family. He fought his first battle at the age of 16 (a night-time attack on Udo castle[4])[5] and went on to serve with distinction at the battles of Anegawa (1570) and Mikatagahara (1572).[4] His most valuable contribution came in 1582 following Oda Nobunaga’s death, when he led the future shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu to safety in Mikawa Province across Iga territory with the help of remnants of the local Iga ninja clans[5][7][8] as well as their one-time rivals in Koga.[9][10] According to some sources, Hanzō also helped in rescuing the captured family of Ieyasu.[11]

Hanzō was known as an expert tactician and a master of spear fighting. Historical sources say he lived the last several years of his life as a monk under the name “Sainen” and built the temple, Sainenji, which was named after him and mainly built to commemorate Tokugawa Ieyasu’s elder son, Nobuyasu, who was accused of treason

and conspiracy by Oda Nobunaga and was ordered to commit seppuku. Hanzo was called in to act as an official second to end the latter’s suffering, but refused to take the sword on the blood of his own lord. Ieyasu valued his loyalty after hearing of Hanzo’s ordeal and said “Even a demon can shed tears.”[12][13]

Various supernatural abilities, such as disappearing and appearing elsewhere, psychokinesis and precognition, were also attributed to him.[5] He died at the age of 55.[4] 

Legacy 

After his death in the fourth day of the eleventh month of 1596, Hattori Hanzō was succeeded by his son, whose name was also Masanari, though written with different kanji. He was given the title of Iwami no Kami[14] and his men would act as guards of Edo Castle, the headquarters of the government of united Japan. There have been also as many as three other Hattori Hanzō leading his clan at one point or another (including one before him).[5]

To this day, artifacts of Hanzō’s legacy remain. Tokyo Imperial Palace (formerly the shogun’s palace) still has a gate called Hanzō’s Gate (Hanzōmon), and the Hanzōmon subway line which runs from Hanzōmon Station in central Tokyo to the southwestern suburbs is named after the gate, where his house was once located.[15][16][17] Hanzō’s remains now rest in the Sainen-ji temple cemetery in Yotsuya, Tokyo. The temple also holds his favorite spear and his ceremonial battle helmet. The spear, originally 14-feet long donated to the temple by Hanzō as a votive offering, had been given to him by Ieyasu and suffered damage during the bombing of Tokyo in 1945 

The Photo On Top Is The Grave Of The Great Hattori,Hanzo

via Wiki 

Kusunoki Masashige (楠木 正成?, 1294 - July 4, 1336) was a 14th century samurai who fought for Emperor Go-Daigo in his attempt to wrest rulership of Japan away from the Kamakura shogunate and is remembered as the ideal of samurai loyalty.

Tactician 

 A brilliant tactician and strategist, Kusunoki’s cunning defense of two key Loyalist fortresses at Akasaka and Chihaya helped allow Go-Daigo to briefly return to power. However, one of the loyalist generals, Ashikaga Takauji, betrayed Go-Daigo and led an army against Kusunoki and the remaining loyalists. Kusunoki suggested to the Emperor that they take refuge on sacred Mount Hiei and allow Takauji to take Kyoto, only to swoop down from the mountain, and with the help of the monks of Mount Hiei, trap Takauji in the city and destroy him.

Disaster

Go-Daigo was unwilling to leave the capital however, and insisted that Kusunoki meet Takauji’s superior forces in the field in a pitched battle. Kusunoki, in what would later be viewed as the ultimate act of samurai loyalty, obediently accepted his Emperor’s

foolish command, left his death poem with his young son Masatsura[1] and knowingly marched his army into almost certain death. The battle, which took place at Minatogawa in modern-day Chūō-ku, Kobe, was a tactical disaster. Kusunoki, his army completely surrounded, down to only 73 of the original 700 horsemen, committed suicide along with his brother Masasue, 11 close clan members, and 60 others. According to legend, his brother’s last words were Shichisei Hōkoku! (七生報國; “Would that I had seven lives to give for my country!”) and Kusunoki Masashige agreed. There are two accounts of arguments that Kusunoki Masashige made to emperor Go-Daigo. One was that they regroup and attack from two sides, the other was that they bring back general Takauji to their side thus balancing the scales. Both arguments were ignored.

Legacy

His son, Masatsura, served the emperor’s successor, the 12-year-old Go-Murukami, in a relationship of reciprocal trust and devotion mirroring the figure of his father Kusunoki and keeping the flame of loyalist resistance alive.[2] Masatsura died alongside his brother Masatoki and cousin Wada Takahide in a battle that saw the end of the Kusunoki clan and there followed a less-than-ideal scramble for power and gain among the Courts.[2]

Kusunoki Masashige’s successful defense of Chihaya castle is believed to have helped turn the tide against the Kamakura bakufu/shogunate (military rule and the first shogunate). Partly because he held out so long in his castle, Ashikaga Takauji revolted and came to the aid of the emperor, and thus ended the Kamakura bakufu. However, Ashikaga Takauji quickly learned that he did not like following the emperor’s commands, and revolted again to establish his own Ashikaga bakufu (the second, middle shogunate). He was able to establish his own shogunate after defeating Kusunoki Masashige and the commander in chief Yoshisada in the final battle. Kusunoki Masashige tried to intervene and bring Ashikaga Takauji back to the emperor’s side, but the emperor rejected this plan.

Legend 

After the full-scale introduction of Neo-Confucianism as a state philosophy by the Tokugawa Shogunate, Kusunoki Masashige, once-called a traitor by the Northern Court, was resurrected with Emperor Go-Daigo as a precursor of Sinocentric absolutists, based upon the Neo-Confucian theories. During the Edo period, scholars and samurai who were influenced by the Neo-Confucian theories created the legend of Kusunoki and enshrined him as a patriotic hero, called Nankō (楠公) or Dai-Nankō

(大楠公), who epitomized loyalty, courage, and devotion to the Emperor. Kusunoki later became a patron saint of sorts to the World War II kamikaze, who saw themselves as his spiritual heirs in sacrificing their lives for the Emperor. 

via Wiki 

The Katanas, forged by Hattori and his staff, are individually handmade. The Katana blades are forged with 1095 High Carbon Steel and Tempered at a Rockwell of 55 

Each of Hattori’s Katanas, are individually hand forged and sharpened by hand, while the fittings and extras are ordered from a third party.

The battle ready katanas offered here on our website are made with a balance in mind, between practicality and aesthetics. They are made in such a way that they would be highly functional at home, in the dojo for practical use, during cutting tests and performances, or as a highly attractive wall decoration. The blades on the Hattori

katanas are razor sharp and ready to cut out of the box.

All Katanas are sold with a solid wood display box, silk sword bag, single sword stand, and a sword polishing kit. Hattori Katana blades are signed by Akio Hattori. The display box are burned with his logo as well.

Hand Forged with 1095 High Carbon Steel. Hand sharpened with Japanese whetsone, to a razor sharp edge. Tsuka: Genuine Ray Skin Overall Length:39.5” Blade: 28” Tsuka: 11 Weight: 2 lbs 8 oz.

Model: AH-2206Manufactured by: Akio Hattori

Hokusai (Shotaro Ishinomori)

Por Gerardo Vilches– noviembre 8, 2012Publicado en: Reseñas

Hokusai (Shotaro Ishinomori). EDT, 2012. Rústica. 13×18 cm. B/N. 600 págs. 15€

La primera vez que escuché el nombre de Shotaro Ishinomori fue en una conferencia impartida por Marc Bernabé, en la que éste contaba como a Ishinomori le apodaban «el rey del manga». En cierta ocasión se encontró con Osamu Tezuka, al que admiraba; cuando Tezuka preguntó a Ishinomori que si le llamaban el rey, cómo deberían llamarlo a él mismo, Ishinomori salió del apuro contestándole que era «el dios del manga». Esta anécdota es el mejor ejemplo de lo que significa Ishinomori en Japón, y hasta qué punto es importante para entender la historia del manga. En España, como tantos otros autores fundamentales, ha permanecido prácticamente inédito salvo alguna obra puntual, pero afortunadamente es algo que EDT comienza a solucionar con la publicación de Hokusai, su monumental biografía del célebre ilustrador de los siglos XVII y XVIII.

            En sus casi seiscientas páginas Ishinomori cuenta la vida del ilustrador japonés, uno de los artistas más importantes e influyentes de la pintura universal. Lejos de caer en el carácter casi hagiográfico que a menudo tienen ciertas biografías, Ishinomori demuestra el respeto que le tiene al gran maestro retratándolo como ser humano, recogiendo lo que se sabe de su vida sin omitir detalles escabrosos. Todo el libro destila humanidad y vitalidad, y amor al arte por encima de todo. Por eso se centra en la búsqueda obsesiva de Hokusai de la perfección, del estilo definitivo. El artista se reinventa a sí mismo y comienza de cero varias veces, abandonando simbólicamente su

nombre y asumiendo otro para que nadie asocie sus nuevos dibujos a la fama de su anterior encarnación. Hokusai se casa varias veces, tiene hijos, vive en la opulencia y en la miseria, enseña a varios discípulos y conoce a los personajes más importantes de su tiempo, pero todo eso queda en un segundo plano con respecto a esa obsesión, a su visión del arte como objetivo vital que está por encima de cualquier otra cosa. Y eso Ishinomori lo sabe transmitir perfectamente a través de una estructura en capítulos en la que va saltando por los momentos clave de la vida de Hokusai, por diferentes edades que dan título a esos capítulos, en un desorden que sorprende pero que funciona perfectamente frente al lector.

            Del mismo modo que Hokusai cambió de estilo pictórico varias veces en vida, Ishinomori parece querer replicarle y en algunos capítulos dibuja con un trazo mucho más suelto e inacabado —los que corresponden a la vejez del artista—, además de reproducir algunas de sus obras más conocidas. Pero siempre se aprecian sus grandes virtudes. Es un dibujante excepcional, con una composición quizá no tan rompedora

como la de Tezuka, pero con algunas páginas verdaderamente sorprendentes, y cuyo punto fuerte es sin duda la increíble capacidad que tiene para captar las emociones y los estados de ánimo de sus personajes a través de sus rostros y su lenguaje gestual, sintetizando con maestría y recurriendo a la caricatura con especial acierto.

            He disfrutado de Hokusai como en su día disfruté de algunas obras de Shigeru Mizuki o de Yoshihiro Tatsumi: del tirón y sin parar. Esa mezcla tan japonesa de drama y humor, de momentos sublimes, incluso épicos, con otros bajos y anticlimáticos, unida a la sabiduría con la que Ishinomori refleja la complejidad de la vida, con sus enormes contradicciones, convierten la obra en maestra, porque tiene esa cualidad única de los grandes que transciende tiempo y espacio: Hokusai no es una historia japonesa —cuántas veces se ha esgrimido esto para defender la incompresión de un manga—, sino universal.

            Tras la pérdida de las series de Shueisha, parece que una de las vías que EDT va a potenciar es la de la recuperación de clásicos del manga de orientación adulta, lo que, si se consolida en el mercado, servirá para solucionar el déficit más preocupante del manga en España, centrado desde siempre en una parcela, la del shonen y el shojo, que si bien en Japón es amplia no es ni mucho menos la única. Estoy convencido de que en nuestro país existe un público potencial para este tipo de obras, porque leyendo Hokusai me ha parecido totalmente increíble que un autor de tanta calidad siga tan poco publicado en España. Ishinomori, el autor de cómic que más páginas ha publicado en todo el mundo, merece una oportunidad.

“Japan’s era of shoguns and samurai is long over, but the country does have one, or maybe two, surviving ninjas. Experts in the dark arts of espionage and silent assassination, ninjas passed skills from father to son - but today’s say they will be the last. […]

Kawakami is the 21st head of the Ban family, one of 53 that made up the Koka ninja clan. He started learning ninjutsu (ninja techniques) when he was six, from his master, Masazo Ishida.

“I thought we were just playing and didn’t think I was learning ninjutsu,” he says.

“I even wondered if he was training me to be a thief because he taught me how to walk quietly and how to break into a house.”

Other skills that he mastered include making explosives and mixing medicines.

“I can still mix some herbs to create poison which doesn’t necessarily kill but can make one believe that they have a contagious disease,” he says.

Kawakami inherited the clan’s ancient scrolls when he was 18.”

Read on: Japan’s Ninjas Heading for Extinction | BBC

Japan's era of shoguns and samurai is long over, but the country does have one, or maybe two, surviving ninjas. Experts in the dark arts of espionage and silent

assassination, ninjas passed skills from father to son - but today's say they will be the last.

Japan's ninjas were all about mystery. Hired by noble samurai warriors to spy, sabotage and kill, their dark outfits usually covered everything but their eyes, leaving them virtually invisible in shadow - until they struck.

Using weapons such as shuriken, a sharpened star-shaped projectile, and the fukiya blowpipe, they were silent but deadly.

Ninjas were also famed swordsmen. They used their weapons not just to kill but to help them climb stone walls, to sneak into a castle or observe their enemies.

Most of their missions were secret so there are very few official documents detailing their activities. Their tools and methods were passed down for generations by word of mouth.

This has allowed filmmakers, novelists and comic artists to use their wild imagination.

Hollywood movies such as Enter the Ninja and American Ninja portray them as superhumans who could run on water or disappear in the blink of an eye.

"That is impossible because no matter how much you train, ninjas were people," laughs Jinichi Kawakami, Japan's last ninja grandmaster, according to the Iga-ryu ninja museum.

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Five nearly-true ninja myths

Ninjutsu is a martial art: In fact, fighting was a last resort - ninjas were skilled in espionage and defeating foes using intelligence, while swinging a sword was deemed a lower art

Ninjas could disappear: They couldn't vanish as they do in the movies, but being skilled with explosives, they could make smoke bombs to momentarily misdirect the gaze, then flit away

They wore black: Ninja clothing was made to be light and hard to see in the dark - but jet-black would cause the form to stand out in moonlight, so a dark navy blue dye was usually used

Ninjas could fly: They moved quietly and swiftly, thanks to breathing techniques which increased oxygen intake, but kept their feet on the ground

And walk on water: CIA intelligence says they used "water shoes" - circular wooden boards or buckets - and a bamboo paddle for propulsion, but doubt remains over their effectiveness

Source: Iga-Ryu Ninja Museum

However, ninjas did apparently have floats that enabled them move across water in a standing position.

Kawakami is the 21st head of the Ban family, one of 53 that made up the Koka ninja clan. He started learning ninjutsu (ninja techniques) when he was six, from his master, Masazo Ishida.

"I thought we were just playing and didn't think I was learning ninjutsu," he says.

"I even wondered if he was training me to be a thief because he taught me how to walk quietly and how to break into a house."

Other skills that he mastered include making explosives and mixing medicines.

"I can still mix some herbs to create poison which doesn't necessarily kill but can make one believe that they have a contagious disease," he says.

Kawakami inherited the clan's ancient scrolls when he was 18.

While it was common for these skills to be passed down from father to son, many young men were also adopted into the ninja clans.

There were at least 49 of these but Mr Kawakami's Koka clan and the neighbouring Iga clan remain two of the most famous thanks to their work for powerful feudal lords such

as Ieyasu Tokugawa - who united Japan after centuries of civil wars when he won the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.

It is during the Tokugawa era - known as Edo - when official documents make brief references to ninjas' activities.

"They weren't just killers like some people believe from the movies," says Kawakami.

In fact, they had day jobs. "Because you cannot make a living being a ninja," he laughs.

There are many theories about these day jobs. Some ninjas are believed to have been farmers, and others pedlars who used their day jobs to spy.

"We believe some became samurai during the Edo period," says Kawakami. "They had to be categorised under the four caste classes set by the Tokugawa government: warrior, farmers, artisan and merchants."

As for the 21st Century ninja, Kawakami is a trained engineer. In his suit, he looks like any other Japanese businessman.

The title of "Japan's last ninja", however, may not be his alone. Eighty-year-old Masaaki Hatsumi says he is the leader of another surviving ninja clan - the Togakure clan.

Hatsumi is the founder of an international martial arts organisation called Bujinkan, with more than 300,000 trainees worldwide.

"They include military and police personnel abroad," he tells me at one of his training halls, known as dojo, in the town of Noda in Chiba prefecture.

It is a small town and not a place you would expect to see many foreigners. But the dojo, big enough for 48 tatami mats, is full of trainees who are glued to every move that Hatsumi makes. His actions are not big, occasionally with some weapons, but mainly barehanded.

Hatsumi explains to his pupils how those small moves can be used to take enemies out.

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Western ninja-inspired nonsense

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: This comic-book sewer-dwelling quartet evolved into talking, pizza-eating humanoids named after Italian artists - they inspired a toy craze, film and video game

American Ninja: 1985 film with Michael Dudikoff as GI Joe Armstrong, whose platoon is killed by ninjas in the Philippines - when they kidnap the colonel's daughter he saves her thanks to his own extraordinary ninjutsu skills

Mortal Kombat: Arcade and console series so gory it prompted the US to adopt age-ratings for games - characters had "special moves", like Sub-Zero's ability to generate ice to freeze opponents

Paul Harper from the UK is one of many dedicated followers. For a quarter of a century, he has been coming to Hatsumi for a few weeks of lessons every year.

"Back in the early 80s, there were various martial art magazines and I was studying Karate at the time and I came across some articles about Bujinkan," he says.

"This looked much more complex and a complete form of martial arts where all facets were covered so I wanted to expand my experience."

Harper says his master's ninja heritage interested him at the start but "when you come to understand how the training and techniques of Bujinkan work, the ninja heritage became much less important".

Hatsumi's reputation doesn't stop there. He has contributed to countless films as a martial arts adviser, including the James Bond film You Only Live Twice, and continues to practise ninja techniques.

Both Kawakami and Hatsumi are united on one point. Neither will appoint anyone to take over as the next ninja grandmaster.

"In the age of civil wars or during the Edo period, ninjas' abilities to spy and kill, or mix medicine may have been useful," Kawakami says.

"But we now have guns, the internet and much better medicines, so the art of ninjutsu has no place in the modern age."

As a result, he has decided not to take a protege. He simply teaches ninja history part-time at Mie University.

Despite having so many pupils, Mr Hatsumi, too, has decided not to select an heir.

"My students will continue to practice some of the techniques that were used by ninjas, but [a person] must be destined to succeed the clan." There is no such person, he says.

The ninjas will not be forgotten. But the once-feared secret assassins are now remembered chiefly through fictional characters in cartoons, movies and computer games, or as a tourist attractions.

The museum in the city of Iga welcomes visitors from across the world where a trained group, called Ashura, entertains them with an hourly performance of ninja tricks.

Unlike the silent art of ninjutsu, the shows that school children and foreign visitors watch today are loud and exciting. The mystery has gone even before the last ninja has died.

Hasekure Tsunenaga, lived 1571-1622 during one of the most tumultuous times in Japanese history.

But why does he look like he was hanging out with those weirdo Europeans here?!

Because in 1613 he sailed from Japan to Europe as the leader of a Japanese embassy to the Pope. He sailed from Japan to Mexico to Spain and then to Italy. And back. He converted to Catholicism while in Europe (Spain to be exact) and his godfather was essentially the king of Spain!

He went back to Japan in 1621, fully prepared to continue spreading the religion he’d converted to. However he died in 1622 of an unknown illness shortly after he returned. The rest of his family was eventually accused of being Christian (with substantial

evidence to back it up) and all were executed by 1640—Christianity having been fully banned in 1637 by the Tokugawa shogunate.

Though I’m not a Christian, I still think this guy was a BAMF because he met and was friends with just about every powerful person in Europe at the time AND survived being exposed to New World diseases, Old World diseases, and 17th century maritime…adventures. Twice.

Plus he was damn handsome.

Koban (coin)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search

Koban

The koban (小判?) was a Japanese oval gold coin in Edo period feudal Japan, equal to one ryō, another early Japanese monetary unit. It was a central part of Tokugawa coinage.

The Keichō era koban, a gold piece, contained about one ryō of gold, so that koban carried a face value of one ryō. However, successive mintings of the koban had varying (usually diminishing) amounts of gold. As a result, the ryō as a unit of weight of gold and the ryō as the face value of the koban were no longer synonymous.

Foreign trade

The Japanese economy before the mid-19th century was based largely on rice. The standard unit of measure was the koku, the amount of rice needed to feed one person for

one year. Farmers made their tax payments of rice which eventually made its way into the coffers of the central government; and similarly, vassals were annually paid a specified koku of rice. The Portuguese who came to Japan in the 1550s, however, preferred gold to rice; and the koban, which was equal to three koku of rice, became the coin of choice in foreign trade.

Some feudal lords began minting their own koban, but the value was debased with alloys of varying gold content. Edo authorities issued one currency reform after another and just about all of them debased the koban further. Additionally, counterfeit koban circulated after each reform, their value slightly less than that of the then current koban. By the time of Commodore Matthew C. Perry's visit in 1853, counterfeit koban from previous eras were preferred by merchants to the newer variants. The fraudulent older pieces were more valuable than newly-minted koban.

With the Meiji Restoration in 1868 a new series of coins was ordered based on European currency systems and the koban was discontinued.[1]

“Tadakatsu Honda, one of the Four Guardians of the Tokugawa. His prowess in battle had earned him the praise of Nobunaga Oda who called him, “Samurai among samurai.” It is said that in each battle he was a part of, he never once suffered an injury which furthered his reputation as one of the finest warriors of the Sengoku Period. Recognizable on the battlefield due to the antlers on his helmet, he wielded his famous spear Tonbo-Giri ( Dragonfly Cutter ) and was active most of the major battles of the

Tokugawa including Anegawa, Nagashino, Mikatagahara, and Sekigahara. His legend lives on today as his spear is one of the Three Great Spears of Japan.

Karasu Tengu Somen (Full Face Mask). Meiji period (19th century), Japan Russet-iron mask constructed from four sections hammered with prominent wrinkles, eyebrows and cheekbones, decorated on the surface with gold lacquer in mokume and with highlights around the wrinkles and brow, the long beak decorated with the Sanskrit character representing Fudo Myo-o and stylized flames, cheeks with applied cord rings, interior lacquered black; fitted with a four-lame throat guard laced in blue and orange. Christies

Pictured: Tomoe Gozen legendary female warrior.

With their husbands in combat almost continuously, 16th century samurai women provided for the defense of their homes and children. Their wartime roles included washing and preparing the decapitated bloody heads of the enemy, which were presented to the victorious generals. Like their samurai husbands, personal honor was paramount for samurai women. They carried small daggers and were always prepared to die to maintain their honor and family name. 

After Tokugawa Ieyasu unified Japan, the role of women changed. Their samurai husbands, no longer fighting wars, had become bureaucrats. Women were now encouraged to supervise their children’s education and manage the home. 

Travel was highly restricted for samurai women during the years of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Forbidden from traveling alone, they were required to carry travel permits, and were usually accompanied by a man. Samurai women often were harassed by the authorities when passing through the government inspection posts. 

SHINsengumi was a group of young men recruited by the Bakufu to secure order and safety in Kyoto to counter terrorism staged by unruly jōi shishi (Imperial House loyalists). Their contribution to history is rather limited that at most, less than a page is allocated for them in history dictionaries such as the Great Dictionary of Japanese History. In short, not much is written about Shinsengumi other than their small victories and their anachronistic fate shared with the Bakufu’s downfall. However the group’s popularity is the inverse of their historical relevance.