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Schlachten, Zwischenfälle und historische Ereignisse rund um japanische Schwerter
84 Ereignisse
c. Eiroku period (1558–1570)
During the Eiroku period (1558–1570), Kamiizumi Ise-no-Kami Nobutsuna (born c. 1508) created Shinkage-ryū by developing and transforming the older Kage-ryū. He invented the fukuro shinai (a split-bamboo practice weapon wrapped in a leather sleeve), revolutionizing sword training, and systematized the philosophy of the "living sword" (katsujinken)—subduing rather than killing. In 1564 he performed before Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiteru, and later transmitted the innermost teachings to Yagyū Munetoshi (Sekishūsai), who became the founder of the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū.
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Eiroku 8–9 (1565–1566)
From Eiroku 8 (1565) through the following year, Mōri Motonari besieged and conquered Gassan-Toda Castle, the seat of the Amago clan in Izumo Province. Through a starvation siege lasting over a year, Motonari reduced the famously impregnable Gassan-Toda Castle and established hegemony over the Chūgoku region. The Amago clan was annihilated and Izumo became Mōri territory.
3rd day of the 1st month, Eiroku 7 (January 1564)
On the 3rd of January, Eiroku 7 (1564), the Later Hōjō forces led by Hōjō Ujiyasu and his son Ujimasa routed the army of Satomi Yoshihiro at Kokufu-dai (present-day Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture) in Shimofusa Province. This battle halted the Satomi's invasion of Kazusa and firmly established Later Hōjō dominion over the Kantō region, marking a critical turning point in Sengoku-period history of eastern Japan.
October, Eiroku 12 (1569)
In October 1569, as Takeda Shingen's forces withdrew from their raid on Odawara Castle, Hojo troops pursued them through the mountains of Sagami Province. At Mimasetoge Pass (present-day Aiko District, Kanagawa Prefecture), the Takeda rear-guard turned and shattered the pursuing Hojo forces, with the red-armored cavalry of Yamaga Masaage playing a celebrated role.
Tenth month (22nd), Eishō 14 (1517)
The Battle of Arita-Nakaide in Aki Province in Eishō 14 (1517) is famed as the first battle of the young Mōri Motonari. When Takeda Motoshige—former shugo of Aki, backed by the Amago—attacked the Kikkawa-held Arita Castle, the allied Mōri-Kikkawa forces met him in the field. The outnumbered allies slew the Takeda's valiant general Kumagai Motonao and then felled the commander Takeda Motoshige himself with a stray arrow, winning a great victory. It is called "the Okehazama of the West."
Meiō 2 (1493)
In 1493, the kanrei Hosokawa Masamoto deposed Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiki and installed a puppet in his place. This coup effectively ended the authority of the Muromachi shogunate and is considered the moment the Sengoku period truly began.
May 1592 – June 1593 (4th month, Bunroku 1 – 5th month, Bunroku 2)
In 1592, Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent 150,000 troops to Korea in his bid for continental conquest. Katō Kiyomasa and Konishi Yukinaga rapidly captured Seoul and Pyongyang, but Admiral Yi Sun-sin's navy and Ming reinforcements forced a reversal, leading to a ceasefire in 1593. This was the first large-scale clash between Japanese swords and Korean-Chinese arms, transforming international sword culture.
September 7–15, Keichō 5 (October 13–21, 1600)
From September 7 to 15, 1600, Kyōgoku Takatsugu held Ōtsu Castle in Ōmi Province against a Western Army force led by Tachibana Muneshige for nine days. His determined resistance pinned down fifteen thousand Western troops — including the formidable Tachibana forces — until the day Sekigahara was decided, thereby making a significant indirect contribution to the Eastern Army's victory. The siege transformed the man derided as a 'firefly lord' into an unlikely hero.
September 1600 (Keichō 5)
Fought simultaneously with Sekigahara in September 1600, the Battle of Hasedo saw Uesugi Kagekatsu's forces under Naoe Kanetsugu besiege Hasedo Castle against a determined Mogami-Date coalition. News of the Uesugi defeat at Sekigahara forced a withdrawal that became one of the war's most dramatic retreats.
August 22–23, Keichō 5 (September 27–28, 1600)
In Keicho 5, on August 22–23, 1600, Eastern forces under Fukushima Masanori and Ikeda Terumasa captured Gifu Castle in Mino Province (present-day Gifu City, Gifu Prefecture), defended by the Western Army's Oda Hidenobu (Sambōshi), in a two-day siege. Occupying an important position as a prelude to the Battle of Sekigahara, the Eastern Army's swift victory preceding the realm-deciding battle significantly disrupted the Western Army's strategic deployment.
July 19 – September 18, Keichō 5 (August 25 – October 14, 1600)
From July to September of Keichō 5 (1600), at Tanabe Castle in Tango Province (present-day Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture), the renowned culturalist and commander Hosokawa Yūsai (also known as Fujitaka) conducted a siege against a vastly larger Western Army force for approximately two months. Through an imperial edict of Emperor Go-Yōzei, peace was established, and Yūsai was spared his life as the sole heir of the *Kokin Denku* (Secret Transmission of the Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems). Celebrated as the final siege of a commander exemplifying the way of both letters and martial arts, who cherished waka poetry and Japanese swords.
July 19 – August 1, Keichō 5 (August 30 – September 8, 1600 CE)
The Battle of Fushimi Castle (1600) was the opening engagement of the Sekigahara campaign. Torii Mototada, Tokugawa Ieyasu's veteran retainer, held the castle with roughly 1,800 men against a Western Army of some 40,000 for more than ten days before the castle fell. Mototada's death and the blood-stained floorboards — preserved in temples as 'blood ceilings' — became powerful symbols of samurai loyalty on the eve of the battle that unified Japan.
September 27, 1556 (24th day, 8th month, Koji 2)
On August 24, 1556 (Koji 2), at Ino in Owari Province (present-day Nishi Ward, Nagoya), a bitter fratricidal conflict erupted between Oda Nobunaga and his younger brother Nobuyuki. With barely more than 700 troops, Nobunaga defeated the 2,000-strong army of Nobuyuki and Shibata Katsuie, the first actual battle that established his supremacy in Owari.
April 20, Kōji 2 (May 28, 1556)
On April 20, 1556 (Kōji 2), on the banks of the Nagara River in Mino Province (present-day Gifu City), Saitō Dōsan was defeated and killed in battle against forces led by his own son, Saitō Yoshitatsu. In this battle, Dōsan—feared as the 'Viper of Mino'—fell to his son's betrayal, dealing a grave shock to Oda Nobunaga, who had relied on his father-in-law Dōsan's support.
August 1573
The siege of Odani Castle (1573) was Oda Nobunaga's decisive campaign to destroy the Azai clan of northern Ōmi Province. Azai Nagamasa — once Nobunaga's brother-in-law — had allied with the Asakura and fought against Nobunaga for years. The fall of Odani Castle ended the Azai clan; Nagamasa died by his own hand, and the castle became a trophy of Nobunaga's rising power.
April 25, 1581 (22nd day, 3rd month, Tenshō 9)
On March 22, 1581, Takatenjin Castle in Tōtōmi Province fell to Tokugawa forces after a prolonged siege. Takeda Katsuyori's failure to relieve the garrison — trapped by Nobunaga's barrier forts — destroyed Katsuyori's prestige among his own retainers. The castle's fall was the pivotal turning point that set the Takeda clan on the road to extinction the following year.
March 13, Tenshō 6 (April 19, 1578)
In 1578, just before departing on a planned campaign toward the capital, the celebrated Echigo commander Uesugi Kenshin died suddenly at his stronghold of Kasugayama Castle at age 49. Having never designated an heir, his death triggered the Otate no Ran succession war between his adopted sons Kagekatsu and Kagetora, severely weakening Echigo’s regional power.
March 1578 – January 1580 (Tenshō 6–8)
From Tenshō 6–8 (1578–1580), Toyotomi Hideyoshi conducted an extraordinary two-year siege of Miki Castle in Harima Province (present-day Miki City, Hyōgo), implementing a starvation blockade against the besieged Bessho Nagatoki. This campaign became the hallmark of Hideyoshi's hoshi-goroshi tactic—the practice of starving out an enemy garrison. Nagatoki took his own life by the blade to save his soldiers, a display of loyalty and samurai honor that resonates through history as one of Japan's most poignant military moments.
March 1578 – March 1579
In Tenshō 6 (1578), triggered by the sudden death of Uesugi Kenshin, the overlord of Echigo Province, a succession dispute of the Uesugi clan erupted between Kenshin's adopted heirs Kagekatsu (Nagao Kagekatsu) and Kagetora (Hōjō Saburō). The civil war that divided Echigo Province continued for approximately two years and ended with Kagekatsu's victory. Kenshin's legendary sword Yamatorige and Kagekatsu's cherished sword collection also became focal points of the conflict.
November 3, 1577 (23rd day, 9th month, Tenshō 5)
In September 1577, Uesugi Kenshin launched a devastating surprise attack on a large Oda Nobunaga army at the Tedorigawa River in what is now Ishikawa Prefecture. This was the greatest victory of Kenshin's final years, demonstrating the full power of the 'Dragon of Echigo.' Kenshin died suddenly the following year, however, transforming his triumph into history's greatest 'what if.'
October, Tenshō 5 (1577)
In October 1577, Matsunaga Hisahide was besieged at Shigisanyama Castle in Yamato Province (present-day Heguri, Nara Prefecture) by the forces of Oda Nobunaga and Nobutada. Rather than surrender his prized tea kettle 'Hiragumo', Hisahide exploded the keep with himself inside, achieving one of the most celebrated — and idiosyncratic — deaths of the Sengoku period.
August 1576 (13th day, 7th month, Tenshō 4) / November 1578 (6th day, 11th month, Tenshō 6)
Naval battles fought twice off Kizugawa Mouth, Settsu Province (present-day Osaka Bay area), in Tenshō 4 (1576) and Tenshō 6 (1578). In the first engagement, Oda Nobunaga's fleet suffered a devastating defeat while attempting to block the Mōri fleet's supply transport. However, in the second engagement, the iron-clad ships (tetsukōsen) constructed by Kuki Yoshitaka defeated the Mōri fleet. As the world's first naval battle featuring armored warships, this engagement shines brilliantly in Japanese military history.
June 4, 1576 (Tenshō 4)
In the 5th month of Tenshō 4 (1576), during the Ishiyama War, Oda Nobunaga intercepted a combined Honganji-Miyoshi force at Tennōji in Osaka. One of the fiercest engagements of the era — Nobunaga himself was struck by a musket ball — yet Oda forces turned the tide to win.
8th–9th month, Tenshō 19 (September–October 1591)
In 1591, Kunohe Masazane — a senior retainer of the Nanbu clan — rebelled against Toyotomi Hideyoshi's unification from Kunohe Castle in Mutsu Province. A massive Toyotomi army under Gamō Ujisato, Maeda Toshiie, and Asano Nagamasa was dispatched to Ōshū. After a siege, the castle fell and Masazane was executed. It stands as one of the last armed rebellions against Hideyoshi's completed hegemony.