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Schlachten, Zwischenfälle und historische Ereignisse rund um japanische Schwerter
214 Ereignisse
December 1572 – January 1573 (Genki 3–4)
From December of Genki 3 (1572) to February of Genki 4 (1573), Takeda Shingen besieged and conquered Noda Castle (present-day Shinshiro City, Aichi Prefecture), a branch fortress of Tokugawa Ieyasu. After his decisive victory over Ieyasu at the Battle of Mikatagahara, Shingen reduced Noda Castle, but it is reported that during the siege he was struck by gunfire, or alternatively that his illness worsened shortly after the castle fell. He subsequently died on his way back to Kai Province. The Battle of Noda Castle represented the final phase of Shingen's western campaign and is recorded in history as his last battle.
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December 22, 1572 (Genki 3, 12th month, 22nd day)
In December of Genki 3 (1572), the Takeda army led by Takeda Shingen decisively defeated the Tokugawa Ieyasu army at Mikatagahara in Tōtōmi Province. It was Shingen's final campaign of his lifetime and the battle in which Ieyasu suffered his greatest defeat. Ieyasu's humiliation, exemplified by the Shikami-zō, and Shingen's strategic genius have been passed down through the ages.
September 16 – December 13, 1570 (Genki 1, 9th–11th months)
The Siege of Shiga (September–December 1570, the first year of Genki), in which the combined forces of the Asai and Asakura clans and the warrior monks of Enryaku-ji on Mt. Hiei surrounded Nobunaga. Though forced into a humiliating truce brokered by the imperial court, it became a turning point that steeled his resolve for the burning of Mt. Hiei the following year.
August 20, 1570 (Genki 1, 8th month, 20th day)
In August 1570, as Otomo Sorin's vast army besieged Saga Castle, Ryuzoji retainer Nabeshima Nobushige led a daring night raid that killed the Otomo commander Otomo Chikasada. The victory opened Ryuzoji Takanobu's path to domination of Hizen Province and marked a pivotal moment in Kyushu's Sengoku history.
August 1567 (Eiroku 10, 8th month)
In August of the 10th year of Eiroku (1567), Oda Nobunaga captured Inabayama Castle (present-day Gifu Castle) from Saitō Tatsuoki in Mino Province through a siege. Internal support from Kinoshita Tōkichirō (later Toyotomi Hideyoshi) and a surprise attack by elite forces proved effective, enabling Nobunaga to finally achieve his long-coveted conquest of Mino. Nobunaga renamed the castle "Gifu Castle" and established it as the base for unifying the realm under the banner of Tenka Fubu.
February 6, 1564 (Eiroku 7, 1st month)
In February 1564, Takenaka Shigefuyu (Hanbei) seized the seemingly impregnable Inabayama Castle with just sixteen men. Born of indignation at his lord Saitō Tatsuoki's incompetence, this audacious coup became the founding legend of Hanbei's reputation as one of the Sengoku era's supreme strategists.
June 12, 1560 (Eiroku 3, 5th month, 19th day)
On May 19, 1560 (Eiroku 3), Oda Nobunaga, a minor daimyo of Owari, launched a surprise attack on the massive army led by Imagawa Yoshimoto, who was advancing toward Kyoto. Nobunaga defeated and killed Yoshimoto, overturning the overwhelming disparity in military forces. This historically miraculous victory became Nobunaga's first step toward his eventual unification of the realm.
October 1, 1555 (30th day, 9th month, Tenbun 24)
In October 1555, Mori Motonari lured the massive army of Sue Harukata to the sacred island of Itsukushima in the Seto Inland Sea, then crushed them with a daring night amphibious assault. This victory, won with far fewer troops through superior strategy and naval power, established Mori as the dominant warlord of western Honshu.
1553–1564 (Tenbun 22 – Eiroku 7); Fourth Battle: October 1561 (9th month, Eiroku 4)
Five engagements fought between Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin over control of Shinano Province (1553–1564). The Fourth Battle of 1561 — in which the two commanders reportedly clashed in personal combat — is remembered as the most dramatic rivalry of the Sengoku era.
1467–1477 (Ōnin 1 – Bunmei 9)
The Ōnin War (1467–1477) erupted over a shogunal succession dispute, pitting the eastern Hosokawa faction against the western Yamana faction across the ruins of Kyoto for eleven years. The conflict effectively ended the Muromachi order and opened Japan's century of civil war.
1285-12-17
In November 1285 (8th year of Kōan), a political upheaval occurred when Adachi Yasushige, a powerful gokenin of the Kamakura Shogunate, was overthrown and destroyed by Taira no Yoritsuna, the internal administrator. While the Hōjō Tokusō autocratic system became firmly established, it deepened divisions within gokenin society and became a distant cause of the Shogunate's decline.
1221 (Jōkyū 3)
In 1221, Retired Emperor Go-Toba raised an army to overthrow the Kamakura shogunate, but was crushed by the bakufu's overwhelming military response. Go-Toba was exiled to the Oki Islands, cementing warrior rule over Japan for centuries and reshaping the imperial relationship with the sword.
April 30, 1189 (Bunji 5, 4th month, 30th day)
On the intercalary 30th day of the 4th month of Bunji 5 (1189), Minamoto no Yoshitsune, cornered by the pursuit forces of his elder brother Minamoto no Yoritomo, killed his wife and children at Koromogawa no Tachi in Hiraizumi, Ōshū, then took his own life. He was thirty-one years old. The tragic end of the hero who destroyed the Heike at Dannoura gave birth to the cultural concept of hōgan-biiki (sympathy for the underdog), and together with the legends of famous swords said to be associated with Yoshitsune, continues to be passed down to the present day.
April 25, 1185 (24th day, 3rd month, Genryaku 2 / Juei 4)
On March 24, 1185, Minamoto no Yoshitsune's fleet annihilated the Taira clan in the straits of Dan-no-ura. Emperor Antoku and the Imperial Regalia were lost to the sea, ending the Taira clan and concluding the Genpei War.
November 28, 1185 (Bunji 1, 10th month, 14th day)
In 1185, Minamoto no Yoritomo received imperial authorization to appoint military governors (shugo) and estate stewards (jitō) throughout Japan, establishing the effective foundation of the Kamakura Shogunate—Japan's first warrior government. This shift, placing samurai at the apex of political power for the first time, created the cultural conditions in which the Japanese sword became revered as the soul and symbol of the warrior.
March 20, 1184 (7th day, 2nd month, Juei 3)
In February of Juei 3 (1184), Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Minamoto no Noriyori led forces in a surprise assault on the Taira army at Ichi-no-Tani in Settsu Province. Yoshitsune's 'reverse descent of Hiyodorigoe' is renowned in military history as a brilliant stratagem, and it gave rise to episodes deeply inscribed in sword culture and the way of the samurai, including the tragedies of Taira no Tomoori and Taira no Kiyomori's nephew Taira no Atsumori.
May 1180 – March 1185
The five-year civil war between the Minamoto and Taira clans (1180–1185) stands as a pivotal turning point in Japanese sword history. The tachi—the riding sword perfected during the late Heian period—was tested in large-scale combat across the entire archipelago. Through gift-giving, shrine offerings, and battlefield seizure, famous swords changed hands dramatically. The war's heroes and tragedies—Yoshitsune's brilliant tactics, Tomomori's loyal death, the loss of the three imperial regalia—were immortalized in literature and performing arts for centuries.
December 9–26, 1159 (4th–21st day, 12th month, Heiji 1)
In December 1159 (first year of Heiji), following the Hogen Rebellion, the second military coup shook the capital. Fujiwara no Shinrei and Minamoto no Yoshitomo placed Emperor Go-Shirakawa in confinement, but Taira no Kiyomori made a lightning return to the capital and suppressed the uprising. Yoshitomo was defeated and killed, while young Yoritomo was exiled to Izu Province. This civil conflict determined Kiyomori's rise to supremacy and the decline of the Minamoto clan.
July 29, 1156 (11th day, 7th month, Hōgen 1)
In July 1156, a conflict between Emperor Go-Shirakawa and Retired Emperor Sutoku drew in the Taira and Minamoto clans. Decided in a single night, the Hōgen Rebellion marked the decisive entry of warrior clans into central politics, featuring Taira no Kiyomori and Minamoto no Yoshitomo.
1051–1062 (Eishō 6 – Kōhei 5)
The Former Nine Years' War (1051–1062) was a protracted conflict in Mutsu Province between the Minamoto clan (Yoriyoshi and his son Yoshiie) and the Abe clan (Yoritoki and Sadato). The Minamoto victory, achieved with crucial Kiyohara clan reinforcements, established the Minamoto as the preeminent warrior house of the east and laid foundations for samurai political dominance.
April–May 1019 (3rd–4th month, Kannin 3)
In 1019, a fleet of Jurchen pirates known as the 'Toi' launched a devastating raid on Tsushima, Iki, and northern Kyushu. While the imperial court was slow to respond, local warriors led by Fujiwara no Takaie and Kyushu governor successfully repelled the invaders. This invasion, 250 years before the Mongol invasions, stands as an early test of Japan's coastal defenses and contributed to the rising status of the warrior class.
circa 1016–1027 CE (Kannin era, reign of Fujiwara no Michinaga)
In the early eleventh century, under Fujiwara no Michinaga and his son Yorimichi, the regent-politics system reached its zenith. While aristocratic culture flourished, warriors were beginning to rise in the provinces—a period coinciding with the technological transition from the earlier warigatana to the curved tachi that would become the iconic Japanese sword. The end of regent politics marked the historical turning point that led to insei rule and ultimately to warrior government.