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Battles, incidents, and historical events related to Japanese swords
103 events
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.
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The 7th to 8th days of the 1st month of Eiroku 7 (1564)
In the 1st month of Eiroku 7 (1564), the Later Hōjō forces led by the father and son Hōjō Ujiyasu and Hōjō Ujimasa inflicted a crushing defeat on the forces of Satomi Yoshihiro at Kōnodai (present-day Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture). The victorious Hōjō then extended their power into Kazusa, making this battle an important turning point in the history of the eastern provinces during the Sengoku period.
Eiroku 5 (1562), 5th month 20th day (old calendar)
A battle fought on the 20th day of the 5th month of Eiroku 5 (1562) near Kyokoji village in Takayasu District, Kawachi Province, in which the Miyoshi side of Miyoshi Nagayoshi defeated the Hatakeyama side of Hatakeyama Takamasa. It was the counterstroke after Miyoshi Jikkyu fell at the battle of Kumeda-dera. The article sets out its course, the differing casualty figures and Ashikaga Yoshiteru's movements.
3rd month, Eiroku 4 (1561) — start of the siege; dates approximate
In the 3rd month of Eiroku 4 (1561), Nagao Kagetora of Echigo, later Uesugi Kenshin, led a coalition of Kanto warlords to besiege Hojo Ujiyasu's seat at Odawara Castle, but Ujiyasu held out and the castle did not fall. On the way home Kagetora is said to have received the post of Kanto Kanrei and the Uesugi name from Uesugi Norimasa at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu in Kamakura, taking the name Uesugi Masatora. The ceremony of succession, more than the outcome of the siege, gave the episode lasting significance.
Eiroku 3 to Genki 1 (1560–1570), a series of repeated confrontations
From 1560 to 1570, Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo repeatedly attacked Karasawayama Castle in Shimotsuke Province (present-day Sano City, Tochigi Prefecture), held by Sano Masatsuna. Despite years of campaigns against this formidable fortress — one of the "Seven Great Castles of Kanto" — Kenshin never fully subdued it, as Masatsuna repeatedly surrendered and defected between the Uesugi and Hōjō camps to preserve his clan.
10th month, Eiroku 12 (1569)
In the 10th month of Eiroku 12 (1569), during Takeda Shingen's invasion of Sagami after he broke the Kōsōsun Triple Alliance, a clash took place with Hōjō forces that pursued the Takeda army as it withdrew from the siege of Odawara. At Mimasetōge Pass (present-day Aikawa Town, Aiko District, Kanagawa Prefecture), the Takeda army defeated the Hōjō pursuit force and succeeded in returning to Kai. It is said that a detached unit led by Yamagata Masakage struck the Hōjō forces by surprise from Shida Pass, tipping the battle in the Takeda's favor.
5th–6th day of the 1st month, Eiroku 12 (1569)
In the 1st month of Eiroku 12 (1569), the Miyoshi Triumvirate attacked shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki at Honkokuji temple in Kyoto. Defenders including Akechi Mitsuhide held out until allied forces relieved the siege, prompting Oda Nobunaga to issue restrictive edicts on the shogun's court and to build the fortified Nijō New Palace.
12th day of the 9th month, Eiroku 11 (1568)
In the 9th month of Eiroku 11 (1568), Oda Nobunaga's massive army, marching toward Kyoto, attacked the Rokkaku clan of southern Ōmi. When the satellite fortress of Mitsukuri Castle fell in a single night, Rokkaku Yoshikata and his son Yoshiharu abandoned their main stronghold of Kannonji Castle and fled. The bloodless surrender of one of Japan's largest medieval mountain castles stands as a symbolic event.
27th day of the 12th month of Eiroku 11 – 17th day of the 5th month of Eiroku 12 (1569)
The Battle of Kakegawa Castle, fought from the 12th month of Eiroku 11 to the 5th month of Eiroku 12 (1569), in which Tokugawa Ieyasu besieged Imagawa Ujizane, who was holed up in Kakegawa Castle in Tōtōmi Province. After Ujizane's father, Yoshimoto, was lost at the Battle of Okehazama (1560), and as the Imagawa domains collapsed amid Takeda Shingen's invasion (1568), Ujizane took refuge in Kakegawa Castle, his last stronghold. Ultimately, Ujizane surrendered the castle and capitulated, and the prestigious Imagawa clan's lifeline as a Sengoku daimyō house was severed. The fate of Ujizane, known for “waka and kemari over martial arts,” reflects the brutal reality of sword culture in the struggle for warrior hegemony.
4th month, 18th day – 10th month, 11th day, Eiroku 10 (1567)
From April to October of Eiroku 10 (1567), the allied forces of Matsunaga Hisahide and Miyoshi Yoshitsugu clashed in Nara with the Miyoshi Triumvirate and Tsutsui Junkei. A night attack by Matsunaga's forces on the night of October 10 sparked a fire that destroyed the Great Buddha Hall of Tōdai-ji and the head of the Great Buddha itself, an unprecedented catastrophe.
8th month, Eiroku 10 (1567)
In the 8th month of Eiroku 10 (1567), Oda Nobunaga captured Inabayama Castle (present-day Gifu Castle) from Saitō Tatsuoki in Mino Province through a siege. The defection of the Three Western Mino Commanders, senior retainers of the Saitō clan, 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.
the 23rd–24th days of the 8th month of Eishō 8 (September 15–16, 1511)
In 1511, forces backing shogun Ashikaga Yoshitane — led by Hosokawa Takakuni and Ōuchi Yoshioki — clashed at Mount Funaoka in Yamashiro Province with the army of Hosokawa Sumimoto, who backed the former shogun Ashikaga Yoshizumi. Takakuni and Yoshioki won a decisive victory; Sumimoto's commanding general Hosokawa Masakata was killed in battle, and Sumimoto fled to Awa.
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."
1493–1498 (Meiō 2 to Meiō 7)
From Meiō 2 (1493) to Meiō 7 (1498), Later Hōjō clan founder Hōjō Sōun (Ise Sōzui) unified Izu Province. He attacked Horikoshi Gosho, drove out Ashikaga Chachamaru, and over five years pacified all of Izu. Traditionally this was regarded as a forerunner of gekokujō, but recent research indicates that it was linked to the Meiō Coup and gained the justification of a revenge killing of Chachamaru ordered by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshizumi. Holding all of Izu is also an event that symbolizes the emergence of the Sengoku daimyō. Sōun's pacification of Izu was the first step toward the Later Hōjō clan's domination of Kantō, and it promoted the establishment of the Sengoku daimyō system that would come to sweep through Kantō.
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. It was a large-scale clash between Japanese swords and Korean and Chinese arms.
26th day of the 1st month, Bunroku 2 (old calendar; 27 February 1593 in the Gregorian calendar)
A battle fought around Goyang in Korea on the 26th day of the 1st month of Bunroku 2 (1593), in which Japanese forces under Kobayakawa Takakage and Tachibana Muneshige turned back the Ming army led by Li Rusong. The article follows the decision to meet the enemy outside Hanseong, the fighting in a narrow, muddy valley, the Ming withdrawal and the shift to peace talks.
1474 (Bunmei 6) – 1580 (Tenshō 8)
The Ikko Uprising that erupted in Kaga Province (present-day Ishikawa) in 1474 (Bunmei 6) continued for approximately 100 years until it was suppressed by Oda Nobunaga in 1580 (Tenshō 8), establishing a unique autonomous self-governance known as 'a nation held by commoners.' This uprising, in which armed Ikko adherents overthrew provincial governors and their deputies, is deeply inscribed in sword history as an emblematic event symbolizing the practical aspects of Japanese swords and the intersection of religion and peasantry.
October 13–21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 9th month, 7th–15th day)
From the 7th to the 15th day of the 9th month of Keichō 5 (October 13–21, 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.
17th–18th day of the 9th month, Keichō 5 (1600)
On the 17th and 18th days of the 9th month of Keichō 5 (1600), just two days after the main battle of Sekigahara, Sawayama Castle in Ōmi Province (present-day Hikone, Shiga Prefecture) was besieged. Ishida Mitsunari's father, Ishida Masatsugu, and his elder brother, Ishida Masazumi, held the castle against an Eastern Army of 15,000. The garrison numbered only 2,800 and the castle fell, and many members of the Ishida clan, including Masatsugu and Masazumi, took their own lives. The castle that had symbolized Mitsunari's power was destroyed. It is an emblematic episode of the mop-up operations following Sekigahara.
13th–14th day of the 9th month, Keichō 5 (1600)
On the 13th to 14th day of the 9th month of Keichō 5 (1600), at Ishigakibaru in Hayami District, Bungo Province (present-day Beppu City, Ōita Prefecture), the forces of Kuroda Josui (Yoshitaka, Kuroda Kanbei), who sided with the Eastern Army (Tokugawa side), clashed with those of Ōtomo Yoshimune (Yoshitō), who sought to recover his former domain in concert with the Western Army. Because it was fought at about the same time as the main battle of Sekigahara, it is also called 'Kyūshū's Sekigahara.' The Kuroda side won, and Ōtomo Yoshimune surrendered, ending any hope of the Ōtomo clan's revival as a daimyo house.
9th–10th months of Keichō 5 (1600)
In the 9th month of Keichō 5 (1600), at the same time as the Battle of Sekigahara, a battle broke out in the Ōu region between the forces of Uesugi Kagekatsu and the combined army of Mogami Yoshiaki and Date Masamune. The Uesugi army under Naoe Kanetsugu attacked Hasedo Castle, but withdrew in the face of the stubborn resistance of the Mogami side and the news of the defeat at Sekigahara.
September 29–30, 1600 (Keichō 5/8/22–23)
From the 22nd to the 23rd days of the 8th month of Keichō 5 (1600), the Battle of Gifu Castle took place at Gifu Castle in Mino Province (present-day Gifu City, Gifu Prefecture). In this battle, the Eastern Army, led by Fukushima Masanori, Ikeda Terumasa and others, captured Gifu Castle, which was held by Oda Hidenobu (Sanbōshi) of the Western Army, in two days. It held an important position as a prelude to the Battle of Sekigahara, and the Eastern Army's decisive victory, which came before the battle that would decide the realm, greatly disrupted the Western Army's strategic deployment.
24th–25th day of the 7th month, Keichō 5 (1600)
On the 24th–25th day of the 7th month of Keichō 5 (1600), Date Masamune, acting in support of Tokugawa Ieyasu's campaign against Uesugi Kagekatsu, attacked Shiroishi Castle in Mutsu Province, then held by the Uesugi. The titular castellan, Amakasu Kagetsugu, was absent on duty at Aizu; the actual defense fell to his nephew Tosaka Katsuno, who surrendered within roughly a day. The battle served as the opening engagement of the Keichō Dewa Campaign.
August 27 – October 19, 1600 (Keichō 5/7/19 – 9/13)
A siege fought from the 7th to the 9th month of Keichō 5 (1600) at Tanabe Castle in Tango Province (present-day Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture), in which Hosokawa Yūsai (Fujitaka), renowned both as a man of culture and as a warrior, held out for about two months against a large Western Army force. Peace was concluded by imperial command of Emperor Go-Yōzei, and Yūsai's life was specially spared as the sole heir of the Kokin Denju. It is famous as the last siege of a commander accomplished in both letters and arms, who loved waka poetry and swords.