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Battles, incidents, and historical events related to Japanese swords
62 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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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."
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 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 – 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 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.
May – July, Tenshō 18 (June – August 1590 CE)
The Siege of Oshi Castle (1590) was a subsidiary operation of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Odawara campaign, in which Ishida Mitsunari attempted to take the Narita clan's castle in Musashi Province by flooding it with a massive earthwork dam. The garrison of roughly 500, led by Masaki Toshihide and the legendary Kai-hime, held out against a force many times larger and was never taken — making Oshi one of the few castles to remain undefeated in the entire Odawara campaign.
June 5, Tenshō 17 (July 17, 1589)
In June 1589, Date Masamune destroyed the Ashina clan at Suriagehara (present-day Inawashiro, Fukushima Prefecture), effectively ending the Ashina domain and seizing control of Aizu and most of Mutsu Province. The battle marked Masamune's emergence as the dominant power in the Tōhoku region and is often considered the final major Sengoku battle of northeastern Japan.
August 1585 (Tenshō 13) and September 1600 (Keichō 5)
Fought in 1585 and again in 1600, the Battle of Ueda saw Sanada Masayuki and his son Yukimura repel far larger Tokugawa forces twice at Ueda Castle. A masterpiece of defensive warfare showcasing Masayuki's reputation as the Sengoku era's supreme strategist.
Ninth month (9th–11th), Tenshō 12 (October 12–14, 1584)
In the ninth month of Tenshō 12 (1584), Sassa Narimasa of Etchū—who had turned against Hashiba in concert with the Komaki-Nagakute campaign—besieged the strategic Suemori Castle in Noto with an army of 15,000. As the castle commander Okumura Nagatomi and some 300 defenders held on to the brink of collapse, Maeda Toshiie rushed through the night with 2,500 men and struck the Sassa army from behind, driving it off. The battle, which decided the fate of the Maeda house, is called "the Okehazama of Kaga."
July 2, 1582 (13th day, 6th month, Tenshō 10)
On June 13, Tenshō 10 (1582), eleven days after the Honnō-ji Incident, the culmination of the 'Great March from China' unfolded. Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeated Akechi Mitsuhide at Yamazaki in Yamashiro Province (present-day Mishima County, Osaka Prefecture) and seized hegemony following Nobunaga's death. This battle gave birth to the phrase 'the battle that decided the fate of the realm,' arising from the struggle over Tennō Mountain.
April–June 2, Tenshō 10 (May–June 21, 1582)
From April to June 1582 (Tensho 10), a siege took place at Takamatsu Castle in Bitchu Province (present-day Takamatsu, Kita Ward, Okayama City), where Hashiba Hideyoshi subjected the castle held by Shimizu Muneharu to a water siege. The water siege in which Hideyoshi dammed the Ashimori River to inundate Takamatsu Castle is said to have been the largest engineering project in Japanese history. This historic battle became the catalyst for Hideyoshi's retreat to Kyoto via the Great Retreat through Chugoku after receiving news of the Honnoji Incident.