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Battles, incidents, and historical events related to Japanese swords
97 events
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.
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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.
7th–8th month, Tenshō 18 (August–September 1590)
In the 7th and 8th months of Tenshō 18 (1590), immediately after the fall of Odawara, Toyotomi Hideyoshi reorganized the domains of the Ōshū (Tōhoku) daimyō. Date Masamune, who had arrived late to Odawara, was heavily reduced, while the dispossessed former territories of the Ōsaki and Kasai clans erupted into a major uprising, marking the final stage of Hideyoshi's unification of Japan.
July 24, 1590 (Tenshō 18, 6th month, 23rd day)
In 1590, during the Siege of Odawara, a Toyotomi detachment of roughly 15,000 under Uesugi Kagekatsu and Maeda Toshiie stormed Hachiōji Castle, the stronghold of Hōjō Ujiteru. With Ujiteru away defending Odawara, a garrison of some 3,000 held out under his deputy but the castle fell in a single day.
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 29, 1588 (8th day, 7th month, Tenshō 16)
The purpose of the Sword Hunt Edict (Katanagari) was to confiscate weapons from farmers and temples, prevent uprisings, and institutionally separate the warrior and farming classes. Issued by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in July 1588, it was the greatest social transformation in Japanese sword history: the collected swords were ostensibly melted down for the Great Buddha at Hōkōji — and the early modern class system was born.
Seventh month (14th–27th), Tenshō 14 (1586)
In the seventh month of Tenshō 14 (1586), a Shimazu army of 50,000, on the verge of unifying Kyushu, besieged Iwaya Castle in Chikuzen, held for the Ōtomo by Takahashi Jōun. With only 763 defenders, Jōun refused every demand to surrender and, after half a month of desperate fighting, died with his entire garrison on the 27th. This heroic stand exhausted the Shimazu and bought time until Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Kyushu expedition arrived—ultimately thwarting Shimazu unification of the island.
Tenshō 14–15, 3rd–6th month (1586–1587)
From Tenshō 14 (1586) to 15 (1587), Toyotomi Hideyoshi conducted a massive military campaign to pacify the whole of Kyushu. Shimazu Yoshihisa shaved his head and surrendered, and Hideyoshi redistributed the region's fiefs among his vassals, marking the penultimate stage of his unification of Japan, with only the Kantō and Ōshū regions left to subdue.
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.
Third–fourth month, Tenshō 13 (1585)
In Tenshō 13 (1585), during Toyotomi Hideyoshi's subjugation of Kii Province, Hideyoshi's army subjected Ōta Castle—the last stronghold of the Saiga and Negoro leagues—to a flooding siege. Unable to storm the fortress, Hideyoshi built an embankment some 7 km long in only a few days to submerge it, and after about a month forced its surrender in exchange for the seppuku of ringleader Ōta Sakon and 52 others. It is counted, with Bitchū-Takamatsu and Oshi, among Japan's "three great flooding sieges."
29th day of the 11th month, Tenshō 13 (January 18, 1586)
The Tenshō Great Earthquake, which occurred on November 29, 1585 (lunar calendar) in the 13th year of Tenshō, was a massive seismic event with an estimated magnitude of 7.8–8.1, causing catastrophic damage across a wide swath of the Hokuriku, Tōkai, and Kinki regions. Castles and settlements in Hida, Etchu, Ōmi, and surrounding areas collapsed, with estimated casualties ranging from several thousand to over ten thousand. This earthquake, occurring on the eve of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's unification of Japan, profoundly affected the dispersal of renowned castles and famous blades and the fates of military commanders.
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.
March 2, 1582 (Tenshō 10)
In March of Tenshō 10 (1582), during Oda Nobunaga's Kōshū Campaign, a massive army led by Oda Nobutada besieged Takato Castle in Shinano Province. Castle lord Nishina Morinobu resisted with fewer than 3,000 troops but was defeated in a single day and took his own life. The battle is remembered as the decisive final struggle that sealed the fate of the Takeda clan.
March 11, Tenshō 10 (April 3, 1582)
In March 1582, Takeda Katsuyori was cornered at Tenmokuzan in Kai Province by the combined forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu, and committed ritual suicide with his wife and remaining retainers. This final stand marked the extinction of the Takeda clan, once celebrated as the Sengoku era's most feared military power.
8th month, Tensho 10 (August 1582)
In August 1582 (Tenshō 10), Chosokabe Motochika crushed the Miyoshi-Sogo coalition at the Nakatomigawa River in Awa Province. Seizing the chaos that erupted after the Honnoji Incident, Motochika's resolve and the lightning campaign mounted by elite 'ichiryo gusoku' troops became the decisive move in Shikoku's unification.
Sixth month (16th–19th), Tenshō 10 (July 5–8, 1582)
In the sixth month of Tenshō 10 (1582), immediately after Oda Nobunaga was killed at Honnō-ji, Takigawa Kazumasu—the Oda retainer governing Kōzuke—clashed with the Hōjō forces led by Hōjō Ujinao at the Kanna River on the Musashi–Kōzuke border. Regarded as the largest field battle in the Kantō during the Sengoku period, Kazumasu's roughly 18,000 men were routed by the Hōjō's roughly 56,000, and he fled all the way back to his home at Nagashima in Ise.