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Battles, incidents, and historical events related to Japanese swords
290 events
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.
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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.
Eiroku 11 (1568), 9th month 7th day to 10th month 18th day (old calendar)
How Oda Nobunaga set out from Gifu in 1568 with Ashikaga Yoshiaki, drove the Rokkaku out of southern Omi, pushed the Miyoshi forces out of the home provinces and saw Yoshiaki installed as the 15th Muromachi shogun. The article follows the dates from their July meeting through the September march to the shogunal appointment on the 18th day of the 10th month.
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.
Eishō 3 (1506) – Eishō 17 (1520)
From Eishō 3 (1506) to Eishō 17 (1520), a large-scale civil war spanning Kantō, Echigo, and Hokuriku grew out of the rebellion of Nagao Tamekage in Echigo. After Tamekage defeated the Echigo shugo, Uesugi Fusayoshi, the Kantō kanrei Uesugi Akisada took up arms in revenge, and the conflict spread to an internal dispute within the Yamanouchi Uesugi clan and to the Koga kubō household. At the Battle of Nagamorihara, Uesugi Akisada was killed in action, and the authority of the Kantō kanrei steadily weakened. The Later Hōjō clan then seized the opportunity to advance into Kantō, opening the path to becoming sengoku daimyo. The incident symbolizes both the decline of the Muromachi shogunate and the dramatic rise of daimyo power.
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."
1083–1087 (Eihō 3 – Kanji 1)
The contest for hegemony in Mutsu and Dewa, which broke out from Eihō 3 to Kanji 1 (1083–1087). Minamoto no Yoshiie intervened in the internal strife of the Kiyohara clan, brought down the Kanazawa Stockade, and established hegemony. Alongside the Earlier Nine Years' War as one of the two great Tōhoku wars, it raised the martial prestige of the Minamoto clan.
1438–1439 (Eikyō 10–11)
Eikyō 10–11 (1438–1439): a campaign in which Ashikaga Yoshinori, the sixth shōgun of the Muromachi bakufu, subdued Ashikaga Mochiuji, the Kamakura kubō. Yoshinori reacted against Mochiuji, who was increasing his independence, and Kantō kanrei Uesugi Norizane came into conflict with Mochiuji. The Uesugi side, which received support from the bakufu army, won, and Mochiuji took his own life. The post of Kamakura kubō was temporarily vacant.
8th month, Shōchō 1 (1428) – Shōchō 2 (1429)
In the 8th month of Shōchō 1 (1428), beginning with the bashaku uprising in Ōmi, a large-scale tsuchi ikki spread to Kyoto and the Kinai region, the first large-scale tsuchi ikki in Japanese history. Peasants and bashaku (packhorse carriers) demanded tokusei (debt cancellation) and attacked dosō (pawnbrokers) and sakaya. The shogunate sought to suppress it through Akamatsu Mitsusuke, but in Nara Kōfuku-ji came to approve tokusei. A monumental incident in which organized armed action by the common people first appeared in history.
February 4, 1348 (Shōhei 3 / Jōwa 4, 1st month, 5th day)
In Shōhei 3/Jōwa 4 (1348), at Shijōnawate in Kawachi Province, the Southern Court forces of the Kusunoki brothers Masatsura and Masatoki clashed with the Muromachi shogunate army led by Kō no Moronao. Outnumbered, Masatsura was killed in action after fierce fighting, and the Southern Court suffered a crushing blow, losing its base at Yoshino.
August 29, 1359 (Shōhei 14 / Enbun 4, 8th month, 6th day)
A 1359 battle at Ōbaru in Chikugo Province between the Southern Court army of Prince Kanenaga and Kikuchi Takemitsu and the Northern Court army of Shōni Yorihisa and his son Naosuke — the largest engagement of the Nanboku-chō era in Kyushu, often ranked among Japan's three greatest battles.
1 April 1933 (Shōwa 8)
In 1933 (Shōwa 8) the Law concerning the Preservation of Important Art Objects took effect to stop the outflow of art overseas. It certified items of national-treasure quality not yet designated, and swords became one of the most heavily certified categories. It ran until 1949.
1929 (Shōwa 4)
In 1929 (Shōwa 4) the National Treasures Preservation Law replaced the Ancient Temples and Shrines Preservation Law. Designation was no longer limited to temple and shrine owners, opening the way for privately held swords. It lasted until the 1950 Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties.
1958 (Showa 33)
The Firearms and Swords Control Law of 1958 generally prohibits possession of swords but allows swords of artistic value to be owned if registered with a prefectural board of education. It is the foundation of the system under which postwar Japanese swords circulate as registered art objects.
1955 – present
In 1954, the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties was revised to establish a system for certifying Holders of Important Intangible Cultural Property (commonly known as Living National Treasures), and the first certifications were made in 1955. Sword-forging techniques were eligible for certification from the outset. The first certified individual was Takahashi Sadatsugu (1955), followed by Miyairi Akihira (1963) and others. After surviving the threat of seizure by GHQ following the war and being officially defined as “cultural property,” the craft of the Japanese swordsmith was given the state's highest form of recognition through this system. It was carried on by successive Living National Treasures, including Sumitani Masamine and Amata Akitsugu, and laid the foundation for modern sword culture.
Promulgated 30 May 1950; in force 29 August 1950
Prompted by the 1949 fire in the Kondo of Horyu-ji, the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties was enacted as a member-initiated bill and took effect on 29 August 1950. The earlier National Treasures Preservation Law and the law on important art objects were repealed, moving the protection of art and craft works including Japanese swords into a new framework.
February 1948 (Showa 23)
In February 1948 (Shōwa 23), under the GHQ Occupation of Japan, the Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai (Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords, a public interest incorporated foundation; NBTHK, abbreviated Nittōho in Japanese) was established as a specialist organization. It was founded to counter the crisis of mass destruction and seizure of swords in postwar Japan by positioning swords not as 'weapons' but as 'art and craft objects.' It has functioned as a check on the loss of cultural properties caused by the postwar sword destruction orders, and to this day it remains the central institution for the preservation, appraisal, and honoring of Japanese swords.
Shōwa 20s to Shōwa 30 (early 1950s)
After the war, individual swordsmiths approved by the Committee for the Protection of Cultural Properties were permitted to forge swords, and a practice that had nearly been severed under the Occupation was publicly sanctioned once more. This approval system, together with the first Living National Treasure designation and the start of the Shinsaku Meitō Ten in 1955, formed the framework of the postwar revival of the Japanese sword.
August 1945 – 1948
In August 1945, GHQ ordered the confiscation of all weapons across Japan, threatening hundreds of thousands of Japanese swords with destruction. The campaign by sword scholars and cultural figures to argue that swords were art objects — not weapons — resulted in the founding of the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords (NBTHK) in 1948, establishing the legal and cultural framework that protects Japanese swords to this day.
1945–1946 (Showa 20–21)
From late 1945 into 1946 (Shōwa 20–21), the Honjō Masamune, a sword treasured by the Tokugawa family and one of the finest blades in the history of the Japanese sword, went missing after being seized by the GHQ (General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers). A national-treasure-class blade said to have been forged by Masamune, the Kamakura-period swordsmith who perfected the Sōshū tradition, was permanently lost in the postwar confusion, and its whereabouts remain unknown to this day.
February 26–29, 1936 (Shōwa 11)
In the predawn hours of February 26, Shōwa 11 (1936), young officers of the Army's Kōdōha rose in revolt, leading approximately 1,500 troops. They assassinated senior government figures Takahashi Korekiyo, Saito Makoto, and Watanabe Jotaro, and occupied the Nagatachō district of Tokyo, an attempted coup. In response to the Emperor's firm determination to suppress it, the rebel units surrendered on the 29th, and the officers were executed by firing squad after trial by a special court-martial. The tachi-style military sword (Type 94 guntō), introduced two years before the incident, symbolized the spirit of imperial-restorationist ultranationalism of the time.
December 1868 – June 1869 (Meiji 1, 10th month – Meiji 2, 5th month)
In 1869, the last battle of the Boshin War was fought at Goryōkaku fortress in Hakodate, Hokkaido. Enomoto Takeaki and Hijikata Toshizō led the remnant shogunate forces against the new Meiji government army. Hijikata died from a bullet wound in the final days. As one of the last large-scale organized battles involving Japanese swords, Hakodate stands at the threshold of tradition and modernity.