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Batailles, incidents et événements historiques liés aux sabres japonais
127 événements
1350–1352 (Kannō 1–2)
From Kan'nō 1 to 3 (1350–1352), an internal conflict within the Muromachi shogunate between Ashikaga Takauji and his younger brother Ashikaga Tadayoshi. Takauji's administrator Kō no Moronao clashed fiercely with Tadayoshi, but after Moronao's execution, Takauji and Tadayoshi reconciled; however, Tadayoshi was subsequently poisoned, ending the conflict. The greatest internal strife of the shogunate, further complicating the tumult of the Northern and Southern Courts.
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November 9, 1180 (20th day, 10th month, Jishō 4)
In the 10th month of Jishō 4 (1180), at the Fuji River in Suruga Province, the eastern warrior coalition under Minamoto no Yoritomo routed the pursuing Taira force led by Taira no Koremori. The Taira army's legendary flight at the sound of startled waterbirds masked the real significance: the rapid consolidation of Kantō warriors behind Yoritomo, establishing the foundation of what would become the Kamakura shogunate.
August 23, 1180 (Jishō 4)
On August 23, 1180 (Jishō 4), Minamoto no Yoritomo, having just raised his banner in Izu, suffered a crushing defeat at Ishibashiyama in Sagami Province against the far larger Taira-aligned army of Ōba Kagechika. Yoritomo narrowly escaped with his life to Awa Province, rallied the warriors of the eastern provinces, and entered Kamakura that October. This defeat — said to be the only one of his career — proved the turning point toward the founding of the Kamakura shogunate.
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.
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.
1st–5th months, Eiroku 12 (February–June 1569)
From January to May in the 12th year of Eiroku (1569), Tokugawa Ieyasu besieged Kakegawa Castle in Tōtōmi Province, where Imagawa Ujisato was garrisoned. Having lost his father Yoshimoto in the Battle of Okehazama (1560), Ujisato held Kakegawa Castle, his last stronghold, as the Imagawa domain collapsed under Takeda Shingen's invasion (1568). Ultimately, Ujisato surrendered and opened the castle, and the illustrious Imagawa clan lost its standing as a warring state daimyo. The fate of Ujisato, known for preferring poetry and kemari to warfare, reflects the cruel reality of sword culture in the aristocratic struggle for supremacy.
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."
1083–1087 (Eiho 3 – Kanji 1)
From 1083 to 1087, a struggle for dominance in the northeast erupted in Mutsu and Dewa provinces. Minamoto Yoshiie intervened in the internal strife of the Kiyohara clan and established supremacy by capturing Kanazawa Stockade. As one of the two great wars of the northeast alongside the Earlier Nine Years' War, it established the martial authority of the Minamoto and created the 'tradition of Oshu warfare.'
1438–1439 (Eikyō 10–11)
From Eikyo 10–11 (1438–1439), Ashikaga Yoshinori, 6th shogun of the Muromachi bakufu, waged a campaign to subjugate Ashikaga Mochiunji, the Kamakura kubō. Yoshinori opposed Mochiunji's increasingly independent stance, while Kanto Kanrei Uesugi Norizane clashed with Mochiunji. Uesugi forces, backed by bakufu troops, achieved victory, and Mochiunji committed suicide, ending the independent Ashikaga regime in Kanto.
December 1868 – May 1869 (Meiji 1–2)
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.
February 8, 1904 – September 5, 1905
In Meiji 37–38 (1904–1905), the Japanese Empire fought the largest land and naval war of the modern age against the Russian Empire. This war fundamentally changed the positioning of the Japanese sword. Following the Satsuma Rebellion, the sword that had been perceived as "unnecessary for practical combat" was reappraised as a "spiritual symbol of bushido" against the backdrop of the exploits of Nogi Maresuke and Togo Heihachiro and the triumph of the Japanese military in the Russo-Japanese War. The Type 32 Military Sword, established in Meiji 32, subsequently became widespread among officers.
March 4–20, 1877 (Meiji 10)
Fought over seventeen days from March 4 to 20, 1877 (Meiji 10), at Tabaruzaka in Higo Province (present-day Ueki-machi, Kita Ward, Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture), this was the largest and most costly engagement of the Satsuma Rebellion. Imperial government forces and the Satsuma army under Saigō Takamori fought a desperate struggle for control of Tabaruzaka, the strategic route by which reinforcements could reach besieged Kumamoto Castle. The government deployed the 'Battōtai' (drawn-sword corps)—swordsmen selected from the police force—to counter Satsuma close-combat tactics, an episode credited with reviving recognition of the Japanese sword's practical value after decades of decline under the Sword-Abolition Edict.
December 1391 (January 1392 in Western calendar)
In Meitoku 2 (1391), members of the Yamana clan, including Yamana Ujikiyo and Mitsuyuki, who had grown powerful enough to threaten the Ashikaga shogunate, raised a rebellion against the third-generation Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu. Yoshimitsu swiftly suppressed the regions around Kyoto and thoroughly reduced the power of the Yamana clan. This victory decisively established Yoshimitsu's supreme authority over the Muromachi shogunate and marked the peak of his patronage of sword culture.
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.
July–September 1189 (Bunji 5)
In 1189, Minamoto no Yoritomo launched a military campaign against Fujiwara no Yasuhira, the lord of Ōshū (Mutsu and Dewa provinces), crushing the last major independent power in Japan. The campaign ended the brilliant Hiraizumi culture of the Fujiwara northern lords and was nominally triggered by Yasuhira's killing of the fugitive Minamoto no Yoshitsune.
October 1274 (11th year of Bun'ei)
In October 1274, a Yuan-Goryeo combined force of approximately 30,000 troops sent by Kublai Khan landed at Hakata Bay in the first Mongol invasion of Japan. Although unsettled by unfamiliar tactics — massed formations and gunpowder weapons — Japanese warriors met the assault with swords refined to the peak of personal martial arts. The campaign simultaneously revealed both the superiority and the limitations of Japanese swords in battle, spurring innovations in late Kamakura blade technology.
1274 (Bun'ei Invasion) and 1281 (Kōan Invasion)
The Mongol Empire, allied with Goryeo Korea, twice invaded northern Kyushu — in 1274 (Bun'ei Invasion) and 1281 (Kōan Invasion). Both invasions were repelled, the second by a devastating typhoon the Japanese called kamikaze (divine wind). The wars forced a rapid evolution in Japanese swordsmanship and blade design.
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.
937–940 (Jōhei 7 – Tengyō 3)
In 939–940, Taira no Masakado seized control of eight eastern provinces and declared himself 'New Emperor,' challenging the imperial court. A loyalist coalition led by Fujiwara no Hidesato and Taira no Sadamori defeated and killed him. Masakado's rebellion is considered a pivotal moment marking the rise of the warrior class and fundamentally reshaping eastern Japan's political and military landscape.
September 13–14, 1600 (Keichō 5)
On September 13–14, 1600 (Keichō 5), the army of Kuroda Yoshitaka (Kuroda Kanbei), aligned with the Tokugawa-led Eastern Army, clashed with the forces of Ōtomo Yoshimune (Yoshitō), who had allied with the Western Army in a bid to recover his former domain, at Ishigakibaru in Hayami District, Bungo Province (present-day Beppu City, Ōita Prefecture). Fought almost simultaneously with the main Battle of Sekigahara, the engagement is often called the 'Sekigahara of Kyūshū.' The battle ended in Kuroda's victory, and Ōtomo Yoshimune's surrender ended any prospect of restoring the Ōtomo clan to daimyo status.
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.