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Batailles, incidents et événements historiques liés aux sabres japonais
138 événements
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.
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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.
April 13, 1612 (Keichō 17)
On April 13, 1612, Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojirō fought a one-on-one duel on Ganryūjima Island in Buzen Province. Musashi emerged victorious in the most celebrated single combat in Japanese history.
March 4 – April 4, 1609 (Keichō 14) — from the fleet's departure at Yamakawa to the surrender of Shuri Castle
In 1609, a force of roughly 3,000 troops led by Kabayama Hisataka, acting on the orders of Satsuma domain lord Shimazu Iehisa, invaded the Ryukyu Kingdom. Departing from Yamakawa Harbor, they sailed via Amami Ōshima, Tokunoshima, and Okinoerabujima to land at Unten Harbor, forcing the surrender of Shuri Castle and King Shō Nei. Ryukyu subsequently entered a dual subordination to both Japan and China that lasted until the end of the shogunate.
6th day, 3rd month, Keiō 4 (March 29, 1868)
On March 6, 1868, the Kōyō Chintai-tai — a reconstituted force of former Shinsengumi members under Kondō Isami and Hijikata Toshizō — met the imperial army's Tosa troops near Katsunuma in Kai Province. Massively outgunned and outnumbered, the former Shinsengumi was routed, effectively ending the organization as a military force.
January 27–30, 1868 (3rd–6th day, 1st month, Keiō 4)
In January 1868, the opening battle of the Boshin War pitted Satsuma-Chōshū forces against the Tokugawa shogunate army. The imperial coalition's modern weaponry overwhelmed the shogunate troops; Tokugawa Yoshinobu fled to Edo. The battle marked the final twilight of the samurai age and signaled the transition from blade to rifle in Japanese warfare.
January 1868 – June 1869
The Boshin War (1868–1869) was a civil war fought between the new imperial government led by the Satsuma-Chōshū alliance and the forces of the Tokugawa shogunate and the Northern Confederation. Beginning with the Battle of Toba-Fushimi and concluding with the fall of Hakodate, it was the last major conflict in which the Japanese sword was carried as a primary weapon of war.
June 7 – late August, Keiō 2 (July–August 1866)
In 1866, the Tokugawa shogunate mobilized over thirty domains to suppress Chōshū after the domain's forces had entered Kyoto at Kinmon (1864). However, Chōshū's newly reorganized militia forces under Takasugi Shinsaku — and backed covertly by Satsuma following Sakamoto Ryōma's mediation — defeated the shogunate armies on all four fronts. The shogunate's military weakness was exposed, setting the stage for the Taisei Hōkan (return of governing power) and the Meiji Restoration.
October–December 1399 CE (Ōei 6)
In 1399, the powerful western daimyo Ōuchi Yoshihiro raised a rebellion against Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu at Sakai in Izumi Province. Yoshihiro's death in battle with sword in hand ended the revolt and cemented Yoshimitsu's supreme authority, shaping the cultural flourishing of the Muromachi sword tradition.
June 1419 (Ōei 26)
In June of the 26th year of the Oei era (1419), the Yi Dynasty of Joseon attacked Tsushima with a massive force of 227 ships and 17,285 troops. Only about 600 Tsushima samurai, led by Sō Sadamori, put up a strong defense using the terrain to their advantage, defeating the Korean forces through surprise tactics. This was the first organized foreign military invasion of Japan in 140 years since the Mongol Invasions, bringing major turning points to the Muromachi shogunate and Japan-Korea relations.
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.
1281 (Kōan 4)
In 1281, a Yuan-Korean armada of approximately 140,000 troops on 4,400 ships invaded Hakata Bay. Stone walls built under Hōjō Tokimune's direction blocked the landing, Japanese warriors launched repeated night raids, and a typhoon on July 30 destroyed the fleet. The campaign tested Kamakura-period Japanese swords under the most demanding conditions and underscored the sword's spiritual significance through post-victory shrine dedications.
Third month (2nd), Kenmu 3 / Engen 1 (April 13, 1336)
In the third month of Kenmu 3 / Engen 1 (1336), Ashikaga Takauji—driven from Kyoto and forced to flee to Kyushu—defeated the large army of Kikuchi Taketoshi, loyal to Emperor Go-Daigo, at Tatarahama in Chikuzen. Barely 2,000 Ashikaga troops broke the Kikuchi army of over 20,000 by inducing mass defections. The victory brought most of Kyushu over to Takauji, allowing him to regroup and march east again toward his victory over Kusunoki Masashige at Minatogawa.
July 4, 1336 (25th day, 5th month, Kemmu 3 / Engen 1)
In May 1336, Kusunoki Masashige and Nitta Yoshisada faced Ashikaga Takauji's overwhelming forces in the first decisive battle of the Nanbokuchō period. Masashige, knowing victory was impossible, fought with desperate courage before taking his own life. His loyalty unto death became the defining image of Japanese martial virtue.
July–August 1335 (Kenmu 2)
In July 1335, Hōjō Tokiyuki — son of the last Kamakura shogunal regent Hōjō Takatoki — raised an army in Shinano, swept through the Kantō region, and briefly recaptured Kamakura. Ashikaga Takauji's unauthorized march to suppress the rebellion, defying Emperor Go-Daigo's orders, became the catalyst that shattered the Kenmu Restoration and launched the Nanbokuchō era.
June 2, 1213 (2nd day, 5th month, Kenryaku 3)
In the 5th month of Kenryaku 3 (1213), Wada Yoshimori — head of the Samurai-dokoro, the most senior military official in the Kamakura shogunate — rose in armed rebellion against Hōjō Yoshitoki. Defeated and killed in street fighting through Kamakura, Yoshimori's fall eliminated the last major check on Hōjō dominance and cemented the regency system that would define Kamakura politics for the following century.
797 (Enryaku 16): appointment as Sei'i Taishogun; 801–802 (Enryaku 20–21): decisive campaign
In 797 (Enryaku 16), Sakanoue no Tamuramaro was appointed Sei'i Taishogun (Shogun). Leading his third Emishi campaign in 801–802, he forced the submission of the Emishi chieftain Aterui and established Isawa Castle, relocating the military headquarters northward. Tamuramaro's combination of military force and cultural outreach consolidated central government control over northeastern Japan and established the historical precedent for the title of "Sei'i Taishogun"—a designation later inherited by Minamoto no Yoritomo, Ashikaga Takauji, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, becoming the defining title of samurai governance in Japan.
20th day, 1st month, Juei 3 (February 21, 1184)
In January 1184, Minamoto no Yoshinaka (Kiso Yoshinaka) was defeated and killed at Awazu in Ōmi Province by forces under Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Noriyori, acting on orders from Yoritomo. Yoshinaka's death — his final mounted charge, the parting from his consort Tomoe Gozen, the arrow wound and fall into the swamp — is one of the most celebrated passages in The Tale of the Heike, embedding Yoshinaka and Tomoe as permanent figures in Japanese cultural memory.
In January 1184 (Juei 3), a civil war erupted when Minamoto no Yoshinaka (Kiso Yoshinaka) clashed with generals of the Yoritomo faction—Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Minamoto no Yoshikane. Yoshinaka positioned himself at the Uji River as a natural defensive line, but after the legendary sengumi arasoi (vanguard race) between Kajiwara Kagetsugu and Sasaki Takatsuna—one of Japan's greatest tales of valor—Yoritomo's forces broke through. Yoshinaka was defeated at Awazu in Ōmi, marking a decisive step toward the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate.
November 17, 1183 (Juei 2, intercalary 10th month, 1st day)
A 1183 naval battle at Mizushima in Bitchū Province between forces sent by Minamoto no Yoshinaka and the Taira navy. An annular solar eclipse occurred mid-battle; the Taira, versed in the calendar, exploited the panic it caused among the Genji to win a decisive victory.
June 2, 1183 (11th day, 5th month, Juei 2)
In May 1183, Minamoto no Yoshinaka (Kiso Yoshinaka) annihilated the Taira army under Taira no Koremori at Kurikara Pass on the border of Etchū and Kaga provinces. Famous for the legendary 'fire-ox stratagem,' the victory opened Yoshinaka's path to Kyoto and marked a turning point in the Genpei War.