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Batailles, incidents et événements historiques liés aux sabres japonais
97 événements
c. Eiroku period (1558–1570)
During the Eiroku period (1558–1570), Kamiizumi Ise-no-Kami Nobutsuna (born c. 1508) created Shinkage-ryū by developing and transforming the older Kage-ryū. He invented the fukuro shinai (a split-bamboo practice weapon wrapped in a leather sleeve), revolutionizing sword training, and systematized the philosophy of the "living sword" (katsujinken)—subduing rather than killing. In 1564 he performed before Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiteru, and later transmitted the innermost teachings to Yagyū Munetoshi (Sekishūsai), who became the founder of the Yagyū Shinkage-ryū.
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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.
Eiroku 3 to Genki 1 (1560–1570), a series of repeated confrontations
From 1560 to 1570, Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo repeatedly attacked Karasawayama Castle in Shimotsuke Province (present-day Sano City, Tochigi Prefecture), held by Sano Masatsuna. Despite years of campaigns against this formidable fortress — one of the "Seven Great Castles of Kanto" — Kenshin never fully subdued it, as Masatsuna repeatedly surrendered and defected between the Uesugi and Hōjō camps to preserve his clan.
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.
September 12, 1568 (Eiroku 11)
In September 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.
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.
1506-1521
During the Eisho era (1506-1521), a large-scale upheaval centered on Kanto, Echigo, and the Hokuriku region stemmed from the rebellion of Nagao Kagetoki of Echigo. The conflict between the Koga kubo and the Kanto kanrei of the Uesugi clan deepened, and Nagao Kagetoki of Echigo eventually intervened, leading to complex power struggles. Uesugi Akisada died in the Battle of Nagamori, and the authority of the Kanto kanrei steadily weakened. Eventually the Hōjō clan seized the opportunity to advance into Kanto, opening the path to becoming a sengoku daimyo. This affair symbolizes 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."
1493-1498 (Meiao 2 to Meiao 7)
From 1493 to 1498, Hōjō Sōun (Ise Soujun), the first daimyo of the later Hōjō clan, unified Izu Province. He attacked Horikoshi Gosho, expelled Ashikaga Chachamaru, spent five years capturing Fukune Castle, and pacified the whole of Izu Province. This was an independent territorial unification in a region beyond the reach of the Muromachi shogunate's authority, symbolizing the emergence of sengoku daimyo. Sōun's unification of Izu became the first step toward the Hōjō clan's domination of Kanto and prompted the establishment of the sengoku daimyo system that would eventually sweep the region.
Meiō 2 (1493)
In 1493, the kanrei Hosokawa Masamoto deposed Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiki and installed a puppet in his place. This coup effectively ended the authority of the Muromachi shogunate and is considered the moment the Sengoku period truly began.
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 7–15, Keichō 5 (October 13–21, 1600)
From September 7 to 15, 1600, Kyōgoku Takatsugu held Ōtsu Castle in Ōmi Province against a Western Army force led by Tachibana Muneshige for nine days. His determined resistance pinned down fifteen thousand Western troops — including the formidable Tachibana forces — until the day Sekigahara was decided, thereby making a significant indirect contribution to the Eastern Army's victory. The siege transformed the man derided as a 'firefly lord' into an unlikely hero.
September 17–18, Keichō 5 (1600)
Just two days after the main battle of Sekigahara, on September 17–18, 1600, Ishida Mitsunari's father Masatsugu and brother Masazumi held Sawayama Castle in Ōmi Province against an Eastern Army force of 15,000. Defending with only about 2,800 troops, the castle fell, and most of the remaining Ishida clan, including Masatsugu and Masazumi, took their own lives. The destruction of Mitsunari's once-mighty seat of power stands as a symbolic coda to the mopping-up operations after Sekigahara.
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 24–25, Keichō 5 (1600)
On July 24–25, 1600, Date Masamune, acting in support of Tokugawa Ieyasu's campaign against Uesugi Kagekatsu, attacked Shiroishi Castle in Mutsu Province, then held by the Uesugi. The titular castellan, Amakasu Kagetsugu, was absent on duty at Aizu; the actual defense fell to his nephew Tosaka Katsuno, who surrendered within roughly a day. The battle served as the opening engagement of the Keichō Dewa Campaign.
July 19 – September 18, Keichō 5 (August 25 – October 14, 1600)
From July to September of Keichō 5 (1600), at Tanabe Castle in Tango Province (present-day Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture), the renowned culturalist and commander Hosokawa Yūsai (also known as Fujitaka) conducted a siege against a vastly larger Western Army force for approximately two months. Through an imperial edict of Emperor Go-Yōzei, peace was established, and Yūsai was spared his life as the sole heir of the *Kokin Denku* (Secret Transmission of the Collection of Ancient and Modern Poems). Celebrated as the final siege of a commander exemplifying the way of both letters and martial arts, who cherished waka poetry and Japanese swords.
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 13, Tenshō 6 (April 19, 1578)
In 1578, just before departing on a planned campaign toward the capital, the celebrated Echigo commander Uesugi Kenshin died suddenly at his stronghold of Kasugayama Castle at age 49. Having never designated an heir, his death triggered the Otate no Ran succession war between his adopted sons Kagekatsu and Kagetora, severely weakening Echigo’s regional power.