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Batailles, incidents et événements historiques liés aux sabres japonais
214 événements
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.
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Kenchō era (1249–1256)
During the Kenchō era (1249–1256), fifth regent Hōjō Tokiyori invited the Yamashiro smith Kunitsuna to Kamakura; his son or adopted son Shintōgo Kunimitsu then established himself in Sagami Province (present-day Kanagawa Prefecture) and forged the foundation of the Sōshū tradition. Kunimitsu synthesized Yamashiro and Bizen techniques to create a bold new style characterized by rough, crystalline nie particles (ara-nie) in the temper pattern. Inherited by his disciples Masamune and Yukimitsu, this approach was developed into the fully realized Sōshū tradition, which produced blades counted among the five greatest swords in Japan.
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.
January 27, 1219 (Kenpo 7)
On January 27, 1219 (Kenpo 7), Minamoto no Sanetomo, the third shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, was assassinated on the stone steps of Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine by his nephew Kugyo immediately following Sanetomo's investiture as Right Minister. The killing ended the direct Minamoto shogunal line in its third generation, cementing the dominance of the Hojo regents. Sanetomo's beheading stands as one of the most consequential political murders in Japanese history.
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.
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.
November 7, Kan'ei 11 (December 26, 1634)
On November 7, 1634, at the Kagiya no Tsuji crossroads in Iga Province (present-day Iga City, Mie Prefecture), master swordsman Araki Mataemon assisted his brother-in-law Watanabe Kazuma in a formal vendetta against Kawai Matago. Kazuma killed Matago while Mataemon held off the rest of the party. Counted among the three great vendettas of Japanese history, the duel made Mataemon's name legendary in Edo-period sword culture.
June 5, 1247 (1st year of Hōji)
In June 1247, Hōjō Tokiyori destroyed the Miura clan in a power struggle within the Kamakura shogunate. The mass self-immolation of the Miura warriors established the samurai code of honorable death, while cementing Hōjō dominance over the bakufu.
1858–1859 (Ansei 5–6)
In 1858–1859, Tairō Ii Naosuke launched a sweeping purge of opponents who contested the shogunate's succession dispute and the Harris Treaty with the United States. Over 100 activists, scholars and daimyo were punished; Yoshida Shōin and Hashimoto Sanai were executed. The crackdown directly provoked the Sakuradamon assassination of Ii in 1860.
6th–7th month, 672 CE (Jinshin 1)
The Jinshin War of 672 was the largest civil conflict in ancient Japan, fought between Prince Ōama (later Emperor Tenmu) and Prince Ōtomo over imperial succession. Ōama's victory, won by rallying warrior clans of Mino and Owari, established Tenmu's reign and laid the cultural foundations for Japan's centralized warrior tradition.
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.
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.
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 1578 (21st day, 10th month, Tenshō 6) – September 1579 (8th month, Tenshō 7)
In October 1578, Araki Murashige — one of Oda Nobunaga's most trusted senior retainers — abruptly rebelled and fortified himself in Itami Castle in Settsu Province. Despite repeated personal negotiations and Nobunaga's extraordinary patience, Murashige never surrendered. He eventually fled the castle in August 1579, leaving behind his family and retainers, approximately 600 of whom were executed by Nobunaga. The true reasons for the rebellion remain one of Japanese history's most debated mysteries.
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.