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Batailles, incidents et événements historiques liés aux sabres japonais
242 événements
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.
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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.
January 21, 1866 (Keiō 2)
On January 21, 1866 (Keiō 2), a military secret agreement was concluded between the Satsuma and Chōshū clans through the mediation of Sakamoto Ryōma and Nakaoka Shintarō. One of the most influential political alliances in Japanese history, it enabled the overthrow of the shogunate and the Meiji Restoration.
July 1651 (Keian 4)
In 1651 (Keian 4), a group of rōnin led by the military strategist Yui Shōsetsu and the spearmanship master Marubashi Chūya attempted an abortive coup to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate. Seeing opportunity in the death of the third shogun Iemitsu and the succession of the young Ietsuna, they plotted an uprising, but it was exposed in advance through an informant. Shōsetsu took his own life at Sunpu, and Chūya was executed by crucifixion. The affair exposed the destitution of the masterless samurai produced in the age of peace and prompted a reform of shogunal policy toward the rōnin.
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.
c. 1368 (Ōan 1)
Nen-ryū, founded by Nen-ami Jion (secular name Soma Shirō Yoshimoto, born 1350) in the late Nanbokuchō and early Muromachi period, is regarded as the oldest of the three founding schools of Japanese swordsmanship. Around 1368, while training at Ankoku-ji temple in Tsukushi (Kyushu), Jion attained the inner mystery of the sword. His disciples founded Chūjō-ryū and Maniwa Nen-ryū, forming the root lineage from which Ittō-ryū and many later schools descended.
From Onin 1–Bunmei 9 (1467–1477) onward
The Onin War (1467–1477) and the subsequent collapse of Ashikaga shogunate authority caused the mass dispersal of the Higashiyama Gomotsu — the Ashikaga shogunate's legendary collection of thousands of Chinese and Japanese cultural objects including named swords, paintings, tea implements, and textiles. Assembled over generations by the Ashikaga shoguns and meticulously cataloged by the Hon'ami family, the collection had been the physical embodiment of shogunal cultural authority. Its scattering through war and subsequent political fragmentation redistributed famous blades throughout Japan and fundamentally reshaped the sword culture of the Sengoku period.
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.
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.
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.