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Batailles, incidents et événements historiques liés aux sabres japonais
242 événements
Tenshō 14–15, 3rd–6th month (1586–1587)
From Tenshō 14 (1586) to 15 (1587), Toyotomi Hideyoshi conducted a massive military campaign to pacify the whole of Kyushu. Shimazu Yoshihisa shaved his head and surrendered, and Hideyoshi redistributed the region's fiefs among his vassals, marking the penultimate stage of his unification of Japan, with only the Kantō and Ōshū regions left to subdue.
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August 1585 (Tenshō 13) and September 1600 (Keichō 5)
Fought in 1585 and again in 1600, the Battle of Ueda saw Sanada Masayuki and his son Yukimura repel far larger Tokugawa forces twice at Ueda Castle. A masterpiece of defensive warfare showcasing Masayuki's reputation as the Sengoku era's supreme strategist.
Third–fourth month, Tenshō 13 (1585)
In Tenshō 13 (1585), during Toyotomi Hideyoshi's subjugation of Kii Province, Hideyoshi's army subjected Ōta Castle—the last stronghold of the Saiga and Negoro leagues—to a flooding siege. Unable to storm the fortress, Hideyoshi built an embankment some 7 km long in only a few days to submerge it, and after about a month forced its surrender in exchange for the seppuku of ringleader Ōta Sakon and 52 others. It is counted, with Bitchū-Takamatsu and Oshi, among Japan's "three great flooding sieges."
29th day of the 11th month, Tenshō 13 (January 18, 1586)
The Tenshō Great Earthquake, which occurred on November 29, 1585 (lunar calendar) in the 13th year of Tenshō, was a massive seismic event with an estimated magnitude of 7.8–8.1, causing catastrophic damage across a wide swath of the Hokuriku, Tōkai, and Kinki regions. Castles and settlements in Hida, Etchu, Ōmi, and surrounding areas collapsed, with estimated casualties ranging from several thousand to over ten thousand. This earthquake, occurring on the eve of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's unification of Japan, profoundly affected the dispersal of renowned castles and famous blades and the fates of military commanders.
Ninth month (9th–11th), Tenshō 12 (October 12–14, 1584)
In the ninth month of Tenshō 12 (1584), Sassa Narimasa of Etchū—who had turned against Hashiba in concert with the Komaki-Nagakute campaign—besieged the strategic Suemori Castle in Noto with an army of 15,000. As the castle commander Okumura Nagatomi and some 300 defenders held on to the brink of collapse, Maeda Toshiie rushed through the night with 2,500 men and struck the Sassa army from behind, driving it off. The battle, which decided the fate of the Maeda house, is called "the Okehazama of Kaga."
July 2, 1582 (13th day, 6th month, Tenshō 10)
On June 13, Tenshō 10 (1582), eleven days after the Honnō-ji Incident, the culmination of the 'Great March from China' unfolded. Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeated Akechi Mitsuhide at Yamazaki in Yamashiro Province (present-day Mishima County, Osaka Prefecture) and seized hegemony following Nobunaga's death. This battle gave birth to the phrase 'the battle that decided the fate of the realm,' arising from the struggle over Tennō Mountain.
6th–10th months, Tenshō 10 (July–November 1582)
Following Oda Nobunaga's death at Honnō-ji on the 2nd day of the 6th month, Tenshō 10 (1582), three powers — Tokugawa Ieyasu, Hōjō Ujimasa, and Uesugi Kagekatsu — scrambled to seize the suddenly vacant former Takeda domains of Kai, Shinano, and Kōzuke. The conflict is named for the cyclical year designation Jingo (壬午). Ieyasu ultimately secured Kai and Shinano, transforming from a regional lord into a major power — a crucial step toward his eventual dominance.
April–June 2, Tenshō 10 (May–June 21, 1582)
From April to June 1582 (Tensho 10), a siege took place at Takamatsu Castle in Bitchu Province (present-day Takamatsu, Kita Ward, Okayama City), where Hashiba Hideyoshi subjected the castle held by Shimizu Muneharu to a water siege. The water siege in which Hideyoshi dammed the Ashimori River to inundate Takamatsu Castle is said to have been the largest engineering project in Japanese history. This historic battle became the catalyst for Hideyoshi's retreat to Kyoto via the Great Retreat through Chugoku after receiving news of the Honnoji Incident.
March 2, 1582 (Tenshō 10)
In March of Tenshō 10 (1582), during Oda Nobunaga's Kōshū Campaign, a massive army led by Oda Nobutada besieged Takato Castle in Shinano Province. Castle lord Nishina Morinobu resisted with fewer than 3,000 troops but was defeated in a single day and took his own life. The battle is remembered as the decisive final struggle that sealed the fate of the Takeda clan.
March 11, Tenshō 10 (April 3, 1582)
In March 1582, Takeda Katsuyori was cornered at Tenmokuzan in Kai Province by the combined forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu, and committed ritual suicide with his wife and remaining retainers. This final stand marked the extinction of the Takeda clan, once celebrated as the Sengoku era's most feared military power.
8th month, Tensho 10 (August 1582)
In August 1582 (Tenshō 10), Chosokabe Motochika crushed the Miyoshi-Sogo coalition at the Nakatomigawa River in Awa Province. Seizing the chaos that erupted after the Honnoji Incident, Motochika's resolve and the lightning campaign mounted by elite 'ichiryo gusoku' troops became the decisive move in Shikoku's unification.
Sixth month (16th–19th), Tenshō 10 (July 5–8, 1582)
In the sixth month of Tenshō 10 (1582), immediately after Oda Nobunaga was killed at Honnō-ji, Takigawa Kazumasu—the Oda retainer governing Kōzuke—clashed with the Hōjō forces led by Hōjō Ujinao at the Kanna River on the Musashi–Kōzuke border. Regarded as the largest field battle in the Kantō during the Sengoku period, Kazumasu's roughly 18,000 men were routed by the Hōjō's roughly 56,000, and he fled all the way back to his home at Nagashima in Ise.
c. 1781 (Tenmei 1) through the Bunsei era (1818–1830)
After arriving in Edo in 1781 (Tenmei 1), Suishinshi Masahide (1749–1823) criticized the ornamental formalism of contemporary sword-making and advocated a return to the aesthetic ideals of the classical Kamakura and Nanbokuchō periods. Through influential treatises and hands-on teaching to over one hundred disciples, he launched the Shinshintō (New-New Sword) movement, which dramatically revitalized Japanese sword culture from a period of decline. Together with his students Ōkei Naotane and Minamoto Kiyomaro, Masahide formed the "Three Masters of Edo" (Edo Sansaku), and his legacy shaped the final flourishing of sword culture in the late Edo period before the Haitōrei edict of 1876.
August 1532 CE (Tenbun 1)
In August of Tenbun 1 (1532), the allied forces of Hosokawa Harumoto, Rokkaku Sadayori, and the Hokke Ikki (Lotus Sutra league) burned and destroyed Yamashina Hongan-ji, the headquarters of the Ikko Ikki, in a decisive engagement of the Eishoku-Tenbun Disturbance (1531–1535). This event paved the way for the Hongan-ji's relocation to Osaka and the subsequent Ishiyama Conflict.
Autumn, Tenbun 9 (1540)
In autumn 1540, at Kōriyama Castle in Aki Province (present-day Akitakata City, Hiroshima Prefecture), Mōri Motonari repulsed a massive invasion by Amako Haruhisa of Izumi Province. Vastly outnumbered, Mōri's defense and counterattacks forced the Amako withdrawal, marking the turning point in Mōri's rise to dominate the Chūgoku region.
October 23, 1538 (Tenbun 7, 10th month, 7th day)
A 1538 battle at Kōnodai in Shimōsa Province between the allied forces of Ashikaga Yoshiaki, head of the Koyumi Kubō, and Satomi Yoshitaka against Hōjō Ujitsuna and his son Ujiyasu of the Later Hōjō. Yoshiaki's death in battle ended the Koyumi Kubō line and opened the way for Hōjō expansion into Shimōsa.
July 1536 (Tenbun 5)
In July 1536, warrior-monks of Enryaku-ji on Mt. Hiei, backed by Rokkaku Sadayori's forces, burned all twenty-one Hokke (Nichiren) temple compounds in Kyoto. The resulting destruction surpassed even the Ōnin War, and the Hokke faithful were expelled from the capital for six years — a vivid example of the interplay between religion, armed force, and daimyo power in the Sengoku age.
A series of incidents from 1535 (Tenbun 4) to c. 1579 (Tenshō 7)
Blades by the Muramasa school of Ise-Kuwana became associated with a chain of wounds and deaths said to have befallen four generations of the Tokugawa house—Kiyoyasu, Hirotada, Ieyasu, and Nobuyasu—giving rise during the Edo period to the legend of the "sword that curses the Tokugawa." The blades’ genuine reputation for sharpness and their wide circulation in the Tōkai region likely underlie the legend’s formation.
9th month, 1st day, Tenbun 20 (September 30, 1551)
In 1551, Ouchi retainer Sue Harukata overthrew his lord Ouchi Yoshitaka, forcing the great patron of western Japan's sword culture to commit suicide at Daineiji temple. The Ouchi clan's fall ended the organized Japan–Ming sword trade and scattered its patronized swordsmiths across western Japan.
Tenbun 18 (1549)
Miyoshi Nagayoshi defeated Hosokawa Harumoto at the Battle of Eguchi and came to dominate the Kinai region. He established authority surpassing even the Muromachi shogun, realizing the position of 'tenka-hito' (ruler of all Japan) before Oda Nobunaga. He also contributed significantly to the expansion of sword culture's distribution and demand.
March 19, 1548 (Tenbun 17)
On March 19, 1548 (Tenbun 17), the forces of Oda Nobuhide of Owari clashed with the allied Imagawa–Matsudaira army—commanded by the Imagawa strategist-monk Taigen Sessai—at Azukizaka in Mikawa Province (present-day Okayama-chō, Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture). The battle arose from the contest between the Oda and Imagawa clans for control of Mikawa Province, centered on guardianship of the young Matsudaira Hirotada, lord of Okazaki Castle. The Imagawa victory secured their dominance over Mikawa and set the stage for the young Tokugawa Ieyasu's years as an Imagawa hostage.
February, Tenbun 17 (1548)
In February 1548, Takeda Shingen suffered one of his most severe defeats at the hands of Murakami Yoshikiyo at Udahara in Shinano Province. Shingen was wounded in the right thigh by an arrow and forced to withdraw, while two of his most trusted generals—Itagaki Nobukata and Amari Torayasu—were killed in the battle.
May 19, 1546 (20th day, 4th month, Tenbun 15)
In 1546, Hōjō Ujiyasu launched a daring night assault with only 8,000 men against an 80,000-strong besieging coalition — the greatest surprise battle in the Kantō region. Crushing the combined forces of Uesugi Tomosada and Ashikaga Haruuji, Ujiyasu established Hōjō supremacy over the Kantō plain and cemented his reputation as one of the era's greatest commanders.
August 25, Tenbun 12 (September 23, 1543 CE)
In 1543, Portuguese traders aboard a Chinese junk were shipwrecked on Tanegashima island (present-day Kagoshima Prefecture), bringing the first matchlock firearms to Japan. Lord Tanegashima Tokitaka purchased two guns, and local metalworker Yaitabe Kinbee successfully reproduced them within months. The rapid spread of firearms fundamentally transformed Sengoku-era warfare, culminating in Oda Nobunaga's organized deployment of arquebusiers at the Battle of Nagashino (1575). The arrival of firearms marked a turning point from the age of individual sword-wielding valor to massed infantry and ranged weaponry.