Chris Perry, Author

Tag: Ikko-Ikki

  • The First Unifier – Oda Nobunaga. Part Three.

    The First Unifier – Oda Nobunaga. Part Three.

    By 1573, Oda Nobunaga was arguably the strongest warlord of his day, controlling a large territory that dominated central Japan. He had taken control of Kyoto and brought about the end of the Ashikaga Shogunate (though he would never take the title for himself), and with the death of Takeda Shingen, his most dangerous rival had been removed.

    Nobunaga’s position is red. Dominant, but not yet unchallenged.
    By Alvin Lee – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39200929

    You probably know by now that even a strong position was never completely unchallenged during the Sengoku Jidai, and Nobunaga still had enemies to deal with. In the summer of 1573, he launched a campaign against the Azai-Asakura alliance, whom he had defeated at the Battle of Anegawa in 1570 and now meant to finish off.

    Nobunaga’s forces laid siege to the formidable Odani Castle. When Azai-Asakura forces marched to relieve it, they were ambushed and forced to retreat to Ichijodani Castle with Nobunaga in hot pursuit. The Azai-Asakura were then decisively defeated at the Battle of Tonezaka and tried to retreat again; however, a series of defeats, betrayals, and suicides put an end to the alliance and then to the clans themselves.

    A modern reconstruction of the castle down around Ichijodani.
    663highland – 投稿者自身による著作物, CC 表示 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12059706による

    A side note to these events is the end of the marriage between Nobunaga’s sister, Oichi, and Azai Nagamasa, lord of the Azai Clan. When Nagamasa betrayed Nobunaga, Oichi remained faithful and was by his side as Odani Castle came under siege. Some sources say that Oichi gave birth to her third daughter during the siege (though others disagree). There is also debate over how she escaped, with some saying she was aided by a loyal retainer, and others stating that Nobunaga and Nagamasa agreed to let Oichi and her daughters go, a tale often romanticised as demonstrating the love both men had for her.

    Romantic stories aside, with the end of the Azai-Asakura threat, Nobunaga turned his attention to the peasant rebellion in Ise Province (the so-called Nagashima Ikko-Ikki), which had resulted in the death of his younger brother, Nobuoki. The campaign was successful at first, with several outlying forts being taken, but an attempt to secure the rebels’ main fortress at Nagashima failed, and Nobunaga was obliged to fall back after an ambush threatened to cut him off.

    A 19th-century depiction of the fighting in Nagashima.

    The year would end on a more positive note for him, however, as Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who was still claiming the title of Shogun, was forced to flee Wakae Castle (in modern Osaka) and retreat to Kii Province. In December, Nobunaga’s forces captured the important and wealthy Tamonyama Castle (modern Nara), further securing his territory in central Japan.

    1574 would bring new problems, starting with another peasant rebellion (the Echizen Ikko-Ikki) in territory that Nobunaga had only recently taken from the Azai-Asakura. Shortly after that, a renewed attack by the Takeda, now led by Shingen’s son, Katsuyori, invaded Mino Province. Nobunaga marched to meet them, but the border castles fell before he could arrive, and so he withdrew, avoiding a decisive clash with the Takeda for now.

    Takeda Katsuyori

    With crises in all directions, Nobunaga was stretched to his limit, but it was in moments like this where he showed his brilliance and his brutality. The Ikko-Ikki fortress at Nagashima had been a thorn in his side for years, and he set out to remove it in the summer of 1574, surrounding the fortress from land and sea and starving the defenders into surrender by September.

    It is said that some attempted to flee by boat, but Nobunaga stopped them with a volley of gunfire. Suitably provoked, the Ikko-Ikki launched a counterattack that ultimately failed, but killed Nobunaga’s half-brother. In response, Nobunaga had the remaining 20,000 defenders, including women and children, locked up inside the castle, which he then ordered burned.

    A memorial to those who were killed during the fall of Nagashima.
    立花左近 – 投稿者自身による著作物, CC 表示-継承 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20094400による

    With Nagashima subdued, Nobunaga turned his attention to the Takeda, who had launched a series of relatively small-scale invasions throughout 1574, and by April 1575, were besieging the Tokugawa-controlled fortress at Nagashino. What followed was one of the most heavily mythologised battles of the era, and even today, many of the details are open to debate, but what is not in doubt is that the Battle of Nagashino inflicted a mortal wound on the Takeda. They never again posed a serious strategic threat to Nobunaga’s ambitions.

    One of his other long-term enemies was the Temple of Hongan-ji, the spiritual centre of the widespread Ikko-Ikki movement. The movement had been severely weakened by the loss of Nagashima, and in late Summer 1575, Nobunaga crushed the Echizen Ikko-Ikki, further weakening Hongan-ji’s power. This turn of events allowed Nobunaga to establish a short-lived peace in the territory he controlled.

    Emperor Ogimachi (r 1557-1586) was Emperor for most of Nobunaga’s rise to power.

    In November 1575, Nobunaga was appointed Dainagon, and Ukone no Taisho, Chief Councillor, and General of the Right, respectively, positions in the Imperial court which established his position, and right to rule the country (in the Emperor’s name, of course) Around this time Nobunaga also began distributing territory and other titles to his followers on behalf of the Emperor, and it is from this point that historians generally agree that Nobunaga gave up the pretence of supporting the Ashikaga, and began eyeing the position for himself. In light of this, he officially recognised his son, Nobutada, as his heir and gave orders for the construction of a new fortress at Azuchi.

    It couldn’t last, however, and in Spring 1576 Ishiyama Hongan-ji was in arms against him again, supported by a loose coalition of powerful clans, and at least nominally acting on behalf of the exiled Shogun, Yoshiaki. Initial attempts by Oda forces to subdue Hongan-ji failed, but when Nobunaga himself arrived, he won a decisive victory at the Battle of Tennoji, and subsequently laid siege to the vast Ishiyama temple complex.

    This modern recreation shows that the Ishiyama Hongan-ji complex was more akin to a fortified town than a temple.

    Nobunaga might have hoped to repeat his success at Nagashima, but those hopes were to be dashed when a fleet from the Mori Clan destroyed the Oda blockade at the Battle of Kizugawaguchi in August 1576, ensuring that, for the time being, supplies would continue to flow into Ishiyama, and the siege would drag on.

    Meanwhile, in 1577, Nobunaga led an army into Kii Province and forced the surrender of the Saika Clan before withdrawing, only to then have to face a rebellion from the Matsunaga Clan in Ise Province, which was put down in characteristically brutal fashion, with the castle burned, and its occupants forced to commit Seppuku.

    This image depicts Matsunaga Hisahide at the moment of his death. The story goes that Nobunaga offered to spare him in exchange for a rare tea kettle. In response, Hisahide is supposed to have smashed the kettle to pieces before killing himself.

    From 1578 to 1580, Nobunaga was forced to contend with the powerful Mori Clan and their allies for control of Harima Province. Meanwhile, his vassal, Akechi Mitsuhide, successfully subdued the provinces of Tamba and Tango. In late 1580, Nobunaga forced the surrender of Arioka and Miki Castles, bringing the whole of Harima under his control.

    Meanwhile, the Second Battle of Kizugawaguchi in December 1578 reversed the strategic situation in the seas around Ishiyama (Osaka Bay), when the rebuilt Oda navy inflicted a decisive defeat on the Mori fleet, finally cutting Ishiyama off completely. The siege would last until 1580, however, and it would eventually take an Imperial Order to convince the leadership to surrender, in exchange for being allowed to leave.

    A semi-contemporary image of Ishiyama Hongan-ji during the siege.

    War was never far away, but as 1581 dawned, Nobunaga was stronger than any Daimyo had ever been, and it was seriously possible that if anyone were to bring an end to the Sengoku Jidai and reunite the country, it would be him. However, he still had a few more rivals to overcome first.

    The Battle of Nagashino had been a death blow to the Takeda, but as late as 1582, they were still clinging on, and now Nobunaga made the decision to end them once and for all. Gathering a force of some 100,000 and supported by his ally Tokugawa Ieyasu, Nobunaga invaded Takeda territory in early 1582. The campaign was almost too easy, as Takeda resistance crumbled almost immediately, forts often surrendered without a fight, or after only a token display of defiance, and many former Takeda retainers simply switched sides, or else ran away from the advancing Oda.

    A heavily stylised (and much later) depiction of the end of Takeda Katsuyori, whose death would signal the end of his clan.

    The Takeda eventually stood their ground at the formidable Takato Castle, but, despite its reputation, it was taken quickly, and what remained of the Takeda began to melt away. Eventually, Takeda Katsuyori and his son Nobukatsu were trapped at Tano (modern Tsuru, Yamanashi Prefecture) and forced to commit Seppuku, bringing an end to the Takeda line and any hope of resistance to Nobunaga.

    With the Takeda gone, Nobunaga took some time to reorganise the newly conquered territories, and then headed home through the lands of his ally Tokugawa Ieyasu, who laid on entertainments, refreshments, and accommodation, all purpose-built for Nobunaga’s visit.

    A reconstruction of Nobunaga’s ‘throne’ at Azuchi.
    日本語版ウィキペディアのMaakunさん – 原版の投稿者自身による著作物, CC 表示-継承 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115518317による

    By Spring, Nobunaga was back at his base at Azuchi, from where he made plans to invite the Emperor for a formal visit, and rumours began that the court was about to appoint him Shogun, or else some other senior position. The exact nature of this appointment and Nobunaga’s receptiveness to it are unclear, as the sources don’t agree on whether anything was offered at all, let alone what Nobunaga said about it. The Imperial visit was supposedly arranged for the following year, but again, the sources are scant.

    During this brief period of peace, Nobunaga is supposed to have announced his plans to conquer Shikoku from the Chosokabe. One of his retainers, Akechi Mitsuhide, was apparently unhappy about this, as he had previously acted as an intermediary between Nobunaga and the Chosokabe. Mitsuhide was further agrieved when Nobunaga ordered him to provide entertainment for the visiting Tokugawa Ieyasu. The story goes that Nobunaga accused Mitsuhide of doing a poor job (rightly or not) and launched into a public dressing-down of Mitsuhide that ended (according to some sources) with a literal kick in the backside.

    A 19th-century imagining of Nobunaga publicly chastising Mitsuhide.

    Given the importance of public image in Japan, it is easy to see why Mitsuhide might have felt a genuine grievance over this treatment. There is also a story that Mitsuhide’s mother had once served as a hostage for a truce that Nobunaga had gone on to break, resulting in the poor woman’s death. Whilst some of these stories are poorly sourced at best, what is known is that by the summer of 1582, Akechi Mitsuhide had had enough.

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B9%94%E7%94%B0%E4%BF%A1%E9%95%B7
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuru,_Yamanashi
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%AB%98%E9%81%A0%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%94%B2%E5%B7%9E%E5%BE%81%E4%BC%90
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E6%9C%A8%E5%90%88%E6%88%A6
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BF%A1%E8%B2%B4%E5%B1%B1%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B4%80%E5%B7%9E%E5%BE%81%E4%BC%90
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A9%E7%8E%8B%E5%AF%BA%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84_(1576%E5%B9%B4)
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%9F%B3%E5%B1%B1%E5%90%88%E6%88%A6
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AC%AC%E4%B8%80%E6%AC%A1%E6%9C%A8%E6%B4%A5%E5%B7%9D%E5%8F%A3%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AC%AC%E4%BA%8C%E6%AC%A1%E6%9C%A8%E6%B4%A5%E5%B7%9D%E5%8F%A3%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%95%B7%E5%B3%B6%E4%B8%80%E5%90%91%E4%B8%80%E6%8F%86

  • Lords of the East, Part 3

    Lords of the East, Part 3

    First post of 2026, so Happy New Year and thanks for sticking with me!

    The situation in 1560. The Hojo are in Green.
    By Alvin Lee – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39200926

    By 1560, the Hojo were masters of much of the Kanto. A series of successful military campaigns over the previous decades had given them control over much of the area that now comprises modern-day Tokyo, Yokohama, and Chiba. Unlike today, when these areas are among the world’s most densely populated megacities, in the 16th century they were largely agricultural, with a few castle towns surrounded by vast expanses of farmland.

    It is also true that economic productivity, such as it was, was measured in rice production, with land being valued according to predicted rice output, though not necessarily actual output. In short, despite being a period of incredible violence, Japanese society relied almost entirely on rice production to function. Famine was a constant problem, and in 1560, the Hojo, despite controlling vast tracts of land, were experiencing just how bad a failed harvest could be.

    The so-called Eiroku Famine (named after the era) left the Hojo with no food or money, and military operations largely ground to a halt. It was a real blow then, when Uesugi Kenshin, at the head of an army of 8000 men, crossed the mountains in the North of the Kanto and invaded Hojo territory. Though the Uesugi army was relatively small, the Kanto region had been ruled by them for decades prior to the Hojo conquests, and when Kenshin appeared, dozens of local clans switched sides and flocked to the Uesugi banner.

    Uesugi Kenshin.

    Kenshin swept all before him; the Hojo lost castles in Kozuke, Shimosa, and Musashi, and by early 1561, the Uesugi had taken Kamakura. Then, at the head of an army that was reported to be 100,000 strong, Kenshin laid siege to Odawara, the Hojo capital. At this point, the Hojo were in real trouble, but fate was on their side. Ironically, the same famine that had left them seriously weakened now proved to be their saviour. An army of that size needs supplies, and there were few enough to be had in the Kanto, so it wasn’t long before the Uesugi began to melt away.

    The fortress of Odawara was one of the strongest in the realm, and with his army already shrinking, Kenshin faced a difficult choice. A long siege might fatally weaken his army, and even a successful assault could prove hugely costly. Then news arrived that his old enemy, Takeda Shingen, had invaded his home province, at the same time as stirring up a rebellion amongst the Ikko-Ikki, forcing Kenshin to return home post-haste.

    The Hojo had been saved by a combination of good luck and excellent timing on the part of Takeda Shingen, and despite their weakened state, Ujiyasu wasted no time in taking advantage of the reprieve. No sooner had Kenshin returned north than Hojo forces began the process of reconquering their lost territory. Most of the smaller clans that had joined the Uesugi now switched their loyalties back to the Hojo. This was a fairly common practice at the time; there were dozens, if not hundreds, of minor clans all over Japan who could never muster the strength to assert themselves against the power of a Daimyo, so their loyalty often proved to be a fickle thing, prioritising flexibility and survival rather than unquestioned loyalty.

    Takeda Shingen

    Not all the clans welcome the return of the Hojo, however, and Ujiyasu was obliged to dispatch armies to retake several castles in northern Musashi, and he won a decisive victory at the Battle of Mt Ikuno in November 1561, reestablishing the line of control along the mountains in the northern Kanto. Over the next two years, two sides form: a Hojo-Takeda Alliance on one side and a Uesugi-Satomi alliance on the other.

    The Hojo would generally have the better of the fighting in the Kanto, but would prove to be unable to advance further north, whilst the Uesugi would be a constant problem, but would struggle to make advances into the Kanto proper. By 1564, the conflict had largely become a stalemate, so Ujiyasu turned his attention to the East and the Satomi, whom he believed to be a weak link in the alliance.

    Though it might have been true that the Satomi were weaker than the Uesugi, they were no soft touch. When the Hojo crossed the Edogawa River on the way to invading Satomi territory, they were ambushed at the second Battle of Konodai and driven back with heavy losses. You may remember in the last post that the lord of the Satomi, Yoshiaki, had avoided the first Battle of Konodai by correctly identifying the weak position of his allies, retreating with his army intact.

    A later depiction of the area around Konodai.

    At the second battle, however, the command fell to Yoshiaki’s son, Yoshihiro, and he decided to celebrate his victory by distributing wine to his men. A party is a common way to celebrate any success, and the Satomi had successfully driven the Hojo back. The problem was that ‘driven back’ does not mean ‘defeated’; the Hojo regrouped and advanced again in the early hours of the following day.

    The Satomi army, now thoroughly inebriated, was no match for them, and Hojo forces forced the Satomi into a chaotic retreat that didn’t end until the Hojo banner was once again flying over most of Kasuza Province. Shortly after this campaign, Ujiyasu, who had already technically retired as lord of the Hojo in 1559, announced that he had fought his last campaign.

    After this, Ujiyasu seems to have largely limited himself to administration, leaving the business of war to his sons, though he would continue to play an important role in his clan’s future. In 1560, the Imagawa, one part of the triple Takeda-Hojo-Imagawa alliance, had been seriously weakened by the defeat at the Battle of Okehazama in 1560. By 1568, they were on their last legs, and Takeda Shingen, despite being a nominal ally, invaded the Imagawa’s home province of Suruga, aiming to take it for himself.

    Suruga Province
    By Ash_Crow – Own work, based on Image: Provinces of Japan.svg, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1691794

    The Hojo, seeking to support the Imagawa and prevent encirclement by a now hostile Takeda, dispatched an army under Hojo Ujimasa to relieve Suruga. At the same time, Ujiyasu engaged in diplomacy with the Tokugawa Clan, who had lands on the other side of Imagawa territory, and had poor relations with the Takeda. A joint attack by the Hojo and Tokugawa convinced Shingen that holding Suruga was impossible in the short term, and he retreated, with the Hojo moving in and taking large parts of eastern Suruga for themselves.

    Despite this success, the Hojo once again found themselves surrounded on three sides by hostile powers: the Takeda to the West, the Uesugi to the North, and the Satomi to the East. Ujiyasu correctly recognised that if he moved to deal with one threat, the other two would take advantage, and the Hojo did not have the strength for a three-front war. Therefore, he decided to make a formal peace with the Uesugi.

    This was unpopular on both sides because the Uesugi had been enemies of the Hojo more or less from the start, and that kind of bad blood isn’t easily forgotten. However, both sides had bigger problems, namely, Takeda Shingen. Though a ceasefire was agreed upon and the border between the two sides set, the consequences for the Uesugi were that many former allies in the Kanto, like the Satomi, felt betrayed and switched to supporting Takeda Shingen.

    This might not have been such a serious problem for the Hojo, because they were going to have fight the Satomi anyway, but in early 1569, the strategic situation shifted again, when the Takeda and Uesugi made a peace between themselves, meaning that Shingen could now focus his entire strength on the Hojo, whilst also relying on support from the Satomi, and other Kanto clans.

    An image depicting the legendary rivalry between Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen. Despite this, a peace between the two allowed Shingen to focus on the Hojo.

    Later that year, Shingen invaded Musashi Province and advanced south towards Odawara, the capital of the Hojo. Though they were able to lay siege to the mighty fortress, the chances of taking it were slim. The castle was one of the strongest in the realm, and Ujiyasu had made sure it was as well-defended as possible. Shingen likely understood that taking the castle would have been enormously costly, and he had better uses for his army, so he contented himself with burning the town around Odawara and retreating.

    Ujiyasu ordered his son, Ujimasa, to pursue the retreating Takeda, hoping to trap them before they could return to Kai Province. The plan failed, however, as the Takeda moved faster than expected and the ambush was discovered. At the ensuing Battle of Mimasu Pass, the Takeda successfully fended off the Hojo and returned to Kai.

    Some scholars believe that the whole attempt at Odawara had been an elaborate show of force, meant to impress Shingen’s new allies in the Kanto, or that it was a strategic move to keep the Hojo off balance whilst Takeda forces reinvaded Suruga. Either way, there doesn’t seem to have been much enthusiasm amongst either the Hojo or Takeda to continue the war, and some sources suggest that, shortly before his death, Ujiyasu told his son, Ujimasa, that he should return to a state of peace with the Takeda and make war on their traditional enemy, the Uesugi.

    Hojo Ujimasa

    Ujiyasu himself is supposed to have suffered a stroke in the summer of 1570. Sources from the time speak of him slurring his words or being unable to speak at all, and although he rallied briefly around the New Year in 1571, he would begin to decline again shortly afterwards. There are no official documents bearing his seal after May, and he would eventually pass away in October that year.

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8C%97%E6%9D%A1%E6%B0%8F%E6%94%BF
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8C%97%E6%9D%A1%E6%B0%8F%E5%BA%B7
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9B%BD%E5%BA%9C%E5%8F%B0%E5%90%88%E6%88%A6#%E7%AC%AC%E4%BA%8C%E6%AC%A1%E5%9B%BD%E5%BA%9C%E5%8F%B0%E5%90%88%E6%88%A6%EF%BC%88%E6%B0%B8%E7%A6%846%E5%B9%B4%E3%83%BB%E6%B0%B8%E7%A6%847%E5%B9%B4/1563%E5%B9%B4%E3%83%BB1564%E5%B9%B4%EF%BC%89
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AD%A6%E7%94%B0%E4%BF%A1%E7%8E%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BB%8A%E5%B7%9D%E7%BE%A9%E5%85%83
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E5%A2%97%E5%B3%A0%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E5%AE%AE%E5%9F%8E_(%E9%A7%BF%E6%B2%B3%E5%9B%BD)
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B0%8F%E7%94%B0%E5%8E%9F%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%8A%E6%9D%89%E8%AC%99%E4%BF%A1
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%87%8C%E8%A6%8B%E7%BE%A9%E5%A0%AF
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B1%9F%E6%88%B8%E5%B7%9D
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suruga_Province