Chris Perry, Author

Tag: Toyotomi Hideyoshi

  • The Second Unifier – Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Part Three.

    The Second Unifier – Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Part Three.

    Hideyoshi’s victory over Nobunaga’s killer, Akechi Mitsuhide, left him in a strong, but far from unchallenged position. Though Hideyoshi was arguably the strongest of Nobunaga’s remaining supporters, his power was not so great that he could overcome the others on the battlefield.

    Instead, a conference was called at Kiyosu Castle on July 16th, 1582. Historians still debate exactly what Nobunaga’s plans had been for his succession, given that his second son, and most obvious heir, Nobutada, had been amongst the dead at the Honnoji Incident. Two camps quickly emerged: Hideyoshi, supporting Nobutada’s son, Hidenobu, and Shibata Katsuie, who supported Nobunaga’s third surviving son, Nobutaka.

    The reconstructed Kiyosu Castle as it appears today.
    Oliver Mayer, CC 表示-継承 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=230610による

    The exact course of the meeting isn’t clear, but by the end of it, Hideyoshi’s faction was in the ascendancy, and Hidenobu, at just two years old, was declared Nobunaga’s heir, with Nobutaka officially acting as his guardian. There was an attempt to mollify Katsuie by having him marry Nobunaga’s sister, Oichi, a woman of impeccable rank, but the seeds of conflict had already been sown.

    In October 1582, Hideyoshi held Nobunaga’s formal funeral, and played a central, highly visible role in the ceremony, cementing his position as chief amongst Nobunaga’s retainers. Not long after this, Katsuie, supported by Nobutaka, issued letters of impeachment against Hideyoshi, who responded by demanding that Nobutaka, who had custody of the ‘heir’, Hidenobu, return him to Azuchi, as per the Kiyosu Agreement.

    Oda Nobutaka

    When Nobutaka refused, Hideyoshi used this as justification to renounce the agreement and raise an army against him. Katsuie, trapped in the north by snows and the ongoing war with the Uesugi, was unable to send help, and in a short, sharp campaign, Hideyoshi raised an army of some 50,000, forced Nobutaka to retreat, and eventually surrender, handing over Hidenobu and sending his mother and daughter as hostages to secure the peace.

    This victory did not end the war, however, and shortly after the New Year, Takigawa Kazumasu (also known as Sakon) launched successful attacks in Ise Province. Hideyoshi responded with counterattacks against Kuwana and Nagashima Castles, but the attacks failed, and he was forced to withdraw, despite an overall advantage in numbers, leaving northern Ise Province (temporarily) in the hands of his enemies.

    Ise 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=1682471

    The situation got worse for Hideyoshi when Katsuie himself led an army of 30,000 into Omi Province, whilst Nobutaka raised another army at Gifu Castle. Katsuie also made contact with Mori Terumoto, hoping to secure his support in the battle to come. The Mori never outright refused, but instead adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach, as it was not immediately clear which side would win.

    Throughout spring and early summer, the two sides clashed in skirmishes in Ise, Mino, and Omi Provinces, and the momentum would swing back and forth for some time until a decisive engagement near the fortress at Shizugatake. Hideyoshi’s forces were aided by the timely arrival of reinforcements from across Lake Biwa, and the betrayal of Maeda Toshiie, one of Katsuie’s most important generals, who switched to Hideyoshi’s side, for reasons that are still debated.

    A 19th-century depiction of Hideyoshi on the night before the Battle of Shizugatake.

    By all accounts, Katsuie and his army forced tenaciously, but with Toshiie’s betrayal, they were outflanked and outnumbered, and Katsuie was forced to retreat. He got as far as Kitanosho Castle, in modern Fukui, where Hideyoshi’s forces laid siege.

    The night before the final assault, Katsuie held a final banquet with his close family and retainers, whilst his wife, Oichi, made arrangements for her three daughters to be protected by Hideyoshi and avoid what was to come. Despite pleas to save herself, Oichi refused to leave her husband’s side.

    A later depiction of Shibata Katsuie preparing for battle, with Oichi beside him.

    The attack started at dawn, and despite stiff resistance, by midday, the battle was clearly lost, and Katsuie retreated to the main castle, where he and 80 members of his family, including Oichi, killed themselves. Calling it ‘suicide’ is perhaps a bit generous, as the records suggest that a large number of the dead were children. When it was over, Katsuie’s forces ignited a store of gunpowder, blowing the tower apart and bringing a spectacular end to the Shibata Line.

    “Katsuie, a martial artist, fought seven times but was unable to defend himself. He climbed to the ninth floor, the highest level of the main tower, and addressed the entire group, loudly proclaiming, “Watch Shuri’s hara-kiri and learn from it.” The samurai, with their hearts in tears, wet their armor sleeves. As everyone fell silent, Katsuie stabbed his wife, children, and others to death, then committed seppuku with 80 others. It was the hour of the tiger (5:00 PM).”

    Hideyoshi’s letter to Kobayakawa Takakage dated May 15, 1583,

    Just a side note, the actual record of Katsuie’s suicide is pretty harrowing stuff, and it’s always difficult to read about the death of women and children who weren’t guilty of anything other than being related to the losers. This kind of thing was expected, though; even children weren’t generally shown mercy, and though there are notable examples (Oichi’s daughters, for instance), if a child was caught in a siege, they generally died in the same manner as their parents.

    With Katsuie crushed, Hideyoshi was able to extend his direct control over the northern provinces of Koto, Noto, and Echizen, and when Nobutaka committed seppuku, and Kazumasu surrendered, Hideyoshi had established himself as the most powerful man in the realm and while Hidenobu (still just an infant) remained as the nominal ‘heir’ there was no no doubt that Hideyoshi was in charge.

    An image of Hideyoshi carrying Hidenobu at the time of the Kiyosu Conference.

    In 1583, construction began on Osaka Castle, built on the former site of the Ishiyama Hongan-ji Temple complex. It would eventually become Hideyoshi’s base and was widely considered one of Japan’s finest castles. Meanwhile, in the Kanto, a marriage alliance between the Tokugawa and Hojo presented a clear threat to Hideyoshi’s power.

    In early 1584, Oda Nobukatsu, another son of Nobunaga, rebelled against Hideyoshi, quickly gaining the support of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Chosokabe Motochika, who raised armies of their own in opposition to Hideyoshi. Despite a huge advantage in manpower (some sources say 3-to-1), Hideyoshi struggled to achieve a decisive victory.

    Tokugawa Ieyasu

    Some initial success in Ise Province was followed by a defeat at the Battle of Haguro Castle, after which Hideyoshi, who had been waiting at Osaka Castle, took the field himself, meeting Ieyasu near Komaki (near the modern city of the same name). Again, despite a significant manpower imbalance, Ieyasu’s strong position meant that Hideyoshi was unable to force a decisive engagement, and both sides focused on reinforcing castles and constructing new earthworks in anticipation of the fight to come.

    The campaign that followed is often called the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute, after its two most decisive engagements, but there were actually a series of sieges, counterattacks, and skirmishes over the summer and early autumn of 1584. The fighting would result in a tactical victory for the Tokugawa, as they would arguably have the best of the fighting. On the other hand, the strategic situation favoured Hideyoshi, and he would ultimately be able to secure control over his new territory and the power that went along with it.

    An 18th-Century depiction of the Battle of Komaki and Nagakute.

    In the end, both sides had bigger problems. Ieyasu’s domains were under severe economic strain from the war, and a series of floods, combined with the burden of having a large number of peasants away at war, drained his treasury and threatened famine (this was before a serious earthquake in 1586 compounded his problems).

    For his part, Hideyoshi’s position was not as strong as it appeared. Though he had the advantage in men, he also had powerful enemies elsewhere, enemies that were arguably more pressing problems than Ieyasu, who had proven he could hold Hideyoshi off, but not that he could mount a serious attack of his own.

    Osaka as it appeared around 1650. The city would become Hideyoshi’s base, centred at the castle, which appears in the second screen from the left.

    Despite his inability to defeat Ieyasu, by the dawn of 1585, Hideyoshi was effectively the ruler of Japan, already on the verge of surpassing his nominal masters (the Oda), and about to launch the campaigns that would finally bring an end to the centuries of bloodshed.

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B1%8A%E8%87%A3%E7%A7%80%E5%90%89
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B0%8F%E7%89%A7%E3%83%BB%E9%95%B7%E4%B9%85%E6%89%8B%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B2%A9%E5%B4%8E%E5%9F%8E%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B0%8F%E7%89%A7%E5%B1%B1
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E5%9D%82%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B3%A4%E3%83%B6%E5%B2%B3%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8C%97%E3%83%8E%E5%BA%84%E5%9F%8E%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B5%85%E4%BA%95%E4%B8%89%E5%A7%89%E5%A6%B9
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitanosho_Castle
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%89%8D%E7%94%B0%E5%88%A9%E5%AE%B6#%E4%BA%BA%E7%89%A9%E3%83%BB%E9%80%B8%E8%A9%B1
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A1%91%E5%90%8D%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B8%85%E6%B4%B2%E4%BC%9A%E8%AD%B0
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E5%BE%B3%E5%AF%BA
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B9%94%E7%94%B0%E4%BF%A1%E5%AD%9D
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B9%94%E7%94%B0%E7%A7%80%E4%BF%A1
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B9%94%E7%94%B0%E7%A7%80%E4%BF%A1
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9F%B4%E7%94%B0%E5%8B%9D%E5%AE%B6

  • The Second Unifier – Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Part Two.

    The Second Unifier – Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Part Two.

    In 1577, a dispute between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Shibata Katsuie led to Hideyoshi taking his army home, and leaving Katsuie to battle the mighty Uesugi Kenshin alone, a battle he lost. In the aftermath, Hideyoshi had every reason to fear the wrath of his master, Oda Nobunaga, and he was arguably lucky to keep his head, let alone his position.

    A 19th-century depiction of Hideyoshi in Nobunaga’s service.

    Nobunaga was well known for his ferocity, but he recognised capable subordinates. Hideyoshi had been reckless, but he had also earned a reputation as a good administrator and leader of men, and it wasn’t long before he was back in the Great Lord’s good books. In late 1577, he was dispatched west to contend with the powerful Mori Clan and by the end of the year, he was in control of Harima Province and advancing into neighbouring Tajima.

    During this period, Hideyoshi made the famous Himeji Castle his base and used it as a springboard for a series of successful campaigns against the Mori over the next few years. By late 1578, he had subjugated (either through conquest or submission) Bizen and Mimasaka Provinces, in addition to his earlier conquests, and he was poised to advance further when the Araki Clan, based at Arioka Castle, rebelled, obliging him to redeploy his forces to put them down.

    Himeji Castle as it appears today (after renovations in 2015)
    Niko Kitsakis – 投稿者自身による著作物, CC 表示-継承 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40135622による

    Able to resume his advance in 1580, Hideyoshi secured Tajima Province, bringing the once-mighty Yamana Clan under his control and incorporating many of their former vassals and members of the clan itself into the new administration, a policy widely praised as the reason that Tajima was swiftly pacified.

    By 1581, he had advanced into Bitchu Province and secured Awaji Island for his master, utilising slow but effective siege tactics, starving his enemies into submission, a time-consuming but strength-preserving strategy. One disadvantage, though, was that it meant you were easy to find should your enemy have sufficient strength elsewhere.

    The area that Hideyoshi either conquered or was fighting in during this period.

    In Spring 1582, Hideyoshi led an army of some 30,000 to besiege the mighty fortress at Takamatsu. Strategically vital for control of Bitchu Province, the castle was defended by 3,000 Mori warriors, who quickly called for aid. Mori Terumoto responded and began mustering an army that would eventually number over 50,000. Hideyoshi now faced a problem: already outnumbered, if he tried to take the formidable fortress by storm, he’d deplete his forces further. On the other hand, trying to starve the garrison, who knew help was on the way, would take too long and risk trapping his army between the walls of the fortress and the vengeful spears of the Mori.

    Hideyoshi responded in a typically inventive fashion. Unable to take the castle by storm, he ordered a levee built and the nearby river dammed, diverting water into Takamatsu itself, flooding the castle to such an extent that the garrison’s food supplies were almost completely ruined and they were reduced to communicating by boat.

    A later depiction of the Siege of Takamatsu Castle. The tower to the left is Hideyoshi’s observation post, and you can see the castle itself flooded in the background.

    Despite this, the castle still held out, and when news arrived that Terumoto was on the march, Hideyoshi sent a message to Azuchi, requesting immediate reinforcement from Nobunaga. Sensing an opportunity to catch the powerful Mori clan in open battle, where they could be destroyed, Nobunaga quickly dispatched Akechi Mitsuhide to reinforce Hideyoshi, while he went to Kyoto to make arrangements for a larger force that would be sent to finish the job.

    As we already know, Mitsuhide never arrived; instead, he turned his forces around and attacked Nobunaga at his base at Honnoji, killing him and his heir. Hideyoshi was well placed to respond to this betrayal, and he swiftly concluded a peace treaty with the Mori (who were apparently initially unaware of Nobunaga’s death). Some have speculated that his rapid reaction is evidence of his involvement, or at least foreknowledge of the plot, though there’s nothing concrete to suggest that he was anything other than in the right place at the right time.

    Funasaka Pass as it appears today. This was one of the narrow routes that Hideyoshi’s army had to contend with during their remarkable march back towards Kyoto.
    Bakkai – 投稿者自身による著作物, CC 表示 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92337495による

    More to the point, Hideyoshi was far from the only player on the board. Hideyoshi’s former rival, Shibata Katsuie, was to the north, with an army facing the Uesugi, while in the Kanto, Takigawa Kazumasu (sometimes called Sakon) had a large army intended to monitor the Hojo. Nobunaga’s son and heir had been killed during the Honno-ji Incident, but his third son, Nobukatsu, had gathered a force at Sakai (modern Osaka) to conquer Shikoku.

    Any one of these forces could have been the one to avenge Nobunaga’s death and put an abrupt end to Akechi Mitsuhide’s ambitions. Even Tokugawa Ieyasu was a potential avenger, making his famed escape from mortal danger with the (supposed) help of the famous Ninja of Iga. Ieyasu would return to his home in Mikawa and gather his forces, but events would move quickly, and though all parties moved against Mitsuhide, it was Hideyoshi who struck first.

    Tokugawa Ieyasu as he appeared in later life. He was close to Kyoto during the Honnoji Incident and was forced to make a dramatic escape back to Mikawa. Hideyoshi would prove to be faster, but Ieyasu’s time would come.

    In the days following the Honnoji Incident, Mitsuhide moved to consolidate his position. Unfortunately for him, he faced harsh military and political opposition. On the one hand, Nobunaga’s body had not been recovered from the flames, and rumours abounded that he was still alive. Even among those who may have believed Nobunaga was dead, Mitsuhide commanded little respect. He was a traitor, after all, and surrounded by enemies who wished to avenge Nobunaga and take power for themselves.

    Militarily, Mitsuhide was too weak to assert effective control over much territory. He had between 13,000 and 15,000 men, but was obliged to capture and garrison several important castles, whittling his already limited forces down still further. Then there was the speed at which Hideyoshi moved. Mitushide arguably did what he could, and with the limited communications and transportation available at the time, it’s hard to see how he could have moved faster, but Hideyoshi was faster still, and on July 2nd, 1582, just 12 days after Honnoji, the two sides clashed at the Battle of Yamazaki, to the south-east of Kyoto.

    Akechi Mitsuhide. Historians debate why he decided to betray Nobunaga, but within two weeks of the incident, he’d be dead.

    The numbers vary by source, but Hideyoshi is said to have had between 20 and 40,000 men, while Mitsuihides had 10 to 16,000. Despite the long odds, Mitsuhide’s army was well-positioned, and the ground around Yamazaki was boggy, limiting movement and reducing Hideyoshi’s advantage in numbers.

    Mitsuhide probably understood that a defensive victory against difficult odds would have greatly enhanced his prestige, and for most of the day, Hideyoshi’s army took heavy losses in vicious frontal assaults. Around 4pm, however, reinforcements arrived for Hideyoshi, outflanking Mitsuhide’s position, and causing his army to fall back. As the battle moved to higher and drier ground, Mitsuhide’s force was gradually surrounded and forced back.

    The battlefield of Yamazaki as it appears today. Historians believe the heaviest fighting took place around the bypass that can be seen in the centre.

    Later sources suggest that the casualties were about the same (around 3,000 each), but under attack from three sides, the morale of Mitushide’s army broke first, and by sunset, their retreat became a rout. When the battle was over, it is said that Mitsuhide had just 700 men remaining. His exact fate isn’t clear; some say he was wounded and committed seppuku, while others suggest he was killed by vengeful peasants or bandits. Either way, his head was brought to Hideyoshi the day after the battle, and then displayed at Honnoji, a powerful statement confirming Hideyoshi as Nobunaga’s ‘avenger’ and giving an enormous boost to his credibility.

    Hideyoshi would spend a few weeks stamping out the last embers of Mitushide’s rebellion, but despite his military successes, he was not unchallenged as Nobunaga’s successor. The other players, who had all been poised to strike, still remained in the field, and each had their own ambition to rule, either directly or through one of Nobunaga’s other sons.

    This would result in the Kiyosu Conference, but we’ll cover that and its consequences next time.

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B1%8A%E8%87%A3%E7%A7%80%E5%90%89
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B1%B1%E5%B4%8E%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9C%AC%E8%83%BD%E5%AF%BA%E3%81%AE%E5%A4%89
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E5%A4%A7%E8%BF%94%E3%81%97
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B1%B1%E5%90%8D%E5%A0%AF%E7%86%99
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E6%9C%A8%E5%90%88%E6%88%A6
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9C%89%E5%B2%A1%E5%9F%8E%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A7%AB%E8%B7%AF%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%82%99%E4%B8%AD%E9%AB%98%E6%9D%BE%E5%9F%8E%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%AB%98%E6%9D%BE%E5%9F%8E_(%E5%82%99%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD)

  • The Second Unifier – Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Part One.

    The Second Unifier – Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Part One.

    If the bird will not sing, make it sing.

    Oda Nobunaga’s death in June 1582 left a power vacuum that was ultimately filled by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (then using the family name Hashiba). Hideyoshi’s tale is remarkable even by the standards of the time: from peasant footsoldier to master of the realm, he epitomised the danger and opportunity of the Sengoku Jidai and would be the man most responsible for bringing it to an end.

    Hideyoshi’s origins are suitably mysterious and have been subject to a fair bit of speculation and mythologising, mostly by the man himself. After his rise to power, he is supposed to have spread the rumour that he was a secret bastard of the Emperor, stating that his mother had been a maid in the Imperial Palace and had “grown close to the Emperor’s Body”, which is quite the thing to say about your own mother.

    Hideyoshi’s mother. She is often called Omandokoro, though this is the name she took after becoming a nun, and most sources think her birth name was Naka.

    Less mum-shaming sources suggest that Hideyoshi was born in 1536 or 37 in Owari Province, now part of the modern city of Nagoya. His father, usually recorded as Kinoshita Yaemon, is a similarly mysterious figure, but historians generally agree he was probably of the lower classes, most likely a peasant soldier (Ashigaru). Hideyoshi’s childhood is also poorly recorded, with some sources suggesting his father died when he was 7, after which Hideyoshi entered a monastery, though he left shortly afterwards.

    At the age of 15, he received part of his inheritance and left home to become a wanderer. Sometime later (the dates are unclear), he is recorded as Kinoshita Hideyoshi in the service of the Iio Clan, which, in turn, was a vassal of the Imagawa Clan. It’s not certain exactly when he came into the service of the Oda Clan, but it appears to have been before 1554, when he was serving at Kiyosu Castle (under Oda control) in charge of the kitchens, and in some kind of role in construction or maintenance.

    Kiyosu Castle as it appears today.

    Even this is a matter of some debate, though, as other sources state he didn’t join the Oda until 1558 (though they agree he served at Kiyosu Castle), and a common origin story in English language sources is that he was Nobunaga’s sandal bearer, a story which possibly reflects his role as a kind of ‘military servant’ which might explain how he was able to gain recognition from Nobunaga.

    Even the matter of Hideyoshi’s marriage is subject to debate; it is certain that he married Nene, but her origins and even the year of the marriage aren’t totally clear. Some sources say the marriage took place in 1561, when Nene was 12 or 13, and Hideyoshi was in his 20s. This earlier date is controversial because even though 13 was the age at which girls became adults (legally speaking), it was still considered unusual for a girl to marry as soon as she came of age.

    Hideyoshi’s wife, Nene, who also became a Nun, is often recorded as Kodai-in as a result.

    Another theory is that the marriage took place in 1565, when Nene was 16 or 17, still young by modern standards, but a far more acceptable age at the time. Nene’s adoptive father was Asano Nagakatsu, who would later receive a stipend of 300 Koku from Nobunaga and served as one of his bodyguards. This status suggests that Nagakatsu was of sufficient rank, and the marriage to Nene is often cited as evidence that Hideyoshi was already moving up in the world by the mid-1560s.

    As well as his marriage, further evidence of his rise in Nobunaga’s service appears in 1565 when his name appears as the co-signer on documents assigning fiefs, suggesting he was already one of Nobunaga’s most important vassals. Throughout the back half of the decade, he is recorded as having taken part in several of Nobunaga’s campaigns, notably taking Mitsukuri Castle during the Omi Campaign in 1568.

    Omi 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=1690755

    In 1569, in support of the Mori Clan (who were his temporary allies), Nobunaga dispatched a force of some 20,000 to support them against a rebellion, whilst the bulk of the Mori forces were in Kyushu fighting the Otomo clan. This army, led by Hideyoshi, was, by all accounts, a phenomenal success, capturing no fewer than 18 castles in just 12 days and ending the rebellion swiftly.

    A year later, he was part of Nobunaga’s campaign against the Asakura Clan of Echizen Province, which ended when Nobunaga’s brother-in-law, Azai Nagamasa, switched sides, threatening to cut off Nobunaga’s retreat. Though the exact scale of the threat is debated (as I mentioned in my posts on Nobunaga himself), what is certain is that Hideyoshi led the rearguard and was instrumental in ensuring that his master was able to escape.

    Azai Nagamasa, Nobunaga’s brother-in-law, whose betrayal nearly spelt disaster for his campaign.

    After the Battle of Anegawa, in which Nobunaga avenged himself on the Azai-Asakura forces, Hideyoshi was appointed castellan of the strategically important Yokoyama Fortress, from which he would be tasked with keeping up the pressure on the remnants of the Azai-Asakura until their final destruction in 1573.

    I’ve previously mentioned the tradition of changing names among Samurai and how it often leads to confusion when you’re trying to source information about specific figures who may have had several names. While Hideyoshi is generally remembered as “Toyotomi Hideyoshi” in English-language sources, this wasn’t his name until much later. His peasant origins mean that he likely didn’t have a surname at all, and the names he was known by later were either taken from places or bestowed by others.

    Shibata Katsuie
    Niwa Nagahide

    In 1573, Hideyoshi adopted the name Hashiba. The origins of this name are somewhat unclear; a common theory is that he took one character each from Shibata Katsuie and Niwa Nagahide (the Japanese character ‘wa’ can also be pronounced ‘ha’), though this is disputed.

    Along with a name change, the fall of the Azai Clan in 1573 resulted in Hideyoshi receiving their former lands around the shores of Lake Biwa. He based himself at Imahama, which is promptly renamed Nagahama, after Nobunaga. This was not some unique quirk of his, by the way, the ‘giving’ of character from prestigious names was a common occurrence, and was generally treated as a respectful and honoured thing to do.

    Nagahama Castle as it appears today.
    By 663highland, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73322120

    He continued to play a significant role in Nobunaga’s military expansion, serving at the decisive Battle of Nagashino in 1575, and capturing Kiriyama Castle from the powerful Kitabatake Clan of Ise Province the next year. In 1577, Hideyoshi’s star seemed to be on an inexorable rise, but personal rivalries would get in the way.

    Nobunaga dispatched an army under Shibata Katsuie to face Uesugi Kenshin in the north. Now, you may remember from my post about him, but Kenshin was a formidable opponent, a rival to both Hojo Ujiyasu and Takeda Shingen; he was certainly not a man to take lightly. Nobunaga obviously understood this and dispatched reinforcements commanded by Hideyoshi.

    Uesugi Kenshin

    At this point, a simmering feud between Hideyoshi and Katsuie exploded. The exact nature of the argument isn’t recorded in contemporary sources, and later writers could only speculate; however, it is known that Hideyoshi literally took his army and went home. This open defiance of Nobunaga’s orders would have been bad enough, but when Katsuie was defeated shortly afterwards at the Battle of Tedorigawa, Nobunaga was furious.

    Hideyoshi was arguably lucky to keep his head after that, and he would spend some time in the political wilderness. His time would come again, however, and we’ll talk about that next week.

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B1%8A%E8%87%A3%E7%A7%80%E5%90%89
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%89%8B%E5%8F%96%E5%B7%9D%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%95%B7%E6%B5%9C%E5%9F%8E_(%E8%BF%91%E6%B1%9F%E5%9B%BD)
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%9C%A7%E5%B1%B1%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%87%91%E3%83%B6%E5%B4%8E%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A7%89%E5%B7%9D%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A8%AA%E5%B1%B1%E5%9F%8E_(%E8%BF%91%E6%B1%9F%E5%9B%BD)
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%B9%E7%BE%BD%E9%95%B7%E7%A7%80
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%A6%B3%E9%9F%B3%E5%AF%BA%E5%9F%8E%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%AB%98%E5%8F%B0%E9%99%A2
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B5%85%E9%87%8E%E9%95%B7%E5%8B%9D
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%A3%AF%E5%B0%BE%E6%B0%8F
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E6%94%BF%E6%89%80

  • The Honnoji Incident – Oda Nobunaga. Part Four.

    The Honnoji Incident – Oda Nobunaga. Part Four.

    “The enemy is at Honnoji” – Akechi Mitsuhide

    By 1582, Oda Nobunaga was the most powerful man in the realm; in fact, it could be argued that he was the most powerful man Japan had seen in centuries. A combination of ruthless political manoeuvring and brutal military campaigns had left him on the verge of finally reuniting the nation and ending the Sengoku Jidai.

    Only the Mori Clan still had the strength to stifle Nobunaga’s ambitions, and in May 1582, he announced his intention to march against them with all his might. The catalyst for this next campaign was a message from Hashiba Hideyoshi, who was besieging Takamatsu Castle (in modern-day Okayama). The message read that Mori Terumoto was marching to relieve the siege, presenting Nobunaga with an opportunity to meet the Mori in open battle and crush them.

    A scene from the Battle of Takamatsu Castle. Hideyoshi attempted to end the siege by flooding the castle, a tactic that was ultimately unsuccessful.

    It is generally accepted by historians that Nobunaga intended not only to defeat the Mori but also subjugate Shikoku and, eventually, Kyushu as well, viewing the campaign against the Mori as part of a wider strategy to bring the entire nation under his command. In preparation for this, he dispatched several generals to support Hideyoshi, most notably Akechi Mitsuhide.

    In the days that followed, Nobunaga was seen to be in good spirits and laid on lavish entertainment for those who came to visit him, including Tokugawa Ieyasu, who departed Azuchi on June 21st, embarking on a tour of Kyoto, Osaka, and the surrounding region. On the same day, Nobunaga’s son and heir, Nobutada, arrived in Kyoto for reasons that aren’t entirely clear (some speculate he meant to accompany Ieyasu). Whatever his purpose, his arrival in the capital meant that when Nobunaga himself departed Azuchi for Kyoto on June 29th, father and son would be in the same place, at the same time.

    Azuchi Castle, Nobunaga’s base, as it appeared around 1582.

    Exactly why Nobunaga went to Kyoto first is debated, with some suggesting he planned to attack Shikoku first, going via Kyoto and the port at Sakai (modern Osaka). Other sources say he went to deal with negotiations at the Imperial Court, and others still suggest he wanted to show off a new tea set he had recently acquired. (This may sound a touch comical to a modern audience, but the tea ceremony was a serious matter in Japan at the time.)

    On June 30th, Nobunaga held said tea ceremony, which was followed by a drinking party, during which Nobunaga’s son, Nobutada, arrived, and father and son drank and talked together, little knowing that it would be their last meeting. Sources tell us that the party ended late, and Nobutada returned to his accommodation at nearby Myokakuji Temple, and Nobunaga retired for the night shortly afterwards.

    Oda Nobutada, Nobunaga’s son and heir.

    Though Honnoji was a temple, as the primary residence of Nobunaga in Kyoto, it wasn’t undefended. Excavations in 2007 found evidence of a moat and some earthworks, suggesting that the site had been partially fortified, though it was far from a fortress, and Nobunaga was protected by only a few dozen servants and his personal entourage.

    Nobunaga clearly didn’t expect to be attacked, and why should he have? He was the most powerful man in the realm, in the heart of the capital city, with hundreds of thousands of warriors at his command. His enemies were far away, and even in the unlikely event that the army under Hideyoshi was defeated, he could call on other, just as formidable forces.

    Honnoji as it appears today. The current temple is located at a different site from that in 1582; after being rebuilt by Hideyoshi in 1592, it was destroyed by fire in 1788 and 1864, and then underwent further renovation in 1928.
    ＋－ – 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=107655314による

    One of these was a force of around 13,000 men under Akechi Mitsuhide. In the afternoon of June 30th, Mitsuhide claimed to have received a message from Nobunaga, instructing him to bring his force to Kyoto for review. The letter, if it existed at all, was certainly a forgery, but by that evening, Mitsuhide had arrived at Kameyama (modern Kameoka), north of Kyoto. By the next morning, they had reached the Katsura River, and at this point, it is unclear if Mitsuhide’s army understood their objective.

    Sources from men serving in this force suggest they believed that they were going to attack Tokugawa Ieyasu, nominally on the orders of Nobunaga himself. This is supported by the semi-contemporary “History of Japan”, written by the Jesuit, Luis Frois, which suggests that Mitsuhide’s army believed they were acting under Nobunaga’s secret order, at least initially.

    Akechi Mitsuhide, the man behind the Honnoji Incident.

    At this point, Mitsuhide is supposed to have uttered the famous phrase “The Enemy is a Honnoji” announcing his rebellious intention (as everyone knew that was Nobunaga’s base.) Unfortunately, as dramatic as that scene might have been, the first source for it doesn’t appear until 1641, nearly 60 years after the event, and there are no contemporary sources that tell us what Mitsuhide might or might not have said.

    What we know is that by dawn, Mitsuhides forces had surrounded Honnoji. What followed was a bloody, but ultimately one-sided fight. All sides agree that Nobunaga and his pages fought bravely, but they were hopelessly outnumbered, and the fighting was over by around 8am. We don’t know exactly how Nobunaga died, but the sources agree that he fought with a bow, and then a spear, before suffering some kind of injury (the sources differ) and retreating into the already burning Honnoji, where he presumably committed seppuku.

    A 19th-century depiction of Nobunaga’s last stand. Though we don’t know exactly how he died, sources agree he fought bravely until an injury forced him to retreat.

    Nobunaga’s son, Nobutada, had, upon hearing that Honnoji was under attack, rushed to help, only to be overwhelmed and forced back to his own accommodations at Myokakuji Temple, where he too was forced to commit seppuku as the temple burned around him, his body consumed by the flames.

    Rumours of their survival sprang up almost immediately. Since neither body was ever identified (this being before DNA or dental records), Mitsuhide could not prove the deed was done, and any hope he had of securing support went up in the same smoke that Nobunaga and his son had.

    Another 19th-century depiction of Nobunaga’s end. Though heavily stylised, it displays the flames that would ultimately consume Nobunaga’s body.

    Whatever his actual motivation (which we’ll look at in a moment), Mitsuhide’s triumph would be short-lived. Though his forces had successfully killed Nobunaga, his son, Nobutada, and most of his inner circle, and secured Kyoto, the same forces that Nobunaga might have called on to defend him were now focused on avenging him.

    Mitsuhide swiftly withdrew to Azuchi Castle, from where he tried to rally support, and wrote to the Imperial Court, seeking to legitimise his position. There are no records of any response, and he soon ran out of time. Hashiba Hideyoshi had made peace with the Mori (who were apparently initially unaware of Nobunaga’s death) and was now marching against him.

    The site of the Battle of Yamazaki as it appears today, seen from Mt Tenno, from which the battle is sometimes called The Battle of Tennozan.

    Mitsuhide was outnumbered two or three to one, and at the Battle of Yamazaki on July 12th, he was decisively defeated. Although losses were similar on both sides (about 3000), Mitsuhide’s army suffered from serious morale problems and disintegrated as the battle went against them, leaving Mitsuhide with just 700 warriors at day’s end.

    Mitsuhide himself survived the battle, but he was either killed in the aftermath (possibly by bandits or opportunistic peasants) or else committed suicide due to injuries sustained on the battlefield. Whatever his end, he was definitely dead by the time his head was displayed outside the burned remains of Honnoji Temple, on or around July 17th.

    Akechi Mitsuhide’s grave at Saikyoji Temple in Kyoto.

    No sooner was Mitsuhide dead than questions were raised about why he had betrayed his lord. Though Samurai overthrowing their overlords was nothing new, Nobunaga was uncommonly powerful, and his death threatened to unravel the fragile peace he had secured, especially in light of Mitushide’s failure to secure support or legitimacy in its aftermath.

    Contemporary scholars and modern historians continue to debate exactly why Mitsuhide betrayed Nobunaga. He was certainly mistreated and often humiliated, sometimes even being publicly beaten by Nobunaga himself, so simple revenge is a possible motive. Other sources suggest it was to avenge his mother, who had served as a hostage to secure a truce years earlier, only for Nobunaga to break it, resulting in the poor woman being executed.

    Mitsuhide’s mother hangs from a tree in consequence of Nobunaga breaking the truce that her life was the guarantee of.

    If public humiliation and the death of his mother weren’t reason enough, some suggest it was pure ambition; Mitsuhide may simply have wanted the power for himself, and he certainly wouldn’t have been the first to try it. Indeed, some historians speculate that if he had been able to prove that Nobunaga was actually dead, he might have gained some support, and the outcome could have been different.

    Others suggest that Mitsuhide was a partisan of the Shogun, or possibly the Imperial Court, and overthrew Nobunaga in order to restore one or the other to power, though these ideas only emerged in the 20th century, and there’s little contemporary information to go on.

    Nobunaga publicly beats Mitsuhide. Quite why Nobunaga treated him so poorly isn’t clear, but the humiliation almost certainly contributed to his decision to rebel.

    There’s also the speculation that Mitsuhide was working with one of Nobunaga’s other vassals. Some historians argue that Hashiba Hideyoshi was able to turn his army against Mitsuhide very quickly, leading to speculation that he knew the attack was coming. Historians have never conclusively dismissed this, though it has been pointed out that only the fastest of Hideyoshi’s troops actually made it to the Battle of Yamazaki, meaning that the quick turnaround might not have been that quick after all.

    Other theories blame the Imperial Court, or the Mori Clan, for conspiring against a man who had proven to be an existential threat, as well as the Buddhist Clergy, who had plenty of reason to want vengeance on Nobunaga.

    A contemporary depiction of Mass. Though largely dismissed by historians, the possibility that the Jesuits feared Nobunaga would turn on them contributed to the theory that they were involved in his death.

    Another possibility is the Jesuits, who are suggested to have feared that Nobunaga might move against them, though there’s little evidence that he intended to (as he valued foreign trade), and Hideyoshi, his ultimate successor, would prove to be a far greater threat to Christianity in Japan.

    Ultimately, most of this speculation comes from later sources, and there’s no way to know what Mitsuhide intended, only that his plans fell apart before being decisively ended on the battlefield at Yamazaki.

    Hashiba (later Toyotomi) Hideyoshi. His victory at Yamazaki did not make him Nobunaga’s successor, but it did wonders for his prestige.

    Hashiba Hideyoshi’s victory did not mean he inherited Nobunaga’s power, however, and the power struggle that followed threatened to undo the Great Lord’s work, but that’s a story for another time.

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B9%94%E7%94%B0%E4%BF%A1%E9%95%B7
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9C%AC%E8%83%BD%E5%AF%BA%E3%81%AE%E5%A4%89
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%95%B5%E3%81%AF%E6%9C%AC%E8%83%BD%E5%AF%BA%E3%81%AB%E3%81%82%E3%82%8A
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%A1%82%E5%B7%9D_(%E6%B7%80%E5%B7%9D%E6%B0%B4%E7%B3%BB)
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%80%E5%B2%A1%E5%B8%82
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%82%99%E4%B8%AD%E9%AB%98%E6%9D%BE%E5%9F%8E%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honn%C5%8D-ji_Incident
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akechi_Mitsuhide
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B1%B1%E5%B4%8E%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B9%94%E7%94%B0%E4%BF%A1%E5%BF%A0

    If you are interested, the main source for this and the other posts on Oda Nobunaga is the 2011 translation of the Chronicle of Nobunaga, the Kindle version of which can be found here.

  • The First Unifier – Oda Nobunaga. Part Two.

    The First Unifier – Oda Nobunaga. Part Two.

    In June 1565, the powerful Miyoshi Clan launched a coup against the Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru. In the Eiroku Incident (named for the era), the Miyoshi successfully killed Yoshiteru, and his brother, Yoshiaki, a rival claimant to the throne, fled the capital, seeking support from regional warlords.

    Miyoshi Yoshitsugu, one of the main leaders in the Eiroku Incident.

    Nobunaga was initially enthusiastic about supporting Yoshiaki and the Shogunate more generally. Sources aren’t clear about Nobunaga’s ambitions at this point, with some arguing he genuinely wanted to restore the Ashikaga, whilst others portray it as cynical politicking, with Nobunaga intending to replace the Miyoshi’s puppet Shogun with his own.

    Regardless, in the short term, military defeat limited Nobunaga’s practical aid, and it wasn’t until September 1568 that he formally recognised Yoshiaki as Shogun and dispatched an army to Kyoto to secure his accession to the throne. There was some resistance, but Nobunaga’s forces would prove triumphant, and Ashikaga Yoshiaki was installed as the 15th (and final) Ashikaga Shogun. It seems that Yoshiaki wanted to install Nobunaga as kanrei, or deputy, but he refused. Moreover, at this point, the Kyoto political community seemed to have viewed Nobunaga as little more than Yoshiaki’s general, rather than a political force in his own right.

    Ashikaga Yoshiaki

    In early 1569, Nobunaga once again proved his worth to the Shogunate by putting down an attempt by the Miyoshi Clan to restore their position in the capital. Shortly after that, Nobunaga issued the denchuonokite, or “Rules of the Palace”, which were a set of nine (with seven more added later) rules for the management of the Shogun’s court. For a long time, it was believed that these rules were the first clear example of Nobunaga imposing his will on the Shogunate, though later research suggests that Yoshiaki agreed to the rules, and it was only later that the relationship between the two men began to break down.

    Nobunaga seems to have intended to return to his own territories after the restoration, serving as a sort of enforcer for the Shogun. However, by this point, the Shogunate was at such a low ebb that he found himself obliged to become closely involved in the running of the government. It has been suggested that the issuing of the “Palace Rules” was part of wider efforts by Nobunaga to reinforce the Shogunate, whilst also reining in the tendency of the Shogun to use his remaining power arbitrarily, favouring his own supporters at the expense of powerful clans elsewhere, who, Nobunaga (rightly) worried, would then become enemies of the Shogun, and be extension, himself.

    Part of the original Palace Rules.

    It was not as though Nobunaga had any trouble finding enemies of his own. In the late 1560s, his forces invaded Ise Province, and in 1570, he led an army north to Wakasa Province to subjugate the Asakura Clan, who had defied him. The invasion went well, but when word reached Nobunaga that the Azai Clan, led by his brother-in-law, had betrayed him, he was forced to retreat.

    The reasons for this sudden betrayal have been much romanticised, with Azai Nagamasa sometimes portrayed as a principled opponent of Nobunaga’s tyranny, or else bound by a close alliance to the Asakura that trumped his loyalty to the Oda. Historians are still divided on the exact cause, but the betrayal was likely a combination of opportunism and genuine fear about Nobunaga’s intentions.

    Nobunaga’s army was defeated at the Battle of Kanegasaki, with Nobunaga himself forced to flee the field. It is said that he was only able to escape because of the rearguard action led by Kinoshita Tōkichirō, who would later be known as Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and who was rewarded with gold by Nobunaga upon his return to Kyoto.

    A later depiction of Hideyoshi in Nobunaga’s service. He first appears in records from the early 1560s, and by the time of Kanegasaki, he had earned a reputation as one of Nobunaga’s most capable subordinates.

    Sources disagree on exactly how severe the defeat was; some state that Nobunaga returned to Kyoto with just ten men, whilst others put his army’s losses at fewer than 1300, out of a total of 30,000. Both numbers may be true, and it would certainly explain why Nobunaga himself seems to have remained calm in the wake of the defeat, inspecting the Imperial Palace the day after he returned to Kyoto.

    Whilst Nobunaga had certainly been forced to retreat, the case for his army remaining largely intact is made by the fact that just a few months after Kanegasaki, he, along with his ally, Tokugawa Ieyasu, led a force of up to 40,000 men in a campaign against the Azai-Asakura, culminating in the Battle of Anegawa, which Nobunaga won, though he was unable to finish either the Azai or Asakura off, despite inflicting heavy casualties on both.

    Nobunaga was prevented from pressing his advantage by events elsewhere. In August, the Miyoshi raised an army in Settsu Province (modern Osaka). Around the same time, the Ishiyama Hongan-ji Temple (on the site of modern Osaka Castle), fearing Nobunaga’s expansionist ambitions, raised an army of its own.

    A model of Ishiyama Hongan-ji, showing it was far more than just a temple. Osaka Castle stands on the site today.
    By Takafuji – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77306876

    All this was combined with the ongoing conflict with the Azai-Asakura alliance, and in September, supporters of Ishiyama Hongan-ji launched a rebellion in Ise Province in which Nobunaga’s younger brother, Nobuoki, was killed (or forced to commit seppuku) Faced with all this, Nobunaga chose to leverage his power at court, and in December, an Imperial decree was issued, ordering all sides to stop fighting, which they duly did, saving Nobunaga in the short-term.

    Peace in the Age of the Country at War was only ever a fleeting thing, however. In February 1571, Nobunaga led an army of some 50,000 against the forces of Ishiyama Hongan-ji, resulting in one of his most controversial acts, the burning of Mt Hiei.

    A semi-contemporary image of the burning of Mt Hiei, showing Nobunaga’s forces cutting people down as they try to flee the flames.

    Mt Hiei is one of the most sacred sites in Japanese Buddhism, and in the late 16th Century, its monks were major political players in their own right, with influence at both the Imperial and Shogunate court, and an army of warrior monks to defend their interests. Nobunaga’s attack should be seen in this context, but it was also an incredibly shocking act, which outraged a Japanese political class that took its religion very seriously. One particularly outraged player was Takeda Shingen, who denounced Nobunaga and began a campaign against his ally, the Tokugawa.

    Whilst historians suggest that Shingen’s outrage over Mt Hiei was just a pretext, the invasion of the Tokugawa home province of Mikawa was a serious threat to Nobunaga’s position. Shingen was arguably the most formidable warlord of his time, and may well have proved more than a match for Nobunaga. He was certainly too much for Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was obliged to retreat and call on Nobunaga for help.

    Nobunaga dispatched a force of 3000 men to help, but they, along with the Tokugawa, were decisively defeated at the Battle of Mikatagahara in January 1573. Ieyasu himself barely managed to escape the disaster. In the aftermath, Nobunaga appeared vulnerable, so vulnerable that Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who had begun to chafe under Nobunaga’s regime, raised an army in opposition to him, presumably in the hope that Takeda Shingen was on his way.

    A 19th-century depiction of the Battle of Mikatagahara. If Takeda Shingen had lived long enough to take advantage of the victory, the outcome of the Sengoku Jidai might have been very different.

    Unfortunately for Yoshiaki, Shingen was dead. Though the circumstances of his death are still murky, it ended a serious threat to Nobunaga, perhaps the most serious threat, and he was able to focus his forces on Kyoto, where he swiftly forced Yoshiaki to make peace and resume his position firmly under Nobunaga’s thumb.

    Yoshiaski refused to learn his lesson, however, and a second rebellion broke out not long after, with Shogunate loyalists barricading themselves inside Makishima Castle, which Nobunaga swiftly took, sending Yoshiaki into exile, and effectively bringing an end to the Ashikaga Shogunate, once and for all. Historians debate whether the Shogunate actually ended at this time, as Yoshiaki continued to use the title, and would spend the next few years roaming Japan seeking support to overthrow Nobunaga.

    What is true, though, is that the Ashikaga, long in decline, would never rule from Kyoto again. There had been strongmen before, of course, but they had always ruled through puppet Shoguns, and the institution had remained largely intact. Nobunaga did away with that; though he would never take the title of Shogun for himself, from 1573 until his death, Nobunaga sat at the top of a very precarious pile.

    Nobunaga’s territory is in red, in the centre, surrounded by enemies, or opportunities, depending on your perspective.
    By Alvin Lee – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39200929

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%B9%94%E7%94%B0%E4%BF%A1%E9%95%B7
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E6%96%B9%E3%83%B6%E5%8E%9F%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
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    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B1%8A%E8%87%A3%E7%A7%80%E5%90%89
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    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%AE%BF%E4%B8%AD%E5%BE%A1%E6%8E%9F
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B6%B3%E5%88%A9%E7%BE%A9%E6%98%AD
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    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B0%B8%E7%A6%84%E3%81%AE%E5%A4%89
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E5%A5%BD%E7%BE%A9%E7%B6%99
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B6%B3%E5%88%A9%E7%BE%A9%E6%A0%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E5%A5%BD%E4%B8%89%E4%BA%BA%E8%A1%86
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  • The Odawara Campaign

    The Odawara Campaign

    Just a quick note from me: Due to real-life changes with workload, I’ve decided to reduce the number of blog posts to one per week. Going forward, the blog will be posted on Fridays.

    In 1589, the Hojo openly defied Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s peace orders, prompting the new regent to declare them in rebellion against the throne. (Side note, Hideyoshi, as the son of a peasant, couldn’t be declared Shogun, so he took the title of Kampaku, officially the chief advisor of the Emperor, but in reality, the political master of Japan.)

    Toyotomi Hideyoshi

    There were some final (and quite half-hearted) attempts at negotiation, but Hideyoshi’s position was clear: either the Hojo would submit, or they would be destroyed. The Hojo, an old, proud, and powerful clan, refused to bow, and by 1590, Hideyoshi had mustered an army of some 200,000 men to force the issue.

    Tokugawa Ieyasu, whose lands lay between the Hojo and Hideyoshi, initially sought to mediate, as his daughter was married to Hojo Ujinao, the nominal lord of the clan. These attempts failed, however, and Ieyasu threw in his lot with Hideyoshi, making preparations in his lands for the movement of thousands of troops advancing on the Kanto.

    The Kanto is surrounded by mountains and, at least in theory, very easy to defend, as there are only a limited number of passes through which a large body of troops can pass. The Hojo knew this and fortified as many of these passes as they could. Unfortunately, they were now being attacked on practically all sides. As well as the Tokugawa-Toyotomi force coming from the east, they also face an army sent along the Nakasendo road to attack Usui Pass in the north, and a force dispatched from the North-East would advance into Musashi Province and attack the castles there. Even the ocean to the south wasn’t open to the Hojo, as a naval force attacked Nagahama Castle in Izu.

    The site of Nagahama Castle today.

    The main blow would come from the west, however, as Hideyoshi led his army in an attack on the apparently formidable fortress of Yamanaka. Before the outbreak of hostilities, the Hojo had dispatched a garrison of 4000 men to the castle and set about improving its fortifications. Unfortunately, this work was not completed by the time Hideyoshi’s army arrived, and, despite its reputation as the “gateway” to the Kanto, Yamanaka fell in a single morning, despite brave resistance from the overmatched garrison.

    Other castles in the area were taken or besieged, bottling up their garrisons and preventing them from supporting the main attack on Odawara, which itself came under siege in early May. Odawara itself was an enormous castle, and despite the size of Hideyoshi’s army, there was no serious attempt to take it by storm. Instead, the siege camp became something of a small town, with everything from prostitutes to theatrical troupes plying their trade amongst the besiegers, whilst the Hojo defenders were often obliged to sleep on the battlements in their armour, for fear of a sudden attack.

    With Odawara now firmly under siege, Hideyoshi was confident enough to dispatch forces to support the campaigns in other parts of Hojo territory, with many of the castles falling with surprising speed. This was largely due to the fact that the Hojo had mobilised the vast majority of their forces for the defence of Odawara itself, leaving most of the outlying castles only lightly defended. When faced with the overwhelming strength of the forces arrayed against them, most of these castles surrendered immediately, or else were taken after only brief resistance.

    The layout of Odawara Castle.

    There is some evidence that the speed at which many of these castles fell led Hideyoshi to criticise his generals in the region, suggesting that taking so many castles so easily could not be considered a military achievement.

    The ease of the advance wasn’t true everywhere, however. At Iwatsuki (in modern Saitama), a force of 20,000 was held up by the defenders for several days despite a numerical advantage of 10-1. When the castle fell, Hideyoshi ordered that all the fighting men be killed, and the women and children taken prisoner. Instead, the commanding general, Asano Nagamasa, had already agreed to spare the surviving warriors, the women and the children as part of the surrender agreement.

    Meanwhile, the Siege at Hachigata Castle (also in Saitama) concerned Hideyoshi enough that he sent a sternly worded letter to Nagamasa, ordering him to focus his efforts there. Nagamasa did so, and a combined army of some 35,000 men attacked Hachigata, forcing the garrison to surrender. Once again, arrangements were made to spare the garrison and non-combatants, though this time it doesn’t seem to have been in defiance of Hideyoshi’s orders.

    The site of Hachigata Castle as they appear today.
    Taketarou – 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=1273726による

    While most castles were taken by force, negotiation, or a combination of the two, some held out, either through the skill of their defenders or, as was the case at Tatebayashi Castle, by apparently divine intervention. The castle was apparently founded with the help of a grateful fox, who rewarded the lord of the castle for rescuing its baby by marking out the foundations of the fortress in an area of swampy ground.

    This soggy position made the castle very difficult to approach, and when it came under siege, the attackers laid down logs across the swamp to create a roadway to the castle walls. With their pathway secure, the besiegers got a good night’s rest and prepared for a dawn attack. When the sun rose, they found that the roadway had disappeared completely, something put down to the fox spirit protecting the castle rather than the possibility that the logs had just sunk.

    Another famous, watery siege was that of Oshi Castle. Surrounded on two sides by rivers, Oshi was besieged by forces led by Ishida Mitsunari (who will become very important). Much ike Tatebayashi, Oshi’s watery position made it difficult to overcome. Mitsunari (apparently on written instructions from Hideyoshi) set about building an enormous levee surrounding the fort, forcing the water from the two rivers to inundate the castle and flood out its defenders.

    The levee (Ishida Tsutsumi) as it appears today in modern Konosu, Saitama.
    京浜にけ – 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=100409931による

    To the besiegers’ surprise, the waters didn’t actually flood the castle; instead, they gave it the appearance of floating on the water, leading it to be referred to as the “Floating Castle” (this is the title of a manga and its later 2012 adaptation, both about the siege). Following several days of heavy rain, the levee broke (or was sabotaged in some sources), flooding the siege camp and killing up to 200 warriors.

    The failure of this approach would seriously damage Mitsunari’s military reputation (some sources point out that he was just following Hideyoshi’s instructions, but the damage was done), and the siege was eventually taken over by Asano Nagamasa. An all-out assault on the castle was impossible due to the effects of the flooding, which had turned the ground into an impassable quagmire, and Oshi has the distinction of being one of the few fortresses that held out until the end of the Odawara Campaign, before eventually surrendering nearly 2 weeks after the fall of Odawara.

    Odawara, as one of the most formidable castles in the realm, hadn’t come under direct attack, but the siege had been dragging on for weeks, and news from other parts of the Kanto was almost universally bad, sapping the already fragile morale of the defenders. Shortly after the siege began, the loyalty of the Date Clan was still in doubt, and the Hojo held out hope that they might receive aid from outside the Kanto. Date forces indeed entered the Kanto, but in support of Hideyoshi, ending any hope of relief.

    Date Masamune. His decision to support Hideyoshi ended any hope the Hojo had of outside support.

    Though no general assault was launched, there were a few small-scale skirmishes and sporadic gunfire, and by early summer, signs of a breakdown in morale were appearing on both sides, with an increase of desertion amongst the besiegers, and the ever-present possibility of defection from the Hojo, especially as news of the rapid fall of other castles arrived.

    Negotiations began early in the siege, largely facilitated by Tokugawa Ieyasu, Hojo Ujinao’s father-in-law. Rumours of a peace agreement spread almost immediately, and Ujinao’s grandmother and step-mother (Ujimasa’s second wife) both died mysteriously on the same day. Historians generally believe they committed suicide, either in protest of a peace deal or in prospect of one.

    News of the fall of other fortresses was followed by the public display of the heads of those killed, and then the wives and children of the survivors outside the castle walls, further depleting the defenders’ morale. Towards the end of the siege, the appearance of Ishigakiyama Castle, built in just a few months, on a mountain not far from Odawara, effectively ended what remained of the Hojo’s will to resist.

    Odawara Castle as seen from Ishigakiyama.

    A side note here, there is a popular legend that Ishigakiyama Castle was ‘built in one night’, which was clearly impossible, with later sources suggesting that rather than literally being built overnight, the castle was instead constructed behind a forest, which was itself cut down overnight, giving the impression that the castle had appeared from nowhere. Modern scholars doubt that either version is true, as Ishigakiyama is easily visible from Odawara, and though the castle was certainly built unusually quickly, it is now thought to have been constructed in full view of the Hojo, to highlight the impossibility of their situation.

    After this, the besiegers made a point of keeping up a light but continuous rain of gunfire on the castle, intending to grind down their morale, and when a final, furious night attack from the castle was repelled in August, the writing was on the wall, and a delegation from the Hojo was sent out to offer the seppuku of Hojo Ujinao and the surrender of the castle, in exchange for the lives of the remaining garrison.

    Hideyoshi accepted the surrender of the castle on the condition that all the remaining senior Hojo, Ujinao, his father Ujimasa, and uncle Ujiteru, commit seppuku, and that the provinces of Musashi, Sagami, and Izu (the Hojo heartlands) be given up. Further resistance was now impossible, and the Hojo agreed. Tokugawa Ieyasu successfully intervened for the life of his son-in-law, Ujinao, but he would fall sick (possibly with smallpox) and die by the end of the year.

    Hojo Ujinao.

    In the aftermath of the fall of Odawara, the Kanto would come under the control of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had previously agreed to trade his three home provinces for the five of the Kanto, making his new base at Edo Castle, the site of the modern Imperial Palace in Tokyo. In the long-term, this would prove to be a genius move on Ieyasu’s part, but for now, the man who came out on top was Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

    With the Hojo defeated, there were no longer any serious rivals to his rule. For the first time in more than a century, the realm was united under a single, undisputed leader, who set about ensuring it would never again fall into chaos.

    The situation after the fall of Odawara. No more division, no more chaos, at least on paper.
    By Alvin Lee – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39214210

    Hideyoshi’s conquest of Odawara marked the end of the second phase of Japan’s reunification. Next week, we’ll take a step back to look at another name we’ve mentioned a lot, Oda Nobunaga, the first of the great unifiers.

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%83%A3%E7%84%A1%E4%BA%8B%E4%BB%A4
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B1%B1%E4%B8%AD%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B0%8F%E7%94%B0%E5%8E%9F%E5%BE%81%E4%BC%90
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%9F%B3%E5%9E%A3%E5%B1%B1%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BF%8D%E5%9F%8E%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BF%8D%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%9F%B3%E7%94%B0%E5%A0%A4
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%A4%A8%E6%9E%97%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B2%A9%E6%A7%BB%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B5%85%E9%87%8E%E9%95%B7%E6%94%BF
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%89%A2%E5%BD%A2%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%9F%AE%E5%B1%B1%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%95%B7%E6%B5%9C%E5%9F%8E_(%E4%BC%8A%E8%B1%86%E5%9B%BD)
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9D%BE%E4%BA%95%E7%94%B0%E5%9F%8E
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyotomi_Hideyoshi
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Odawara_(1590)


  • Lords of the East, Part 4

    Lords of the East, Part 4

    Hojo Ujiyasu died in 1571, having lived a life in which he had seen the fortunes of his clan rise, fall, and then rise again. His son, Ujimasa, inherited a strong but still dangerous position. Almost as soon as his father had passed, Ujimasa sought to end the war with Takeda Shingen and reestablish an alliance against their mutual enemy, Uesugi Kenshin.

    Hojo Ujimasa

    Shingen, by now in control of Suruga and stronger than ever, agreed, and it didn’t take long for the Hojo and Uesugi to be at each other’s throats again. In 1574, Kenshin invaded the Kanto, but his attention was focused mostly on his conflict with the Takeda, closer to home, and this round of Uesugi-Hojo fighting ended after an indecisive battle at the Tone River.

    With Kenshin busy elsewhere, Ujimasa turned his attention back to the Hojo’s old enemy, the Satomi, invading Shimotsuke in 1576, and advancing deep into Kazusa the next year. The Hojo clearly had the military advantage, with a vastly superior army and much larger territory. Despite this, the terrain of Kazusa and Awa Province (in the south of modern Chiba) is difficult for military operations, and Hojo supply lines relied either on ships crossing Tokyo Bay, which was difficult even in good weather, or on taking the long way around through Musashi Province (modern Tokyo).

    The terrain of Kazusa and Awa as it appears today. Though the Hojo were stronger, the logistical reality made a long term campaign impossible.
    By certified, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55415779

    Neither of these options was particularly appealing, and what was more, the number of troops that the Hojo would have needed to commit to ending the war decisively would have left their other frontiers unacceptably vulnerable. So, in late 1577, a peace agreement (the Boso Ichiwa) was reached, establishing the border between the two factions and arranging a marriage to seal the deal.

    Although the marriage would end within a few years, with the death of Ujimasa’s daughter, the peace held (more or less). This is demonstrated by the fact that when civil war broke out among the Satomi following Yoshihiro’s death in 1578, the Hojo did not intervene, even though it would have been to their advantage to do so. The peace would eventually come to an end in 1590, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

    Uesugi Kenshin, one of the Hojo’s most dangerous foes, also died in 1578, and Uesugi, much like the Satomi, quickly fell into infighting over who would succeed him. This time, the Hojo made some attempts to intervene, as Uesugi Kagetora, one of the candidates, was Ujimasa’s younger brother, who had been adopted by Kenshin as part of the earlier peace deal. Ujimasa’s support for his one-time brother seems to have been quite limited, however, as Hojo forces contented themselves with securing control over Kozuke Province before withdrawing.

    Takeda Shingen had died in 1573, and with the Uesugi and Satomi tearing themselves apart over succession, by 1578, Ujimasa might have been forgiven for thinking that he’d ‘won’ in the Kanto. Unfortunately for him, Shingen’s death led to the disastrous Battle of Nagashino in 1575, in which the Takeda clan’s power was broken, leaving the western approaches to the Kanto open to a new, and far more dangerous, player.

    Oda Nobunaga.

    Oda Nobunaga had risen from obscure origins in Owari Province (around modern Nagoya) to become the preeminent lord in the realm. Though his power was not yet completely unchallenged, by 1578, he was best placed to be the man who would unite the realm and end the Sengoku Jidai. With that in mind, Ujimasa reached out diplomatically, seeking to gain Nobunaga’s favour and perhaps arrange a marriage between the Oda and Hojo. Around this time, he also seems to have ‘retired’ and given control of the clan to his son, Ujinao, whilst in reality retaining actual power for himself.

    For his part, Nobunaga seems to have had little interest in a rapprochement with the Hojo, though his exact plans aren’t clear; it’s reasonable to assume that, much like the Takeda, Nobunaga viewed the Hojo as a rival to eventually be crushed. However, in the short term, he had more pressing concerns in the West, dealing with the powerful Mori Clan, and for now, the Hojo were left alone.

    With Nobunaga’s death in June 1582, everything changed. Taking advantage of the chaos, Ujimasa launched an attack against former Oda loyalists in the Kanto, securing control of the whole of Kozuke Province, and advancing into Kai, where he was met by another power seeking to take advantage of Nobunaga’s death, Tokugawa Ieyasu.

    Tokugawa Ieyasu

    The fighting didn’t go well for the Hojo, but neither side was committed to all-out war, so a peace was agreed upon, which saw Ujimasa’s son, Ujinao, marry Ieyasu’s daughter, Tokuhime. In 1583, following the death of the last Ashikaga Kanto kubo, Ujimasa took the title for himself, positioning the Hojo at the very top of the hierarchy in the Kanto.

    Not long after that, a successful campaign in support of allies in Shimotsuke Province brought the southern half of that province under his control, and Hojo territory reached its greatest extent. By some later estimates, the territory was valued at 2.4 Million Koku, and with control of several key rivers and coastal areas, the Hojo now dominated the political, military, and economic spheres within the Kanto.

    In 1587, the chaos that had followed Nobunaga’s death had come to an end, with Toyotomi Hideyoshi emerging as the ultimate winner. That year, he issued the Soubujirei or “General Peace Order” commanding that all Daimyo cease private wars, essentially bringing an end to the Sengoku Jidai, at least on paper.

    Toyotomi Hideyoshi

    The Hojo agreed to abide by this order, but there was one outstanding issue. During the fighting in Kai Province in 1582, the Numata Domain, territory of the Sanada Clan, had defied Hojo attempts to conquer it. Though the fighting had largely come to an end, the border remained undefined, and so Hideyoshi dispatched vassals to settle the issue.

    Hideyoshi’s decision was that two-thirds of the territory would go to the Hojo, and the remaining third would remain in Sanada hands. To confirm the arrangement, the powerful Numata Castle was handed over to the Hojo and peace was apparently agreed. However, shortly after this, the new lord of Numata arranged for the defection of nearby Nagurumi Castle, on the Sanada side of the border.

    The site of Nagurumi Castle today.
    photo: Qurren (トーク) Taken with Canon PowerShot G9 X – 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=63097035による

    The plot succeeded, and Nagurumi was handed over to Hojo forces without a fight. The problem was that this was a clear violation of the peace deal, and things only got worse when Ujinao denied any knowledge of the plot in a letter to Hideyoshi, attempting to present the capture of the castle as a fait accompli.
    Hideyoshi wasn’t about to accept that, and demanded that Ujimasa (retired, but still effective head of the clan) come to Kyoto to explain his clan’s actions.

    Ujimasa refused, and Hideyoshi took this as an act of open rebellion. In 1589, he ordered all lords to attack the Hojo as punishment for their defiance. Initial attacks from the Sanada clan were repelled by Hojo forces, but Hideyoshi was able to muster a force in excess of 200,000 men, and when the main attack began, it would be a fight to the death.

    The Odawara Campaign is deserving of a post of its own, I think, so we’ll leave it there for now.

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8C%97%E6%9D%A1%E6%B0%8F%E6%94%BF
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B1%8A%E8%87%A3%E7%A7%80%E5%90%89
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B0%8F%E7%94%B0%E5%8E%9F%E5%BE%81%E4%BC%90
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%90%8D%E8%83%A1%E6%A1%83%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%83%A3%E7%84%A1%E4%BA%8B%E4%BB%A4
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8C%97%E6%9D%A1%E6%B0%8F%E5%BA%B7

  • Kings in the North, Part 3

    Kings in the North, Part 3

    Last time, we looked at how Date Masamune defied an order from Toyotomi Hideyoshi to end his local wars. In 1590, the Date were summoned to take part in the upcoming campaign against the Hojo, based at Odawara, and Masamune knew better than to push his luck. Hideyoshi, however, had not forgotten his earlier defiance.

    Date Masamune

    When Masamune arrived at Odawara, he was stripped of all the territory he had taken in Aizu and confined to the 13 counties in Mutsu and Dewa Provinces that the Date had controlled before the peace order, obliging Masamune to leave the recently conquered Kurokawa Castle and return to his family’s seat at Yonezawa. In 1591, a rebellion broke out in Masamune’s home province, and after he put it down, letters were ‘found’ that implicated Masamune in instigating the violence.

    The rumours reached Hideyoshi in Kyoto, and he ordered Masamune to come in person to explain himself, which he promptly did, eventually being pardoned, but having his territory reduced still further. Despite the fact that Masamune then fought in Hideyoshi’s invasion of Korea, it wasn’t long before further rumours of treason surrounded him.

    In 1595, Hideyoshi’s nephew, Hidetsugu, was accused of treason, allegedly plotting either to overthrow his uncle or else usurp the regency after his death. Even at the time, the accusations were considered dubious, and the exact reasons are still murky today, but Hidetsugu was obliged to commit seppuku, and 39 members of his family and household were purged (read, murdered).

    Toyotomi Hidetsugu. The accusations of his treasonous conduct were considered dubious even at the time.

    The brutality of the crackdown and the somewhat flimsy evidence would eventually backfire for Hideyoshi, but for now, we can focus on how this purge would eventually involve Masamune. He and Hidetsugu had enjoyed a close relationship, and when accusations of treason were being thrown around, it didn’t take long for people to point that out.

    Masamune was summoned to explain himself once again. He had good reason to worry; his cousin had been Hidetsugu’s concubine (and had died in the purge), and it was widely thought that Hideyoshi believed that Masamune was guilty. In the end, a combination of Masamune’s eloquent denial and the intervention of several influential retainers led to his pardon. He was, however, obliged to sign a document, witnessed (and potentially enforced) by 19 powerful vassals, stating that if he were ever to commit treason, his position as head of his clan would be forfeit.

    Hideyoshi died in 1598, leaving his young son in the care of a council of five regents. Masamune was not on this council, but he quickly reached an understanding with Tokugawa Ieyasu, arguably the council’s most powerful member. In 1599, Masamune’s daughter married Ieyasu’s fifth son, something that was believed to be an example of Ieyasu securing illegal alliances, though modern scholars suggest that this is an example of a violation of the ‘spirit’ rather than the letter of the law.

    Tokugawa Ieyasu. He found a willing ally in Masamune.

    By 1600, it had become clear that the Council of Regents was not going to last, and a new conflict swiftly broke out. Ieyasu secured the support of Masamune by promising to restore all the lands he had lost in 1590. Date forces would not be present at the decisive Battle of Sekigahara, however, and despite some successes against Ieyasu’s enemies in the north, an attempt to retake the promised territories by force was ultimately unsuccessful.

    Despite this, Masamune still petitioned Ieyasu for the return of the territory, which Ieyasu refused to do, and in fact, Date lands were reduced further (though they would remain the fifth richest clan by koku (rice production)). In 1601, Masamune moved his headquarters to Sendai, establishing the Sendai Domain, which would continue to be the centre of the Date Clan for the next 250 years.

    Though distant from the capital and never entirely trusted, Masamune would play a significant role in Japan’s future. In 1613, he ordered the construction of a European-style galleon, the San Juan Bautista. Masamune was the only Daimyo to receive permission from the Tokugawa to send missions overseas to represent Japan. The so-called Keicho Embassy departed Japan in October 1613, travelling across the Pacific to New Spain (modern Mexico) and from there, across the Atlantic to Europe. The embassy would receive an audience with the King of Spain in January 1615, and then one with the Pope in October of the same year. The Embassy would not return to Japan until 1620, by which time Christianity had been outlawed by the Shogunate, meaning that the Ambassador and anyone involved had come under suspicion.

    A European portrait of Hasekura Tsunenaga, the ambassador in the Keicho Embassy. By the time he returned to Japan, Christianity had been outlawed, and his achievement as the first Japanese representative to Europe was largely forgotten.

    Meanwhile, Masamune at the Date had continued to support the new Shogunate, taking part in both Sieges of Osaka in 1614-15. However, once again, Masamune would find himself under attack by rumours of treason, this time after a supposed ‘friendly fire’ incident, in which Date troops fired on their allies. It’s not clear from surviving records if this incident actually happened, but in 1616, the rumour spread that Ieyasu planned to march against the Date.

    When the two men met in early 1616, Masamune was cleared of any suspicion, and after Ieyasu passed away in June of that year, any serious suggestion that the Date and Tokugawa would go to war seems to have died out (though later texts suggest that Masamune had a plan to fight the Shogunate, should it come down to it)

    With the age of constant civil war coming to an end, Masamune focused on developing his home territory. He ordered the construction of a canal that became the Teizan Canal (though it wouldn’t take its final form until the 19th century). He established a port at Ishinomaki, which was heavily damaged in a tsunami in 2011, and has since been largely rebuilt.

    The Teizan Canal as it appears today. Though largely remodelled in the 19th century, its origins lay with Masamune in the 1600s.

    He also developed agriculture in the Kitakami River basin, which remains a major rice producer to this day. In the Edo Period, the Sendai Domain was valued at around 620,000 koku, but produced in excess of 745,000 koku annually, indicating how effective Masamune’s investments had been, and how inefficient Japanese land valuation was in the pre-modern period.

    In his later years, Masamune would establish a warmer relationship with the Shogunate than he had known previously. When the third Shogun, Iemitsu, began to rule in his own right in 1632, he was said to have idolised Masamune, who by then was one of the last remaining Daimyo to have actually fought during the Sengoku period. The Shogun is said to have frequently asked Masamune for stories of the period, especially the battles he had fought, and what it had been like to serve Ieyasu and Hideyoshi (both of whom were legendary figures by that point)

    Masamune remained vigorous until late in life, but in 1634, he began to develop serious health problems, and his condition declined quickly before he eventually passed away in June 1636. His death was mourned in Edo, with the Shogun banning revelry, fishing, and even the playing of music for seven days afterwards.

    Zuihoden, in modern Sendai, the final resting place of Date Masamune.
    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=2631054による

    Masamune’s reforms and investments had left the Date in a strong financial position, and the Clan would often be treated generally by the Shogunate, with the clan being one of the few ‘outside’ Daimyo (a clan that had not been a vassal of the Tokugawa before Sekigahara) who was granted a marriage into the Shogun’s family.

    Despite, or perhaps because of this, the third Lord, Tsunamune (Masamune’s grandson), proved to be something of a “rich kid” spending his days engaged in what is politely called “debauchery”. Although a certain amount of wine, women (or men), and song was expected of a Daimyo, Tsunamune was extreme to the point that his retainers tried to get rid of him. In August 1660, they petitioned the Shogunate directly, asking that Tsunamune be removed.

    The Shogunate agreed, replacing Tsunamune with his two-year-old son, Tsunamura. Given his young age, Tsunamura needed a regent, and what followed was a decade of violence as rival factions sought influence over the young Lord. Finally, in 1671, a meeting was called in the house of Sakai Tadakiyo, a roju (senior minister) in Edo.

    Date Tsunamune, whose debauchery led to his downfall, and nearly that of his clan.

    What was supposed to be a peaceful meeting to seek a solution to the ongoing violence in Sendai quickly turned into a bloody brawl, and by the end of it, swords had been drawn, and several men lay dead. Tsunamune, as a child, was not held responsible, but the families of those responsible for the bloodshed were executed in turn (in line with the law at the time).

    As the Edo Period went on, the Sendai Domain, much like many Samurai holdings, began to suffer economic hardship. The problem was that the value of the land was estimated based on rice production in the 17th century, and by the early 19th century, those numbers simply didn’t add up.

    Financial problems didn’t stop the Date from remaining loyal to the Tokugawa; during the Boshin War in 1868-69, the Sendai Domain was central to the Shogunate’s efforts to retain power. The Shogunate would ultimately lose the war, and the Date had their lands confiscated, though they were partially restored in the peace that followed. With the abolition of the domains, the Date joined the new aristocracy and continued to serve the new Meiji regime into the 20th century.

    Date Munemoto, the last lord (and first governor) of the Sendai Domain.

    The Date were not always on the right side of the law, however. One infamous member of the clan was Junnosuke, who was known for carrying a knife to school and, in 1909, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for shooting a fellow student during a brawl. His sentence was eventually suspended when his lawyer ‘proved’ it was self-defence. In 1916, he left Japan for Manchuria (not yet under Japanese rule at that point), where he joined the Manchurian Independence Movement.

    He had a varied career after this, serving in the Border Guards in Korea (then under Japanese control), but in 1923, he seems to have been operating as little more than a bandit in and around the Shandong Peninsula. In 1931, he became a naturalised Chinese citizen, but in 1937, he was at the head of some 4000 soldiers from Manchukuo and took part in the Japanese invasion of China; however, his unit was disbanded in 1939. After the war, he was caught by the Chinese, tried as a war criminal, and shot in 1948, bringing a violent career to a violent end.

    Date Junnosuke in the uniform of a Border Guard.

    In the interest of ending things on a lighter note, another descendant of the Date clan (a branch of it, anyway) is Date Mikio, one half of the famous comedy duo Sandwichman, who have won many awards and are arguably one of Japan’s most prolific duos, so that’s nice.

    The main branch of the Date Clan survives into the modern era as well, with the current head, Date Yasumune, serving as a curator of the Zuihoden Museum, burial place of Date Masamune, and a repository for numerous artefacts related to the clan.

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A%E9%81%94%E9%A8%92%E5%8B%95
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_S%C5%8Dd%C5%8D
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%96%B0%E7%99%BA%E7%94%B0%E9%87%8D%E5%AE%B6
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_Masamune
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugawa_Ieyasu
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A%E9%81%94%E7%B6%B1%E5%AE%97
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%9A%E6%B4%A5
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%8C%E6%9C%AC%E6%9D%BE%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%8B%A5%E6%9D%BE%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%91%BA%E4%B8%8A%E5%8E%9F%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B1%8A%E8%87%A3%E7%A7%80%E6%AC%A1
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B5%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%83%90%E3%82%A6%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E3%82%B9%E3%82%BF%E5%8F%B7
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BB%99%E5%8F%B0%E8%97%A9
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%85%B6%E9%95%B7%E9%81%A3%E6%AC%A7%E4%BD%BF%E7%AF%80
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%9F%B3%E5%B7%BB%E6%B8%AF
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B2%9E%E5%B1%B1%E9%81%8B%E6%B2%B3
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A%E9%81%94%E6%94%BF%E5%AE%97
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A%E9%81%94%E6%B0%8F
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A%E9%81%94%E9%A0%86%E4%B9%8B%E5%8A%A9
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A%E9%81%94%E6%B3%B0%E5%AE%97
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B5%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A3%E3%83%83%E3%83%81%E3%83%9E%E3%83%B3_(%E3%81%8A%E7%AC%91%E3%81%84%E3%82%B3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%93)
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A%E9%81%94%E5%AE%97%E5%9F%BA

  • Kings in the North, Part 2

    Kings in the North, Part 2

    This is the 50th post on this blog. Well done for getting this far.

    In 1565, Date Harumune retired and handed control of the clan over to his son Terumune. Despite this, Harumune held onto the real power, and it wasn’t until 1570, when Terumune accused several of his father’s supporters of treason and had them removed, that he gained actual power.

    Date Terumune

    Despite this, Terumune continued most of his father’s policies, especially in diplomacy. The alliance with the Ashina Clan was maintained, and Date diplomats reached out to the Hojo, Oda, and Shibata Clans, establishing friendly relations with several of Japan’s most powerful warlords. The Sengoku in Sengoku Jidai literally means ‘country at war’; however, alongside his diplomatic efforts, Terumune showed he wasn’t afraid to throw his weight around if an opportunity presented itself.

    In 1578, the death of Uesugi Kenshin presented just such an opportunity, and Terumune dispatched forces to intervene in the internal struggle that followed. The Date intervention was ultimately unsuccessful, largely due to the military skills of the Shibata Clan, vassals of the Uesugi, who fought off the Date in several engagements.

    Frustrated, Terumune withdrew, but the Shibata had apparently expected more generous rewards for their service, and in 1581, when it was clear that they would not beforthcoming, the Shibata rebelled. Terumune dispatched his army once again, this time in support of the Shibata, and the conflict within the Uesugi Clan would drag on for years.

    Shibata Shigeie, one of the Shibata brothers who gave the Date so much trouble.
    さどこ – http://blog.livedoor.jp/sadosado_4hi/archives/8412806.html, CC 表示-継承 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=99877267による

    Closer to home, the long war against the nearby Soma Clan continued into Terumune’s reign. The Soma were based in southern Mutsu Province (the area of modern Fukushima Prefecture) and had proven to be tenacious opponents of the Date, with neither side ever able to establish a permanent advantage over the other, despite decades of conflict.

    In the period of 1582-84, however, the Date finally managed to overcome the Soma. Although the latter clan was not completely subdued, the strategic situation compelled them to make peace in 1584, with the border between the two clans agreed upon by treaty.

    Also in 1584, the long-time allies of the Date, the Ashina Clan, fell prey to an internal power struggle, after their lord, Moritaka, was murdered by a retainer (the official reason is said to be ‘due to sodomy’, so make of that what you will). The new head of the clan was just a month old, and so the Ashina were effectively subordinate to the Date, despite nominally remaining independent.

    Shortly after this, Terumune retired, handing leadership over to his son, Masamune. Sources disagree on the exact reason for this, with some suggesting that Terumune planned to make his second son head of the Ashina, only to encounter serious opposition from within the Ashina and his own clan, who then forced him to abandon the idea and retire in disgrace. Other sources say that Terumune learned a lesson from the fate of the Ashina and decided to hand over the leadership of the Date to his son while he was still alive, rather than leave the succession to chance.

    Date Masamune

    Regardless of the reason, Masamune became head of the clan in 1585, and immediately set out to prove that he was not going to do things the same way as his father had. Whilst Terumune had intended to continue the war against the Uesugi, along with his Ashina and Mogami allies, Masamune made peace, without consulting either clan, leading to a sudden and serious decline in relations.

    Masamune would definitively end the alliance shortly afterwards when he invaded Ashina territory, which the Ashina, unsurprisingly, interpreted as a hostile act. The invasion would prove to be a back-and-forth affair, with the Ashina successfully repelling the Date’s first attacks only to be defeated by a second wave, led by Masamune himself.

    In late 1585, the Ashina asked for a truce, and a peace was mediated by Terumune and his uncle, Sanemoto. The negotiations would prove to be a ruse, however, as Ashina forces kidnapped Terumune at sword point and tried to escape back to their own territory. What happened next is a matter of debate; some sources state that Terumune, seeing that he couldn’t escape, ordered the pursuing Date forces (his own men) to open fire with their bows, killing the entire party, including Terumune.

    Another source suggests that the Ashina, trapped by the Date pursuit, killed Terumune themselves, and were then cut down. A third source (written later) states that Masamune himself was responsible for Terumune’s death, and may have orchestrated the whole thing to get rid of his father. Though the exact circumstances will never be known, Terumune’s death also signalled the end of serious attempts to end the local conflicts through negotiation.

    Shortly after his father’s somewhat controversial death, Masamune continued the war. In January 1586, he laid siege to Nihonmatsu Castle (in the city of the same name, in modern Fukushima). At this time, an army led by the Satake Clan, from Hitachi province (to the south), arrived to relieve the castle. The Date were defeated at the Battle of Hitotori Bridge, and Masamune himself was badly wounded before a rearguard action allowed him to escape.

    The restored Nihonmastu Castle.
    baku13 – 投稿者自身による著作物, CC BY-SA 2.1 jp, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11354374による

    The defeat was evidently not serious, because only a few months later, after the Satake had withdrawn, Masamune tried again, once again besieging Nihonmatsu Castle, forcing its surrender in July. Not long after this, he negotiated a peace with the Satake with the intention of focusing his efforts on finishing off the Ashina. This peace was short-lived, even by the standards of the day, as a succession crisis within the Ashina Clan drew the attention of the Satake, who supported a rival candidate to Masamune’s preferred choice.

    Masamune interpreted this as the Satake intending to bring the Ashina under their control, which would have put the Date in an extremely vulnerable situation. In response, he declared his intention to wage a full-scale war against both the Ashina and Satake. In 1587, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, by now acting as regent, issued an order that all private wars should halt, an order that Masamune, for now at least, ignored.

    Masamune initially had reason to regret his continued belligerence. In 1588, his old enemies, the Mogami Clan, took advantage of Masamune being distracted elsewhere and invaded Date territory at the same time as the Ashina Clan attacked in the south. After defeats at the Battle of Osaki and then at Koriyama, Masamune was obliged to seek peace with both clans, stabilising the situation in the short term.

    In 1589, the peace with the Ashina Clan broke down once again, with Masamune invading the Aizu region (in the west of modern Fukushima). Masamune won a decisive victory at the Battle of Suriagehara in July 1589, causing the Ashina to flee their home castle at Kurokawa (modern Aizuwakamatsu) and seek help from the Satake. The Satake were obeying Hideyoshi’s peace order, however, and no help was forthcoming. Shortly after this, Masamune moved his base to Kurokawa Castle, and when a second order from Hideyoshi arrived, threatening direct intervention, Masamune took the opportunity to make peace.

    Fukushima Prefecture, where Aizu is located.

    A year later, Hideyoshi ordered the Date to join him in his attack on the Hojo Clan at the siege of Odawara. This put Masamune in a difficult spot, since the rule of his father, Terumune, the Date and Hojo had been nominal allies, and when Hideyoshi’s order arrived, it wasn’t immediately clear which side Masamune would join. Masamune eventually marched in support of Hideyoshi, but the regent wouldn’t forget Date disobedience of his peace order.

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A%E9%81%94%E6%94%BF%E5%AE%97
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B1%8A%E8%87%A3%E7%A7%80%E6%AC%A1
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%91%BA%E4%B8%8A%E5%8E%9F%E3%81%AE%E6%88%A6%E3%81%84
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%8B%A5%E6%9D%BE%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BA%8C%E6%9C%AC%E6%9D%BE%E5%9F%8E
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BD%90%E7%AB%B9%E6%B0%8F
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitachi_Province
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aizu
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A%E9%81%94%E6%B0%8F
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%BC%8A%E9%81%94%E8%BC%9D%E5%AE%97

  • The Shimazu, Part 2

    The Shimazu, Part 2

    By 1582, the Shimazu were once again masters of southern Kyushu and had recently defeated the rival Otomo Clan so comprehensively that they effectively ceased to be an obstacle to Shimazu dominance of the whole island. This ambition would be curbed by the intervention of Oda Nobunaga, who wanted to get the Otomo to join his attack on the Mori Clan.

    The situation in 1582. The Shimazu are in blue, and the Otomo in purple. The Mori are in yellow, and Oda Nobunaga is the big red blob in the middle.
    By Alvin Lee – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39198356

    Nobunaga’s plans, along with his life, would be cut short in the Honnoji Incident in June 1582, and the Shimazu once again found themselves as the strongest clan on Kyushu. In the far north-west of the island, close to the modern city of Nagasaki, lay the base of the Ryuzoji Clan. For generations, the Ryuzoji had been a secondary clan in the region. However, under the leadership of Ryuzoji Takanobu, they had expanded their power to control the whole of Hizen Province (modern Nagasaki and Saga Prefectures), and although they had nominally been subordinates of the Otomo Clan, the aftermath of the Battle of Mimikawa in 1578 (which the Otomo lost) gave the Ryuzoji the opportunity to expand even further. (They are in the light-green on the map above).

    It was inevitable that the Shimazu and Ryuzoji would clash, and in 1584, a member of the Arima Clan wrote to Shimazu Yoshihisa, requesting his aid against the Ryuzoji. This was a convenient excuse to do what he probably would have done anyway, and Yoshihisa dispatched an army under his brother Iehisa. What followed was a lightning campaign in which the Shimazu, despite being outnumbered more than three-to-one, engaged and defeated the Ryuzoji at the decisive Battle of Okitanawate in May 1584.

    This proved to be yet another decisive victory for the Shimazu. Not only did they defeat the Ryuzoji army, Takanobu, but the lord of the clan was also killed, cutting the head off the proverbial snake. The Ryuzoji had expanded rapidly, and their control collapsed just as quickly. Clans who had been forced to submit quickly switched sides to the Shimazu, and any holdouts were destroyed in short order.

    In 1586, Yoshihisa turned his attention to the remnants of the Otomo Clan, invading Bungo Province and crushing the final remnants of what had once been Kyushu’s pre-eminent clan. Yoshihisa might have had time to reflect on the fleeting nature of power in that era, but he wouldn’t have had long. No sooner did the Shimazu deal the final blow to the Otomo than the last holdouts of that clan appealed to the new power in Japan for help, Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

    The situation in 1586, after Toyotomi Hideyoshi secured power, and the Shimazu came so close to unifying Kyushu.
    By Alvin Lee – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39214208

    The Shimazu were at the height of their power, and it is perhaps no surprise that, when Hideyoshi order them to cease their attacks on the Otomo, they refused. Yoshihisa went even further, when he suggested that the Shimazu, and old and storied clan, had no need to accept an ‘upstart’ like Hideyoshi as regent. Hideyoshi had been born a peasant, but he was the most powerful warlord in Japan by that point, and Yoshihisa would come to regret the disrespect.

    When it became clear that Hideyoshi meant to invade Kyushu, the Shimazu doubled their efforts to crush the Otomo and secure the whole island. They rightly guessed that any Otomo holdouts would be used by Hideyoshi’s forces as a base for any campaign. Though they would ultimately be unable to fully subjugate the Otomo, the Shimazu’s confidence seemed to have been well placed when, in early 1587, Chosokabe forces, under Hideyoshi’s orders, invaded Bungo province and were heavily defeated at the Battle of Hetsugigawa.

    Shimazu celebrations would be short-lived, however. Hideyoshi, reportedly enraged by the ease with which the Shimazu had apparently defeated the initial invasion, mustered a force of between 250,000 and 300,000 men (reports vary), possibly the largest army seen in Japan up to that time. Throughout the spring and summer of 1586, this huge force steamrolled the Shimazu. There were instances of brave resistance, but the writing was on the wall, and in June, the Shimazu sued for peace.

    Taiheiji Temple in modern Kagoshima, where Shimazu Yoshihisa met with Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and a peace was agreed.
    Sakoppi – 自ら撮影, CC 表示 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12570199による

    The terms were harsh, but ultimately secured the survival of the clan. Hideyoshi demanded that the Shimazu give up control of almost the whole of Kyushu, essentially wiping out centuries of conquest and expansion. In return, the Shimazu were confirmed as lords of Satsuma province, and later, after further negotiations, Osumi as well.

    The Shimazu would prove to be somewhat unreliable vassals. When Hideyoshi invaded Korea in 1592, he ordered all feudal lords to commit troops. The Shimazu were apparently slow to comply with this order, leading Hideyoshi to suspect they were disloyal (which they probably were, having been only recently conquered)

    The Shimazu would eventually obey and dispatch troops to Korea, but it appears that Yoshihisa had been replaced as head of the clan in the eyes of Hideyoshi, as formal letters recognising Shimazu control of their provinces were written in the name of Shimazu Iehisa, Yoshihisa’s younger brother, though it appears that Yoshihisa retained the actual power.

    Shimazu Iehisa (sometimes called Yoshihiro), the nominal head of the Shimazu after Hideyoshi’s invasion of Kyushu.

    Hideyoshi’s death and the end of the war in Korea refocused the realm’s attention back home, as Hideyoshi’s son and heir was just a child. The Shimazu would not be members of the Council of Regents, but when the final rupture occurred in 1600, and war became inevitable, Shimazu Iehisa (nominal head of the clan) was in Kyoto and swore loyalty to the Western (or pro-Toyotomi) army.

    This move was apparently not supported by his older brother and the wider Shimazu clan, as when Iehisa requested reinforcements, he received none. This might have been a deliberate ploy by the Shimazu to play both sides, but it’s also possible that an outbreak of fighting in Kyushu caused the Shimazu to focus their efforts closer to home.

    The fighting was relatively small-scale and was nominally between supporters of the Toyotomi and Tokugawa Ieyasu (who had just won the decisive Battle of Sekigahara). In reality, this was probably an example of a breakdown in central authority being taken advantage of by local warlords. Unlike in previous eras, however, central control was swiftly reestablished. After his victory at Sekigahara, Ieyasu turned his attention to subduing the rest of the realm, Kyushu included.

    Tokugawa Ieyasu.

    A planned campaign against the Shimazu was cancelled in favour of negotiations that lasted nearly two years. Ieyasu suggested that Yoshihisa travel to Kyoto in person, but Yoshihisa always had an excuse not to go; he was ill, the roads were bad, the weather was awful, he hadn’t got enough money, etc. Finally, in 1602, Ieyasu, who apparently had no real appetite for a campaign in Kyushu, confirmed Shimazu control of Satsuma and Osumi Provinces after Yoshihisa’s brother, Iehisa, went to Kyoto in his place (some sources say Yoshihisa actually opposed this idea, only approving it after the fact, when his brother had already departed)

    The Shimazu would be largely left in peace in the decades that followed. In 1609, Iehisa, but now more or less dejure lord of the Shimazu, received permission from the Tokugawa to invade the Ryukyu Kingdom (modern Okinawa). This meant that the Shimazu became the only clan to control a foreign kingdom, and meant that, when Japan entered its period of isolation (Sakoku), the Shimazu were one of the few who still had access to the outside world.

    These contacts would grant the Shimazu an unusual level of economic strength in the Edo period, and this, combined with some strategic marriages into the Tokugawa, meant that the clan, despite (or perhaps because of) its distance from Edo (modern Tokyo), became one of the richest and most powerful of the era.

    A Ryukyu tributary mission to China. The relationship between Ryukyu and China allowed the Shimazu to maintain indirect trade links with mainland Asia.

    This proved to be important in the 19th century, when the irresistible tide of modernisation swept Japan after the first American, but later, other powers sought to take advantage of Japan’s weak position for their own ends. It would be the Shimazu (better known as Satsuma Domain by then) under their leader Nariakira, who were amongst the first to grasp the potential for Western-style industrialisation and warfare.

    Satsuma Domain would be at the vanguard of the Meiji Restoration, with its alliance with the Mori clan of the Choshu Domain proving to be the decisive factor in the brief, but bloody Boshin War that saw the Tokugawa overthrown and Imperial rule reestablished.

    The Shimazu themselves would endure the tumultuous years of the late 19th and 20th centuries, and the family survives today, with the 33rd head of the clan, Shimazu Tadahiro, serving as CEO of the Shimazu Corporation, which works to promote not only the cultural legacy of the Shimazu family, but also tourism and business development in and around Kagoshima, the traditional heart of the Satsuma Domain.

    Sources
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B3%B6%E6%B4%A5%E7%BE%A9%E4%B9%85
    https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B3%B6%E6%B4%A5%E7%BE%A9%E5%BC%98
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