In 1440, Japan was in the middle of its Muromachi Period, the early stages of the violent Sengoku, or warring States period, where short, localized provincial wars continued to erupt. To mark and control territories, many hundreds of castles were built. One local warrior took advantage of the 85 meter high wedge shaped hill [...]
Takeda Shingen (December 1, 1521 - May 13, 1573) Known as the Tiger of Kai, Takeda Shingen was an ideas man, an exceptional general famous for his tactical genius, and his innovations. He was an asset to his father from an early age, playing a major role in the Battle of [...]
The Battle of Sekigahara October 21, 1600. Mino (Gifu) Tokugawa Ieyasu (East) (80,000) VS Ishida Mitsunari (West) (80,000) Sekigahara was the biggest, bloodiest field battle in samurai history! The nation had been unified first under Oda Nobunaga, who was assassinated by a traitorous general, and then by his successor, Toyotomi [...]
The battle of KOMAKI-NAGAKUTE 1584. Owari (Komaki and Nagakute, Nagoya Aichi Prefecture) Toyotomi Hideyoshi (12,000) VS Tokugawa Ieyasu (9,000) The site of the most fierce fighting of the day is unfortunately now a shopping center. On the outskirts of Nagoya is one of the major battlefields of the [...]
Miyamoto Musashi (1584-June 13 1645) Miyamoto Musashi Considered one of the greatest and most famous samurai of all time, Miyamoto Musashi’s reputation has grown to mythic proportions over the years, despite much of his life remaining a mystery. Much of his “life” has been embellished by writers such [...]
Takeda Shingen (35,000) VS Tokugawa Ieyasu (11,000, including 3,000 Oda troops) The Battle of Mikatagahara, fought in an area north of Hamamatsu (Shizuoka Prefecture), almost changed Japan’s history, as the man who would go on to become Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, suffered a near total defeat to the superb fighting forces [...]
Tokugawa Ieyasu (January 31, 1543 – June 1, 1616) Tokugawa Ieyasu was the first of the Tokugawa Shogun, and third of the Three Great Unifiers of Japan. Born January 31 1543 at Okazaki Castle in Aichi Prefecture, the young Ieyasu, was sent as a hostage to the Imagawa clan by [...]
Toyotomi Hideyoshi ( February 1536 or March 17 1537-September 18, 1598) The second of the Three Great Unifiers of Japan Toyotomi Hideyoshi began life as a foot-soldier who rose in the ranks to become a samurai, general, statesman and eventually ruler of Japan. Toyotomi Hideyoshi was born in the [...]
The Battle Of Okehazama June 12, 1560 Oda Nobunaga (2,500) Vs. Imagawa Yoshimoto (25,000+) The Battle Of Okehazama, one of the most important battles in samurai history, was fought on June 12, 1560, on the outskirts of Nagoya City when 2,500 samurai trounced an army of 25,000, a ratio of [...]