Takeda Shingen was a swift and meticulous daimyo in feudal Japan during the late stage of the Sengoku period. He ruled the Kai Province from 1541-1573. Born on December 1, 1521, Takeda Shingen was the eldest of 3 sons of Japanese warlord, Takeda Nobutora of the Kai Province. During his childhood, Shingen was called “Taro” (a commonly used pet name for a Japanese family’s eldest son) or “Katsuchiyo.” Around 1535, Katsuchiyo had an elaborate coming of age ceremony which included court notable Sanjo Kinyori, a retired Dainagon, whose daughter Katsuchiyo would soon marry. In addition, shogun Ashikaga Yoshiharu sent word for Katsuchiyo to add “Haru” into his adult name, thus he became known as Harunobu. In feudal Japan, it was common practice for a high-ranking warrior to grant a character from his own name to a subordinate as a symbol of recognition. Upon discovery that his father, Nobutora, was planning to name his second son, Nobushige, as his heir, it caused great strife between Harunobu and Nobutora. It was in 1541 that Harunobu rebelled against his father and Nobutora was exiled to Suruga, ruled by the Imagawa clan. Many of Nobutora’s top Takeda retainers saw advantage in supporting Harunobu, as many held personal grudges against his father. An alliance was formed with the Imagawa clan for their support in this bloodless coup. Harunobu’s first attempt to expand the Kai Province was at the Battle of Sezawa. Several daimyos of the Shinano region marched against the Kai Province attempting to defeat Harunobu at Fuchu, but to their surprise, his troops annihilated them at Sezawa. That same year, he sought the territory of the Suwa clan in the Shinano region. He was successful in defeating Uehara and Kuwahara. Over the next 10 years, ... ... middle of paper ... ... return back to Kai. By 1570, Harunobu managed to conquer and rule lands including Kai, Shinano, Suruga and part of Kozuke, Totomi, and Hida. At the age of 49, Harunobu was the important daimyo east of Mino. He was the most accomplished warlord with the manpower to derail Oda Nobunaga. If the Hojo Ujiyasu had not died in 1570, his heir Ujimasa would not have had to quickly make peace with Harunobu. Later in 1573, Harunobu was at the Battle of Mikatagahara and entered the battlefield alone. In the evening under the dark sky, Harunobu listened to music of flutist. Somehow the presence of Harunobu’s entourage attracted the attention of the castle’s defenders. A sniper bullet wounded Harunobu and he died a few days later. On his deathbed, he called for his most able warrior to place the Takeda battle flag on the bridge leading to Kyoto, as if advancing on to the capital.
Joseph Conlans “State of War; The Violent Order of Fourteenth Century Japan” is an depth look at Japans emerging warrior class during a time period of constant warfare in Medieval Japan. His work however doesn’t revolve around the re-fabrication and in-depth analysis of battles sieged like many contemporary examinations of wars and battles won and lost. Instead the author vies to navigate the reader on journey into the warrior class’s lives and how they evolved through a statistical analysis of records. This illustrates how warfare changed and transformed with the constant evolving of the Samurai, but it also includes how their actions affected their Political environment as well as the society in which they dwelled from the bottom up. Through his survey of records and documents, Conlan is able to give readers a compelling look into the Warrior class and at times shatters in the process many of the pre-conceived general notions that one may hold about this ancient class of professional warriors. Many of the notions & common misconceptions debunked in this scholarly piece include the idea that the Samurai was a male only fraternity, reserved for those of impeccable candor and loyalty. When truth be known, woman and young men (boys) were also trained in the art of war and thus were as likely to be found on the battle fields as men when times were tough and solider numbers were depleted. Further, another misconception (Generally thought to be caused by the popular and well known; “The Bushido Code: The Eight Virtues of the Samurai”) of the warrior class is that all of these men were truly Samurai which translated to “one who serves” when really, loyalty for the warrior class as Conlan points out only went as far as ones right to ...
Katsu Kokichi lived a rather extraordinary life, under the many privileges of being a bannerman of the shogun. At the time, three classes of vassals served the shogun: daimyo, bannerman, and housemen. Although these vassals held incredible social status, they were not all as noble as one would imagine. In fact, almost a quarter of samurai were unemployed, as there simply weren’t enough official and military posts to accommodate them all. This group of samurai became to be known as ronin. Katsu is part of this group, and although his brothers hold administrative positions at some point in their lives, he is the only male sibling who does not. Rather than lead the generalized prestigious life of a samurai, Katsu uses his high status and enjoys life to the fullest. Although Katsu acknowledges his rather dishonorable life, he in no way shows any regret for his actions, but instead, pride.
The samurai were the hereditary warrior class of feudal Japan who trace their creation to the “Heian period in around 794 when the capital was moved to Heian-Kyo” . The warriors were hired by wealthy landow...
Bushido - ???- the feudal-military Japanese code of behavior; the way of the warrior [samurai] Japanese chivalry [knighthood]
In Yoshie's work, “Gender in Early Classical Japan: Marriage, Leadership, and Political Status in Village and Palace (2005),” she takes the example of Toji, women known to have played a m...
The Manchu conquest of China was a long period of war between Qing Dynasty in Manchuria and Ming Dynasty in the south; however, Beijing was firstly fell to a rebel army led by Li Zicheng, a former minor Ming official, who became the leader of the peasant revolt, and then established the Shun Dynasty in Xi’an. Dorgon, who is a Manchu prince, and Wu Sangui fought a bottle of Shanhai Pass against Li Zicheng. After that, Dorgon’s father, Hong Taiji established the Qing Dynasty and became Chongde Emperor. After Hong Taiji’s death in 1643, his ninth son Fulin ascended the throne as the Shunzhi Emperor.
Shinto: The Way Home written by Thomas Kasulis is a book designed to inform the reader of Shinto traditions and history, but how does his work stand on its own as a scholarly source. Kasulis uses simple organization strategies to control the flow of the work the simplest method is the separation of the book into six chapters as well as a two prefaces one from the editor and one from the author. The first chapter discusses Shintoism in the terms of a western audience while the second chapter confers the connection with normal Japanese culture with Shinto traditions. The third, fourth, and the fifth chapter canvases the history of Shinto traditions in chronological order from prehistory to 2002. Chapter 6 explains Issues with Shinto in a modern
The Tokugawa Era was brought about by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was a military dictatorship and helped achieve hegemony and stability over the entire country after the control and ruling of Japan for over 200 years since the 1600s. The author is an Asian history professor and knows what he is writing and many years of research and effort have been put into this book which is apparent. In conclusion, this book provides relevant and sufficient research on this topic of interest. Sadler, A. L., & Sadler, A. L. (2009).Shogun: the life of Tokugawa Ieyasu : the dramatic story of the man who united feudal Japan and established the traditional Japanese way of life. Tokyo: Tuttle Pub. & Co. Tokugawa Ieyasu was quoted as “one of the greatest men the world has seen yet” in the book and he is already very well known as one of the legendary leaders in Japanese history who is also the founder and the leader who started off the Tokugawa Era.
Later, on the year of 1177, the young boy was captured by one of his father’s old tribes, the Tayichiud. These men enslaved and tortured him. It wasn’t until a father of the tribe, Chilaun, helped him escape. He soon joined forces with other men and his name spread quickly around the Mongols. At this time, he started studying the “difficult political climate” between the tribes and grew up to learn the truth of society which included tribal warfare, thievery, raids, corruption, and continuing acts of revenge.
"Shinto in History."Shinto in History: Ways of the Kami. Ed. John Breween and Mark Teeuwen.
Now we have talked about the amazing stories of Nobunaga and Hideyoshi but we have yet to see one of the greatest tales for Matsudaira Ieyasu who at this time renamed himself and the clan to Tokugawa. In the east where Tokugawa Ieyasu has been held up fighting off the three clans that could lead to their defeat one of which is the Takeda Shingen a man of legend for his military prowess. Tokugawa Ieyasu mustered a quick army to fight off the Takeda forces but due to the landscape the Takeda cavalry mow down the Tokugawa forces only making it back with five men this is when you realise that Ieyasu has a knack for avoiding death he ordered his men to light the torches atop the wall and swing open the gate to send an empty threat to the Takeda
The Japanese Empire became an empire in the year 1868. They quickly spread their empire out and became rulers over 7,400,000 square kilometers of land. “They quickly became known for war crimes against their ow...
Kitasawa, Shinjiro. "Shintoism and the Japanese Nation." The Sewanee Review 23.4 (1915): 479-83. JSTOR. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.
Shinto is a native religion of Japan and the people of Japan. It is defined as an action centered religion, focused on ceremonial practices to be carried out thoroughly, to establish a assembly between present-day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and organized in the written historical records of the Jokiki and Nihon Shoki in the 8th century (Nelson 7-8). Still, these early Japanese writings do not refer to a joined “Shinto religion”, but rather to a gathering of native beliefs and mythology.
There are many historical aspects of the Japanese, but the most interesting is the history of the Samurai. In Japans history war played a large role in the country. Controlling clans fought for parts of the land and overall control of the country. These clans were powerful families that resided in the country and who all wanted power and control of Japan for themselves. The families that would be in control were known as Shoguns. These shoguns would have warriors that fought for them if any of the other clan families would try to attack him in order to overthrow him and take his power from him. The Samurai followed a code that developed from Chinese beliefs when in battle. The Samurais code was known as the Bushido. This code was also known as “The Way of The Warrior” which was the main belief s...