Komaki-Nagakute Was a Draw That Ieyasu Won
The Battle of Komaki-Nagakute is the one engagement Tokugawa Ieyasu ever fought directly against Toyotomi Hideyoshi. It lasted seven months […]
Ieyasu Painted Himself Defeated at Mikatagahara
Sometime in the winter of 1573 or the spring of 1574 — the Tokugawa household records are ambiguous on the
How Hashiba Hideyoshi Won Shizugatake in a Five-Hour March
The Battle of Shizugatake was decided before it was fought. Specifically, it was decided during a five-hour forced march that
Takeda Tsuneyasu and the Imperial Families Japan Abolished
Takeda Tsuneyasu is a man you can trace to Emperor Meiji in three generations. His grandmother was Princess Masako, Meiji’s
Takenaka Hanbei Took a Castle with Sixteen Men
In the spring of 1564, a twenty-year-old samurai named Takenaka Shigeharu walked into Inabayama Castle, one of the most formidable
Hosokawa Tadaoki Outlived Everyone He Loved
Hosokawa Tadaoki lived to eighty-three, which is a remarkable age for a Sengoku commander, and one of the reasons you
Shimazu Yoshihiro Retreated Through an Enemy Army
At around three o’clock in the afternoon of 21 October 1600, with the Battle of Sekigahara conclusively lost, Shimazu Yoshihiro
Date Masamune Was Ten Years Late for Everything
The most useful thing to know about Date Masamune is that he was ten years too young. If he had
Torii Suneemon Shouted the Opposite of What He Was Told
Torii Suneemon was a foot soldier. Not a samurai, not a retainer with a landed stipend, not a man who
Miyamoto Musashi Was a Painter Who Killed People
The thing that nobody tells you about Miyamoto Musashi is that he was a better painter than he was a