Azuchi Castle: Nobunaga’s 6-Year Fortress
Azuchi Castle existed for six years. Nobunaga’s carpenters finished the seven-storey tenshu in the fifth month of 1579. His retainer […]
The Cormorants Who Work for the Emperor
The Nagara River runs past Gifu Castle at the base of Mount Kinka, and on any summer night between 11
Tokugawa Ieyasu: The Patient Man Who Outlasted Everyone
The portrait of Tokugawa Ieyasu that hangs in the Tokugawa Art Museum in Nagoya — not the famous Kanō Tan’yū
Oda Nobunaga and the Dance Before Okehazama
At three o’clock in the morning of 19 June 1560, at Kiyosu Castle in western Owari, a 26-year-old Oda Nobunaga,
The Fourth Son Who Built a Million-Koku Empire
By the numbers alone, Maeda Toshiie’s legacy is the largest single non-Tokugawa feudal holding in Japanese history. The Kaga domain
Okehazama: How 2000 Men Killed an Empire
On the morning of 19 May 1560 — the 12 June in the Gregorian calendar, though the Japanese sources will
The Samurai Who Fought 57 Battles Unscathed
Honda Tadakatsu fought in at least 57 recorded battles over a 50-year military career, and, according to every surviving contemporary
Nagashino: A Fence Beat the Takeda Cavalry
The best cavalry in Japan died standing in front of a fence. This is the simplest way to summarise what
Sekigahara: The Battle Decided Before Lunch
The battle that decided the next 260 years of Japanese history was over by lunchtime. On 15 September 1600, a
The Peasant Who Unified Japan
Toyotomi Hideyoshi is the only man in the history of Japan’s ruling class who arrived at the top from genuine