1.
Kaga Domain
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The Kaga Domain, also known as Kanazawa Domain, was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It is associated with the provinces of Kaga, Noto and Etchū in modern-day Ishikawa Prefecture, in the han system, Kaga was a political and economic abstraction based on periodic cadastral surveys and projected agricultural yields. In other words, the domain was defined in terms of kokudaka and this was different from the feudalism of the West. Maeda Toshiie was a military commander, a retainer of Oda Nobunaga. A member of the Council of Five Elders who ruled Japan during the Sengoku period and his eldest son, Maeda Toshinaga, supported Tokugawa Ieyasu in his rise to power and was rewarded by an increase in his lands to 1.25 million koku. Except for the Tokugawa holdings, the domain was the richest in the nation and this branch held the Nanokaichi Domain, rated at the minimum of 10,000 koku. The Maeda clan ruled Kaga until the abolition of the domains in 1871, the hereditary daimyōs were heads of the clan and of the domain. Toshiie Toshinaga Toshitsune Mitsutaka Tsunanori Yoshinori Munetoki Shigehiro Shigenobu Shigemichi Harunaga Narinaga Nariyasu Yoshiyasu The clan records were preserved over the course of centuries, list of Han Abolition of the han system Brown, Philip C. Central authority and local autonomy in the formation of early modern Japan, sankin kōtai dōchūki, Kaga-han shiryō o yomu 参勤交代道中記, 加賀藩史料を読む. Flershem, Robert G. and Yoshiko N. Flershem, Kaga, a domain which changed slowly. Hamburg, Gesellschaft für Natur und Völkerkunde Ostasiens, mcClain, James L. Kanazawa, a seventeenth-century Japanese castle town
2.
Maeda Toshiie
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Maeda Toshiie was one of the leading generals of Oda Nobunaga following the Sengoku period of the 16th century extending to the Azuchi–Momoyama period. He was the fourth of seven brothers and his preferred weapon was a yari and he was known as Yari no Mataza, Matazaemon being his common name. The highest rank from the court that he received is the Great Counselor Dainagon, Toshiie was born in the village of Arako, the fourth son of Maeda Toshimasa, who held Arako Castle. Just like Nobunaga, Toshiie was also a delinquent, usually dressed in the style of a kabukimono. It is believed he became a friend to Kinoshita Tokichiro in their youth. Just as Hideyoshi was known as Saru, 猴 or monkey, it is believed that Toshiie was called Inu, 犬 or dog by Nobunaga. Due to a belief that dogs and monkeys are never friendly to each other, Toshiie is often depicted as reserved and stern, in contrast to Hideyoshis talkative. Toshiie began his career as a member of the akahoro-shū, the unit under Oda Nobunagas personal command and he later became an infantry captain in the Oda army. During his military career, Toshiie made the acquaintance of many important figures, such as Hashiba Hideyoshi, Sassa Narimasa, Akechi Mitsuhide, Takayama Ukon, Toshiie also was a lifelong rival of Tokugawa Ieyasu. After defeating the Asakura clan, Maeda fought under Shibata Katsuie in the Hokuriku area and he participated in the 1570 Battle of Anegawa and the 1577 Battle of Tedorigawa. He was eventually granted the fief of Fuchu, and a han spanning Noto, Toshiie benefited from a core group of very capable senior vassals. Some, like Murai Nagayori and Okumura Nagatomi, were retainers of long standing with the Maeda, after Nobunagas assassination at Honnō-ji by Akechi Mitsuhide and Mitsuhides subsequent defeat by Hideyoshi, he battled Hideyoshi under Shibatas command in the Battle of Shizugatake. After Shibatas defeat, Toshiie worked for Hideyoshi and became one of his leading generals, later somewhere during this time he was forced to fight another of his friends, Sassa Narimasa. Narimasa was greatly outnumbered and felled by Toshiie, following the major Maeda victory at the Battle of Suemori Castle, before dying in 1598, Hideyoshi named Toshiie to the council of Five Elders to support Toyotomi Hideyori until he was old enough to take control on his own. However, Toshiie himself was ailing, and could manage to support Hideyori for only a year before he died as well, Toshiie was succeeded by his son Toshinaga. Father, Maeda Toshimasa Siblings, Maeda Toshihisa Maeda Yasukatsu Maeda Toshifusa Sawaki Yoshiyuki Maeda Hidetsugu Maeda Masa Toshiies wife, strong-willed from childhood, she was well-versed in the martial arts and was instrumental in Toshiies rise to success. Children, Maeda Toshinaga Maeda Toshimasa Maeda Toshitsune Maeda Toshitaka Maeda Toshitoyo Kō Maa Gō Chise Kiku Their sons all became daimyōs in their own right, in popular culture He is a playable character in video game Sengoku Basara 2 and an unplayable character in video game Sengoku Basara 4. He is a character in the video game Samurai warriors 2 Extreme legends
3.
Owari Province
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Owari Province was a province of Japan in the area that today forms the western half of Aichi Prefecture, including the modern city of Nagoya. The province was created in 646, Owari bordered on Mikawa, Mino, and Ise Provinces. Owari and Mino provinces were separated by the Sakai River, which means border river and its abbreviated form name was Bishū. Owari is classified as one of the provinces of the Tōkaidō, under the Engishiki classification system, Owari was ranked as a superior country and a near country, in relation to its distance from the capital. Atsuta Shrine is of ancient origin, ranking with Ise Shrine in importance, and is the repository of one of the Imperial Regalia of Japan. Under the Engishiki classification system, Owari was divided into eight counties, during the Heian period, the province was divided into numerous shōen controlled by local samurai clans. However, by the Sengoku period, the province had fragmented into small territories largely dominated by the Oda clan. Under Oda Nobunaga, the province was reunified, Nobunaga began his campaign to reunify Japan from his stronghold at Kiyosu Castle. and many of his retainers were natives of Owari, including Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Katō Kiyomasa. Yoshinao was founder of the Owari Tokugawa clan, one of the Gosanke, the castle town of Nagoya prospered during this period, and Owari Province was especially known for its ceramics industry. At the same time, the continued to exist for some purposes. For example, Owari is explicitly recognized in treaties in 1894 between Japan and the United States and between Japan and the United Kingdom, ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5, OCLC58053128 Papinot, Edmond. Historical and Geographic Dictionary of Japan, OCLC77691250 Media related to Owari Province at Wikimedia Commons Murdochs map of provinces,1903
4.
Takaoka, Toyama
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Takaoka is a city located in the northwestern portion of Toyama Prefecture, Japan, and is the central city of its Western District. Takaoka covers the 8th largest surface area in Toyama Prefecture and has the second largest population after Toyama City, Takaoka became a city on April 1,1889, withdrawing from Imizu District. Originally, the Takaoka region was called Sekino, but when Maeda Toshinaga opened the city in 1609, the present-day suburbs of Takaoka formed the provincial capital of the former Ecchu Province, and Ōtomo no Yakamochi took position as a government official in this area. During his five-year stay he wrote many waka poems and this is the reason for Takaoka being named Manyō City. Even today the event at the annual Manyō Festival is the 20 Volume Manyō recital. In 1609, when Maeda Toshinaga of the Kaga Domain entered Takaoka Castle, at the time of the opening of the city, it was reorganized for a population of less than 5,000 inhabitants and the Samurai Yashiki were positioned around the castle and towards the southern plateau. However, in 1615, when an edict was passed there was to be only one castle in each feudal domain. This resulted in the start of Takaoka’s role as a city of commerce, Takaoka copperware and lacquerware also took off at this time. More recently, on April 1,1889, Takaoka was registered as one of Japans first cities together with 30 cities nationwide, an Imperial decree in July 1899 established Fushiki Port as an open port for trading with the United States and the United Kingdom. On November 1,2005, the town of Fukuoka was merged into Takaoka, therefore, Nishitonami District was dissolved as a result of this merger. Takaoka covers an area of 209.42 km2, which equates to roughly 5% of the area of Toyama Prefecture. The Takaoka region extends 19.2 km from north to south,24.5 km from east to west with a perimeter of 125.9 km – which is equal to the length of coastline in Toyama Prefecture. Shogawa River and the Oyabegawa River run through Takaoka and tributaries weave their way though the city center, including small rivers, a total of 10 rivers flow through the city. The Amaharashi coast lies to the north of the region, just off the coast lies the island Otokoiwa. Another island, Onnaiwa, lies nearby and the view of this island against the backdrop of the Mount Tate range of peaks is famous, the climate of Takaoka is a humid subtropical climate, similar to that of much of the Japan Sea coast. All of the regions in Toyama Prefecture can experience large quantities of snow in winter, depending on the year, the city can experience extraordinarily heavy snowfall, like, for example in 2006 when snow piled 1. 4m high and in 20111. 27m was recorded. According to weather records, the temperature in 2010 was 14.5 °C, the average level of humidity was 79%. Takaoka is served by JR Wests Takaoka Station with the Hokuriku Main Line, the Himi Line, within the city, Manyōsens Shin-Minato Harbor and Takaoka Kidō lines offer transport
5.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
6.
Oda Nobunaga
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Oda Nobunaga was a powerful Daimyō of Japan in the late 16th century who attempted to unify Japan during the late Sengoku period. Nobunaga is regarded as one of three unifiers of Japan along with his retainers Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, Nobunaga was widely known as one of the most brutal figures in history, eliminating anyone who stood in his way. He was both a ruler and keen businessman, strategizing at both the micro- and macroeconomic scales. He met his demise when his retainer Akechi Mitsuhide rebelled against him at Honnō-ji, Oda Nobunaga was the first for whom this goal seemed attainable. Nobunaga had gained control over most of Honshu before his death during the 1582 Honnō-ji incident and it is not certain whether Nobunaga was killed in the attack or else committed seppuku. The motivations behind Mitsuhides betrayal was never revealed to anyone who survived the incident, following the incident, Akechi Mitsuhide declared himself master over Nobunagas domains, but was quickly defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who regained control of and greatly expanded the Oda holdings. Oda Nobunaga was born on June 23,1534, in the Owari domain and he was the second son of Oda Nobuhide, a deputy shugo with land holdings in Owari Province. He is said to have born in Nagoya Castle, although this is subject to debate. Through his childhood and early years, he was well known for his bizarre behavior. He was known to run around with other youths from the area, with the introduction of firearms into Japan, however, he became known for his fondness of tanegashima firearms. In 1551, Oda Nobuhide died unexpectedly, Nobunaga was said to have acted outrageously during his funeral, throwing ceremonial incense at the altar. This convinced many Oda retainers of Nobunagas mediocrity and lack of discipline, alienated, they then began to side with his soft-spoken and well-mannered brother, Nobuyuki. Hirate Masahide, a mentor and retainer to Nobunaga, was ashamed by Nobunagas behavior. This had an effect on Nobunaga, who later built a temple to honor Masahide. Although Nobunaga was Nobuhides legitimate successor, the Oda clan was divided into factions. Oda Nobutomo, the deceased Nobuhides brother and deputy to the shugo, used the weak Yoshimune as his puppet, Nobutomo murdered Yoshimune when it was discovered that he supported and attempted to aid Nobunaga. This also ensured that the Imagawa clan would have to stop attacking Owaris borders, although Nobuyuki and his supporters were still at large, Nobunaga brought an army to Mino Province to aid Saitō Dōsan after Dōsans son, Saitō Yoshitatsu, turned against him. The campaign failed, as Dōsan was killed in the Battle of Nagara-gawa, a few months later Nobuyuki, with support from Shibata Katsuie and Hayashi Hidesada, rebelled against Nobunaga
7.
Maeda Matsu
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Maeda Matsu, also known as Omatsu no Kata, was a Japanese woman of the 16th century. She was the wife of Maeda Toshiie, who founded the Kaga Domain, Matsu had a reputation for intelligence, she was skilled at both literary and martial arts. Her sons — Toshinaga, Toshimasa, Toshitsune, Toshitaka, and Toshitoyo – were each allowed the title of daimyō and she also had four daughters, Kō, Maahime, Gōhime and Chiyo. Actress Matsushima Nanako acted as Maeda Matsu in NHK Taiga drama Toshiie to Matsu in 2002, in the TV mini-series Tenchijin, one of her sons sells her to Tokugawa Ieyasu in order to live
8.
Japanese name
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Japanese names in modern times usually consist of a family name, followed by a given name. More than one name is not generally used. Japanese names are written in kanji, which are characters usually Chinese in origin. The kanji for a name may have a variety of possible Japanese pronunciations, Names written in hiragana or katakana are phonetic renderings, and so lack the visual meaning of names expressed in the logographic kanji. Japanese family names are extremely varied, according to estimates, there are over 100,000 different surnames in use today in Japan, the three most common family names in Japan are Satō, Suzuki, and Takahashi. Many Japanese family names derive from features of the landscape, for example, Ishikawa means stone river, Yamamoto means the base of the mountain. While family names follow relatively consistent rules, given names are more diverse in pronunciation. Unusual pronunciations have especially become common, with this trend having increased significantly since the 1990s, male names often end in -rō or -ta, or contain ichi, kazu, ji, or dai while female names often end in -ko or -mi. Other popular endings for female names include -ka and -na, the majority of Japanese people have one surname and one given name with no other names, except for the Japanese imperial family, whose members bear no surname. The family name – myōji, uji or sei – precedes the given name, the given name may be referred to as the lower name because, in vertically written Japanese, the given name appears under the family name. People with mixed Japanese and foreign parentage may have middle names, historically, myōji, uji and sei had different meanings. Sei was originally the patrilineal surname which is why up till now it has granted only by the emperor as a title of male rank. The lower form of the name sei being tei which is a name in Japanese men. Although there was an ancestor in ancient Japan from whom the name Sei originally came. There were relatively few sei, and most of the noble clans trace their lineage either directly to these sei or to the courtiers of these sei. Uji was another name used to designate patrilineal descent, but later merged with myōji around the same time, myōji was, simply, what a family chooses to call itself, as opposed to the sei granted by the emperor. While it was passed on patrilineally in male ancestors including in male ancestors called haku, multiple Japanese characters have the same pronunciations, so several Japanese names have multiple meanings. A particular kanji itself can have multiple meanings and pronunciations, in some names, Japanese characters phonetically spell a name and have no intended meaning behind them
9.
Sengoku period
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The Sengoku period is a period in Japanese history marked by social upheaval, political intrigue and near-constant military conflict. Japanese historians named it after the otherwise unrelated Warring States period in China and it came to an end when all political power was unified under the Tokugawa shogunate. In the years preceding this era the Shogunate gradually lost influence, many of these Lords began to fight uncontrollably with each other for control over land and influence over the shogunate. As trade with China grew, the developed, and the use of money became widespread as markets. This, combined with developments in agriculture and small-scale trading, led to the desire for local autonomy throughout all levels of the social hierarchy. As early as the beginning of the 15th century, the caused by earthquakes and famines often served to trigger armed uprisings by farmers weary of debt. The Ōnin War, a conflict rooted in economic distress and brought on by a dispute over succession, is generally regarded as the onset of the Sengoku period. The eastern army of the Hosokawa family and its allies clashed with the army of the Yamana. Fighting in and around Kyoto lasted for nearly 11 years, leaving the city almost completely destroyed, the conflict in Kyoto then spread to outlying provinces. The period culminated with a series of three warlords, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, who gradually unified Japan, after Tokugawa Ieyasus final victory at the siege of Osaka in 1615, Japan settled down into several centuries of peace under the Tokugawa Shogunate. The Ōnin War in 1467 is usually considered the point of Sengoku period. There are several events which could be considered the end of it, The Siege of Odawara, the Battle of Sekigahara, the upheaval resulted in the further weakening of central authority, and throughout Japan regional lords, called daimyōs, rose to fill the vacuum. There were many, however, whose positions eroded and were usurped by more capable underlings. One of the earliest instances of this was Hōjō Sōun, who rose from humble origins. Building on the accomplishments of Sōun, the Late Hōjō clan remained a power in the Kantō region until its subjugation by Toyotomi Hideyoshi late in the Sengoku period. Well-organized religious groups also gained power at this time by uniting farmers in resistance. The monks of the Buddhist True Pure Land sect formed numerous Ikkō-ikki and this in turn provided Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who had risen through the ranks from ashigaru to become one of Odas most trusted generals, with the opportunity to establish himself as Odas successor. Toyotomi eventually consolidated his control over the remaining daimyōs and, although he was ineligible for the title of Seii Taishogun because of his common birth, during his short reign as Kampaku, Toyotomi attempted two invasions of Korea
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Media related to Maeda Toshinaga at Wikimedia Commons
1st (Maeda) daimyō of Kaga