Ashikaga Yoshiharu
Ashikaga Yoshiharu was the twelfth shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate who held the reins of supreme power from 1521 through 1546 during the late Muromachi period of Japan. He was the son of the eleventh shōgun Ashikaga Yoshizumi, his childhood name was Kameomaru. May 1, 1521: After the tenth shogun Ashikaga Yoshitane and Hosokawa Takakuni struggled for power over the shogunate and Yoshitane withdrew to Awaji Island, the way was clear for Minamoto-no Yoshiharu to be installed as shogun. 1521: Yoshiharu enters Kyoto. 1526: Shōgun Yoshiharu invited archers from neighboring provinces to come to the capital for an archery contest. Not having any political power and being forced out of the capital of Kyoto, Yoshiharu retired in 1546 over a political struggle between Miyoshi Nagayoshi and Hosokawa Harumoto making his son Ashikaga Yoshiteru the thirteenth shogun. May 20, 1550: Yoshiharu died.1568: Supported by Oda Nobunaga, his son Ashikaga Yoshiaki became the fifteenth shogun. From a western perspective, Yoshiharu is significant, as he was shogun in 1542, when the first contact of Japan with the European West took place.
A Portuguese ship, blown off its course to China, landed in Japan. Father: Ashikaga Yoshizumi Mother: Hino Akiko Wife: Keijuin, Concubines: Oodate Tsuneoki's daughter Children: Ashikaga Yoshiaki by Keijuin Ashikaga Yoshiteru by Keijuin Ashikaga Shuko Shiratori Yoshihisa daughter married Takeda Yoshimune daughter married Miyoshi Yoshitsugu daughter married Karasume Kosen Nun in Hyokoji temple Significant events shape the period during which Yoshiharu was shōgun: 1521 – Hosokawa Takakuni has Yoshiharu appointed shōgun. 1526 – Kasai rebels, Miyoshi rebels: Go-Nara succeeds. 1528 – Yoshiharu driven out by Miyoshi Nagamoto. 1533 – Ikkō rebellion. 1536 – Go-Nara enthroned. 1538 – Dissension in Koga Kubō's family. 1546 – Yoshiharu flees to Ōmi. The years in which Yoshiharu was shōgun are more identified by more than one era name or nengō. Daiei Kyōroku Tenbun Ackroyd, Joyce. Lessons from History: The Tokushi Yoron. Brisbane: University of Queensland Press. ISBN 9780702214851. Nihon Ōdai Ichiran. Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.
OCLC 585069
Ashikaga Yoshiteru
Ashikaga Yoshiteru known as Yoshifushi or Yoshifuji, was the 13th shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1546 to 1565 during the late Muromachi period of Japan. He was the eldest son of Ashikaga Yoshiharu; when he became shogun in 1546 at age 11, Yoshiteru's name was Yoshifushi. His childhood name was Kikubemaru, his younger brother Ashikaga Yoshiaki became the fifteenth shōgun. Father: Ashikaga Yoshiharu Mother: Keijuin Wife: daughter of Konoe Taneie Concubines: Kojiju no Tsubone Karasumaru-dono Children: Teruwakamaru nun in Kyokoji temple nun in Kyokoji temple Ashikaga Yoshitaka Oike Yoshitatsu by Karasumaru-dono After his father, was forced to retire in 1546 over a political struggle with Hosokawa Harumoto, Yoshiteru became Sei-i Taishōgun, albeit a puppet shōgun like his father. Yoshiteru was only 11 at the time and his investiture ceremony was held at Sakamoto, Ōmi Province, outside Kyoto. Yoshiteru had been confirmed as shōgun when his father Yoshiharu made a truce with Harumoto to return to Kyoto.
Yet, Harumoto's retainer Miyoshi Nagayoshi parted with Harumoto to take the side of Hosokawa Ujitsuna and the two Hosokawa started a war that drove out Yoshiteru, his father Yoshiharu, Harumoto as well, from Kyoto. In 1550, Yoshiharu died in Ōmi. In 1552, Yoshiteru made a peace with Nagayoshi to return to Kyoto. However, the next year and Harumoto started a war against Nagayoshi to remove his influence. With the help of Rokkaku Yoshikata, the war went well for Yoshiteru but he was driven out of Kyoto again in 1558 with a counterattack from Nagayoshi. Nagayoshi did not press on after the victory to kill Yoshiteru for fear of being accused of killing a shogun, instead signed a truce to have Yoshiteru back in Kyoto under his influence. Nagayoshi continued with Yoshiteru nothing more than a rubber stamp. Significant events shaped the period during which Yoshiteru was shōgun: 1550 – Yoshiharu dies in exile. 1551 – Sue Harukata rebels against Ōuchi Yoshitaka. 1552 – Yoshiteru returns to Kyoto, actual power being held by Miyoshi Nagayoshi and Matsunaga Hisahide.
1554–1564 – Ōuchi's retainer Mōri Motonari succeeds him and consolidates his power. 1557 – Ōgimachi succeeds. 1558 – Nagayoshi drives out Yoshiteru who, however, is reinstated. 1560 – Oda Nobunaga slays Imagawa Yoshimoto. 1564 – Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen reach a stalemate at Kawanakajima after continuous battles, checking each other's power.. 1565 – Matsunaga Danjo Hisahide invades Kyoto. Surrounded by daimyōs who intended only to use the authority of shogun for their own good, Yoshiteru still managed to reaffirm the shōgun's authority by active diplomacy that extended to every part of Japan. By trying to negotiate a peace between such well-known daimyōs as Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin, Shimazu Takahisa, Ōtomo Yoshishige, Mōri Motonari, Amago Haruhisa, the shogun's authority was again recognized by various daimyōs. Lacking resources, Yoshiteru saw opportunities to assign his kanji "輝" on various samurai such as Mōri Terumoto to become something close to a godfather. Yoshiteru was well respected for his actions and many researchers credit him as being the last effective shōgun to hold the post.
Oda Nobunaga and Uesugi Kenshin were among the many daimyōs and samurai who travelled to Kyoto to pay their respects to the shōgun. In 1564, Nagayoshi died of illness and Yoshiteru saw an opportunity to reclaim the shōgun's authority. However, Matsunaga Danjo Hisahide and the three member council of Miyoshi, the Miyoshi Triumvirs, who wanted to rule just as Nagayoshi had, were willing to go to any lengths to remove Yoshiteru from the power and to have Ashikaga Yoshihide as the puppet shōgun. In 1565, Matsunaga Danjo Hisahide and Miyoshi Yoshitsugu laid siege against a collection of buildings where Yoshiteru lived. With no help arriving in time from the daimyōs that could have supported him and the few troops under him were overrun by Miyoshi. Jesuit missionary Father Luís Fróis, in his account of the overthrow of Ashikaga Yoshiteru, wrote about the strong sexual love relationship between Yoshiteru and his squire, Odachidono; such homosexual love relationships were common in the world of samurais, where relationships between knights and their squires were infused with an idealism in which romance and valour in battle were linked.
According to Father Fróis, the shōgun's squire, Odachidono, "fought so valiantly and with such intrepid spirit that all the rebels started to shout out that he should not be killed, but that he should be taken alive. Nonetheless, seeing his master die, believing it a great dishonour to survive him, the youth threw away his sword, pulling out his dagger, he cut open his throat and his belly, he killed himself by lying down flat with the dagger in his belly."Three years passed before his cousin Ashikaga Yoshihide became the fourteenth shōgun. Because of his inner strength and the katana skills that he was known to have practiced Yoshiteru was called the "Kengo shōgun" and was closer to being a samurai and a warlord than any shōgun since Ashikaga Takauji. One of his sword-fighting instructors was Tsukahara Bokuden, the founder of Kashima Shintō-ryū, his governance was credited but to have been killed in spite of his efforts destroyed what little recognition and authority Yo
Kenjutsu
Kenjutsu is the umbrella term for all schools of the Japanese swordsmanship, in particular those that predate the Meiji Restoration. The modern styles of kendo and iaido that were established in the 20th century included modern form of kenjutsu in their curriculum, too. Kenjutsu, which originated with the samurai class of feudal Japan, means "the method, technique or the art of the sword." This is opposed to kendo, which means "the way of the sword" and uses bamboo swords and protective armour. The exact activities and conventions undertaken when practicing kenjutsu vary from school to school, where the word school here refers to the practice, methods and metaphysics of a given tradition, yet include practice of battlefield techniques without an opponent and techniques whereby two practitioners perform kata. Although kata training was always the mainstay, in periods, schools incorporated sparring under a variety of conditions, from using solid wooden bokutō to use of bamboo sword and armor.
In modern times sparring in Japanese martial art is more associated with kendo and is practiced by students or the police force. Although kendo is common in Japan, it is practiced in other countries around the world, it is thought that the first iron swords were manufactured in Japan in the fourth century, based on technology imported from China via the Korean peninsula. While swords played an important cultural and religious role in ancient Japan, in the Heian period the globally recognised curved Japanese sword was developed and swords became important weapons and symbolic items; the oldest schools in existence today arose in the Muromachi period, known for long periods of inter-state warfare. Three major schools emerged during this period. Kage-ryū Chūjō-ryū Tenshin Shōden Katori Shintō-ryūThese schools form the ancestors for many descendent styles, for example, from Ittō ryū has branched Ono-ha Ittō ryū and Mizoguchi-ha Ittō-ryū. On the island of Okinawa, the art of Udundi includes a unique method of both Iaijutsu.
This is the only surviving sword system from Okinawa. It was the martial art of the noble Motobu family during the Ryukyu Kingdom. During the Edo period schools proliferated to number more than 500, training techniques and equipment advanced; the 19th century led to the development of the bamboo practice sword, the shinai, protective armor, bogu. This allowed practice of full speed techniques in sparring, while reducing risk of serious harm to the practitioner. Before this, training in Kenjutsu had consisted of basic technique practice and paired kata, using solid wooden practice swords or live blades. Beginning in 1868, the Meiji Restoration led to the breakup of the military class and the modernization of Japan along the lines of western industrial nations; as the samurai class was dissolved at this time, kenjutsu fell into decline, an unpopular reminder of the past. This decline continued for 20 years, until rising national confidence led to an increase of the uptake of traditional sword arts again in the military and the police.
In 1886 the Japanese Police gathered together kata from a variety of kenjutsu schools into a standardised set for training purposes. This process of standardization of martial training continued when, in 1895, a body for martial arts in Japan, the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai, was established. Work on standardizing kenjutsu kata continued for years, with several groups involved until in 1912 an edict was released by the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai; this edict highlighted a lack of unity in teaching and introduced a standard core teaching curriculum to which the individual kenjutsu schools would add their distinctive techniques. This core curriculum, its ten kata evolved into the modern martial art of kendo; this point could be regarded as the end of the development of Kendo. Kata was provided for the unification of many schools to enable them to pass on the techniques and spirit of the Japanese sword. With the increasing interest in Japanese martial arts outside Japan during the 20th century, people in other countries started taking an interest in kenjutsu.
One of the more common training weapons is the wooden sword. For various reasons, many schools make use of specifically designed bokuto, altering its shape and length according to the style's specifications. For example, bokuto used within Yagyū Shinkage-ryū are thin and without a handguard in order to match the school's characteristic approach to combat. Alternatively, Kashima Shin-ryū practitioners use a thicker than average bokuto with no curvature and with a rather large hilt; this of course lends itself well to Kashima Shin-ryū's distinct principles of combat. Some schools practice with fukuro shinai under circumstances where the student lacks the ability to safely control a bokuto at full speed or as a general safety precaution. In fact, the fukuro shinai dates as far back as the 15th century. A distinguishing feature of many kenjutsu syllabi is the use of a paired katana or daitō and wakizashi or shōtō referred to as nitōjutsu. Styles that teach it are called nitōryū; the most famous exponent of nitōjutsu was Miyamoto Musashi, the founder of Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū, who advocates it in The Book of Five Rings.
Nitōjutsu was nitōjutsu the creation of Musashi. Both Tenshin Shōden Katori Shinto-ryū were founde
Emperor of Japan
The Emperor of Japan is the head of the Imperial Family and the head of state of Japan. Under the 1947 constitution, he is defined as "the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people." He was the highest authority of the Shinto religion. In Japanese, the Emperor is called Tennō "heavenly sovereign". In English, the use of the term Mikado for the Emperor was once common, but is now considered obsolete; the Emperor of Japan is the only head of state in the world with the English title of "Emperor". The Imperial House of Japan is the oldest continuing monarchical house in the world; the historical origins of the Emperors lie in the late Kofun period of the 3rd–7th centuries AD, but according to the traditional account of the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, Japan was founded in 660 BC by Emperor Jimmu, said to be a direct descendant of the sun-goddess Amaterasu. The current Emperor is Akihito, he acceded to the Chrysanthemum Throne upon the death of his father, Emperor Shōwa, in 1989. The Japanese government announced in December 2017 that Akihito will abdicate on 30 April 2019.
The role of the Emperor of Japan has alternated between a ceremonial symbolic role and that of an actual imperial ruler. Since the establishment of the first shogunate in 1199, the Emperors of Japan have taken on a role as supreme battlefield commander, unlike many Western monarchs. Japanese Emperors have nearly always been controlled by external political forces, to varying degrees. In fact, between 1192 and 1867, the shōguns, or their shikken regents in Kamakura, were the de facto rulers of Japan, although they were nominally appointed by the Emperor. After the Meiji Restoration in 1867, the Emperor was the embodiment of all sovereign power in the realm, as enshrined in the Meiji Constitution of 1889. Since the enactment of the 1947 Constitution, he has been a ceremonial head of state without nominal political powers. Since the mid-nineteenth century, the Imperial Palace has been called Kyūjō Kōkyo, is on the former site of Edo Castle in the heart of Tokyo. Earlier, Emperors resided in Kyoto for nearly eleven centuries.
The Emperor's Birthday is a national holiday. Unlike most constitutional monarchs, the Emperor is not the nominal chief executive. Article 65 explicitly vests executive power in the Cabinet, of which the Prime Minister is the leader; the Emperor is not the commander-in-chief of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. The Japan Self-Defense Forces Act of 1954 explicitly vests this role with the Prime Minister; the Emperor's powers are limited only to important ceremonial functions. Article 4 of the Constitution stipulates that the Emperor "shall perform only such acts in matters of state as are provided for in the Constitution and he shall not have powers related to government." It stipulates that "the advice and approval of the Cabinet shall be required for all acts of the Emperor in matters of state". Article 4 states that these duties can be delegated by the Emperor as provided for by law. While the Emperor formally appoints the Prime Minister to office, Article 6 of the Constitution requires him to appoint the candidate "as designated by the Diet", without giving the Emperor the right to decline appointment.
Article 6 of the Constitution delegates the Emperor the following ceremonial roles: Appointment of the Prime Minister as designated by the Diet. Appointment of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as designated by the Cabinet; the Emperor's other duties are laid down in article 7 of the Constitution, where it is stated that "the Emperor, with the advice and approval of the Cabinet, shall perform the following acts in matters of state on behalf of the people." In practice, all of these duties are exercised only in accordance with the binding instructions of the Cabinet: Promulgation of amendments of the constitution, cabinet orders, treaties. Convocation of the Diet. Dissolution of the House of Representatives. Proclamation of general election of members of the Diet. Attestation of the appointment and dismissal of Ministers of State and other officials as provided for by law, of full powers and credentials of Ambassadors and Ministers. Attestation of general and special amnesty, commutation of punishment and restoration of rights.
Awarding of honors. Attestation of instruments of ratification and other diplomatic documents as provided for by law. Receiving foreign ambassadors and ministers. Performance of ceremonial functions. Regular ceremonies of the Emperor with a constitutional basis are the Imperial Investitures in the Tokyo Imperial Palace and the Speech from the Throne ceremony in the House of Councillors in the National Diet Building; the latter ceremony opens extra sessions of the Diet. Ordinary sessions are opened each January and after new elections to the House of Representatives. Extra sessions convene in the autumn and are opened then. Although the Emperor has been a symbol of continuity with the past, the degree of power exercised by the Emperor has varied throughout Japanese history. In the early 7th century, the Emperor had begun to be called the "Son of Heaven"; the title of Emperor was borrowed from China, being derived from Chinese characters and was retroactively applied to the legendary Japanese rulers who reigned before the 7th–8th centuries AD.
According to the traditional account of the Nihon Shoki, Japan was founded by Emperor Jimmu in 660 BC. Modern historians agree that the Emperors before the possible late 3rd century AD ruler known traditionally as Emperor Ōjin are legendary. Emperor Ank
Daimyō
The daimyō were powerful Japanese feudal lords who, until their decline in the early Meiji period, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. In the term, dai means "large", myō stands for myōden, meaning private land. Subordinate to the shōgun, nominally to the Emperor and the kuge, daimyō were powerful feudal rulers from the 10th century to the middle 19th century in Japan. From the Shugo of the Muromachi period through the Sengoku to the daimyō of the Edo period, the rank had a long and varied history; the backgrounds of daimyō varied considerably. The term daimyō sometimes refers to the leading figures of such clans called "Lord", it was though not from these warlords that a shōgun arose or a regent was chosen. Daimyō hired samurai to guard their land and they paid the samurai in land or food as few could afford to pay samurai in money; the daimyō era ended soon after the Meiji Restoration with the adoption of the prefecture system in 1871. The shugo daimyō were the first group of men to hold the title daimyō.
They arose from among the shugo during the Muromachi period. The shugo-daimyō held not only military and police powers, but economic power within a province, they accumulated these powers throughout the first decades of the Muromachi period. Major shugo-daimyō came from the Shiba and Hosokawa clans, as well as the tozama clans of Yamana, Ōuchi, Akamatsu; the greatest ruled multiple provinces. The Ashikaga shogunate required the shugo-daimyō to reside in Kyoto, so they appointed relatives or retainers, called shugodai, to represent them in their home provinces; some of these in turn came to reside in Kyoto, appointing deputies in the provinces. The Ōnin War was a major uprising. During this and other wars of the time, kuni ikki, or provincial uprisings, took place as locally powerful warriors sought independence from the shugo-daimyō; the deputies of the shugo-daimyō, living in the provinces, seized the opportunity to strengthen their position. At the end of the fifteenth century, those shugo-daimyō who succeeded remained in power.
Those who had failed to exert control over their deputies fell from power and were replaced by a new class, the sengoku-daimyō, who arose from the ranks of the shugodai and ji-samurai. Among the sengoku daimyō were many, shugo-daimyō, such as the Satake, Takeda, Rokkaku, Ōuchi, Shimazu. New to the ranks of the daimyō were the Asakura, Nagao, Miyoshi, Chōsokabe, Jimbō, Hatano and Matsunaga; these came from the ranks of their deputies. Additional sengoku-daimyō such as the Mōri, Ryūzōji arose from the ji-samurai; the lower officials of the shogunate and rōnin, provincial officials, kuge gave rise to sengoku-daimyō. The Battle of Sekigahara in the year 1600 marked the beginning of the Edo period. Shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu reorganized 200 daimyō and their territories into han, which were assessed by rice production; those heading han assessed at 10,000 koku or more were considered daimyō. Ieyasu categorized the daimyō according to their relation to the ruling Tokugawa family: the shinpan were related to the Tokugawa.
The shinpan were collaterals of Ieyasu, such as the Matsudaira, or descendants of Ieyasu other than in the main line of succession. Several shinpan, including the Tokugawa of Owari and Mito, as well as the Matsudaira of Fukui and Aizu, held large han. A few fudai daimyō, such as the Ii of Hikone, held large han; the shogunate placed many fudai at strategic locations to guard the trade routes and the approaches to Edo. Many fudai daimyō took positions in the Edo shogunate, some rising to the position of rōjū; the fact that fudai daimyō could hold government positions while tozama in general, could not was a main difference between the two. Tozama daimyō held large fiefs far away from the capital, with e.g. the Kaga han of Ishikawa Prefecture, headed by the Maeda clan, assessed at 1,000,000 koku. Other famous tozama clans included the Mori of Chōshū, the Shimazu of Satsuma, the Date of Sendai, the Uesugi of Yonezawa, the Hachisuka of Awa; the Tokugawa regarded them as rebellious, but for most of the Edo period, marriages between the Tokugawa and the tozama, as well as control policies such as sankin-kōtai, resulted in peaceful relations.
Daimyō were required to maintain residences in Edo as well as their fiefs, to move periodically between Edo and their fiefs spending alternate years in each place, in a practice called sankin-kōtai. In 1869, the year after the Meiji Restoration, the daimyō, together with the kuge, formed a new aristocracy, the kazoku. In 1871, the han were abolished and prefectures were established, thus ending the daimyō era in Japan. In the wake of this change, many daimyō remained in control of their lands, being appointed as prefectural governors. Despite this, members of former daimyō families remained prominent in government and society, in some cases continue to re
Battle of Mikatagahara
The Battle of Mikatagahara was one of the most famous battles of Takeda Shingen's campaigns, one of the best demonstrations of his cavalry-based tactics. It was one of Tokugawa Ieyasu's worst defeats, complete disaster was only narrowly averted. According to the Japanese calendar, the battle was fought on the 22nd day of the 12th month of the 3rd year of Genki. In October 1572, after having concluded alliances with his rivals to the east, after waiting for the snow to close off the northern mountain passes against his northern rival, Uesugi Kenshin, Takeda Shingen led an army of 30,000 men south from his capital of Kōfu into Tōtōmi Province, while Yamagata Masakage led a second force of 5,000 men into eastern Mikawa Province, they captured Yoshida Castle and Futamata Castle. Shingen was opposed by Tokugawa Ieyasu, based at Hamamatsu Castle with 8,000 men, plus an additional 3,000 reinforcements received from his ally, Oda Nobunaga. However, Takeda's intent was not to attack Ieyasu. Against the advice provided by Sakuma Nobumori, Hiraide Norihide and Takigawa Kazumasu, sent by Nobunaga, by his own generals, Ogasawara Nagayoshi, Matsudaira Ietada, Honda Tadakatsu, Sakai Tadatsugu, Ishikawa Kazumasa, Ieyasu refused to allow the Takeda to pass through his territory unhindered, drew up his forces on a high plain called Mikatagahara, just north of Hamamatsu.
According to the Kōyō Gunkan, the contemporary Takeda military history, Shingen outnumbered Ieyasu three-to-one, organized his men in the gyorin formation, enticing his opponent to attack. Ieyasu's troops were arranged in a line. Oyamada Nobushige was followed by Naitō Masatoyo and Yamagata Masakage; the third line was commanded by Obata Masamori, while Baba Nobuharu was in the fourth. At around four in the afternoon, snow began to fall, the arquebusiers opened fire, along with a number of peasant stone-throwers. Firearms, being new to Japanese warfare, were an unbalancing factor and Ieyasu may have expected his superior weaponry to defeat Shingen's tactical attempts. Naitō Masatoyo attacked Honda Tadakatsu. However, Shingen let loose his famous cavalry charge; the Tokugawa forces stood firm on the left flank despite many casualties, the allies provided by Nobunaga were overwhelmed, with Hiraide Norihide killed, Takigawa and Sakuma fleeing the battle. Shingen withdrew his forward troops, offering them an opportunity to rest, brought forward a new set of horsemen, initiating a new charge led by Takeda Katsuyori and Obata Masamori, with Saegusa Moritomo leading a 50-man cavalry charge.
They were soon joined by the main body of the Takeda army, which drove the Tokugawa into full retreat. Ieyasu sent one of his commanders, Ōkubo Tadayo, to plant his giant golden fan standard to serve as a rallying point at Saigadake, where the high plains began to drop off, he sought to re-engage the Takeda army, to free his trapped general Mizuno Tadashige, but was persuaded by Natsume Yoshinobu to retreat. Yoshinobu led a charge into the Takeda line, was killed. Other notable samurai sacrifices were made by Naruse Masayoshi, Toyama Kosaku, Endo Ukon; when Tokugawa returned to Hamamatsu Castle, he was accompanied by only five men. The town was on verge of panic as rumor had reached Hamamatsu that the battle had gone badly. Ieyasu commanded that the castle gates remain open, that braziers be lit to guide his retreating army back to safety. Sakai Tadatsugu beat a large war drum, seeking to add encouragement to the returning men of a noble, courageous retreat; when the Takeda vanguard, led by Baba Nobuharu and Yamagata Masakage heard the drums, saw the braziers and open gates, they assumed that Tokugawa was planning a trap, so they stopped and made camp for the night.
In the night, a small band of about one hundred Tokugawa foot soldiers and 16 matchlock gunners led by Ōkubo Tadayo and Amano Yasukage attacked the Takeda camp, throwing the vanguard of the Takeda army into confusion. Uncertain of the remaining strength of the Tokugawa forces, worried that reinforcements from Oda Nobunaga and/or Uesugi Kenshin were on their way, Takeda Shingen decided to withdraw his forces back to his own territories and to try again the following year. However, for Shingen, there would be no following attack on Hamamatsu, as he would be fatally wounded in January 1573 at the Siege of Noda Castle. Sadler, A. L; the Maker of Modern Japan: The Life of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. Olympia Press ISBN 1-60872-111-6
Media related to Takeda Katsuyori at Wikimedia Commons
