This battle was at the end of the Sengoku period i.e. the warring states period. It was the largest and one of the most significant battles in Japanese Feudal history.
It transformed the trajectory of Japanese history and its relations with the rest of the world.
The Sengoku period was a turbulent time with the various feudal samurai lords trying to muster control over the nation of Japan. It saw many bloody conflicts and the rise of the notorious Nobunaga of whom many Japan fantatics are aware.
Nobunaga was a brutal samurai/bushi whom oversaw campaigns of utter brutality. Although, he is revered and renowned for his sense of justice. Nobunaga was an exceptionally brilliant fighter with a sense of equality and liberty. Despite his ruthless killings of the Buddhists and Christians alike. He despised religion on the whole but could see its merit. What he feared was how religion creates a parochialism a gang mentality if you will.
He massacred Christians and Buddhists alike. As, their inward looking gang mentality created a barrier to the homogeneous society he envisaged. The society as one!
Nobunaga died shortly before this Battle of which we speak at what is known as the Honno- ji incident.
The Honno- ji incident saw the formidable subordinate of Nobunaga rise to power his name Akechi Mitsuhide.
Mituhide it is said had unnkown reasons for the attempted assanation of Nobunaga reasons include a personal insult, Nobunagas brutality and less prominent is the ntion that Nobunaga asked him to assainate him if he ever felt that his moral code was in falter.
The later is something of an urban myth so too the notion of the insult in public. The first reason is prominent but ultimately there is no conclusive agreement on the matter.
Nobunaga and his son committed seppuku/suicide by the samurais second sword.
Alongside, Nobinaga was an African slave whom had been freed by Nobunaga as under Nobunaga no man nor woman should ever be slaves. The whereabouts of Yasuke the African samurai was never known but it is known that he fought to give Nobunaga the time he needed to die in a way that is perceived by the contemporaries of the time in a valiant way.
Fear not reader for justice served to sweep Mitsuhide a valiant samurai warrior from peasant blood named Toyotomi Hideyoshi served justice.
In the Battle of Yamazaki.
Incidentally, there was so much shame upon Mitsuhide the person whom attempted to assassinate Nobunaga that his daughter too committed seppuku claiming her Father was abhorrent in her final breath.
This was shortly before the battle of which he met justice from a peasant samurai whom was allowed to rise in the ranks of Nobunagas army due to two key factors Nobunagas sense of parity and his brilliant swordsmanship and dutiful and tactical mind.
This all leading to the Battle of Sekigahara and the end of the warring states.
There is a famous saying in Japan that gives clarity to the three most prominent Samurai leaders of the time.
Nobunaga “鳴かぬなら、殺してしまえほととぎす: If a bird doesn’t sing, kill it.”
Hideyoshi “鳴かぬなら、鳴かして見せようほととぎす: If a bird doesn’t sing, make it.”
Tokugawa “鳴かぬなら、鳴くまで待とうほととぎす: If a bird doesn’t sing, wait for it.”
This is a cultural perspective and not an actual quote but it epitomises their personality types in the consciousness of their contemporaries and indeed in Japan today among scholars and the average Joe alike.
And, so, Tokugawa and his peaceful and tactful biding of time resulted in many formidable samurai lords defecting from the side of Hideyoshi. Not to mention undertones of Hideyoshi’s bloodline being one of a mere foot soldier.
Notably, this was too one of the first battles to see a large amount of guns used in the process of battle. Though we must remember the guns of that time were not effective in comparison to now.
Th blood onslaught was horrific it was catastrophic in cost of human life yet it ushered in 3 centuries of peace and unity among the peoples of Japan.
It ushered in a ruler whom was fearful of Catholicism and in a wider sense Christianity. So, too was Tokugawa an advocate for equality among men. He even had Gaijin(foreigners) as Samurai advisors and gave prominent postion to a British man. One William Adams. Whom helped build and design ships for a short lived expansionist campaign into Korea. Shortly before the closing of Japans borders the exclusion of christianity and the start of the era of isolationaism. In which only one port in the whole of Japan was open to the outside world. (The port in the region I live)
This move entrenched Japanese identity and formed the foundation of a unique and beautiful culture.
While other nations were melding and integrating Japan was forming unique cultural traditions and indeed seeing them protected in this era.
Feudal Japan became once more united the end of the Sengoku period the transition of power brought in a new era of peace and some interesting methods of retaining it, another aspect we will look at in future pieces.
I hope you enjoyed this insight. Although, this piece is not referenced beyond the quote of the leaders which has considerable notoriety. I hope to reference this in the future and I welcome any criticism in terms of barriers to understanding and any facts or areas of clarity that I need to develop. In terms of the strategic battle movements of Sekigahara I will consider doing a blog in the future however for now I just want to cover the knock on affects of the period leading up to it and after.
I hope to one day publish a book and this is me laying the foundation for that.
Thank you for your time have a good day.
I hope you found it an interesting journey.