Samurai in 100 Objects by Stephen Turnbull

Author:Stephen Turnbull
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books
Published: 2017-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

50

The Bloody Ceiling of the Hōsen-In

宝泉院の血天井

The ceiling of the Hōsen-In in Ōhara near Kyōto was once the floor of a castle’s keep, and the dark stains, blackened with age, come from blood shed during a mass act of ritual suicide in the year 1600.

The incident came about following the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1598. Japan had split once again into warring factions. On one side were the supporters of Hideyoshi’s infant heir. On the other was Tokugawa Ieyasu. In 1600 conflict started between the two sides and Ieyasu was soon forced to move north to deal with a threat to the Tokugawa lands from rivals in Tōhoku. It was very important to each side that the strategic castles they owned should be retained and rival castles captured, and the most important of these was the Tokugawa possession of Fushimi to the south of Kyoto.

The siege of Fushimi proved to be one of the most decisive actions of the campaign that finished with the battle of Sekigahara. It was under the overall control of Torii Mototada and among the garrison were over 100 samurai from Kōka in Ōmi Province. No impression was made upon the fiercely defended fortress so Natsuka Masaie, lord of the castle of Minakuchi, seized the wives and children of two of the Kōka samurai while their menfolk were absent.

An arrow letter was loosed into Fushimi, informing them that if they cooperated by setting fire to the castle they and their followers would be richly rewarded. If they refused their wives and children would be crucified.

In order to save them the wretched men agreed. They persuaded forty of their followers to join them, set fire to a tower and took down a section of the wall. The enemy broke in and after much desperate fighting Fushimi fell with a huge loss of life including all of the Kōka contingent who had still remained loyal. They had however inflicted considerable losses upon their enemies and also bought precious time that Ieyasu was able to exploit at the decisive battle of Sekigahara.

Torii Mototada did his heroic best to save the castle after treachery had betrayed it. Eventually, with his followers reduced to ten, he sat down on a step to rest for a moment from his exertions. When an enemy samurai challenged him Mototada announced his identity and the assailant waited respectfully to take his head while Mototada and his followers committed suicide. Greater respect was shown later, because the floor on which they committed seppuku was now soaked in their blood with red hand prints that spoke of the tragedy. After the battle of Sekigahara the floor was carefully removed and sections from it now form part of three ‘bloody ceilings’ at temples around Kyōto.

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