War in Japan by Stephen Turnbull

Author:Stephen Turnbull [Turnbull, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472851208
Published: 2022-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

In this detail from a modern copy in Nakatsu Castle of the famous painted screen of the battle of Nagashino, Oda Nobunaga is shown advancing to the attack.

Uesugi Kenshin receives his generals in a maku (curtained field headquarters) at Nanao. Kenshin wears a monk’s headdress.

Nobunaga’s final campaign was conducted against Iga Province in 1581 and was a particularly savage affair. Oda Nobukatsu, Nobunaga’s heir who had been adopted into the Kitabatake family of Ise, had made an attempt to conquer Iga in 1579 but was driven back by surprise attacks, during which one of his leading generals was killed. Furious at the reversal, Nobunaga sent five armies into Iga from different directions. The defenders were unable to use the guerrilla tactics that had triumphed against Nobukatsu and withdrew to fortresses that were speedily reduced with much slaughter. The local people hit back with raids that would lead to the legends of Iga being the home of the ninja, but in the end their resistance proved to be in vain.

In 1582 Torigoe in Kaga was to provide a suitably dramatic location for the last stand of the Kaga Ikkō-ikki, who had fought on after Ishiyama Honganji had surrendered. The first attack upon the Ikkō-ikki’s fortified temples of Torigoe and Futoge was made by Nobunaga’s general Shibata Katsuie. He captured both places and set up a garrison of 300 men, but before the month was out the Ikkō-ikki had recaptured them and slaughtered the unfortunate 300 troops. In the eleventh month of 1581, Shibata Katsuie and his fellow general Sakuma Morimasa returned to Kaga and crushed the resistance. We read that on the 17th day of that month the heads of the ringleaders were sent to Nobunaga’s castle of Azuchi and placed on public display. Yet in spite of this setback Ikkō-ikki resistance continued, and elements of the organisation recaptured Torigoe and Futoge for a second time in 1582. The defences were rapidly strengthened to face an anticipated third attack by Oda Nobunaga’s forces, as was revealed when storage jars were found during archaeological investigations in the 20th century. This time no chance of resurgence was to be allowed and 300 men of the Ikkō-ikki were crucified on the river bed.

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