Hideyoshi’s life was not that known before 1570. Hideyoshi do not speak most about his past in his autobiography. Hideyoshi was born in nakamura-ku, Nagoya which is the home of the oda clan. His given name was hiyoshi-maru which means “bounty of the sun”.

His nickname was kozaru that means “little monkey”. This name was given by his lord oda nobunaga for the reason that his facial features and skinny form is like a monkey. Hideyoshi refused his life in the temple, but instead, he go on a search for adventure. With his name of Kinoshita Tokichiro, he started to join the imagawa clan. He was a servant of a local ruler, matsushita yukitsuna. He served imagawa yoshimoto and sugura province for a time.

In 1547 he went back to owari province to join the oda clan. This clan was headed by oda nobunaga. He administered the reconstruction of kiyosu castle according to his biographers. Hideyoshi married asano nagamasa’s daughter, nene at 1561. He repaired sunomata castle with his younger brother, toyotomi hidenaga, and some bandits, hachisuka masakatsu and maeno nagayasu. In sunomata he constructed a fort and indent ified a secret way into mount inaba after which much of the garrison surrendered.

As a negotiator, hideyoshi is very successful. He persuades a couple of Mino warlords to desolate the saito clan in 1564. hideyoshi is communicating with the Koreans since 1587 although he intended to conquer ming china. At first, Koreans refused to talk with him for he is an ally of ming china. Hideyoshi commanded Ukita Hidei to the field marshal, and had them go to the Korean peninsula in april, 1592. On febuary 5, 1597, he had killed 26 Christians to scare Japanese who wants to convert to Christianity. They were killed by the crucifixion in Nagasaki.

After a couple of years in negotiations, he commanded kobayakawa hideaki to be the head of the invasion forces. However, their hard work on the Korean peninsula became a failure than the first invasion. Hideyoshi’s forces were unable to invade China because of the desperation of his failure to have Korea. Military expeditions left his clan’s coffers and strength depleted rather than to strengthen his position. The members of the council of five regents were not able to have the dreams of tokugawa ieyasu in check after his death. Kato kiyomasa and fukushima masanori two of hideyoshi’s top generals, fought for the war. However, they went back to look for the toyotomi clan castellan ishida mitsunari in power. They move over with tokugawa ieyasu and held a low esteem. Hideyori, hideyoshi’s son, lost the power his father had. At the end, tokugawa ieyasu became shogun of the battle of sekigahara.

Leyasu had unified the pre modern Japan along with Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi. He affiliated especially with Nobunaga which slowly build up his territory and last long with the alteration of deadly battles in Japan. In control of an abundant domain or what they call “Han”, he had been a daimyo in 1580s.

At a young age, he had become a hostage of Imagawa, where he fought against Oda Nobunaga. His first battle was in the siege of Terabe. Leyasu had an important role when Imagawa Yoshimoto invaded Nobunaga’s territories. He made use of concentrated arquebus fire to capture the fortress of Marune.

When Imagawa died in 1560 at the battle of Okehazama by Nobunaga’s surprise assault, Ieyasu bound himself to Oda Nobunaga. With his loyalty to Nobunaga, they fought together at Azukozaka against the Ikkoikki sectarians at 1546, and in the relief of Nagashino castle in 1575. When Nobunaga died, Ieyasu fought against Yoyotomi Hideyoshi. However, in some skillful political ways, Ieyasu avoids the fate of other battles.

At the age of 16, Ieyasu married his first wife and changed his name with Matsudaira Kurandonosuke Motoyasu. In 1579, his wife and eldest son, Tokugawa Nobuyasu, were alleged of planning together with takeda katsuyori to kill Nobunaga. As a consequence, his wife was executed by cutting her head off, and hideyasu was commanded to have seppuku or also known as hara-kiri which means “cutting the belly”. Tokugawa Hidetada, Ieyasu’s third and favorite son became the heir, since his second son was adopted by Toyotomi Hideyoshi which is a supreme samurai.

Leyasu still have the power as a reclusive shogun and still an effective ruler even though Hidetada abandoned him. He started to supervise the making of Edo castle when he had retired to Sumpu. Although his son was the authorized shogun, Leyasu together with his 50,000 men went to Kyoto to see the coronation of emperor Go-Mizunoo in 1611. While he was in Kyoto, he commanded to reconstruct the imperial court ad buildings. He also forced the other remaining western daimyo to note a contract of devotion to him. In 1613, a document that had the court daimyo with firm administration was also composed by Ieyasu. In 1614, Christianity was banned in Japan which he also signed in. For this reason, many of the Christian Japanese stayed to Spanish Philippines.

Leyasu felt ill and died in his bed at the age of 73 in 1616. He was buried in Nikko Toshogu. He had a lot of children and made a lot of branches to continue the Tokugawa dynasty.

At a young age, Takeda Shingen had helped his father together with his older relatives and vassals of the Takeda family. His family has a lot of problems especially when it is involved in politics. However, when Takeda Shingen is getting older, he started to rebel from his father. At the age of 21, he finally had control the Takeda clan successfully. But, the retirement of his father was quite miserable and was sent his son and supporters to Suruga Province, which is in the southern border of Kai to be kept in custody which was led by Imagawa Yoshimoto (daimyo of Suruga) under the scrutiny of the Imagawa clan.

To gain a hold of the area around him was Takeda Shingen’s first act. To own Shinano Province was his goal. After he had already conquered Shinano, he had another rival with Nagao Kagetora or Kenshin of Echigo. At the battlefield of Kawanakajima, they had faced 5 times and the battle had been almost a legendary. Kenshin attacked Shingen with sword while Shingen used his iron war fan or also called as tessen. Both of them had lost many of their men in this fight. In addition, Shingen had also lost 2 of his generals, Yamamoto Kansuke and Takeda Nobushinge, which is his younger brother. Takeda clan had suffered 2 internal setbacks after the fourth battle of kawanakajima. After the incident where shingen’s son died in tokoji, shingen decided to give the leadership of the clan after himself to his fourth son, Takeda Katsuyori.

After the battle of Imagawa Yoshimoto against Oda Nobunaga, Yoshimoto was killed then, Shingen started to plan an invasion of Suruga which is controlled by Yoshimoto’s son, Ujizane. The remaining Imagawa lands were shared between Shingen and Tokugawa with in an agreement. However, they had still fought against Yoshimoto’s heir. Shingen had finally got invaded the province of suruga after he had defeated the forces of Hojo Ujimasa. In 1572, shingen planned to challenge the oda-tokugawa alliance with his force of over 30,000 in the territories in totomi, mikawa and mino provinces.

Takeda shingen’s death was not that clear and was not that known by the many. There are a couple of different stories made, just like when shingen was at 49 years old, he was the only daimyo with the power to stop oda nobunaga’s plan to rule Japan. After he had defeated tokugawa leyasu’s forces in 1572, shingen stopped his advance temporarily which had made tokugawa to prepare for a battle again. Shingen had died in the camp of mikawa province. Some say he suffered to an old war wound, some believed that he was shot with a sniper, while some said that he had died due to pneumonia. He was buried at Erin temple which is now known as koshu, yamanashi.

Oda Nobunaga Statue

The Sengoku period of the pre-modern Japan is widely branded by the distinctive life of Oda Nobunaga. Born on 1534, Nobunaga was the second son of Oda Nobuhide, a military governor with land holdings in the Owari province. Nobunaga was known throughout his youth as a peculiar young man who had a remarkable fondness for Tanegashima firearms. Being quite strange in his ways, he was both liked as well as loathed by the Japanese people of his own time.

On the good side, Nobunaga had done numerous remarkable improvements in Japan’s military, political, and economical status during his leadership. He popularized the use of long pikes, firearms, ironclad ships, and castle fortifications and totally altered the way war was fought during his period. In contrast to the old Japanese leaders, he selected his subjects and retainers on the basis of their capabilities and not merely on rank and societal status.

His virtuosity was also apparent in business and economic dealings and found clever ways to modernize the economy by building castle towns and roads. Nobunaga also developed international trade beyond the confines of the country and went on to trade with European countries as well as other Asian territories including the Philippines and Indonesia.

While striving to develop pre-modern Japan, Nobunaga also accumulated immense wealth in the process and used this as a means to support his long-time interest in the arts. Beautiful gardens and extravagant castles were built which later became a symbol of his authority and stature. The Japanese tea ceremony was also established during his time which he initially used for political and business relations.

Although Nobunaga was regarded as a vicious Japanese leader, it was worthy to note that he was the first of the three unifiers who initiated the military unification of Japan during the Sengoku period. He lived a life of continuous military conquest until his death in 1582. His efforts resulted in the invasion of a third of the Japanese daimyo and this was continued on by his loyal followers, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. It was Hideyoshi who eventually conquered all of Japan through his strategic cleverness and acumen that earned him the title, the Greatest General in Japanese history.

Nobunaga apparently used extreme ruthlessness and mercilessly killed thousands in his attempt to conquer and unify most of Japan. Because of this, he was later regarded as a “callous brute” by the 20th century’s most popular Western scholar of Japan, Sir George Sansom, who wrote a book which chronicled Nobunaga’s rise to power. But despite his wicked reputation and apparent brutality, it is still noteworthy to mention that the unification of the entire Japan was a direct by-product of his constant struggles and outstanding achievements.

His untimely death in 1582 undeniably took away his chance to earn a more decent place in the Japanese history than what he actually holds. While resting in a temple in Kyoto, Akechi Mitsuhide, one of Nobunaga’s generals, attacked him which ensued in a battle and ended in Nobunaga committing suicide. Indeed it was a sudden and tragic ending to a life of struggle and never ending quest to Japan’s absolute military unification.

Miyamoto Musashi is known to be one of the most famous Samurai warriors. He was born in 1584, in a village located in Japan called Miyamoto. He was a descendent from the Fujiwara clan who were heavily known during the Heian time period.

He was an orphan at the age of seven, and was cared for by his uncle who is a priest. His father, Munisai Hirato, was also a warrior himself. Miyamoto Masashi did not have a very close relationship with his father, and at age seven, he was left in the care of his uncle who was a priest.

Musashi’s father was a warrior and soon followed in his footsteps by studying kenjutsu from an early age. At the age of 13, he experienced his first combat with a fellow swordsman named Arima Kigei, who Musashi had invited to a battle challenge.

These challenges were not just for the sake of battling of each other but for the primary purpose of who is the most superior at the school. Despite the young age Musashi, Kigei took on the challenge and was sorely defeated. Musashi struck him repeatedly with a stick that ended up killing him. This challenge helped Musashi to gain a sense of popularity and respect from his fellow peers.

During Musashi’s early life he learned how handle his famous musashi  katana with one hand instead of the standard two-handed grip. This allowed him the capability to handle two swords at the same time. At the age of 16, he decided that it was time to seek enlightenment through the way of the sword. He began his passageway by leaving home to go for his Musha-Shugyo which is known as warrior pilgrimage.

It is a long time samurai tradition, where a warrior travels all over, fights in duels to help with developing his skills, build his strength, and build up the value of the school that he had previously attended.

During the Musha-Shugyo period, Musashi was completely committed to it and denied himself basic luxuries such as bathing, marriage, and not cutting his hair. Throughout his battles he continued to remain undefeated. During his later years of his life, he gained personality qualities such as patience, humility than he was during his younger years.

He spent time devoting himself to other types of arts that were practiced by other samurais such as the art of Niten Ichi-Ryu kenjutsu. He wrote and published many works on the topic, along with the way of the sword. His works were causes Heiho Sanjugokajo translated as the

35 Articles on the Art of Swordsmanship which focuses on the principles, combat techniques and philosophy of Niten Ich-Ryu. The second was the Go Rin No Sho which is a Book of Five Rings and is known to be one of the most famous works focused on martial arts.

The Go Rin No Sho is focused on five sections which each named after the Japanese elements. Musashi also mastered other unrelated arts such as calligraphy, ink painting, wood sculpture, and metalworking. It is found that he is also known as Kensei, sword-saint. and is the most famous samurai in Japanese history.

A year later Yoshikage admitted that he was powerless and could not be of any assistance to Yoshiaki. He decided to seek assistance elsewhere and went to Oda Nobunaga who was an ambitious skillful warrior more than willing to assist Yoshiaki. On October 7, 1568, Nobunaga marched through the capital and accepted Matsunaga Hisahide’s surrender.

The Emperior Ogimachi acknowledged Yoshiaki as the new Shogun. Unfortunately Yoshiaki and Nobunaga ended up not getting along well together as Yoshiaki had wanted him to take the rank of Vice-Shogun (Kanrei) but Nobunaga wanted to be a man of his own. He ignored Yoshiaki’s requests by submitting in documents to curtail the order.

However, down the road Yoshiaki ended up in the same position that he Nob into where he was asked to be in a lesser role which is the same thing that happened to his brother. Historians say that he had conspired against others by sending secret letters to Mori Motonari, Takeda Shingen, the Asai, and Asakura.

Yoshiaka broke from Nobunaga officially in March of 1573 as he was inspired by Shingen’s activities by also breaking from Tiger of Kai and was focused on not challenging Nobunaga directly. Unfortunately Shingen passed away and had previously planned to keep his death a secret from everyone however Nobunaga had suspected that something was off and he moved quickly to surround Kyoto around May 3rd and forced Yoshiajki to negotiate.

During August Yoshiaki still was against Nobunaga and chose to leave Nijo with Mizubuchi Fujihide, and went out to the land near the Uji River and set up camp there. Yoshiaki continued to be forced into submission by other forces.

Nobunaga ended up gaining more power along the way and Yoshiaki begged for his life from Nobunaga which was granted as long her did not play a role in Kyoto politics. Nobunaga drove out the last of the Ashikaga shogun into exile, which forced Yoshiaki into seeking shelter in Shikoku. Yoshiaki continued to find others to see if they were willing to be against Nobunaga however no one took him up on his offer and he ended up moving to the western provinces to live out the rest of his life there.

The power Ashikaga was destroyed on August 27, 1573 when Nobunaga successfully drove Yoshiaki out of Kyoto. Yoshiaki later became a Buddhist monk, shaved his head, and changed his name to Sho-san, and later down the road he changed his name to Rei-o In. Nobunaga attempted to unify the country but there was a continuous power struggle between other states and the peace was not achieved until he was assassinated in 1582. Toyotomi Hideyoshi was a general who later united Japan, and he requested that Yoshiaki to accept him as an adopted son however Yoshiaki refused that request.

Tomoe Gozen

Tomoe Gozen is known to be one of the most famous female samurai warrior in Japanese history. She was known as a skillful warrior who goes into battles like a man. She was one of Minamoto Yoshinaka’s senior captains and in secret she may have also been his wife. She was one of his top commanders and led men into battle. Tomoe’s physical features were described a beautiful woman with smooth white skin, long hair, and other attractive features.

During this time, women who were in battle learned how to be skilled in using a naginata or a long spear with a sharp curved end in order to protect themselves, their children, and homes from thieves and raiders. Tomoe was skilled in the naginata, bow and sword. She was also known to be an amazing horsewoman, and chose to be apart of very dangerous missions because of her skills.

Yoshinaka ordered her to flee as his forces were overwhelmed in battle by Minamoto Yoritomo’s forces and he knew that he would face being captured and killed.

She was a samurai during the Genpel War which was in years of 1180-1185.
The fate of Tomoe Gozen was uncertain but historians said that she was seen fleeing with the head of an enemy samurai. They also said that she was defeated by Wada Yoshimori and became his wife. After his death she become a nun in Echizen.

Nakano Takeko

Another famous woman during this period, Nakano Takeko was also highly skilled in the long spear. She defended the Wakamatsu Castle and was also a samurai of Aizu clan. Aizu clan were heavy supporters of the shogunates and the battle with the imperial forces ended up restoring Japan and completed eliminated the samurai class.

Nakano Takeko fought by charging into the enemy lines, and she cut down many men, however unfortunately she was shot in the chest. Her sister Yuko removed Takeko’s head which was something that they previously agreed on beforehand if anything was to happen to her. Yuko took the head home so that she would be appropriately honored. There is a monument that has been erected in her honor at the temple Aizu Bangemachi in the Fukishima province of Japan.

Takeko was born 1847 and died in 1868.It was noted that she died during Bohin War. She was born in Edo which was the former capital of Japan. She was the daughter of Nakano Heinai who was known as a Aizu official. Takeko was trained in martial arts and literary arts. Her teacher Akaoko Daisuke adopted Takeko. Takeko later worked with her adoptive father as a martial arts instructor during the 1860s.

She entered Aizu during the Battle of Aizu and fought with a naginata and was the leader of a Women’s Army which consisted of female combatants who independently fought in the battle. The senior Aizu leader did not allow them to fight as a part of the army.

In the town there is annual Aizu Autumn Festival, where a group of young girls wear hakama and white headbands in the procession, which commemorates the actions of Nakano and the Women’s Army of the Joshigun.