Stephen Turnbull Samurai. Military history
Preface
From the translator
It would be unnecessary to say that Stephen Turnbull’s book “Samurai. Military History" is one of the best generalizing studies on this topic. As it should be in a real military history, descriptions of battles and campaigns are closely intertwined here with politics, economics, religion, personal ambitions and passions of Japanese rulers and commanders. Despite the fact that the text contains a lot of Japanese terms, names and titles that at first glance say little to the average reader, the book is very easy to read. Special terms are immediately explained, besides, there are not so many of them, and as we delve deeper into the text, the heroes of a thousand years of Japanese history, all these Taira, Minamoto, Kusunoki, Takeda and Tokugawa begin to be perceived as old acquaintances. The author does not overload the text with the names of Japanese combat units, length measures, monetary units etc. They are present only where necessary. In the Russian translation, English feet were converted into meters for convenience, but it was decided to leave English miles and not convert them to kilometers, since we are most often talking about approximate distances. In the chapter on the Japanese invasion of Korea, the word division is used to designate units of the Japanese army, which, although it seems like some kind of modernization, quite accurately conveys the essence - we are talking about combat units numbering 15-20 thousand people. As the author himself admits, when preparing the new edition of the book, he corrected some errors and inaccuracies made in the first edition. In the new edition, only one inaccuracy was noticed, which we took the liberty of correcting during translation. Us. 25 (original), where Kajiwara Kagetoki lists his pedigree and the exploits of his ancestors before the Battle of Ichi-no-tani, he does not at all claim, as it seemed to S. Turnbull, that he participated in the siege of the Kanezawa fortress under the command of Minamoto Yoshiie. He speaks quite clearly about the deeds of his ancestor Gongoro Kagemasa. Apparently, the author used a not very accurate translation of the corresponding passage from the Heike Monogatari. Appeal to the Russian translation (made by I. Lvova, Moscow, “ Fiction", 1982, p. 420) allowed us to make the necessary correction.
Nikitin A. B.
For the 1996 edition
Twenty years ago, when finishing the manuscript of this book, I began the preface with the phrase: “The word “samurai” has become familiar.” It has become even more commonplace thanks to the success of this book, and I am glad that the Japanese Library series now has its first paperback reprint.
Naturally, over the past twenty years, having written a dozen more books, I have found some errors in Samurai that I could not have noticed when I first finished the manuscript. This edition allowed me to check the entire text again, and I was pleased to note that these were all minor errors, relating mainly to dates and some terms. Apart from these corrections, the text did not require any special editing, but I took the opportunity to remove some assessments and judgments, as well as various comments that seemed to me not entirely accurate. For example, I characterized the series of battles at Kawanakajima as a "gallant tournament" - hardly an appropriate description for the campaign of 1561, when the losses on the Uesugi side amounted to 72%!
I have decided not to add new chapters to this book, since my subsequent publications sufficiently complement it. The description of the Edo period is, as before, contained in one chapter. It was the “era of peace” - for military history nothing more is needed. Little is said here about samurai as patrons of the arts. In these pages the samurai appears solely as a warrior.
This book is about people, so I make no apologies for including a lot of Japanese names in it. To make things easier for the reader, I ignore the strange samurai custom of changing names every few years and call everyone by the name by which they are best known. First comes, according to ancient Japanese custom, the family name, then the personal name. So, for example, Tokugawa Ieyasu (i.e. Ieyasu of the Tokugawa house) began his life as Takechiyo, and at the age of fifteen he began to be called Matsudaira Motonobu. A year later he was already Matsudaira Motoyasu. When he turned twenty, he changed his given name to Ieyasu, and at twenty-seven he abandoned his family name for the Tokugawa surname. After his death he was deified as Too-sho-gu. Throughout this book I refer to him as Tokugawa Ieyasu.
I also simplified the reading of dates by translating into European style all the dates found in chronicles and epic works lunar calendar using Bramsen's Tables of Japanese Chronology. Transcriptions of names are given according to the Hepburn system. To avoid tautology and ugly confusion of Japanese and English words, I have retained some suffixes in names and titles, namely: -gawa (river), -ji (Buddhist temple or monastery), -yama (mountain or hill), -sima (island).
I take this opportunity to thank the following individuals and organizations for providing illustrations for this book and for their assistance in its preparation: Paul Norbrey of the Japan Library; Roger Cleave of Osprey Publishing, to whom I am grateful for their timely and helpful advice during the preparation of the first edition; Gilbert Smith for translations from Japanese; C. B. Gardner, Assistant Keeper of the Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books Department of the British Library, who assisted me in my search necessary literature and provided the Japanese originals on which my maps and diagrams were based; John Anderson, who allowed his collection to be used to illustrate the development of weapons, and all my colleagues in the Northern Branch of the British To-ken Society, an organization that has done so much to encourage serious research into Japanese weapons. I would especially like to thank my friend Ian Bottomley, whose collection provided the material for several illustrations, and who gave me the opportunity to use his unpublished monograph on Japanese defensive weapons, co-authored with J. Hopkins.
Current page: 13 (book has 21 pages in total)
Chapter IX
Tea and muskets
The ten months between June 1582 and April 1583 witnessed the most powerful surge of samurai energy that Japanese history had ever known. In June 1582, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was an ordinary military leader fighting for his lord. Ten months later, having avenged the death of Nobunaga, he became the ruler of thirty provinces. It took Nobunaga twenty years to bring them under his rule. How he succeeded reflects in a reduced form the events of the next twenty years, for Hideyoshi showed the world how he was going to create his empire.
When news of Nobunaga's death reached Hideyoshi, he did not disclose the news and offered a truce to Mori. The peace terms were quite mild, and soon Hideyoshi hurried to Kyoto. Meanwhile, Akechi Mitsuhide furiously pursued Nobunaga's relatives, trying to exterminate them. Nobutada, Nobunaga's eldest son, was killed by Akechi's samurai at Nijo Palace. Akechi marched to Azuchi, Nobunaga's castle-palace, and plundered it, dividing the gold and silver among his warriors. He did not cause damage to the palace itself, but a few days later it burned down, probably set on fire by looters, and thus only stone walls remained from the symbol of Nobunaga’s power. It was never rebuilt. Akechi then felt insecure. He knew that Hideyoshi would return soon, and his henchmen could not find and capture Ieyasu. As for the latter, the story that is told about him is so typical that it may well be true. Akechi's men tried to intercept him on the road from Sakai to Okazaki. During this dangerous journey, he once had to hide on a cargo barge under a pile of bales of rice. Akechi samurai searched the boat, poking the bales with their spears. The tip of one of the spears cut Ieyasu in the leg, but he calmly removed the bandage from his head and wiped the blood from the tip before the spear was removed.
On June 30, fate overtook Akechi Mitsuhide. As soon as Hideyoshi's army returned, Akechi was attacked at Yamazaki, southwest of the capital. Akechi's troops were completely defeated. As he fled through the rice fields, he was recognized by peasants who came out to rob; they captured him and beat him to death. Only thirteen days had passed since he led an army against Nobunaga; hence his nickname - “thirteen-day shogun”.
Hideyoshi thus avenged Nobunaga's death, which put him in a very advantageous position. Having risen from the ranks of the ranks, he was very popular among his men, for whom the ability to fight was the main virtue. Despite his homely, stooped figure and a face that, as some contemporaries noted, made him look like a monkey, on the battlefield he was a true god of war. Once a simple ashigaru, whose wedding outfit was sewn from his master’s old banners, Hideyoshi was now ready to take over all the possessions of his former master. As an old Chinese proverb says, a heavy bale was shifted from one broad shoulder to another.
Of those who primarily objected to Hideyoshi's seizure of all these possessions were, naturally, the surviving members of the Nobunaga family. It was also necessary to take into account the opinions of comrades in arms, such as Shibata Katsuie, who fought next to him at Nagashino and occupied an equally high position; Niwa Nagahide, who had just witnessed his creation, Azuchi Castle, turn to ashes; Takigawa Kazumasa and Ikeda Nobuteru. Tokugawa Ieyasu has not yet shown up to voice his opinion. All these people served Nobunaga well and faithfully and were hardly inclined to consider Hideyoshi as his undisputed heir. They, however, had to deal with a man of a completely different type than their late master. Hideyoshi was a smart and cunning politician. His proposal to proclaim Nobunaga's grandson as heir would have been more than justified and reasonable if this grandson had not been only one year old. The Japanese tradition of puppet rulers has been revived in a new form!
In feudal Japan, the only argument in such a situation could only be force. For four months continuous forced marches, sieges and battles continued. Hideyoshi faced a difficult strategic task. Nobutaka, the third son of Nobunaga, threatened the capital from Gifu, the old castle of the Oda family. Takigawa Kazumasa harbored a strong hatred for Hideyoshi, which may have been motivated by envy. He fortified himself at Kameyama Castle in Ise. But the greatest threat came from Shibata Katsuie, who distinguished himself during Nobunaga's campaign against Asai and Asakura and was rewarded with the provinces of Echizen and Kaga, which he ruled from his castle of Kita no sho (modern Fukui city). Shibata came out after the coup to attack Akechi, and was terribly annoyed that Hideyoshi had beaten him to it. As for Shibata, the only thing favorable for Hideyoshi was that his army was tightly locked in Echizen by snow drifts for the entire winter. Otherwise, if this meteorological circumstance were not taken into account, Hideyoshi had to rely solely on his military talents and hope that his three opponents would not be able to coordinate their actions. The latter, however, was more than likely. Hideyoshi could not count on the support of any other daimyo. Everyone, including Ieyasu, was closely watching how Hideyoshi would get out of this situation. Only obvious success, and not good relations, would allow one to count on support.
If the three allies, the younger Oda, Takigawa and Shibata, had managed to act together, they would probably have gained the upper hand. Instead, the impatient Oda Nobutaka openly declared war on Hideyoshi in December 1582, when all the passages to Echizen were blocked with snow. This was unwise to say the least, and Hideyoshi reacted instantly. He led troops into Mino Province and surrounded Gifu Castle. Such a demonstration of strength was enough for Nobutaka to humbly ask for mercy and surrender himself entirely to Hideyoshi’s mercy. He forgave him and limited himself to taking hostages in order to ensure his loyalty in the future. How different this is from Nobutaka's late father! Nobunaga would probably have killed the entire garrison.
Hideyoshi had barely returned to Kyoto when more news arrived. Takigawa Kazumasa was ready to march on Kyoto from Ise with the support of a Shibata detachment stationed at Nagahama Castle in Omi. The garrison of Nagahama Castle was commanded by Shibata Katsutoyo, the son of Katsuie. The castle was located further south, so snow drifts did not interfere with Katsutoyo’s progress. Having been forced into hasty action by young Oda, Shibata apparently tried to delay Hideyoshi until the thaw. Hideyoshi, however, knew how to fight with gold no worse than with steel, and for a good bribe, Nagahama Castle passed to him along with the entire garrison, including the commander. Having secured his rear, Hideyoshi bypassed Ise and besieged Takigawa Kazumasa at Kameyama Castle. Takigawa surrendered as the castle began to fall apart before his eyes, the result of the most successful use of tunneling in Japanese military history.
Now Shibata Katsuie could only hope for a spring thaw. To forestall any attack from Echizen, Hideyoshi sent a garrison to Nagahama and established a defensive line of thirteen forts in northern Omi. These, obviously, were rather primitive, hastily built fortifications - perhaps an ordinary palisade with observation towers, since it was winter then, and the north of Omi was mountainous. The center of this defensive line was just north of Lake Biwa, among the steep wooded hills surrounding Lake Yogo. Two forts controlled the road that leads north from Nagahama: Fort Tagami, commanded by Hideyoshi's cousin, Hashiba Hidenaga, and Iwasakiyama, commanded by the Christian Takayama Ukon; on the mountain, at an altitude of more than 400 meters, stood Fort Shizugatake, commanded by Nakagawa Kiyohide.
All was calm on the northern front when Hideyoshi received word that Oda Nobutaka had rebelled again. Cursing his generosity, Hideyoshi again headed for Gifu, but barely had time to form his troops into battle formation when news arrived from the border between Omi and Echizen. Shibata sent Sakuma Morimasa through the melted snow to attack the border forts. Sakuma occupied Iwasaki, and Christian Takayama was forced to retreat to Tagami. Sakuma took advantage of the victory and laid siege to Shizugatake. The fortress did not fall, but its commandant, Nakagawa, was killed, and the besiegers prepared to repel the assault.
Hideyoshi asked the messenger if Sakuma had withdrawn his troops. When he replied that there were no signs of an impending retreat yet, Hideyoshi’s face, until then mournful, suddenly lit up with joy. Here it is, that one fatal mistake of the enemy, thanks to which Japan will fall into his hands like a ripe peach. What was the reason for such confidence? In one word - Nagashino. The experience of that terrible battle was vivid in the memory of both Hideyoshi and Shibata. Sakuma Morimasa did not participate in it, and the hasty assault with which he was going to take Fort Shizugatake was supposed to be suicidal in attacking the forces occupying a defensive position. Strong reinforcements had to be sent before Sakuma could be joined by Shibata, who was still fighting his way through the mountain passes from Echizen. In one of those quick dashes of which Hideyoshi was a master, he rode with a handful of samurai from the outskirts of Gifu to Tagami, covering a distance of fifty miles during the night in six hours. Here he found his cousin and, together with the confused Takayama, led troops through the mountain passes to Shizugatake. They did all this before dawn.
Sakuma, meanwhile, ignored Shibata Katsuie's repeated orders to retreat to position. Learning of Hideyoshi's arrival before Sakuma believed he could even hear of the attack on Shizugatake, he retreated to a nearby hill, where at dawn his army, numbering 7,000 or 8,000 men, was attacked by 6,000 of Hideyoshi's warriors. The painted screen at Osaka Castle, although stylized, perfectly conveys the feeling of battle among the hills and forests. The battle continued into the afternoon, until the Echizen warriors broke and fled, throwing away spears, swords, muskets and even clothing as they pushed through the thick brush.
Then began a bloody chase through the mountains, all the way to the gates of Shibata Castle, Kita-no-sho. Shibata, who did not participate in the battle, admitted defeat and decided to die with glory. All the windows in the castle were closed, and the central tower was filled with straw, which Shibata set on fire. When the flames flared up, he plunged a dagger into his stomach. Thus ended the short but decisive Battle of Shizugatake. It gave Hideyoshi control of everything Nobunaga had left behind and, perhaps more importantly, provided him with allies and loyal lieutenants. Among the “seven spears of Shizugatake,” as he called the seven most valiant samurai that day, we find the name of Kato Kiyomasa, the son of a blacksmith from Hideyoshi’s home village, who soon became one of his greatest generals.
When Oda Nobutaka learned of Shibata's death, he duly followed his ally's example. After this, only one son of Nobunaga remained alive, Oda Nobuo, who hastened to enter into an alliance with Hideyoshi’s only likely rival in all of central Japan - Tokugawa Ieyasu. It was a fatal decision, for it led to a clash between two outstanding warriors, two close friends and brothers in arms. Any military confrontation between Hideyoshi and Ieyasu would have ended in a battle of the titans.
Ieyasu was at that time the lord of five provinces, as the death of Takeda Katsuyori gave him Kai and Shinano, Shingen's former domains, in addition to Mikawa, Totomi and Suruga. Ieyasu thus inherited Shingen's gold mines, his streamlined administrative system, and many of his loyal and fierce retainers. He was a dangerous opponent, and Hideyoshi knew it.
Once they both realized that confrontation was inevitable, they began to recruit allies wherever they could. The strategic alignment of forces in this confrontation, one of the most interesting in the history of Japan and at the same time the least studied, can be briefly described as follows.
Hideyoshi owned his own provinces and was allied with Mori in the west, with Niwa Nagahide and Maeda Toshiie on Hokurikudo, whom he "established" in the liberated Shibata provinces, and with Uesugi Kagekatsu, Kenshin's heir, in northern Tosando. Among his other landowner commanders, he could count on Inaba Ittetsu, Gamo Ujisato and Hori Hidemasa, despite the fact that next to him were also Ikeda Nobuteru and Mori Nagayoshi (not related to the Mori clan). In terms of numbers, the forces of Hideyoshi's allies outnumbered Ieyasu's forces by three times.
Ieyasu had many supporters in the Tokaido. He had the foresight to marry his daughter to Hōjō Ujinao, the fourth generation of Hōjō, counting from Hōjō Soun. At Hokurikudo he relied on the dubious support of Sasa Narimasa, whose warlike appearance one historian likened to a "dried sardine baring its teeth." Ieyasu supported Shikoku in the person of Tosokabe Motochika. There were other, less significant allies, such as a samurai named Homo from Tokaido.
So, the two giants accumulated strength. Ieyasu was forty-three years old, Hideyoshi forty-nine. This set of allies had something of the Gempei War, only on a larger scale. With the appearance of Hideyoshi and Ieyasu, there is a feeling that the Middle Ages are left behind and we are present at the clash of two armies of the Renaissance. The dispute between them was again to be resolved in the area adjacent to the Nobi Plain, near the modern city of Nagoya. It should be kept in mind how much influence the experience of the Battle of Nagashino had on Hideyoshi and Ieyasu. Both understood the importance of defensive strategy, even though it was contrary to traditional samurai ideals.
The campaign began when Hideyoshi's ally, Ikeda Nobuteru, captured Inuyama Castle on the Kiso River. He thus found himself twelve miles as the crow flies from Ieyasu, who had established his outpost at Kiyosu. To some extent, Owari became a "no man's land" between Mino and Mikawa, Ieyasu Province. The capture of Inuyama was indirectly directed against Ieyasu, and when Ikeda's son-in-law, Mori Nagayoshi, appeared on the road leading from Inuyama to Kiyosu, Ieyasu decided to stop his advance until the enemy forces united. Sakai Tadatsugu and other commanders took one of the 5,000-man Tokugawa army units and met the Mori army at the village of Komaki, halfway through the route. A heated battle ensued. Mori managed to keep the Tokugawa forces in the village despite heavy arquebus fire until Sakai outflanked him and attacked from the rear. Mori hastily retreated, losing 300 men.
Then Sakakibara Yasumasa suggested that Ieyasu move to Komaki, since next to the village there was a round hill that rose 80 meters above the surrounding rice fields. The Tokugawa soldiers took shovels, dug ditches and installed a stockade around Komakiyama. It took a week to build the fortifications, and since no immediate danger threatened them, Ieyasu ordered the two old forts at Hira and Kobata to be repaired. Soon after Ieyasu finished building the fortifications, Hideyoshi arrived. On May 7, 1584, he arrived at Inuyama Castle, where Ikeda Nobuteru acquainted him with the disposition. Hideyoshi left Inuyama to reconnoiter Ieyasu's positions and complimented the enemy, sincerely flattering him by ordering the construction of a series of forts opposite Ieyasu's forts. He placed his headquarters in Gakuden, behind the front line, which stretched from Iwasakiyama to Nizubori. Between these two forts, which stood about a mile and a half apart, he built a wall five meters high and a meter thick. Ieyasu responded by erecting another fort at Taraku, but did not build a wall. The two samurai armies dug in thoroughly, almost like the soldiers of the First World War. Both commanders waited behind the line of fortifications, not daring to launch a frontal attack and share the fate of Takeda Katsuyori. Hideyoshi had at least 80,000 men, and he was quite bored with this state of affairs, as he wrote to Mori Terumoto: Our line of defense stretches for ten or fifteen cho [about a mile] opposite Komaki Castle. And although we tried to force the enemy to come out and join the battle, Ieyasu never wants to leave his castle in Komaki. So there's no point in staying here...
It was obvious that such trench warfare could not last long in 16th-century Japan. After less than a week of waiting, Ikeda Nobuteru came to Hideyoshi and proposed a raid into Mikawa Province. Since half of Mikawa's samurai were at that time sitting behind the fortifications on Komakiyama, this proposal was not without meaning, but on the condition that surprise was guaranteed. Hideyoshi agreed and prepared for a frontal attack on Ieyasu's position as a diversionary maneuver.
Ikeda spoke at midnight, May 15–16. His forces totaled 20,000, but to maintain secrecy when moving such a large force, he moved first with 6,000 warriors, followed a short time later by Mori Nagayoshi with 3,000, Hori Hidemasa with 3,000 and Miyoshi Hidetsuna with 8 000 soldiers. The morning of May 16 found them at a halt in Kasiwai. An army of 20,000 men was quite difficult to hide, and by midday some peasants reported to Ieyasu the presence of a large number of enemy samurai in the Kashiwai area. At first he did not want to believe them, but by the evening the scouts confirmed this information, and Ieyasu prepared to speak. By that time, Ikeda's army, after a short rest, moved on, advancing during the day and not at the same speed. On the night of 16–17 May they crossed the Yata River, and Ikeda's vanguard approached the Iwasaki outpost, which was held for Ieyasu by Niwa Ujishige. The army stretched out over almost five miles, and at dawn on May 17, Ikeda's samurai stormed Iwasaki, which was taken without much difficulty. The rest of the army settled down for breakfast along the road, unaware of the approaching Tokugawa army.
Ieyasu left Sakai, Honda and Ishikawa in charge of Komaki and set out at eight in the evening on May 16th. His vanguard, under the command of Mizuno Tadashige, reached Kobata by ten in the evening, where Ieyasu joined him at midnight. Ieyasu figured out Ikeda's strategy and, after two hours of sleep, sent Mizuno to intercept the rearguard of Ikeda's column.
The attack was completely sudden. The Ikeda samurai, commanded by Miyoshi Hidetsugu, were taken by surprise while they were having breakfast on Shiroyama. They were unexpectedly attacked by Mizuno on the right and Sakakibara on the left. The attack was successful, and Miyoshi barely escaped. The Third Division, the nearest that could be expected to provide assistance, was positioned about three miles further down the road. When the roar of the arquebuses reached them, Hori Hidemasa hastily turned his army around and moved back towards the sound of gunfire. They soon approached the village of Nagakute and positioned themselves on a hill in two detachments, so that the Kanare River was between them and the advancing Tokugawa troops. Hori Hidemasa was an experienced commander and saw the strip of water as a defense no less effective than the Nagashino stockade. It was seven o'clock in the morning on May 17th. Hori ordered his men to light the fuses, load their guns and shoot as soon as the enemy approached within twenty or twenty meters. As an additional reward, he promised 100 koku of rice to each person who brought down a horseman. The Tokugawa troops were approaching at a run, right into the range of aimed fire of the arquebusiers. Clouds of bullets mixed their ranks, and, seeing that they faltered, Hori led his men in a furious attack that scattered the Tokugawa samurai to the sides. The same story would have repeated itself as at Nagashino, but at the moment when 3,000 Hori warriors crashed into the 4,500 Tokugawa formation and split it in two, Hori saw on the horizon a golden fan, the standard of Ieyasu, who led the main Tokugawa forces. He then wisely withdrew and retook his position with the first and second divisions under Mori and Ikeda, who had retreated back from Iwasaki. Ieyasu made a wide sweep, gathering the remnants of his battered vanguard. There was a pause while both armies formed into battle formation, and then, from nine in the morning, the “real” battle of Nagakute began.
The Tokugawa army numbered 9,000 men, which were divided almost equally among three commanders. Ii Naomasa was one of the pillars of the Tokugawa house. He served Ieyasu from 1578 and, on Ieyasu's advice, dressed all his samurai and ashigaru in red lacquered armor. Ieyasu borrowed this idea from Shingen's old associates, who told him how, in the battles of Kawanakajima, Yamagata Masakage used to dress all his men in red armor. Facing Naomasa's so-called "Red Devils" were Ikeda's two sons, Terumasa and Yukisuke, with 4,000 warriors. Mori Nagayoshi stood on the left flank with 3,000 men, and Ikeda Nobuteru remained in reserve with 2,000. The ratio of the sides was almost equal. There was no better position, no palisade, no element of surprise.
The battle began with Tokugawa arquebusiers firing at the enemy, prompting Ikeda's two sons to attack Ii Naomasa, who repulsed their attack with heavy arquebus fire. The elder Ikeda came to the aid of his sons, but neither Mori nor Ieyasu had yet fired a single shot. Mori waited for Ieyasu to support his left wing so that Mori could attack him from the flank, but Ieyasu was difficult to fool. He suddenly led all his forces into an attack, dividing them into two detachments, and this blow made the Mori samurai falter. Mori rode back and forth in front of the ranks of warriors, waving his battle fan. He was quite conspicuous in his white cape, and one of the Red Devils took careful aim and shot him in the head. It was a very spectacular death, and it was the signal for Oda Nobuo, who went around and attacked the Mori army from the flank. The entire Mori army retreated, and Ikeda fell onto his camp chair, realizing that now everything was lost. A young samurai named Nagai Naokatsu ran up and speared him, capturing the prize's head. By one o'clock in the afternoon the battle was over. Ieyasu sat down, and 2,500 heads of the vanquished were placed in front of him. He was glad to learn that his own losses were limited to 600.
The Battle of Nagakute is depicted on a painted screen housed in the Tokugawa Art Museum in Nagoya. The central panel of the screen displays several of the most interesting moments, including the red standard of the Ii family with their initials and the death of Ikeda Nobuteru.
Meanwhile, speculation was being made in the two camps about the outcome of the expedition. When Hideyoshi heard about the "breakfast battle" on Shiroyama, he immediately moved with reinforcements while Honda Tadakatsu prepared to attack him from the flank. However, it did not come to a skirmish - Hideyoshi’s army was so huge that it could easily destroy this talented Tokugawa commander, but Hideyoshi liked his courage so much that he did not even threaten him. Therefore, Honda returned to Kobata, where he met Ieyasu. Soon both armies again took refuge behind defensive lines, and the previous confrontation resumed.
This stagnation continued for several months while the allies of the two main rivals fought in other parts of the country, notably at Hokurikudo, where Maeda Toshiie defeated Sasa Narimasa. From the end of 1584, relations between Ieyasu and Hideyoshi began to move from military confrontation to political partnership. In the end, each of them realized that the other was worth more with his head than without it, and Ieyasu submitted. After all, Hideyoshi, he thought, would not live forever, but together they could conquer all of Japan. Ieyasu acted very wisely and deserves the reputation of a man who took possession of the empire through concessions.
Between 1582 and 1586 Hideyoshi built Osaka Castle. This castle remained his official residence until his death and, like Azuchi, personified the power of its owner. It was built on the site of the former Ishiyama Honganji, a fortified Ikko temple that was also built for strategic purposes in its time. From Osaka you could have one eye on the Inland Sea and the other on Kyoto. One of the unusual features in its design was the use of cyclopean granite blocks. The largest stone is twelve meters long and six meters wide. Osaka Castle has undergone numerous reconstructions and in its current state is only a shadow of its former structure.
With Ieyasu now at his side and Osaka Castle as his base, Hideyoshi felt confident enough to set about conquering all of Japan. The only influential clans in Japan that did not recognize his superiority were: on Honshu - Hojo and Date, who were both blocked by Hideyoshi's allies, as well as the inhabitants of Shikoku and Kyushu. Shikoku fell first. The campaign was so short that it is not worth discussing in detail. Hideyoshi's invading army numbered 80,000 soldiers, including Mori's men. Tosokabe Motochika soon surrendered. He was allowed to retain the province of Tosa, and the rest of the island was divided between the generals of Hideyoshi.
By 1587, Hideyoshi's power had grown so much that he began planning his final campaign, the invasion of Kyushu. This large southern island has always remained outside the mainstream of Japanese politics. During the Gempei War, it suffered from clashes between local rulers; the only time it was invaded from outside was by the Noriyori expedition, which advanced no more than thirty miles inland. The main events of the war between the Northern and Southern Courts served as nothing more than a pretext for the samurai of Kyushu for their own territorial conquests. They repulsed the Mongol invasion almost without outside help. In other words, Kyushu was a completely different world, and before describing Hideyoshi's invasion, it is worth saying something about what happened in Kyushu during the Sengoku period.
As we discussed in Chapter Six, the rising power in southern Kyushu was the Shimazu clan of Satsuma. Shibuya, who had so stubbornly opposed Shimazu, eventually capitulated, leaving Shimazu to reign supreme over Satsuma from their capital, Kagoshima. It was in the territory subject to Shimazu that the Portuguese landed with firearms in 1543, and, as we have already said, the first to use firearms in battle, as far as is known, was Shimazu Takahisa (1514–1571) in 1549. that same year he gave an audience to St. Francis Xavier in Kagoshima. So, although Kagoshima was far from Kyoto, the city was far from being a cultural periphery. Quite the contrary: since all trade and business contacts were established primarily in Kyushu, it was Kyoto that had to keep up with fashion.
In 1556, Shimazu began a systematic conquest of the entire island. This stereotype of behavior is already familiar to us; it is enough to recall the rise of Hojo and Tokugawa. In 1556, they annexed Osumi Province and began a seven-year campaign against the Ito clan in Hyuga. Ito Yoshisuke capitulated in 1578 and fled north to seek help from the Christian lord of Bungo, Otomo Sorin. Otomo marched against Shimazu with an army of 100,000 men, and after a fierce battle on December 10, 1578, half of his soldiers either drowned in the waters of the Mimigawa River or lay dead for miles around. Otomo Sorin returned to Bungo, vowing revenge in a very un-Christian way. Hyuga Province was occupied by Shimazu.
Their attention now turned to Higo, and a huge army of Shimazu laid siege to Minamata on the very border of Higo. The garrison surrendered on the night of September 17, and soon almost the entire province of Higo was in the hands of Shimazu. They now owned half of Kyushu. The Otomo still held Bungo, and the Ryuzoji clan controlled most of the northwest. Skirmishes between the Shimazu and Ryuzoji advance units had occurred from time to time before, but it was not until the spring of 1584, at the same time that Hideyoshi and Ieyasu were preparing for the campaign on Komaki, that the two clans clashed. Ryuzoji Takanobu “cleaned up” some of the samurai clans that survived the war. He attacked one independent clan that came within his sphere of influence—the Arima clan, a Christian daimyo in Hizen Province. Arima turned to Shimazu for help, which surprised the latter, and help was provided in the person of Shimazu Iehisa, the third son of the late Takihasa.
On April 24, 1584, the Shimazu dug in on Okita-Nawate, a hill opposite Shimabara, where they met a fierce attack from the Ryuzoji, who had no shortage of firearms, including large-caliber muskets. They attacked Shimazu and Arima in three columns: one advancing along the road through the hills, and the other moving along the coast. The latter soon had to taste her own potion when the Christians of Arima supported the allies by opening fire on Ryuzoji from boats that came close to the shore. The shooters in the boats were armed with arquebuses, muskets and two cannons, which, one must think, were Portuguese. Since the attacking column was very dense, it was difficult to miss, and religious meaning the fact that Christian samurai smashed Buddhist samurai to pieces did not escape them. He did not escape the attention of Father Froy, who wrote:
“... the custom that they adhered to was very remarkable: first of all, piously kneeling and raising their hands to Heaven, they began to pray: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name...” Having thus performed the first part of his strategic plan and eagerly proceeding to load the cannons with cannonballs, they opened fire on the enemy with such force that after the first shot one could see how the whole sky was filled with severed limbs. Here they fell to their knees again. The prayers of the Sunday sermon followed, and they thus inflicted heavy losses on the pagans, who did not have the courage to continue the advance. One part retreated, while others joined the third column."
In other words, “forgive us our sins...”, and let those who sinned against Arim go to the underworld under a barrage of bullets! The final victory at Okita-Nawate was achieved when an assault column of Shimazu samurai broke through Ryuzoji's ranks and took Takanobu's head.
The Battle of Okita-Nawate brought all of northwestern Kyushu under the control of the Shimazu, making a renewed conflict between the greedy Shimazu and the vengeful Otomo inevitable—no doubt to the great concern of the Arima Christians, whose pious behavior had so helped the Shimazu. Since 1585, the Shimazu had been plotting the conquest of Bungo, the final decisive step in the conquest of all of Kyushu, with no idea of what fate awaited them. Otomo Yoshimune asked Toyotomi Hideyoshi for help!
From the translator
It would be unnecessary to say that Stephen Turnbull’s book “Samurai. Military History" is one of the best generalizing studies on this topic. As it should be in a real military history, descriptions of battles and campaigns are closely intertwined here with politics, economics, religion, personal ambitions and passions of Japanese rulers and commanders. Despite the fact that the text contains a lot of Japanese terms, names and titles that at first glance say little to the average reader, the book is very easy to read. Special terms are immediately explained, besides, there are not so many of them, and as we delve deeper into the text, the heroes of a thousand years of Japanese history, all these Taira, Minamoto, Kusunoki, Takeda and Tokugawa begin to be perceived as old acquaintances. The author does not overload the text with the names of Japanese military units, measures of length, monetary units, etc. They are present only where necessary. In the Russian translation, English feet were converted into meters for convenience, but it was decided to leave English miles and not convert them to kilometers, since we are most often talking about approximate distances. In the chapter on the Japanese invasion of Korea, the word division is used to designate units of the Japanese army, which, although it seems like some kind of modernization, quite accurately conveys the essence - we are talking about combat units numbering 15-20 thousand people. As the author himself admits, when preparing the new edition of the book, he corrected some errors and inaccuracies made in the first edition. In the new edition, only one inaccuracy was noticed, which we took the liberty of correcting during translation. Us. 25 (original), where Kajiwara Kagetoki lists his pedigree and the exploits of his ancestors before the Battle of Ichi-no-tani, he does not at all claim, as it seemed to S. Turnbull, that he participated in the siege of the Kanezawa fortress under the command of Minamoto Yoshiie. He speaks quite clearly about the deeds of his ancestor Gongoro Kagemasa. Apparently, the author used a not very accurate translation of the corresponding passage from the Heike Monogatari. Turning to the Russian translation (made by I. Lvova, Moscow, “Fiction”, 1982, p. 420) made it possible to make the necessary correction.
Nikitin A. B.
For the 1996 edition
Twenty years ago, when finishing the manuscript of this book, I began the preface with the phrase: “The word “samurai” has become familiar.” It has become even more commonplace thanks to the success of this book, and I am glad that the Japanese Library series now has its first paperback reprint.
Naturally, over the past twenty years, having written a dozen more books, I have found some errors in Samurai that I could not have noticed when I first finished the manuscript. This edition allowed me to check the entire text again, and I was pleased to note that these were all minor errors, relating mainly to dates and some terms. Apart from these corrections, the text did not require any special editing, but I took the opportunity to remove some assessments and judgments, as well as various comments that seemed to me not entirely accurate. For example, I characterized the series of battles at Kawanakajima as a "gallant tournament" - hardly an appropriate description for the campaign of 1561, when the losses on the Uesugi side amounted to 72%!
I have decided not to add new chapters to this book, since my subsequent publications sufficiently complement it. The description of the Edo period is, as before, contained in one chapter. It was the “era of peace” - for military history nothing more is needed. Little is said here about samurai as patrons of the arts. In these pages the samurai appears solely as a warrior.
This book is about people, so I make no apologies for including a lot of Japanese names in it. To make things easier for the reader, I ignore the strange samurai custom of changing names every few years and call everyone by the name by which they are best known. First comes, according to ancient Japanese custom, the family name, then the personal name. So, for example, Tokugawa Ieyasu (i.e. Ieyasu of the Tokugawa house) began his life as Takechiyo, and at the age of fifteen he began to be called Matsudaira Motonobu. A year later he was already Matsudaira Motoyasu. When he turned twenty, he changed his given name to Ieyasu, and at twenty-seven he abandoned his family name for the Tokugawa surname. After his death he was deified as Too-sho-gu. Throughout this book I refer to him as Tokugawa Ieyasu.
I also simplified the reading of dates by translating into European style all the lunar calendar dates found in chronicles and epic works using Bramsen’s “Tables of Japanese Chronology”. Transcriptions of names are given according to the Hepburn system. To avoid tautology and ugly confusion of Japanese and English words, I have retained some suffixes in names and titles, namely: -gawa (river), -ji (Buddhist temple or monastery), -yama (mountain or hill), -shima (island ).
I take this opportunity to thank the following individuals and organizations for providing illustrations for this book and for their assistance in its preparation: Paul Norbrey of the Japan Library; Roger Cleave of Osprey Publishing, to whom I am grateful for their timely and helpful advice during the preparation of the first edition; Gilbert Smith for translations from Japanese; C. B. Gardner, Assistant Keeper of the Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books Division of the British Library, who assisted me in my search for the necessary literature and provided the Japanese originals on which my maps and diagrams were based; John Anderson, who allowed his collection to be used to illustrate the development of weapons, and all my colleagues in the Northern Branch of the British To-ken Society, an organization that has done so much to encourage serious research into Japanese weapons. I would especially like to thank my friend Ian Bottomley, whose collection provided the material for several illustrations, and who gave me the opportunity to use his unpublished monograph on Japanese defensive weapons, co-authored with J. Hopkins.
B. W. Robinson of the Victoria and Albert Museum, H. R. Robinson of the Tower of London Arsenal, Dr. Nayoshi Ii, Mayor of Hikone, Yoshinobu Tokugawa, Director of the Tokugawa Reimeikai Foundation, Yoshimi Hayashi, Director of the Akizuki Museum in Fukuoka, Lauri Allen of Reeda, Australia, and Louis Allen of Durham University provided me with helpful advice and assistance in preparing the book. I. J. Clark and E. J. Heath gave practical advice related to the publication process; Signora S. Rossi kindly provided translations from Italian. Dr. M. Tongj, my former colleague at Downing College, Cambridge, supplied me with some valuable Korean materials. I would like to thank the Japan Society of London for permission to use its protocols.
I also want to thank my dear wife Jo, without whose constant support and assistance this work would not have seen the light of day.
Stephen Turnbull
Department of East Asian Studies
University of Leeds, November 1995
* * *
Japan entered the modern world in 1868 under the sign of the restoration of the power of the emperor, a shadowy figure who for many centuries had been removed from real power by hegemons from the samurai class, warrior rulers. In fact, in the Meiji restoration, at least in its early stages, there was little radical or revolutionary, because it was carried out by representatives of the same samurai class, and the emperor remained what he had been since ancient times - the guarantor of the legitimacy of the power of other people. Within one decade, the new samurai rulers set Japan on a path to modernization, and although along the way they had to give up the feudal privileges of their own class, the former samurai effectively became leaders in all aspects of modern Japanese society. More importantly, they brought into the modern era that samurai spirit of military honor that was destined to define Japanese behavior at least until the end of the Second World War, when Japanese soldiers went into battle with ancient samurai swords and died under enemy fire in suicidal psychic attacks .
The history of the samurai is the history of Japan for most of the last millennium, and therefore samurai traditions should not be attributed solely to the past. First of all, it is impossible to understand modern Japanese society and Japanese behavior without understanding the values of former Japan, and these values developed primarily among the samurai. More than any other modern people, the Japanese are bound by the ties of personal loyalty and duty that are usually called “feudal.” Whether the term "feudal" is applicable to present conditions or not, much of the legacy of their samurai past is clearly evident in the behavior of modern Japanese.
In addition to the fact that the history of the samurai explains a lot in the behavior of the Japanese, it itself is extremely fascinating and colorful. No one knows exactly when samurai appeared in Japan. The oldest written sources that provide any specific information about them date back to the 10th century. It seems clear, however, that the emergence of a provincial military elite must go back much earlier, perhaps to the period of prehistoric tombs of the 4th–5th centuries. From the 10th century The samurai gradually increased their land holdings, and by the end of the 12th century. supreme power in Japan finally passes into the hands of the samurai elite.
What is surprising is not the very fact of the transfer of power to the samurai, but the fact that this did not happen through the overthrow or destruction of the class of the court aristocracy in Kyoto, whose representatives had until then ruled the country as ministers of the imperial court, but due to its gradual displacement. The samurai, mostly rough warriors from remote provinces, admired the secular manners and classical culture of the courtiers and eagerly sought to imitate them. After in the XIV century. the center of military power was moved to Kyoto, samurai began to join court life and themselves turned into patrons of the arts. The Ashikaga shoguns who ruled at that time were much more successful in this than in maintaining peace. The years of their reign (1336–1573) are marked by almost continuous civil wars.
Thus, when by the end of the 16th century. Wars stopped and peace reigned for a long time under the shoguns of the Tokugawa house; among the samurai, not only a code of conduct for a warrior had already developed, but also a rich tradition of patronage of the fine arts. The Tokugawa period (1600–1867) gave the samurai the first opportunity to pay attention to the art of governing the country not only by coercive methods. The duration of this period and the peace, which was almost not disturbed by military clashes, testify to the adaptability of the samurai to new conditions, to their successful transformation from the military class into administrators. At the same time, even in an age of universal peace, the consciousness that they were warriors never left them; It was during the Tokugawa period that the samurai developed the code of bushido, or “way of the warrior.” By romanticizing the martial strength of their predecessors and speculating about their new moral and intellectual responsibilities as civil rulers, the samurai embodied in Bushido moral principles that the Japanese continued to follow even as the intervention of Western civilization forced them to make the transition to a new era.
After their defeat in World War II, the Japanese chose to forget about bushido for some time, but in recent years they have again been able to see their past in its true light and enthusiastically embraced television series, films and books telling about the exploits of the dashing samurai of yore.
Stephen Turnbull has created a vibrant, thrilling tale of the samurai. Beginning with the earliest evidence of warrior traditions in the mythology of prehistoric Japan, he traced the evolution of the samurai class from its origins through centuries of glory and power to the decay of the early Meiji period. His story is built on a very solid foundation. First of all, he is interested in military history, he gives excellent descriptions of battles and military campaigns, but always considers wars and the development of military affairs against the background of those historical and social phenomena who gave birth to them. Many modern English-language authors writing about Japan focus exclusively on military history. "Samurai" is more than a description of campaigns and battles.
Paul Varley
Columbia University
Chapter I
Gods and heroes
When Heaven and Earth were one, and the male and female principles had not yet separated, everything that existed was a chaotic mass containing the germ of life.
Then a kind of reed sprout appeared, emerging from chaos, when the lighter and purer elements rose up to form the Sky, and the heavier ones settled down and became the Earth. This mysterious form transformed, as instantly as it had appeared, into the first deity, Kuni-toko-tachi, "The Deity - Lord of the August Midheaven."
Then other gods arose. All of them were born one by one, until a pair of deities appeared, Izanaki and Izanami, i.e. Calling Man and Calling Woman. As they stood together on the floating bridge of Heaven and gazed curiously at the floating Earth below, the elder gods gave them a jeweled coral spear. They plunged him into the Ocean and stirred up its waters. When they took out the spear, drops fell from its tip. The drops froze and formed islands, and a divine couple descended onto one of them. They installed a coral spear as the central pillar and support of their home. This is how Japan was created.
This beginning of Japanese history is set out in the oldest Japanese chronicles, the Kojiki and Nihongi, compiled at the beginning of the 8th century. In this creation myth we already see fundamental aspects of Japanese tradition, the most important of which are the concept of the divine origin of Japanese rulers and the use of weapons as a symbol of power. If our anonymous chronicler had wanted to act not only as a chronicler, but also as a prophet, he could not have found a more suitable metaphor for the history of the next ten centuries, for until modern times the military weapon, embodied in the Japanese sword, was destined to remain the basis of society, and the nature of the struggle and military clashes determined its development.
To some extent, the seeds of future conflict were sown from the very beginning, for the drops of water that fell from the tip of the spear froze in the most disorderly manner. Instead of merging into one landmass, they broke into thousands of small pieces, which then randomly joined together to form the four main islands. The largest of them, Honshu, took the shape of an elongated crescent. At its southern end a more compact Kyushu arose, which, apparently out of pure mischief, formed the ragged western edge. The small island of Shikoku squeezes between the other two, leaving between itself and Honshu a beautiful long strait called the Inland Sea. The fourth island, Hokkaido, curls up off the cold northern tip of Honshu. It fell so far to the north that it was neglected until relatively recently, and therefore will not take part in our story. Thus, the reader will have to deal with only three main islands and a handful of smaller ones, which will be discussed as the story progresses.
In addition to their complex outlines, the Japanese Islands also have a difficult geographical location. Japan is located a hundred miles from the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula. Two small islands lying along the way reduce the distance between Japan and Korea to fifty miles. It's close enough for travel to the mainland to be possible, but too far away for it to be easy. This allowed the Japanese to get everything they needed from Asia and keep out what they didn't want. In the entire history of the samurai, there was only one attempt by a foreign invasion of the Japanese islands. However, the Japanese only invaded the mainland once - wide expanses of water prevent this in both directions.
Despite its advantageous geographical location, the creators of Japan created a country suitable only for heroes. The very shape of the islands presents an obstacle to communication. By the whim of the crafty gods, 80% of the land is occupied by mountains, about 600 of them rise to at least 2,000 meters, and one, the legendary Fuji, reaches 4,000 meters. There are many fast rivers and clear lakes in the mountains, they are covered with dense vegetation. Add to this the climate with hot, humid summers and snowy winters, stormy springs and melancholic autumns. Distribute the remaining 20% of fertile land between just three regions, add periodic earthquakes and typhoons that remind local residents of the invisible hand of the Creator, and you will get a country that from a modern airplane looks like a piece of crumpled green velvet. Moreover, at the time we are talking about, the elementary problem of survival already had a tinge of adventure.
Three large areas with the most fertile land are located along the eastern edge of Honshu. The largest of these is the Kanto Plain, which covers about 5,000 square miles. The other two plains are Nobi and Kinai. The struggle for the possession of these lands determines the entire Japanese history. For centuries they have attracted the bulk of the Japanese population, and now they are home to three great metropolises - Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.
The Kinai Plain, located in the very center of Honshu, is like the “navel” of Japan, just as Lake Biwa, the northern shore of which is surrounded by mountains and the waters rush to the sea, neatly divides the country into two equal parts. In addition, until recently, the capital of the state was always located on the Kinai Plain, which is why this area was called the “inner provinces.” In this book, the terms "western" and "eastern" Japan are used according to the location of these lands in relation to the Kinai Plain. For many years, Japan's main highways ran along the coast - either west along the Inland Sea to western Honshu, Kyushu and Shikoku, or east and north along the ancient Tokaido Road, made famous by the artist Hiroshige in his large series of woodcuts. Having taken a look at the scene of action, let us return again to the gods.
You don’t have to read long into the ancient chronicles to come across the first mention of a real sword. This weapon belonged to Izanaki. With it he killed his son, the God of Fire, whose birth caused terrible pain to Izanami. The goddess was so depressed by what had happened that she retired to the underworld. Filled with remorse for the world's first murder and grieving for his wife, Izanaki, like Orpheus, descended after her into the underworld to snatch Izanami from the clutches of the gods of Hell. His attempt failed; on his way back he was pursued by the eight Thunder Gods and others evil spirits, which he very skillfully fought off with his sword. Upon returning, he performed numerous ablutions to cleanse himself of hellish filth.
The fire god was not their only offspring. He was preceded by two more deities. The eldest was Amaterasu - the Sun Goddess, followed by Susanoo - the Hot-tempered Husband. Susanoo appears to be an unbalanced creature, prone to outbursts of rage. He splashed out his rage, sword thunder and lightning. During one of these fits, he went so far as to throw a dead stallion at his tender sister. She ran away from him and hid in a cave. All beings were very upset by this circumstance, for when the Sun Goddess hid, the world was plunged into darkness. They gathered to think of a way to lure her out of hiding, and decided to present her with the most beautiful gifts possible. A certain One-Eyed God, as he was called, forged an iron mirror for her. This celestial blacksmith is traditionally considered the father of the weapon craft. It is noteworthy that the Greek Cyclopes were also famous as skilled metallurgists.
Another gift was a necklace of precious stones, which, along with a mirror, was hung on a tree at the entrance to the cave. The music and laughter prompted Amaterasu to look out of the cave, and she saw her reflection in the mirror. Struck by her own beauty, she stood and watched, and meanwhile the entrance to the cave was blocked with stones before she could return there. Thus, light was returned to the world.
But at least once Susanoo's violent temper did some good. In the land of Izumo lived a giant serpent with eight heads and eight tails, and its tails filled eight valleys. His eyes were like the sun and the moon, and forests grew on his spine. This snake, who swallowed people, especially loved young girls. Susanoo volunteered to kill the snake. Choosing an attractive girl as bait, he hid nearby, holding his father’s sword in his hand, and as additional bait for the monster, he stored a fair amount of sake (Japanese rice wine). The snake finally crawled up and, not paying attention to the girl, plunged all eight heads into sake and drank with pleasure. Soon the snake became intoxicated and became an easy prey for Susanoo, who jumped out of ambush and began to furiously chop it into pieces. When he reached the tail, the blade bounced off and he discovered that a magic sword was hidden there. He gave this beautiful blade to his sister, and since the part of the serpent where it was found was shrouded in black clouds, he called it “Ame no murakomo no tsurugi,” or “Sword of the Swirling Clouds.”
By right of birthright, Amaterasu inherited the Earth and after some time sent her grandson Ninigi to rule the Japanese islands created by her parents. When Ninigi was preparing to leave Heaven, she gave him three objects that were supposed to make his path easier: the same mirror, jewelry and a sword. Having received these things, which were destined to become the regalia of the Japanese emperors, Prince Ninigi descended from Heaven to the top of Mount Takatiko in Kyushu. He married and eventually passed on the regalia to his grandson Jimmu, the first earthly emperor of Japan.
In Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, Poo Bah states that he can trace his ancestry "back to atomic nucleus primordial protoplasm." Gilbert may have been familiar with the Japanese creation myth, which describes the emergence of life from formless chaos; yet, strangely enough, the current Emperor of Japan can list 124 generations of royal ancestors—the oldest ruling house in existence today. Although, it must be admitted, the real existence of Jimmu, the first emperor, is a very doubtful fact. According to legend, Jimmu, sword in hand, crossed from Kyushu to Honshu, winning many battles along the way, fighting all sorts of enemies, including eighty earth spiders, which he quickly destroyed, again with the help of an intoxicating drink. According to tradition, he ascended the throne on February 11, 660 BC, and this day is still celebrated in Japan today. national holiday.
Archeology provides more mundane, but no less convincing, evidence of human presence on the Japanese Islands over the past 100,000 years. For the first 90,000 years, Japan was connected to the Asian mainland. Then, at the end of the last ice age, melting glaciers led to a rise in sea levels, and Japan found itself cut off from the mainland by the very straits that played such an important role in its subsequent history.
Aboriginal people lived in Japan, isolated from the mainland. Around 500 BC they began to be supplanted by newcomers of the Mongoloid type, the ancestors of the modern population of the country. They arrived gradually over the next few hundred years, bringing with them the potter's wheel, bronze, iron, and rice culture. Sharp iron swords, the deadliest products of their craft, helped these conquerors push back the native tribes. Naturally, mixed marriages also took place, which explains the relative hairiness of the Japanese compared to other Mongoloids.
By the time of the tenth emperor, Sujin (circa 200 AD), a primitive form of animism began to dominate the myths, which later came to be considered the original religion of Japan, Shinto - “the way of the gods.” Characteristic feature Shinto is that certain places: waterfalls, mountain peaks, piles of rocks of extraordinary beauty are considered the habitats of the gods. Such places became the focus of cult, and, as a rule, Shinto shrines were built next to them, easily recognizable by the characteristic shape of the gate, reminiscent of the Greek letter pi. According to the teachings of Shinto, the entire universe is one, and holy places are those corners of creation where a person can merge with nature and honor its Creators. Shinto does not explain this world, but invites man to take part in it by identifying himself with natural phenomena such as trees, earth, water, birth, life and death.
This sense of harmony with nature is best illustrated by the great shrine at Ise founded by Emperor Sujin in honor of Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess. This remarkable complex of buildings is characterized by extreme simplicity of construction, and to emphasize the fact that it is not a monument, but a living part of the environment, the sanctuaries have been demolished and then rebuilt every twenty years since their foundation.
Turnbull Stephen
Samurai (Military history)
Turnbull Stephen
Samurai. Military history
Translation from English by A. B. Nikitin
A.B. Nikitin: It would be unnecessary to say that Stephen Turnbull’s book “Samurai. Military History” is one of the best general studies on this topic. As it should be in a real military history, descriptions of battles and campaigns are closely intertwined here with politics, economics, religion, personal ambitions and passions of Japanese rulers and commanders.
Preface
Chapter I. Gods and Heroes
Chapter II. Buddha and bushi
Chapter III. Gempei War
Chapter IV. Fall of the House of Tyra
Chapter V. The Samurai's Finest Hour
Chapter VI. Pledge of Allegiance
Chapter VII. Age of Wars
Chapter VIII. Saints and samurai
Chapter IX. Tea and muskets
Chapter X. Hideyoshi's Korean War
Chapter XI. Latest scores
Chapter XII. Decline and rebirth
Applications
Preface
From the translator
It would be unnecessary to say that Stephen Turnbull's book "Samurai. A Military History" is one of the best general studies on this topic. As it should be in a real military history, descriptions of battles and campaigns are closely intertwined here with politics, economics, religion, personal ambitions and passions of Japanese rulers and commanders. Despite the fact that the text contains a lot of Japanese terms, names and titles that at first glance say little to the average reader, the book is very easy to read. Special terms are immediately explained, besides, there are not so many of them, and as we delve deeper into the text, the heroes of a thousand years of Japanese history, all these Taira, Minamoto, Kusunoki, Takeda and Tokugawa begin to be perceived as old acquaintances. The author does not overload the text with the names of Japanese military units, measures of length, monetary units, etc. They are present only where necessary. In the Russian translation, English feet were converted into meters for convenience, but it was decided to leave English miles and not convert them to kilometers, since we are most often talking about approximate distances. In the chapter on the Japanese invasion of Korea, the word division is used to designate units of the Japanese army, which, although it seems like some kind of modernization, quite accurately conveys the essence - we are talking about combat units numbering 15-20 thousand people. As the author himself admits, when preparing the new edition of the book, he corrected some errors and inaccuracies made in the first edition. In the new edition, only one inaccuracy was noticed, which we took the liberty of correcting during translation. Us. 25 (original), where Kajiwara Kagetoki lists his pedigree and the exploits of his ancestors before the Battle of Ichi-no-tani, he does not at all claim, as it seemed to S. Turnbull, that he participated in the siege of the Kanezawa fortress under the command of Minamoto Yoshiie. He speaks quite clearly about the deeds of his ancestor Gongoro Kagemasa. Apparently, the author used a not very accurate translation of the corresponding passage from the Heike Monogatari. Turning to the Russian translation (made by I. Lvova, Moscow, “Fiction”, 1982, p. 420) made it possible to make the necessary correction.
Nikitin A. B.
For the 1996 edition
Twenty years ago, when finishing the manuscript of this book, I began the preface with the phrase: “The word “samurai” has become familiar.” It has become even more commonplace thanks to the success of this book, and I am glad that the Japanese Library series now has its first paperback reprint.
Naturally, over the past twenty years, having written a dozen more books, I have found some errors in Samurai that I could not have noticed when I first finished the manuscript. This edition allowed me to check the entire text again, and I was pleased to note that these were all minor errors, relating mainly to dates and some terms. Apart from these corrections, the text did not require any special editing, but I took the opportunity to remove some assessments and judgments, as well as various comments that seemed to me not entirely accurate. For example, I characterized the series of battles at Kawanakajima as a "gallant tournament" - hardly an appropriate description for the campaign of 1561, when the losses on the Uesugi side amounted to 72%!
I have decided not to add new chapters to this book, since my subsequent publications sufficiently complement it. The description of the Edo period is, as before, contained in one chapter. It was the “era of peace” - for military history nothing more is needed. Little is said here about samurai as patrons of the arts. In these pages the samurai appears solely as a warrior.
This book is about people, so I make no apologies for including a lot of Japanese names in it. To make things easier for the reader, I ignore the strange samurai custom of changing names every few years and call everyone by the name by which they are best known. First comes, according to ancient Japanese custom, the family name, then the personal name. So, for example, Tokugawa Ieyasu (i.e. Ieyasu of the Tokugawa house) began his life as Takechiyo, and at the age of fifteen he began to be called Matsudaira Motonobu. A year later he was already Matsudaira Motoyasu. When he turned twenty, he changed his given name to Ieyasu, and at twenty-seven he abandoned his family name for the Tokugawa surname. After his death he was deified as Too-sho-gu. Throughout this book I refer to him as Tokugawa Ieyasu.
I also simplified the reading of dates by translating into European style all the lunar calendar dates found in chronicles and epic works using Bramsen’s “Tables of Japanese Chronology”. Transcriptions of names are given according to the Hepburn system. To avoid tautology and ugly confusion of Japanese and English words, I have retained some suffixes in names and titles, namely: -gawa (river), -ji (Buddhist temple or monastery), -yama (mountain or hill), -shima (island ).
I take this opportunity to thank the following individuals and organizations for providing illustrations for this book and for their assistance in its preparation: Paul Norbrey of the Japan Library; Roger Cleave of Osprey Publishing, to whom I am grateful for their timely and helpful advice during the preparation of the first edition; Gilbert Smith - for translations from Japanese; C. B. Gardner, Assistant Keeper of the Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books Division of the British Library, who assisted me in my search for the necessary literature and provided the Japanese originals on which my maps and diagrams were based; John Anderson, who allowed his collection to be used to illustrate the development of weapons, and all my colleagues in the Northern Branch of the British To-ken Society, an organization that has done so much to encourage serious research into Japanese weapons. I would especially like to thank my friend Ian Bottomley, whose collection provided the material for several illustrations, and who gave me the opportunity to use his unpublished monograph on Japanese defensive weapons, co-authored with J. Hopkins.
B. W. Robinson of the Victoria and Albert Museum, H. R. Robinson of the Tower of London Arsenal, Dr. Nayoshi Ii, Mayor of Hikone, Yoshinobu Tokugawa, Director of the Tokugawa Reimeikai Foundation, Yoshimi Hayashi, Director of the Akizuki Museum in Fukuoka, Lauri Allen of Reeda, Australia, and Louis Allen of Durham University provided me with helpful advice and assistance in preparing the book. I. J. Clarke and E. J. Heath gave practical advice related to the publishing process; Signora S. Rossi kindly provided translations from Italian. Dr. M. Tongj, my former colleague at Downing College, Cambridge, supplied me with some valuable Korean materials. I would like to thank the Japan Society of London for permission to use its protocols.
I also want to thank my dear wife Jo, without whose constant support and assistance this work would not have seen the light of day.
Stephen Turnbull
Department of East Asian Studies
University of Leeds, November 1995
Japan entered the modern world in 1868 under the sign of the restoration of the power of the emperor, a shadowy figure who for many centuries had been removed from real power by hegemons from the samurai class, warrior rulers. In fact, in the Meiji restoration, at least in its early stages, there was little radical or revolutionary, because it was carried out by representatives of the same samurai class, and the emperor remained what he had been since ancient times - the guarantor of the legitimacy of the power of other people. Within one decade, the new samurai rulers set Japan on a path to modernization, and although along the way they had to give up the feudal privileges of their own class, the former samurai effectively became leaders in all aspects of modern Japanese society. More importantly, they brought into the modern era that samurai spirit of military honor that was destined to define Japanese behavior at least until the end of the Second World War, when Japanese soldiers went into battle with ancient samurai swords and died under enemy fire in suicidal psychic attacks .
