Sengoku samurai warlords Summary
SAMURAI: Legends of the Warring States is a manga series that retells famous moments from Japan's Sengoku (Warring States) period, one episode at a time, based on records from that era. Its main sources are the Shinchō Kōki (The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga), written by Ota Gyuichi, a retainer of Oda Nobunaga, and the Kōyō Gunkan, a collection of the Takeda clan's battles and traditions.
Episode 1 follows the first meeting between the young Oda Nobunaga, rumored to be "the Great Fool," and his father-in-law Saito Dosan, known as "the Viper of Mino," at Shōtoku-ji temple. Dosan secretly watches Nobunaga's procession and is surprised by his strange clothes and his strong army. Yet at the meeting itself, Nobunaga appears in formal dress. Episode 2 covers the Battle of Okehazama in 1560. On the night before Imagawa Yoshimoto's huge army arrives, Nobunaga goes to sleep without explaining any plan. At dawn he rides out of his castle with only a few followers, and after a sudden rainstorm he attacks Yoshimoto's headquarters and kills him.
Episodes 3 and 4 tell the story of the Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima in 1561. Yamamoto Kansuke, strategist to Takeda Shingen, devises the "woodpecker strategy": split the army in two and trap the Uesugi forces between them. But Uesugi Kenshin sees through the plan and leads his army down the mountain during the night. When the fog lifts on the plain of Hachimanbara, the main Takeda force finds itself facing the entire Uesugi army. In the fierce fighting, Shingen's brother Nobushige and Kansuke are killed, and an unnamed mounted warrior charges straight into Shingen's command post. Wherever the manga adds its own creative touches, the notes for each episode compare them with the original sources.
Story summary
Episode 1The Day the Viper Stopped Laughing — Nobunaga Meets Saitō Dōsan at Shōtoku-ji
In the mangaYoung Nobunaga is the laughingstock of the land—"the Big Fool." Saito Dosan, the old warlord they call the Viper, married his daughter off to him, and now he wants to see the groom with his own eyes. One peek at the procession from a roadside hut, and one quick change behind a temple folding screen, wipe the smile right off the old man's face.
In the original mythIn mid-sixteenth-century Japan, during the Warring States period, the young Oda Nobunaga ruled part of Owari Province (today western Aichi Prefecture). People around Saitō Dōsan, lord of the neighboring province of Mino (today Gifu), kept telling him that Nobunaga was an oddball and a complete fool. Dōsan had married his daughter to Nobunaga, and he kept saying the young man was no fool. He decided to find out for…
Episode 245,000 Were Coming. Nobunaga Went to Sleep. — Battle of Okehazama
In the mangaOn the night an army of 45,000 closes in, 27-year-old Oda Nobunaga ignores his retainers' pleas to hold the castle, makes small talk about swallows, and goes to bed. At dawn he dances "Fifty years of a man's life" and bolts from the castle. Past retainers trying to stop him and allies falling in battle, he pushes forward—and in the instant the storm breaks, he shouts: "Charge!"
In the original mythOur main source is the Shinchō Kōki ("The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga"), written by Ōta Gyūichi, a samurai who served Nobunaga. It tells the story in one chapter of its first volume. Imagawa Yoshimoto, a powerful lord in the east, marches into Owari province. The chronicle says he had 45,000 men. He camps at Kutsukake. Messages reach Nobunaga at Kiyosu Castle: the enemy plans to bring supplies into Ōdaka Castle and…
Episode 3The Perfect Plan, Betrayed by Dinner Smoke — Battle of Kawanakajima (the Woodpecker Gambit)
In the mangaThe enemy won't come down from the mountain, so the strategist Kansuke plans to drive them out with a "woodpecker" trick. But the enemy commander saw through it from one thing: the cooking smoke rising from the castle at suppertime. When the fog lifts, the whole enemy army is standing right in front of him.
In the original mythThe main source for this episode is the Kōyō Gunkan, a long chronicle of the Takeda clan. It is said to come from the spoken memories of Kōsaka Danjō Masanobu, one of Takeda Shingen's generals, and to have been edited into its final form by the military scholar Obata Kagenori in the early 1600s. Historians argue about how reliable it is, but it shaped how Japan remembers this battle.
Episode 4Who Was the Rider Who Struck the Warlord? — Battle of Kawanakajima (Shingen vs. Kenshin)
In the mangaKawanakajima, autumn 1561. The fog lifts, and the entire Uesugi army is right in front of them. As word comes that Shingen has lost his brother and his strategist, he still won't leave his camp stool. Then a rider who never gives his name charges straight into the command camp.
In the original mythIn the autumn of 1561, Uesugi Terutora, better known today as Uesugi Kenshin, the warlord of Echigo, camped his army on Mount Saijo (Saijōsan). The mountain looks over the plain where the Chikuma and Sai rivers meet, in northern Shinano (today's Nagano Prefecture). His rival Takeda Shingen, lord of Kai, moved into nearby Kaizu Castle, and the two armies settled in to face each other.
Episode 5Hold the Castle Until Dawn. Alone. — The Kanegasaki Retreat
In the mangaTwo castles in two days have the camp celebrating, until word comes that family has switched sides, and the army is trapped front and back in an instant. Lord Nobunaga decides to escape through the mountains. The man left behind in the empty castle is Tokichiro, a small soldier who only ever wanted his lord to learn his name.
In the original mythThe main source for this episode is "Shincho Koki" (The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga), written by Ota Gyuichi, a retainer who served Oda Nobunaga. In its entry for Genki 1 (1570), it says Nobunaga left Kyoto on the 20th day of the fourth month. He passed through Sakamoto and then through Kumagawa and Sakata in Wakasa province, and on the 25th he reached Tsuruga in Echizen, the land ruled by the Asakura clan.