War & battles

Battle of Sekigahara—21 Oct 1600, Ishida Mitsunari’s western army vs Tokugawa Ieyasu’s eastern coalition, betrayals, and the battle that opened Edo shogunate rule. (19 min read)

How samurai armies besieged Japanese castles—stone walls, encirclement, mining, guns, negotiation, and famous sieges from Odawara to Osaka. (19 min read)

Japanese siege tools beginners actually need—sapping, fire attacks, movable screens, ladders, bamboo fascines, flooding at Takamatsu, late guns, and why European trebuchet clichés miss the point. (28 min read)

How samurai armies fought in Sengoku and early Edo—unit types, horn and flag signals, gun volleys, cavalry roles, and why ashigaru outnumbered mounted samurai. (19 min read)

Deep dive into Miyamoto Musashi’s documented duels and campaign fights—Yoshioka Kyoto bouts, Sasaki Kojirō on Ganryūjima, Sekigahara-era Kyūshū action—sorted by source quality, not novel scenes. (22 min read)

Oda Nobunaga’s major campaigns: Okehazama, Inabayama/Gifu, Nagashima, Ishiyama Hongan-ji, Nagashino context, and Honnō-ji, as army-scale war, not personal duel myths. (24 min read)

Beginner map of Tokugawa Ieyasu’s major campaigns: Mikatagahara defeat, Nagashino alliance, Komaki–Nagakute, Sekigahara, and the Osaka sieges, focused on patience, coalitions, and learning from loss. (26 min read)

A campaign-by-campaign look at Takeda Shingen’s real wars—Shinano conquest, the five Kawanakajima battles against Uesugi Kenshin, the crushing win at Mikatagahara, the Noda Castle siege that ended his life, and why Nagashino belongs to his son, not him. (20 min read)

Sanada Nobushige (popularly Yukimura) in battle—Ueda Castle defenses vs Tokugawa, Sekigahara-era delay of Hidetada, Winter and Summer Sieges of Osaka, the Sanada-maru, and death at Tennōji—sorted by source weight, not novel scenes. (24 min read)

Classic Japanese battle arrays—kakuyoku, gyorin, ganki, kuruma-gakari, and more—what each shape tried to do, strengths and failures, banners and discipline, and why Edo manuals differ from Sengoku mud. (28 min read)

How Sengoku and earlier Japanese armies coordinated without radio—sashimono, uma-jirushi, nobori, taiko drums, horagai conch shells, messengers, fog limits, and deception. (24 min read)

How Sengoku lords fought minds as well as bodies—banners and mon, war cries and drums, false retreats, hostage politics, night noise, menpo fear aesthetics, commander mythos, and insult letters. (28 min read)

Why Sengoku night raids and ambushes worked—and failed: signaling in the dark, noise discipline, armor limits, surprise vs chaos, Okehazama, Kawagoe night battle, and castle sorties. (26 min read)

How mounted samurai and foot soldiers (ashigaru) shared Sengoku battlefields—roles, costs, when cavalry ruled, and when gun infantry ended charges. (18 min read)

How Sengoku generals used hills, rivers, fog, rice paddies, and mountain passes—more than honor duels—to decide battles from Okehazama to Sekigahara. (20 min read)

Yabusame horseback archery—how samurai shot from the saddle in war and festival, gear (yumi, ya), famous shrines like Tsurugaoka Hachimangū, and difference from standing kyudo. (18 min read)

How samurai-era Japan fought at sea—murakami pirates, wako raids, red-seal ships, battle of Kizugawa, and why coasts mattered as much as castles. (18 min read)

How Sengoku fleets were built—atakebune, sekibune, and kobaya design, oar vs sail, boarding gear, ship towers, iron-plating debates, and firearms on decks. (28 min read)

How Japanese samurai clans fought as coalitions—marriage ties, hostage oaths, ikki leagues, betrayal at Sekigahara, and why strategy was diplomacy plus rice. (18 min read)

How lords moved orders and rumors—tsukai and hikyaku-style runners, horse relays, sealed dispatches, scout nets, Edo peacetime intelligence versus Sengoku wartime spying, and how messages were trusted or faked. (32 min read)

How Sengoku and Edo forces protected orders—night watchwords at castle gates, sealed documents, secret marks, limited briefing of retainers, and why secrecy failed through bribery and capture—not Hollywood cipher machines. (28 min read)

How wartime scouts, Iga/Kōga shinobi networks, and Edo metsuke inspectors overlapped—and how Hollywood stealth kills differ from terrain maps, loyalty checks, and castle gate reports. (28 min read)

How Japanese warrior houses watched their own retainers—metsuke inspectors, internal informers, succession intrigue, letter interception, and branch-house double agents—and how that differs from battlefield scouts and pop-culture ninja. (30 min read)

Guide to Japanese samurai battlefield sites—Sekigahara, Osaka summer/winter sieges, Nagashino, signage, maps, etiquette, and beginner history context. (31 min read)

Guide to the Yonezawa City Uesugi Museum 25th-anniversary show on Uesugi Kenshin and the Battles of Kawanakajima—five-battle lore vs new scholarship, loaned documents, and festival myth. (24 min read)

How samurai women defended castles—nursing wounded, making cartridges, fighting with naginata, organizing stores, and why peacetime ideals clashed with siege reality. (29 min read)

How arquebuses disrupted sword prestige in Sengoku Japan—ashigaru gunners vs cavalry, Nagashino myths vs records, Edo sword culture after peace, and real battlefield tradeoffs. (32 min read)

Beginner guide to Japanese sōhei (warrior monks)—how Enryaku-ji and other temple forces differed from samurai retainers, weapons, Genpei and Sengoku fights, and why they were not “monk ninjas.” (22 min read)