Yamauchi Kazutoyo's Birth Place

Yamauchi Kazutoyo who started to serve Nobunaga in the 1560s, was born at Kuroda Castle located in modern day Owari Ichinomiya. He was one of many so called Aichi bushi. Kazutoyo was born in 1545/6 and died in 1605.













Link to Kuroda Castle. http://www.geocities.jp/chiezoikomai/owari/kuroda.html

Owada Tetsuo has written a book on Kazutoyo as well.

The book is easy to read and a must for anybody who wants to know more about Kazutoyo's career.

I will be out for about two weeks and please leave comments for any breaking news on Nobunaga.




Nobunaga no tame!

Kunitori Monogatari and The Man God Hated

Recently shopping at Book-Off I found the 2005 movie box set of Kunitori Monogatari.

Ito Hideaki-Oda Nobunaga
Watabe Atsuro-Akechi Mitsuhide
Kitaoji Kinya-Saito Dosan
Kikukawa Rei-Nohime

I did not buy the set because the price was too high. However, what I understand is that the movie is worth buying

The link to the movie: http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/kunitori/

Kami ni aisarenakatta otoko (The Man God Hated) is the movie about Akechi Mitsuhide. The title suits Akechi Mitsuhide perfectly.

Akechi Mitsuhide-Karasawa Hiroaki
Oda Nobunaga-Uekawa Takaya

Link: http://wwwz.fujitv.co.jp/akechi/index.html

This is a must see and I plan to watch the movie later this year.



Tenka no tame!

Shibata Katsuie's Birth Place

Shibata Katsuie was one of Nobunaga's captains and one of the Boys from Owari. Katsuie was born at Shimoyashiro Castle.

Here is two links related to the Shimoyashiro Castle landmark located in the Nagoya City area.

http://www.geocities.jp/chiezoikomai/owari/simoyasiro.html

http://ameblo.jp/mikawa-hide/

The date to look for on Hide's link is 7/10/09. His post on Shibata Katsuie's birth place is rich and has plenty of feedback.


Nobunaga no tame!

Yanada Masatsuna

New information has been found on the man who changed Sengoku warfare forever. There is a link I found the data this morning that provided new details on Yanada Masatsuna.

Please see http://ameblo.jp/mikawa-hide/
and the date of his blog you should look is 7/9/09. Hide provides photos of Kunotsubo Castle and a links to maps as well.

Before Yanada Masatsuna received Kutsukake Castle as his reward for providing Nobunaga the intelligence that helped defeat the Imagawa at the Battle of Okehazama. It seems that Yanada came from Kunotsubo Castle. See Owada Tetsuo's Nobunaga Tettei Bunseki Junana Sho, p. 38.

In conclusion, Yanada Masatsuna started at Kunotsubo to Kutsukake Castle and cash.




Photos of Kutsukake Castle. The photo on the top is the ruins of Kutsukake Castle. The photo below is the Kutsukake Castle landmark. The most important historical fact was that Yanada Masatsuna's reward was bigger and better than Mori Shinsuke and Hattori Koheita combined.

I also added Hide's link to the link area.




Tenka no tame!

Okehazama Discussion

The Okehazama discussion last night went well. I spoke for about forty minutes before the audience asked questions related to the battle. Most of the questions from the audience was about the so called surprise attack. To tell you the truth, the audience was split. However, as everybody knows my position on this touchy subject, Nobunaga DID use the surprise attack on the Imagawa at the Battle of Okehazama.

I would like to thank Ms. Hosokawa for letting me use her house as a place for me to talk about my book. Thanks again.



The Oda Nobunaga Guide Book is broken into six courses.

1. Utsuke
2. Tsushima
3. Okehazama
4. Road to Mino
5. Sengoku no Onnatachi
6. Nagashino

I really like this guide book and will be using it when I return to Japan. Hopefully this year. If you are in the Aichi area, please make sure you obtain this book. it is very useful and a must for any Nobunaga scholar.


Nobunaga no tame!

First Speaking Forum

Tonight I will speak about my book for the first time with some close friends of mine. I am a little nervous, but will be able handle it. My friends and colleagues want to know more about my book, Nobunaga, and Okehazama. The book is still not perfect. However, I am very satisfied and blessed with the work that I done since the book is now at least respectable.

I found the person who was responsible for the Nobunaga/Ieyasu Guide Book illustrations.





Here is the link to the artist's web page. http://ameblo.jp/go-ahead-ysk/
Mr. YSK (nickname) has a blog and he was the one who created the book covers. Great job! Nobunaga is ready to take over the world!

Tenka no tame!

The New Edition Is Better

I finally received the copy of my new edition of the Okehazama book. I must say, I am am very happy with it and glad that I took the time to work out the kinks. The book is so much better than the old one and there is no comparison. I am completely satisfied with the work I done. Nothing is perfect and will likely add new information in a year or two.

I would like to thank Mr. Brent Massey who made this publication possible, Kitsuno who persuaded me to take the time to rewrite it, Obenjo who gave me a swift kick in the rear end at times to make sure the book is decent enough for the general public, Mr. Sekigahara, and God.

You can order the book at Amazon and at the Samurai Archives Bookstore. If you order the book at the SA, you will help their awesome site at no additional charge. Make sure you order the book new. The new version is the revised edition while the used one is the crummy one.

I did receive one negative review and it was well deserved. The person who wrote the review gave me strength to rewrite a better book. Thanks.

Saturday will be the 4th of July. Remember freedom comes at a price and it is precious. The price is always paid in blood.

Update : someone pointed out some errors on a couple of names. Yoshimoto's Timeline there are two. Yoshimoto's father was Ujichika not Yoshichika (Ujichika is listed later in the book) and Yoshimoto's wife Jukeiin (her name was Jokeiin). Page 32, Kitsuno's father was listed as IkomaIenaga. Her father was Ikoma Iemune. The first two, I do not know what happened. The last one was my fault. they name will be edited by the end of the year.


Nobunaga no tame!

Movie on the construction of Azuchi Castle

I found some links on the SA on the story of the construction of Azuchi Castle. The movie looks interesting and would love to get my hands on them.

http://katen.jp/

http://katen.jp/movie.html



Tenka no tame!

Nobunaga Guide Book

I have just received my Nobunaga Guide Book in the mail today. To tell you the truth, the people of Aichi Prefecture did an excellent job and it is highly useful even though the guide book is in Japanese (for you non-Japanese readers the guide book is still easy to comprehend). The Nobunaga Guide book includes a timeline, Nobunaga's history related to Aichi Prefecture, maps, photos of the historical landmarks, and where to locate them as well. There is even an Ieyasu Guide Book as well, but the Nobunaga one will always be the better guide book. This is one of the best I have seen so far and it is a must for any Nobunaga/Ieyasu fan out there.

There are two people I would like to thank. Dohaland of Samurai Country and Mr. Hiroyuki Kawade. Thanks again! The Nobunaga Guide Book is useful and a must have for anyone who is studying Nobunaga or Ieyasu.



Nobunaga no tame! Tenka no tame!