Okehazama for Kids

Do you have any kids who enjoy history, samurai, or comics. If you do, I have found the perfect book for the kiddies. Last year while in Japan, I bought the Okehazama educational comic book. Historian Kaku Kozo is the head man for the book and the comic is modern, fresh, and simply delicious in my opinion.

The front cover is in color. However, the book is in black and white and still the art work is stunning. The book contains all of Okehazama's cast of characters. They include, Nobunaga, Yoshimoto, Ieyasu, Asahina Yasutomo, Toshiie, Hideyoshi, and Yanada Masatsuna. Adults can learn from this book as well.

The series also has books on the big three, big battles such as Nagashino, Sekigahara, and Osaka. I plan to buy the Nobunaga and Nagashino later in the future.

Also here in a link with some photos on the Arimatsu Okehazama Battlefield Park.

http://okehazama.net/modules/osirase/index.php?page=article&storyid=80

Some fifteen years after the battle Yoshimoto's lame son Ujizane did meet with the new leader of Japan (Nobunaga) in 1575 at Shokokuji Temple in Kyoto. Nobunaga knew right away Ujizane was not capable of ruling another domain again. A few years later Ieyasu suggested Nobunaga that he would like to give some of Ujizane's old domain, Suruga, back to him. Nobunaga smartly refused. Ujizane, in Nobunaga's opinion was a waste of time and the Imagawa were no more. Once Nobunaga died, things changed. Ujizane did well in Edo and he was able live until his 70s.

Mary Elizabeth Berry summed up best on the Imagawa in her book Hideyoshi (p. 34). "Among the most innovative of administrators, the Imagawa proved able in defense but weak in offensive strategy."

Nobunaga no tame!