Luis Frois

This is a statute of the Portuguese Jesuit missionary Luis Frois (1532-97) located at the Gifu City Museum of History.

Frois was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1532 and first arrived in Japan in 1563, the same year that Nobunaga moved his headquarters from Kiyosu to Komaki.  In 1569, Frois first saw Nobunaga in person in Kyoto.  That day, Nobunaga was constructing Nijo Castle for shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki.  It was noted in Frois's writings that one of Nobunaga's soldiers was harassing a young woman.  Nobunaga saw this and took immediate action as he chopped off the soldier's head in one single stroke of the blade.  Later in 1569, Frois visited Nobunaga again in Gifu.  He described Gifu as ancient Babylon.  Frois is one of the few foreigners who have met with Nobunaga on a consistent basis and has several writings on the meetings with the Uesama.

Tenka no tame!

Mitsuhide Talk

There will be a seminar on Akechi Mitsuhide on August 4th and 5th this year.  On the 4th, it will be held at Mizunami Cultural Center.  As usual, Owada Tetsuo is the leading guest speaker.  This will lead up to the 2020 Mitsuhide Taiga drama.

Nobunaga no tame!

Roads that lead to Okehazama

On my recent trip back to the Okehazama battlefield, I learned that here are two roads in the back of the Arimatsu Okehazama Battlefield Park.  The photo below is the Mikawa Michi.  During the time of the Battle of Okehazama, the road was extremely small and narrow.

This is the Chikazaki Michi which is below the Mikawa Michi.  These two roads connected.  Mikawa Michi stands out for me.  When the Kajino's told me how small and narrow the road was at the time, I was shocked.  Again, over time, the geography has changed, but not the secrets of the Battle of Okehazama.

Tenka no tame!

Okehazama 2018

I just returned home from another fantastic trip to Japan and already planning for next year.  The Arimatsu Okehazama Festival will be held this weekend.  Last weekend I was able to attend the Toyoake City festival, a beautiful festival it was.

I did a walking tour with the Kajino family and I will write about that in the near future.  I want to write about news that the Rokkaku from southern Omi did provide Nobunaga some assistance during the Battle of Okehazama.  According to the Chofukuji Temple, there is some relics that belong to a retainer of the Rokkaku who was killed in action at Okehazama.  That is news indeed.  The question is how did the Rokkaku know about the Imagawa campaign?

This brings me back to the Men of the Fields and their meeting at Ikoma mansion for Nobunaga's dance party.  Hachisuka Koroku and Maeno Shoemon usually had Hideyoshi with them when meeting with Nobunaga.  Without Hideyoshi, the two felt nervous and uneasy when meeting Nobunaga alone.  Guess what?  It happened.  Hideyoshi was not there at the dance party and Koroku and Shoemon had to meet with Nobunaga directly.  Where was Hideyoshi that night?  Kiyosu Castle?  Or requesting help from southern Omi?  It is a stretch, but it is quite possible that Nobunaga did request help from the Rokkaku using Hideyoshi as a messenger.  As for me, I am open about it.  Possible, but chances are not that high.

Nobunaga no tame!