Shimoyashiro Castle Video

 Here is a two minute video on Shimoyashiro Castle located in Nagoya. Shimoyashiro Castle is the birthplace of Nobunaga's retainer Shibata Katsuie (1522?-83). The Shimoyashiro Castle landmark is located at Myotukuji.

Nobunaga no tame!

Owada Nagashino Video

 Here is a video by historian Owada Tetsuo talking about the Battle of Nagashino (1575).

Now I will use The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga (p. 225) "Having given strict instructions beforehand that action only be initiated on the receipt of orders from him, having assigned Sassa Kura no Suke, Maeda Matazaemon, Nonomura Sanjuro (Masanari), Fukuzumi Heizaemon, and Ban Kurozaemon as his commissioners in charge of about one thousand harquebusiers, Nobunaga now gave the order for his light infantry to occupy their forward positions close to the enemy line and watched as they did so."

Tenka no tame!

Lady Tsukiyama Video

 Here is a short video on the grave of Lady Tsukiyama (1542-79). She was the first wife of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Unfortunately, she was put to death by Ieyasu for planning a possible coup with the Takeda. After she was killed, her head was sent to Azuchi for Nobunaga to inspect. Later her head was buried at Yuudenji located in Okazaki.

Nobunaga no tame!

Nagashino Gunnery Video

 Earlier today I found an excellent video by NHK on Nobunaga's gunnery squad and the Battle of Nagashino. First, the crew makes a visit to shagekijo or gun range where professional matchlock rifle marksman fire their weapons.  The first target is 50 meters and nearly everyone was accurate.  However, once the target is moved to 100 meters, accuracy declined. 

The second part is the Takeda horsemen. How fast the horse can go.  It was nice to see a Japanese horse than the usual thoroughbred. Now the real experiment takes place.  The Nagashino teppo squad is at the fence. At first everyone is lined up in three rows firing one after another. However, time to reload and shoot was long. The second experiment everyone fired their rounds individually. There were more rounds fired at the rate of every three seconds. Probably accurate in my opinion. At the 7:30 minute mark or so there is CGI where bullets are firing towards the viewer. Just imagine if you were one of the members of the Takeda calvary and bullets are fired in your direction. Not a good feeling for sure.

Tenka no tame!

Yasuda Kunitsugu

 It was known that Yasuda Kunitsugu (1556-97) took the first attempt to kill Nobunaga during the Honnoji Rebellion. However, he is not mentioned in The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga. That being said here is a clue from The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga (p. 470) "He continued the fight with a spear but suffered a spear wound to his elbow and retreated." Could this be Yasuda Kunitsugu's effort to kill Nobunaga? Highly possible.

I wrote a post about Yasuda Kunitsugu's spear a couple of years ago. Https://otsuke.blogspot.com/2021/02/honnoji-spear.html

It seems that Mori Ranmaru fought Kunitsugu and stabbed him in the stomach with a cross shaped spear. As for his birth and death date it was listed as unknown in the Sengoku Jinmei Jiten (1990) by Abe Takeshi and Nishimura Keiko. However, it was listed on Wikipedia.

Nobunaga no tame!

Honnoji no Hen Day

 

Today is the day Nobunaga was betrayed by Akechi Mitsuhide and history was changed forever. I still believe that Mitsuhide was nothing more than a disgruntled employee. Even before he attacked the Honnoji, Mitsuhide was a man who did not know which course of action to take.

Japonius Tyrannus (p. 214) "Mitsuhide's behavior directly before the Honnoji Incident was that of  man having serious doubts as what course of action to take."

In the new 2nd Edition of Kicho & Nobunaga by Rumi Komonz,  Nohime chews out Mitsuhide. (p. 233) "You were a coward before, and a coward now." Now, I do not believe Nohime was with Nobunaga during the Honnoji Incident. She was probably staying at Azuchi Castle.

As for the best Honnoji scene, The Legend & Butterfly stands out. Highly accurate in my opinion. Second best goes to Nobunaga King of Zipangu. 

Tenka no tame!

2023 Nagashino Shitagahara Matsuri

 

The 2023 Nagashino/Shitagahara Matsuri will be held on June 3rd at the Nagashino/Shitagahara Battlefield. There will be a matchlock rifle squad display.

Nobunaga no tame!