Atsuta Jingu

If you are ever in the Nagoya area,check out the Atsuta Shrine. Nobunaga made history there in the early morning before his victory at the Battle of Okehazama in 1560. He prayed there at the shrine and told them that he will build a victory wall if he wins. He did win and later presented a horse to the shrine. Here are some photos of the Nobunaga victory wall.


The photo above is the actual Nobunaga victory wall at Atsuta Shrine. The wall was built with mud, grease and lime. It still stands tall and proud. The photo below is a replica of Nobunaga's victory wall at Kiyosu Castle.


Here is the Atsuta shrine link. http:www.atsutajingu.or.jp/eng/

Here is some fact about the shrine. It is said that before Nobunaga continued his Okehazama campiagn he grabbed some Eiraku Tsuuhou coins and threw them up in the air as a coin toss. The result: all heads equals Okehazama victory!



Tenka no Tame!

Thomas Conlan

Thomas Conlan's new book, Weapons&Fighting Techniques of the Samurai Warrior 1200-1877 AD, is a hit. I like the photos and drawings as well. It does cover some on Oda Nobunaga. Conlan does us a great service on the Battle of Nagashino. As you know, I believe that there were more guns at the battle than one expects. However, if the Oda/Tokugawa army was less than the previous numbers, of course, there will fewer gunners.


Here is a piece from Conlan,

"For all of its fame, the battle of Nagashino has not been particularly well analyzed. OwadaTetsuo, in his Nagashino Shitaragahara no tatakai, has complained that much of the analysis of the battle has come from individuals who knew nothing about the battlefield, or had never travelled there"(Conlan, p. 167).

What Owada stated is true. The geography was important to the battle. Conlan has stated that guns played an important factor. That is fact. He has even mentioned that nobody knows for sure how many guns were present at the battle. I do not know and nobody knows at the moment. Once we know how many guns were there at the battle, the real analysis begins.

I do understand Owada's point about people have not gone to the battlefield to do their homework. It think it is true. I know when I was writing my book on Okehazama, I could say I was at the battlefield at least six times.

Conlan did provide a color map where it shows the Takeda army advancing through the Tokugawa lines hoping to cut them off. It never happened. They were shot to pieces. Also if you look below on the map near the Oda lines, there were many bullets discovered near there (Conlan, 173). Part of the Oda/Tokugawa victory was on guns, but it was a tactic-type surprise attack that won the day. Conlan also mentions much of the blame has to go to Takeda Katsuyori himself for allowing one of his wings to be cut off.

I plan to write more later.


Nobunaga no tame!

Aya Ueto

I this this blog has to do with my homeboy Oda Nobunaga. However, one in awhile something important comes up. I found this article in the Japan Times. Aya Ueto is one of Japan's biggest stars. However, she grew up poor and still remembers where she came from. Check this out. I think Nobunaga will be proud of this fine lady. Reminds me of Hideyoshi a little bit. Dirt poor and rose to the top.

http://search. japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fq20081113r1.html




Tenka no tame!

More on Atsumori

As I said before, Ogata Naoto's version of Atsumori was the worst I have ever seen. Here is one that might shock you. The Taikoki television movie was not bad at all. Matsukata Hiroki's version was in fact much better. He was able to sing and dance, but also he had much more feeling in it. To make the part much better, Ono (Nohime), played the hand drum. This is much more accurate than the Taiga drama. The scene alone was worth buying the DVD.

Did Nohime play the hand drum during Nobunaga's finest hour? The chances were high in my opinion. In my Okehazama book I made sure all sides were taken in account. If you read OwadaTetsuo, Okehazama no Tatakai (page, 124), one of his pages played the drum. Somehow, I do believe that Nohime played the hand drum. After all, she is the Viper's daughter. However, I am not going to completely disagree with Owada. I think it is one of the question that will never be answered.

The book is now in the hands of the publisher. Hopefully, the book will be out at the end of the month or the first week of December.




Nobunaga no tame!

Thomas Conlan

I just received Thomas Conlan's book on Samurai warfare. It is a must have! I got the recommendation from my friends at Samurai Archives. He has a web page as well. Check it out.

http://www.bowdoin.edu/faculty/t/tconlan/


Update on Okehazama book

It is off to the publisher. I do have to say I am very humbled. I have never done a project like this before. Sadly, I had to leave some things out. I plan with a 2nd edition to add more things. I found more data! However, the book will still be crammed with tons of information. I think Nobunaga will be proud of it.

Next week I plan to comment on Matsukata Hiroki's Atsumori performance on the television drama Taiko. Hint: It was a lot better and more accurate than the NHK Taiga Nobunaga series.



Tenka no Tame!

Okehazama Documentary

I am almost done with my book. Thank God! After ten years of hard labor I am done! When I was living in Gifu around 2000-1, somebody told me there was a documentary special on the Battle of Okehazama. I am going to guess it was aired by NHK. Does anybody know about it? Has anybody seen it? I would like to know. I have seen something similar on a plane to Tokyo explaining the Honnoji rebellion. If I can remember, the guest was Kaku Kozo. To tell you the truth, I want to see the Okehazama documentary and obtain a copy of it.

Remember to vote today! I am not voting for the so-called "Messiah"



Tenka no tame!

Kawanakajima Book

Here is a book that I bought at my local Book-Off branch. It is a general book on Kawanakajima. The photos are decent. However, it has information on Yamamoto Kanuske, Uesugi Kenshin, and Takeda Shingen. The book also contains brief information on battles such as Okehazama, Mikata ga hara, and Nagashino. If one wants to see the Kawanakajima battlefield, information on how to get there is included.

As for the Nobunaga NHK Taiga series, you have to hand it to Rokkaku Joutei (Yoshikata). One of the best moments of the series was when he complained that Nobunaga was a low class country warlord. Nobunaga had the last laugh of course. The Rokkaku had to flee since country boys do not give in so easily.
I do have a song request for Rokkaku Joutei by Hank Williams Jr. "Country Boys will Survive!"

Update: I should receive the final draft later this weekend on my book. I will go over it one more time to make it good. From Professor Kitsuno, opinion there is a ton of information and he like the work. He just wants the book to reach the TENKA. So I will be editing the book and hopefully send the work to the publisher.


Nobunaga no Tame!