Fushimi Momoyama Castle
The beautiful Momoyama Castle also known as "Fushimi Momoyama Castle", located in Kyoto. The current structure is a replica of the original built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (daimyo of the Sengoku period who unified the Japan) despite its military appearance, the structure was designed to serve as a retirement home of Hideyoshi.
The castle was particularly famous for his room dedicated to the tea ceremony, where both the walls as the utensils were covered with gold leaf, however, after two years of its construction, an earthquake destroyed it completely.
The castle was subsequently rebuilt and came to be controlled by Torii Mototada a vassal of Tokugawa Ieyasu
 |
(Torii Mototada)
|
 |
|
In 1623, the castle was taken apart and many of its rooms and buildings have been incorporated in various castles and temples all over the Japan. A temple in Kyoto, Yogen-in, has a ceiling that was the blood-stained floor of one of the corridors of Fushimi Castle where Torii Mototada, the samurai and his Ronin committed seppuku.
|
Explanatory notes:
``Is not the way of the Warrior being humiliated and avoid death even under circumstances that are not particularly important ... As for me, I decided to take my position within the Castle and have a quick death. I will have no difficulty to take a large number of enemies, no matter how many tens of thousands of riders approach to the attack or how many columns in surround. But this is not the true meaning of being a warrior, and it would be difficult to explain how loyalty. On the contrary, I'm going to give strength to warriors across the country, and have ... a resplendent death´´
-Tori Mototada
Torii Mototada (1539-鳥居 元忠?, September 8, 1600), was a samurai of Japan's Sengoku period and Azuchi-Momoyama period in the history of Japan, Ieyasu Tokugawa vassal. Torii died at the siege of Fushimi where his garrison destroyed by the army of Ishida Mitsunari. Torii's refusal to surrender had a great impact, the fall of Fushimi gave Ieyasu time to regroup and win the battle of Sekigahara
Mototada was born in Okazaki, the son of Torii Tadayoshi. As a boy, he was sent as a hostage of the Imagawa clan, together with the future Tokugawa Ieyasu. The young Mototada became so page of Matsudaira Takechiyo. After Ieyasu's return to their land, and managed to unify the Mikawa province, Mototada has become one of his major generals.
In 1572, Mototada succeeded the Torii Clan's leadership, after the death of his father. And fought at the battle of Mikata-ga-hara and battle of Suwahara Castle the following year and was wounded in the leg, which made it difficult to walk from then on.
Mototada participated in all the major campaigns of Ieyasu. With only 2,000 men he mounted a rearguard action against the force of more than 10,000 of the clan Go-H ōjō, and defeated them, soon after, Ieyasu granted him Tanimura Castle in Kai province. Later, in 1585, he joined Okubo Tadayo and Dr. Hiraiwa Chikayoshi in laying siege to the Sanada Clan's Ueda Castle.
After the campaign of Ieyasu to the Kantō region, was granted the 40,000 koku of income Yasaku in Shimōsa province, which made him a daimyo
In August 1600, Mototada was warned by spies that an army of 40 thousand battle-hardened followers of Toyotomi Hideyoshi were annihilating everything in their path in their March to Fushimi Castle. The 2,000 men of the garrison of the Castle, were outnumbered, and a withdrawal to save mankind was still possible. In an act of loyalty to his Lord, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Mototada chose stay protecting the rearguard, promising to fight to the end
Your last statement addressed to his son Tadamasa3, described how his family served the Tokugawa for generations and how his brother had been killed in battle. In the letter, Mototada has said it would be an honor to die first, to give courage to the rest of the Tokugawa warriors. Asked his son raise his siblings to serve Tokugawa oClã "both in his rise as in decline" and remain humble not wishing or possessions, or monetary reward. Longtime friends, Torii Mototada and Tokugawa Ieyasu parted ways, unfortunately, knowing that they would never see each other again:
At the end, with the castle in flames around him, Mototada ordered his men to resist until only ten remain. The Castle defenders fought heroically to the last man. As was customary, Mototada committed seppuku rather than be captured alive.
The siege of Fushimi Castle contained the advance of enemy troops for 10 days, allowing Ieyasu could regroup
the course of Japanese history. Tokugawa Ieyasu would raise an army of 90 thousand men and face deMitsunari Ishida's forces at the battle of Sekigahara, in what would be one of the bloodiest battles of the Sengoku period 4. Forty thousand heads would be taken in the early hours of the battle and 70 thousand die in the next two days, during the pursuit of the remnants of the defeated army of Mitsunari who were hunted down and executed. The battle of Sekigahara was decisive, to the unification of Japan. The Tokugawa clan would rule the country for the next 268 years.
Mototada's suicide during the fall of Fushimi is one of the most representative acts of seppuku in Japanese history
If the individual work for all, and all for the individual, the country will prosper.
— Ishida Mitsunari
Ishida Mitsunari (石田 三成, 1559 – November 6, 1600) was a samurai of the late Sengoku period of Japan. He is probably best remembered as the commander of the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the Azuchi-Momoyama period of the 16th century. Also known by his court title, Jibu-no-shō (治部少輔).
He was born in the north of Ōmi Province (which is now Nagahama city, Shiga prefecture), and was the second son of Ishida Masatsugu, who was a retainer for the Azai clan. His childhood name was Sakichi (佐吉). The Ishida withdrew from service after the Azai's defeat in 1573. According to legend, he was a monk in a Buddhist temple before he served Toyotomi Hideyoshi, but the accuracy of this legend is doubted since it only came about during the Edo period.
Mitsunari met Toyotomi Hideyoshi when the former was still young and the latter was the daimyo of Nagahama. When Hideyoshi engaged in a campaign in the Chūgoku region, Mitsunari assisted his lord in attacks against castles like the Tottori Castle and Takamatsu Castle (in present-day Okayama).
After Hideyoshi seized power, Mitsunari became known as a talented financial manager due to his knowledge and skill at calculation. From 1585 onward, he was the administrator of Sakai, a role he took together with his elder brother Ishida Masazumi. He was appointed one of the five bugyo, or top administrators of Hideyoshi's government. Hideyoshi made him adaimyo of Sawayama in Ōmi Province, a five hundred thousand koku fief (now a part of Hikone). Sawayama Castle was known as one of the best-fortified castles during that time.
Mitsunari was a leader of bureaucrats in Hideyoshi's government, and was known for his rigid character. Though he had many friends, he was on bad terms with some daimyo that were known as good warriors, including Hideyoshi's relatives Fukushima Masanori and Katō Kiyomasa. After Hideyoshi's death, their conflict worsened. The central point of their conflict was the question of whether Tokugawa Ieyasu could be relied on as a supporter of the Toyotomi government, whose nominal lord was the child Toyotomi Hideyori.
In 1600, the Battle of Sekigahara was fought as a result of this political conflict. Mitsunari succeeded in organizing an army led by Mōri Terumoto. But the coalition following Tokugawa Ieyasu was greater, and the battle resulted in Mitsunari's defeat.
After his defeat, Mitsunari sought to escape, but was caught by villagers. He was beheaded in Kyoto. Other daimyo of the Western army, like Konishi Yukinaga and Ankokuji Ekei were also executed. After execution, his head, severed from his body, was placed on a stand for all the people in Kyoto to see. His remains were buried at Sangen-in, a sub-temple of the Daitoku-ji, Kyoto.
A theory / legend says Ieyasu showed him mercy, but hid him for political reasons, with one of his veteran generals, Sakakibara Yasumasa, then grew old and died of natural death. To thank Yasumasa for his silence, Mitsunari gave him a treasured sunnobi-tantō of 31,2 cm therefor nicknamed Ishida-Sadamune (石田貞宗), ranked Jūyō Bunkazai by the Japanese Government.
Mitsunari had three sons (Shigeie, Shigenari, and Sakichi) and three daughters (only the younger girl's name is known, Tatsuhime) with his wife. After his father's death, Shigenari changed his family name to Sugiyama to keep living
(Battle of Sekigahara, or popularly known as the "Division of the Kingdom", was the decisive conflict, occurred in September 15, 1600 (date of the ancient Chinese calendar, and on October 21 in the modern calendar), which paved the way for the rise of the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu of Japan. After its closure, would take only 3 years for Tokugawa consolidate his power over the Toyotomi clan, Osaka, and the other against the daimyo deEdo House of Tokugawa. The battle of Sekigahara is widely regarded as the unofficial start of the Tokugawa bakufu-the last shogunate who held control over Japan. After the war, Japan experienced a long period of peace)
(Seppuku (切腹, lit. "cut the womb"?), commonly known in the West by Hara-Kiri or haraquíri (腹切 or 腹切り?) .1 refers to the ritual Japanese suicide for the Warrior class, primarily samurai, in which occurs the suicide by disembowelment. The word haraquíri, although widely known abroad, is seldom used by the Japanese who prefer the term seppuku (composed of the same Chinese characters in reverse order). The disembowelment ritual usually was part of a very elaborate ceremony and performed in front of spectators.
The appropriate method of implementation consisted of a cut (kiru) horizontal in the abdomen, below the navel (hara), carried out with a wakizashi or tantō, a simple dagger, leaving the left side and cut to the right side, thus leaving asvísceras exposed as a way to show purity of character. Finally, if the forces as well allowed, another cut was performed by pulling the blade upward, prolonging the first cut or starting a new to this. 4 3 Finished cutting, okaishakunin (介错人?) was their primary function in the ritual, the beheading)
No comments:
Post a Comment