GALERIE
AM HAUS DER KUNST • MUNICH • GERMANY
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Taiheiki Eiyuden - Heroic Stories (about
1560 until 1603)
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Historical
Background
The reunification of Japan during the
Azuchi-Momoyama time (about 1570 - 1603) was sustained by three outstanding
persons 'the Three Unifiers of Japan':
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Oda
Nobunaga (1534 -1582, Nº T01)
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Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536 -1598, Nº T50)
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Tokugawa leyasu (1542 -1616) |
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An
important turning-point in pacifying the country was attained by Oda Nobunaga at
the battle of Okehazama (1560) by thwarting Inegawa Yoshimoto's plan (Nº T02) to
take Kyoto. From this time on Oda Nobunaga 's ambition was to unify the country
under a strong central authority, more than to strengthen his own power. Step
by step he came closer to this aim:
In 1564
he defeated the Saito family (Nº T04,
T06) and took the province of Mino. After some
more successful military campaigns he marched into Kyoto with 30000 men. He
protected the emperor and supported Ashikaga Yoshiaki (1537 -1597) to become
Shogun.
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After that he overthrew the great lords of the
provinces of Omi (Asai Nagamasa, 1545 - 1573, see Nº T07, T10) and Echizen
(Asakura Yoshikage, 1533 -1573, Nº T08) at the battle of
the Anegawa (1573, see
also Nº T11 - T13).
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In the same year he discharged the Shogun Yoshiaki
(who had changed sides to Nobunaga's opponents) and started to besiege the
castle of Ishiyama to break the power of the Ikko-Buddhists, but they resisted
until 1580 (see Nº T26, T28).
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During
that time he built up his own new castle of Azuchi at the Biwa lake. In 1577 he
started to expand his own territories by attacking the Mori family, which held
about a dozen provinces at the southwestern part of Honshu. His war-lord for
this campaign was Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
In 1582 Hideyoshi needed some reinforcement. Nobunaga authorized Akechi
Mitsuhide (Nº T09) to command most of the remaining troops in support of
Hideyoshi. But Mitsuhide used his command to start a rebellion against Nobunaga
to kill him, his retainers, and his eldest son at the Honnoji temple in Kyoto.
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When Hideyoshi received the information about the
treacherous killing of Nobunaga he stopped attacking the Mori family, went back
to Kyoto with his troops and overthrew the whole Akechi clan (Nº T09, T31) and
their retainers (Nº T29, T34, T35).
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Now a war of succession between the former allies
of Nobunaga was inevitable. On the one side we find Hideyoshi (Nº T50) and
Oda Nobukatsu, the second son of Nobunaga, on the other one Shibata Katsuiye (Nº
T03), Takigawa Kazumasu (Nº T20) and Kambe Nobutaka, the third son of Nobunaga (Nº T39).
At the battle of Shizugamine (1583) Hideyoshi was successful to overcome
the superiority of his rivals by isolating their armies and defeating them
successively (see also Nº T14 - T16, T27, T33, T39, T41
- T43).
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A
remaining rival for Hideyoshi was Tokugawa leyasu. But both were clever enough
not to fight each other, leyasu drew back to wait for his time.
After
the battle of Shizugamine (1583) Hideyoshi strengthened his power progressively
until he had unified the whole country under his sovereign authority in 1590.
But he
never was satisfied, and so he formed the plan to conquer China. In
1592 he sent his forces to Korea. After some early successful campaigns (see Nº
T22, T24, T32, T44 - T48) his warriors had to pull back. Negotiations, lasting for
years, followed and in 1597 Hideyoshi started a second raiding party. But in
1598 he died and the plan to conquer China was given up.
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Again,
the dictator's death caused a war of succession. This time it was Tokugawa
leyasu, who defeated his rivals decisively. At the battle of Sekigahara (1600,
see Nº 15) he established his and his family's power. In 1603 leyasu was made
Shogun. He finished the work of Nobunaga und Hideyoshi in pacifying the
country, and his family hold the central authority for more then 250 years,
until 1867.
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