The bloodiest battle in Japanese history was the Battle of Sekigahara, a battle of immense political significance that marked a turning point in the country's history and is usually referred to as the battle that created Japan. To understand the origin of its magnitude, it is necessary to know its history.

The origin of the battle lies in the following facts.

1. Three figures emerged from the long civil war that began in 1467: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Nobunaga dominated, but the other two were just waiting for an opportunity to replace him on the road to the shogunate.

2. Completely unexpectedly and for no apparent reason, Nobunaga was forced to commit suicide in the so-called Honnoji Incident by his vassal Akechi Mitsuhide, who surrounded the temple and asked him to surrender. Nobunaga responded by committing suicide.

3. For centuries now, there has been futile debate in an attempt to make sense of the event, about which there is no doubt. This paves the way for Hideyoshi, who, however, dies of illness, leaving his son Hideyori, an heir too young to reign. For this reason, he is not present on the battlefield and is represented by his vassal Ishida Mitsunari.

4. FOR THE FIRST AND LAST TIME, representatives from all over the country clash in a decisive battle. The scale of the battle and its significance.

A total of 160,000 men fought, an enormous number for that era, armed with both traditional weapons and muskets, which were locally produced but of higher quality than the Portuguese ones. The number of casualties is unknown, but it must have been in the tens of thousands of samurai and Ashigaru (foot soldiers).

The battle lasted only one day, but it was extremely intense. Despite having many more soldiers (90,000 against Ishida's 70,000), Ieyasu was unable to prevail until one of Ishida's commanders, the 19-year-old Kobayakawa Hideaki, again for obvious reasons, decided to change sides and betrayed him. This was enough to decide the battle.

The battle

The battle plan at the beginning of the article shows Mitsunari's forces in blue and Ieyasu's in red.

The battle began when, by pure chance, the vanguards of the two armies met in the thick fog generated by the morning sun after a night of torrential rain. Both panicked and fled, but now the two adversaries knew of each other.

Neither general moved, but Ieyasu sent some allied clans ahead as scouts.

The battle began at around 8 a.m., when the wind from the sea blew away the remaining mist and the two armies became clearly visible to each other. Some modern research indicates that the battle may have begun around 10 a.m.

It was the legendary Ii Naomasa who really started it with his red devils, samurai dressed entirely in red and famous for their aggressiveness. Naomasa himself threw himself at Ieyasu's army. Fukushima Masanori responded by attacking the left side of Mitsunari's army.

Ii Naomasa's armor

The huge number of soldiers and the equally huge number of different banners (more than 60 generals were present at the battle) soon led to confusion and stalemate between the two armies.

At this point, 19-year-old Kobayakawa Hideaki, fighting in his first battle, sprang into action. Kobayakawa, shouting “Victory belongs to Ieyasu!”, spurred his horse downhill and his army followed him.

There are various theories as to why and when Kobayakawa Hideaki defected. The fact remains that his forces managed to oust those of Otani Yoshitsugu, the leprous daimyo who was a close friend of Mitsunari. Other desertions followed, and by evening Mitsunari's forces were in disarray.

The myth of Ieyasu and his helmet

In a beautiful myth, legend has it that on that evening, while everyone was preparing to sleep in the open (it was October 21, 1600), only Ieyasu kept watch with his helmet on his head.

For him, the battle was just beginning. He had to rebuild Japan after 140 years of civil war. This article can be seen as the first part of my article on the Ronin from a few days ago.

Tokugawa Ieyasu

The armor of Ishida Mitsunari

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