A Zen master was asked by a Samurai whether there was hell in sooth as taught in the Scriptures. "I must ask you," replied he, "before I give you an answer. For what purpose is your question? What business have you, a Samurai, with a thing of that sort? Why do you bother yourself about such an idle question? Surely you neglect your duty and are engaged in such a fruitless research. Does this not amount to your stealing the annual salary from your lord?" The Samurai, offended not a little with these rebukes, stared at the master, ready to draw his sword at another insult. Then the teacher said smilingly: "Now you are in Hell. Don't you see?"

Taken from the Sekigahara park at Sekigahara. I do not believe that the park with its samurai figures is that interesting for visitors, but what is quite interesting is the museum that can be found on the second floor in the entrance building to the park. A lot of armor and weapons from the Sengoku period, as well as many other objects that the samurai used can be seen here. This museum is certainly worth a visit.
  

Taken from the Sekigahara park at Sekigahara. It shows the camp of Ukita Hideie (1572-1655), who commanded a formidable force of 17,220 men in the battle. The chief himself stands with a saihai in his hand, and rallies his men forward. But the Ukita sided with the wrong horse at Sekigahara, Ishida Mitsunari, and when the battle was clearly lost, Hideie had to flee from the field. He finally made it to Satsuma province in the southern part of Kyûshû. Here he stayed with the Shimazu clan for a while. The nobori flags of the Ukita army can be seen with the family crest, in the form of the character ko, meaning child. This crest can also be seen on the maku curtains in the background. We will present the story of the Ukita clan in a later publication in the Saga of the Samurai series.




These photos shows various parts of the huge castle of Kumamoto in Higo province in Kyûshû (today Higo is Kumamoto prefecture). The latest version was built by Katô Kiyomasa (1562-1611) between the years 1601 and 1607. The first castle that was built here was constructed by Ideda Hidenobu during the Bunmei period (1469-1486). So throughout the Sengoku period it served as an administrative and military base for the ruling family of this area. Katô Kiyomasa came first to Higo province in 1587, under the invasion of Kyûshû. When the war was over the soldiers who had sided with the winners had to be rewarded. Sassa Narimasa (1536 or 1539-1588) was granted Higo province. Then in 1588 Hideyoshi ordered Narimasa to commit seppuku. Higo province was then divided between Konishi Yukinaga (?-1600) and Katô Kiyomasa, the latter received land worth 250,000 koku. Kumamoto castle became his base in Kyûshû. But the good fortunes of the Katô family would be over with the next generation. Kiyomasa died at Kumamoto in 1611 and his son, Tadahiro (1600-1653), took over the family.  In 1631 Tadahiro fell victim of the Tokugawa policy to expel their tozama daimyô. The Katô family had served the Tokugawa government for more than 20 years, but was still considered a tozama (outer vassal). Now the government wanted to secure their grip on the country and the Katô family would be on the loosing side. The Katô family lost all its public positions and former landholdings, they were moved to Dewa province. Who would be the successor to Kumamoto was the next question for the Tokugawa government, and the chose fell on the Hosokawa clan, with its leader Hosokawa Tadatoshi (1586-1641). The Hosokawa ruled over Kumamoto until the Meiji restoration in 1868.
The Katô, Konishi, Hosokawa and Sassa families history will be described in later publications in the Saga of the Samurai series.
 

This is a representative bell-tower, although the actual tower is missing, of the Sengoku period. I even managed to get a samurai to pose. When war or any other danger neared, the bell was struck as a warning to the people inside to get moving. The curtains bear the crest of the kuyô (nine stars), which were popular among many of the warrior houses, among these the Hosokawa clan. Usually a large castle had its own bell-tower, often located near the main gate.


A castle moat. Many of the huge castles that were built at the end of the 16^th century had large stone walls with a wide moat around. Some had three defensive moats, and the best example of this kind was Ôsaka Castle.


Two photos taken from the theatre at Sengoku Jidai Mura in Ise. These kind of historical dramas are quite popular in Japan and there are plenty running on the TV. The actors in this photo are recreating dramatic scenes involving the Date family from Sendai.


A photo of Kiyosu Castle that belonged to Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582). It was first built by Shiba Yoshishige (1371-1418) around 1405. In 1555 Nobunaga attacked his uncle Oda Nobutomo (?-1555) that at that time held Kiyosu. Nobutomo (also known as Hironobu) committed seppuku, and shortly thereafter Nobunaga moved into Kiyosu.
The Oda clans history will be described in a later publication in the Saga of the samurai series.


A photo taken from the shore of Lake Yogo at Shizugatake near Kinomoto towards the northern mountains. It was here in 1583 that the forces of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) and Shibata Katsuie (?-1583) met in the battle that was to be know as the battle of Shizugatake. Shizugatake was a mountain fortress, and fierce fighting occurred all along the lakeside and on the mountain ridges. This area has not changed that much since the Sengoku period, and it is worth a visit. Not much to see historically, except the ruins of Shizugatake castle and the beautiful landscape that helps your imagination to what a battle might have looked like in this area more than 500 hundred years ago.
Both the Toyotomi and Shibata clans history will be described in later publications in the Saga of the Samurai series.


A representative castle gate of the Sengoku period. If an enemy attacked the gate, the gate-building could be filled up with defenders armed with teppô and bows.


A fortress gate with defensive walls. Photo taken from the Sengoku Jidai Mura in Ise. This kind of wooden fortress existed in their thousands during the Sengoku period. A besieging army would try to set fire to the wooden structure, thereby letting the flames do the hard work, and the survivors could be dealt with after the fires had died down.


The camp of the Honda army with their nobori flags at Sekigahara.



A stone staircase leading up to the defensive ramparts of a castle. The staircase was often made of stone or/and timber, forcing the earth to stay within the mould. Often heavy rain would transform staircases into rivers and it was therefore important to make solid structures that didn't easily collapse. But the first order of the day after a heavy rainstorm was to perform a so called damage control, check the castle walls, staircases, and other structures inside the castle for damage. Then they started to repair.




Himeji Castle. The first castle that was built came about in 1346 (another source 1349). It was Akamatsu Sadanori (?) that is said to have started construction on what was then to be called Himeyama Castle, but later on would be known as Himeji Castle. Though the story about Sadanori as the first castle-builder at Himeji is challenged by other sources. The 1747 source "Akamatsu harijôroku", and the 1762 source "Harima kagami". Some believe the information in these sources are fictional, and it is therefore not easy to say what is correct. Let us instead leave this question and look at what is there today. The buildings and walls of Himeji Castle that exists today can be traced back to the late 16^th century. It was the great Toyotomi Hideyoshi that started it all. In 1580 (or 1578) Hideyoshi laid plans to expand the castle area, and in 1581 a three story tenshu (main keep) was constructed. From then on the castle grew gradually in size, but with other lords in command. In 1585 Hideyoshi moved to another castle, and Kinoshita Iesada took over Himeji. After the battle of Sekigahara in 1600 the present lord, Iesada, moved to Bitchû province, and Ikeda Terumasa became the new lord of Himeji. In 1601 Terumasa starts the great construction work that we can see traces of today. The large tenshukaku was completed in 1609.
Himeji Castle was built to withstand an enemy army, and all the engineering techniques were used to make this the strongest, but still the most easily defendable castle in Japan. Sadly though it was never put to the test - it was never attacked, so we do not know if it would withstand an enemy attack or siege in mass.
 It is one of the greatest castles in Japan, and it is a must see for students of the samurai.
(100-0028, 0054 and 0055) taken from the third compound and towards the honmaru and the tenshukaku (main keep).
(100-0050 and 0051) shows the massive walls of the honmaru (main compound). Even the author has managed to include himself in these two pictures.
 

Tokugawa Ieyasu's camp at Sekigahara. The family crest, the Tokugawa aoi (a hollyhock), can be seen on the maku curtains that surrounds the camp. Photo taken at the Sekigahara Kôen at Sekigahara.


The nobori flags belonging to the Hosokawa army at Sekigahara.
 

The camp of Ishida Mitsunari (1560-1600) at Sekigahara. Ishida gambled high and lost big. He challenged Tokugawa Ieyasu for a fight on who should rule Japan, and it was at Sekigahara that the contest was decided. Ishida lost his head. Mitsunari's family crest, the daiichi daiman daikichi text, can be seen on the maku curtains. Photo taken at the Sekigahara Jidai Kôen at Sekigahara.



Some of the massive walls and wide moats at Ôsaka Castle. This castle served as the main stage for the giant battle that took place in the winter of 1614, and summer of 1615. Originally the huge fortress of the Honganji family was located here, Ishiyama Honganji, but this castle fell to Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) in 1580. Then a new castle was built on this location by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598). The construction work started in 1583 and continued for several years. After 1615 the castle was taken over by the Tokugawa family, and again a rebuilding started.
The history of the Honganji family (Ikkô Ikki) will be described in a later publications in the Saga of the Samurai series.



A statue of Date Masamune (1567-1636) that stands on the honmaru (main compound) of Sendai Castle (Aoba Castle). Work started on the castle in January of 1601 under Masamune's supervision, and soon after he moved into his new home. Date Masamune his called dokuganryû (the one-eyed hero, but literally it means the one-eyed dragon), and he is considered to be the last of the true Sengoku warlords.
The Date family's history will be described in a later publication in the Saga of the Samurai series.



The author in front of the statue of Date Masamune at Sendai, sadly though the
fellow that took the photograph focused more on the author and forgot the statue.




A typical castle gate of the early 17^th century.



A statue of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616). The statue stands in a compound of Okazaki Castle in Okazaki city.



Two samurais patrolling inside the main keep of Okazaki Castle. These two would surely be of hatamoto rank.



The last words of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Sorry, in Japanese only! It stands on the grounds of Okazaki Castle in Okazaki.



The main keep of Okazaki Castle. The construction of the first castle here started sometime during the Kyôtoku period (1452-1454), and it was done by the Saigô family. The modern day building is a copy of the original, a so called postwar reconstruction.



Armor for sale. Photo taken in a shop that has three nice suits of armor for sale among all the other interesting objects on display.