Admiral Yi’s successor had turned out to be rash and foolhardy, and 90% of the Korean Navy was sunk by Toyotomi’s fleet.
There were rumors that Admiral Yi had been reinstated, but – so what? They had only 13 ships left.
They gave pursuit to the depleted Korean Navy, attempting to control the seas once and for all.
***
HASTE MAKES…
“There they are! After them! Time to wipe the last remnants of their navy off the seas!” – and so Toyotomi’s hand-picked chief, Admiral Todo, gave the order for battle.
The overwhelming force of the 133 Toyotomi warships under sailed for the sad baker’s dozen of Korean ships at the Myeongnyang Strait.
Then suddenly, two of the first Japanese ships turned and crashed into the rocky coast as they caught an unexpectedly strong current.
Suddenly, the foremost Toyotomi ship explodes from a direct hit from one of Yi’s cannon aboard his flagship.
Seeing the Admiral’s flagship, Todo orders a full attack – but three of the first half-dozen ships converging on the position crash in the unpredictable currents and rocks, Yi’s canons make short work of two more ships, and the wreckage of Japanese warships are piling up.
Admiral Todo is trying to rethink his orders when his own ship explodes in flames, himself getting seriously wounded and half of his officers on the flagship being killed.
Too late, the currents begin to shift – slowing the Japanese retreat and aiding the Korean counterattack.
30 Japanese warships are destroyed without the loss of a single Korean ship.
The battering of the Japanese Navy shows the Chinese how vulnerable they are, and the Korean fleet under Yi swells to overwhelming numbers.
In 1598, Admiral Yi Sun-Shin dies in the final naval battle of the era – while 300 of the 500 ships in the Toyotomi fleet are annihilated.
The Toyotomi forces had been defeated in Korea.
***
DISEMBARKATION
They had sailed out from Japan well-fed samurai, strong in body, supple in muscle, with glittering armament and adornments.
They returned half-starved, many friends and allies dead, the sheen and shine worn off from their equipment.
Nevertheless, even defeated, they breathed a sigh of relief at setting foot on home soil.
But right away, Kuroda Kanbei – formerly the most trusted right-hand man of Toyotomi – had been called to account for cowardice and treason, along with Hideyoshi’s adopted son Kobayakawa Hideaki.
Rumors swirled – Ishida Mitsunari, the harsh Inspector-General who had replaced Kuroda Kanbei as Hideyoshi’s most trusted confidant, had spread much poison about Kanbei and Hideaki.
The fate of the two men was unclear, but they heard the news and gossip right away upon disembarking in their homeland – Mitsunari had tried to have the two tried for treason, and then finally succeeded in having Toyotomi Hideyoshi give an order confiscate their lands to marginalize them.
It had been Tokugawa Ieyasu’s strong intervention on behalf of the two men that had those orders countermanded while preserving Kanbei and Hideaki – which had, of course, infuriated the vain Mitsunari at the crafty old Tokugawa (who had kept his own soldiers out of the Korean Invasion).
As the Toytomi’s soldiers returned in dishonor from the ruinous Korean Campaign, harried and half-starved, many good men sent to their graves, they received a chilly welcome – and then were shocked to find that Lord Toyotomi had died, and it had been kept secret until the withdrawal.
***
THE TESTAMENT OF IEYASU
What you select as your religio, your ethos, that which animates you – this gets written into every facet of your deed, character, and legacy. That which is written in blood is ever infinitely more solid than that which is written in ink.
We become our philosophy; not that which is stated, but that which is lived.
Along the way, we make friends and allies, and build our family. Most of the people we attract to ourselves and bond with end up being people who are similar to ourselves in philosophy.
Some might be different-but-complimentary, and yet – by definition – none who are in perfect harmony with ourselves can be antithetical to what we are.
And Tokugawa Ieyasu was, perhaps, the antithesis of the final years of Hideyoshi Toyotomi.
Three years after the Battle of Sekigahara, he was named Shogun – the highest military rank in all of Japan.
The next year, he wrote The Testament of Tokugawa Ieyasu for his heirs –
"Life is like walking along a long road shouldering a heavy load; there is no need to hurry.
One who treats difficulties as the normal state of affairs will never be discontented.
Patience is the source of eternal peace; treat anger as an enemy.
Harm will befall one who knows only success and has never experienced failure.
Blame yourself rather than others.
It is better not to reach than to go too far."
***
SIXTEEN YEARS AFTER SEKIGAHARA
The year after writing his Testament, Ieyasu officially retired from power, naming his adult son Hidetada as Shogun, and went into heavy consolidation mode while reforming the domestic laws of Japan.
Fifteen years after Sekighara, he wrote the Buke Shohatto, “Various Points of Law For Warriors Houses,” to govern samurai conduct –
“1. The samurai class should devote itself to pursuits appropriate to the warrior aristocracy, such as archery, swordsmanship, horsemanship, and classical literature.
2. Amusements and entertainments are to be kept within reasonable bounds and expenses for such activities are not to be excessive.
3. The han (feudal domains) are not to harbor fugitives and outlaws.
4. Domains must expel rebels and murderers from their service and from their lands.
5. Daimyō are not to engage in social interactions with the people (neither samurai nor commoners) of other domains.
6. Castles may be repaired, but such activity must be reported to the shogunate. Structural innovations and expansions are forbidden.
7. The formation of cliques for scheming or conspiracy in neighboring domains must be reported to the shogunate without delay, as must the expansion of defenses, fortifications, or military forces.
8. Marriages among daimyō and related persons of power or importance must not be arranged privately.
9. Daimyō must present themselves at Edo for service to the shogunate.
10. Conventions regarding formal uniform must be followed.
11. Miscellaneous persons are not to ride in palanquins.
12. Samurai throughout the realm are to practice frugality.
13. Daimyō must select men of ability to serve as administrators and bureaucrats.”
This mix of moral stricture and sheer pragmatism was the rock the Tokugawa Shogunate was built upon.
***
SIXTEEN YEARS EARLIER: THE TESTAMENT OF ISHIDA MITSUNARI
In the last years of his life, Hideyoshi Toyotomi went from being one of the greatest diplomats and generals in all of Japanese history – to one of the very worst.
Cleverness and boldness had always hallmarked Hideyoshi, but so too had friendship and goodwill… at least, in his early years.
But after Hideyoshi’s final total victory in Japan, these virtues faded. His oldest friends were alienated from him; a number of them were executed. The insane over-ambitious invasion of Korea was launched. His nephew, the loyal and faithful son of his beloved sister, was executed at the treacherous Chacha’s insistence.
In the wake of an ethos like this, the good and the great began to leave the service of Hideyoshi Toytomi, first slowly, then quickly.
In their place, a man with a comparable ethos settled in – whereas the genius Kuroda Kanbei had one been Hideyoshi’s right-hand man, now the irascible, cynical, and short-sighted Mitsunari took his place.
In Korea, he alienated and denigrated many of Hi
deyoshi’s most loyal generals and vassals.
After Hideyoshi’s death, he rose to be the leader of the Western Army.
When Tokugawa Ieyasu’s forces captured him, Ieyasu himself ordered his guards to let Mitsunari escape – lest a more competent general take his place.
***
INGENIUM EX MACHINA: THE SUN’S PEAK AT SEKIGAHARA
Ishida Mitsunari had almost defeated the Eastern Army without needing to battle – two weeks earlier, they had been on the verge of taking hold of all of Central Japan.
But then, the childhood friend of Ieyasu, Torii Mototada, held out at Fushimi Castle against overwhelming odds for nearly two weeks before finally dying in the flames – his has been called “the most beautiful death in history.”
And so, at Sekigahara, one of the key crossroads of Japan, the Western and Eastern Armies formed up to battle.
With Tokugawa’s reinforcements running late, by noon Ieyasu’s Eastern Army was on the verge of collapse.
Perched above the battlefield, Kobayakawa Hideaki had been promised the title of “Kampaku” – Grand Regent – by Mitsunari prior to the battle. Mitsunari had known of Hideaki’s ill-will towards him, and had attempted to placate him in the weeks before with promised bribes of wealth and honors – wealth and honors that he had tried to strip away from the young man much earlier in life, unjustly and unprovoked.
Kuroda Kanbei’s son Nagamasa had already joined Tokugawa’s Eastern Forces against Mitsunari, and now, Kuroda and Tokugawa sent ninja and messengers calling for Hideaki to defect.
The young Hideaki was paralyzed with fear and indecision – he sat on the summit of the battlefield; the fate of Japan, it turned out, was in his hands.
Across the battlefield, in the Eastern Army’s center, Tokugawa Ieyasu sees his lines giving way.
“Well,” Ieyasu frowns, “I hate to gamble, but the time is now. Fire on Hideaki’s position.”
***
ALEA IACTA EST: THE SUN’S DESCENT AT SEKIGHARA
Eastern gunfire nearly misses the front lines of Kobayakawa Hideaki.
“They’re firing on us!” one of his attendants yell out.
“Who?!” shouts Hideaki.
“Eastern Army! Your orders?”
Hideaki frowns.
He would have to choose.
There was no sitting this one out.
“Will Ieyasu withdraw successfully if he is defeated, or will he captured and killed?”
One of his retainers nods, “I believe he might withdraw, Lord Kobayakawa. He has another 30,000 soldiers in reserve, and he’s wily. He probably gets away.”
Hideaki lowers his voice: “And if we join the Eastern side?”
“Well… probably a complete collapse. We overlook the whole southern part of the battlefield. Yes, Mitsunari will completely collapse.”
Hideaki pauses. The first volleys from the Eastern Army had been warning shots. You can’t remain neutral. You must choose.
“So be it! Raise the banner of revolt! We’re with Lord Tokugawa!”
***
AB OVO USQUE AD MALA: SUNFALL AT SEKIGAHARA
“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!?”
Mitsunari was beyond frazzled.
Victory had seemed within grasp, and then their entire battlelines had started disintegrating from the inside out. Smoke and gunfire, the screams of dying men filled the air, and triumphant shouts rose from the Eastern Army rang as they rallied from their formerly desperate position.
“Lord Mitsnaru! Kobayakawa Hideaki has defected to the Eastern Army, a quarter of our forces are destroyed!”
Shouts rang from the battlefield below as Tokugawa Ieyasu’s reserves mobilized and charged into combat.
“Lord Mitsunari! Kikkawa Hiroie has defected to the Eastern Army!”
The floodgates broke.
Western Army soldiers began throwing away their weapons and running for their lives.
“Lord Mitsunari! The Choshu Mori have withdrawn from the battlefield!”
Tokugawa’s Eastern Army went from fighting desperately for its survival, to fierce conquering pursuit. The tide had turned.
“Lord Mitsunari! Ogawa Suketada has defected to the Eastern Army!”
Mitsunari shook his head and chuckled slightly. He didn’t know what else to do.
And as footsoldiers rushed past him disarmed, fleeing the victorious pursuing Tokugawa forces, Mitsunari left his commander’s standard where it stood, and ran for his life.
***
EX POST FACTO: ET ALII, ET HOC GENUS OMNE, ET CETERA
Mitsunari died like he lived –
Badly.
His execution was particularly unpleasant.
Two types of samurai had defected from the Western forces in the weeks preceding Sekigahara, or on the day of that desperate battle –
The first were men who were honest and diligent enough, but who chafed at Mitsunari’s heavy-handedness and scheming, were disgusted by Hideyoshi’s overreaching invasions of Korea and execution of his nephew, and otherwise were good, decent, and loyal men who could not serve under the brazen cruelty that the late-Toyotomi and Mitsunari regimes had come to stood for.
The second were always unreliable and treacherous – perhaps unsurprisingly, including former senior officers of Akechi Mitsunari who had fanned the flames of the civil wars by assassinating his own lord, Nobunaga – this type had been among those to defect to Tokugawa on that fateful day.
While the unreliable and treacherous had been treated with extreme caution even after defecting, those who had come over to the Eastern side before the battle, out of goodwill and seeing the superior virtue of Tokugawa Ieyasu, were rewarded well and came into his service.
The Kuroda Clan, led to power by the virtuous Kuroda Kanbei, had gone from the most loyal Toyotomi supporters, to drifting into the Tokugawa camp before the final battles.
In a desperate struggle, it only takes a few men of great courage and ability switching sides, to re-shape an entire conflict.
Mitsunari had alienated the best, behaved rashly, and held court only among the worst. In time, the forces attracted to Tokugawa Ieyasu’s stalwart virtue drifted into his camp, leaving Mitsunari with the most unreliable and inconsistent of men – who, in turn, led him down at the climactic moment.
Mitsunari’s testament, too, was written in blood.
All of ours are.
***
IMPERIUM IN IMPERIO: VANTAGES CONCLUDES
It’s been my great honor to share these chapters with you; this series was originally published in essay form from 8th September to 17th Novmber 2016. I received a huge amount of correpondance, replies, and thoughts from regular readers during that time – for which I’m incredibly grateful. Likewise, I’m very grateful you choose to read Machina and join us in learning life-long lessons from Japanese history. Thank you.
Many of the battles covered, to the best of my knowledge, have never been covered in a fast-moving period-accurate historical fiction in English, ever. I took time to go through primary and secondary sources, sometimes working from (quite difficult to parse) Japanese translated into English by software.
Obviously, we do not know the inner thoughts and private discussions of Hideyoshi and Kanbei, Ieyasu and Hanzo, and the other great generals of the age. But I’ve aimed to be as correct as possible in the known factual details, and for the other accounts to hew as closely to the known characters of the lords of this era. Any mistakes are, of course, my own, but I have tried to be accurate.
I don’t want to end on the postscript of the treacherous Princess Chacha and her teenage son being forced to commit suicide in 1615, the year before Ieyasu’s death, so I will simply skip past it.
But one can wonder, historically speaking, how things might have turned out if she had cultivated patience and reigned her husband’s bad traits in, instead of fanning them like flames, if perhaps her lineage would have survived and thrived.
We’ll never know, of course, what would have happ
ened.
We do know what happened to the family of Tokugawa Ieyasu – they would rule Japan for the next 250 years. It was only the Industrial Revolution being exported to Japan, and adopted by the Boshin War revolutionaries that led to Imperial Japan.
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