Japan's Warring States Period: The Rise of the Wakasa Tiger

Among the "Takeda Sanbei" directly under Yoshishige, the most special one is the personal guard unit known as the "White-browed Team".

Some people think that the reason why it is called the White-Eye Team is because of the white cloth strip tied on the forehead of each member, but in fact, its name comes from the nickname of the tiger, "White-Eye Marquis".

It is recorded in "Xuanshi Zhi" written by Zhang Du of the Tang Dynasty that when the general Zhang Ying was stationed in western Sichuan, he met a man at a banquet who was "dressed in brocade clothes, wearing a white crown, and had a very ferocious appearance." He was called "Bai'e Hou." After examination, it was discovered that he was transformed from a tiger. Later generations therefore used "Bai'e Hou" as another name for the tiger.

Of course, this is also related to the appearance of the tiger. The tiger's eyes are upturned and there is a white area above the eyes, so it is often called a "white-browed tiger with hanging eyes", which also makes the nickname "White-browed Tiger" widely spread.

Yoshishige was called "the Tiger of Wakasa" by his contemporaries, and he named this army "White-Eye" in the hope that the nephews and nephews of his retainers and countrymen who joined the army would be as brave and ferocious as tigers and fearless.

From this, we can see that Yoshishige attached great importance to and had high expectations for this force. On the one hand, he regarded it as a "young officers' corps" to train young generals and gave honors to the relevant retainers and people; on the other hand, he also hoped to take this opportunity to control these people in his own hands, and by deepening his ties with these people, become a trump card and means to restrain his retainers.

However, in view of the special nature of the members of the "White-browed Team", Yoshishige was not actually prepared to put this unit into actual combat. When war broke out, most of the tasks he issued were such as sending orders on horseback in the battlefield, inspecting heads after the war, and supervising the battle on the front line.

It can be said that this white-headed team, and the black-armored team it belonged to, were the direct forces that Yoshishige relied on the most. Therefore, during wartime, the samurai general who led the black-armored team was usually his brother-in-law, Kumagai Takanao. The samurai general of the yellow-armored team was usually Muto Mitsuyuki. As for the red-armored team, just like the red cavalry team before the expansion, it was led by his brother Yamagata Morinobu.

After more than a year of construction, the total number of the "Takeda Sanbei" reached nearly 1543, and the number of standing soldiers stationed in each county doubled. By the end of , the number of standing soldiers directly under Yoshishige who were scattered across the country reached .

It can be said that before the large-scale implementation of "sword hunting", the ability to train and master such a large number of standing soldiers was already a major achievement of the Wakasa Takeda clan's "separation of soldiers and farmers".

As the saying goes, "If you want to do your work well, you must first sharpen your tools." Advanced weapons are also an important guarantee for improving the combat effectiveness of the army. After the diligent imitation and research of Inatomi Yuhide and his son, the iron cannon was finally mass-produced in the 12th year of Tenbun. It performed brilliantly in subsequent battles and gradually became a weapon that daimyo from all over the country rushed to purchase.

Although various places subsequently imitated and produced the purchased arquebuses, the "Tango arquebus" supervised by the Inatomi clan remained the best among them due to its high accuracy and great power, and brought huge profits to the Wakasa Takeda clan in the past decade.

While economic and military strength were steadily improving, Yoshishige's family also welcomed several happy events.

First, in March of the 1542th year of Tenbun (), Rokkaku Rin gave birth to a son for Yoshishige, and Yoshishige gave him the nickname "Genjiro"; in September of the same year, Hatano Yoshino also gave birth to a pair of twins, a boy and a girl, for Yoshishige, the boy was named "Genzaburo" and the girl was named "Tamako".

These two happy events not only made Yoshishige very happy, but also made Rokkaku Sadajori of Omi and Hatano Hidetada of Tamba very happy.

After all, the Wakasa Takeda clan had become a powerful existence that these two could not ignore, especially Hatano Hidetada, who began to lose the favor of Hosokawa Harumoto after being defeated by Kizawa Nagamasa, and was replaced by Miyoshi Nobunaga, whose status was greatly improved. After Miyoshi Nobunaga acquired Akutagawa Castle, his strength in Settsu was further expanded, which put pressure on the neighboring Hatano Hidetada.

After all, Hatano Hidetada was a veteran and had rich experience. He could see that Miyoshi Nobunaga's ambitions were certainly not limited to Settsu. Moreover, relying on his achievement of defeating Kizawa Nagamasa, he had already won over and subdued many local forces in Kinki, which undoubtedly posed a threat to Hosokawa Harumoto's authority and rule.

Therefore, Hatano Hidetada repeatedly suggested to Hosokawa Harumoto that he take measures to limit the continued growth of Miyoshi Nobunaga. However, Hosokawa Harumoto, who urgently needed Miyoshi Nobunaga to help him eliminate the disloyal people in Kinki, did not care. In addition, another important minister Miyoshi Masanaga (Miyoshi Nobunaga's father-in-law) said something to him, so Hatano Hidetada's advice was not adopted. Instead, he was alienated by Hosokawa Harumoto, Miyoshi Nobunaga, and Miyoshi Masanaga.

With the previous experience of Kizawa Nagamasa, Hatano Hidetada had no choice but to stop and retreat to Tamba Hachijo Castle, allowing Miyoshi Nobunaga to continue to expand his wings. However, he did not want to sit and wait for death. In order to expand the power of the Miyoshi clan to Tamba, he intended to strengthen his relationship with Yoshishige. The birth of Genzaburo and Tamako was the best bond to strengthen the relationship between the two sides.

At this time, the Tamba Province was apparently under the control of the Hatano clan, and there were even cases where Hatano Hidetada was called the "Tamba Guardian" by external forces.

But in fact, the Hatano clan was only the most powerful branch among the Tamba people. The others included the Ogino clan who occupied Kuroi Castle, the Utsu clan who occupied Utsu Castle, and the Naito clan who was driven out by Hatano Hidetada not long ago but still had a certain influence in Tamba.

As the nominal guardian of Tamba, the Naito clan had a higher political status than the Hatano clan. After being driven out of his castle, Yagi Castle, the current head of the clan, Naito Kunisada, was still seeking help from various places and was always ready to lead his troops back to Tamba.

The Akai clan, which ruled most of Hyokami County, was also very dissatisfied with Hatano Hidetada's dominance.

The Akai clan is a branch of the Yoriki clan of the Seiwa Minamoto clan. Minamoto Yoriki's son Mitsuzane used "Inoue" as his surname in Shinano. Mitsuzane had four sons, and the third son, Iemitsu, moved to Tamba Ashidasho in 1158.

Since the Inoue clan originated from Aida Village in Saku County, Shinano Province, the descendants of Iemitsu who moved to Tamba all used the characters "Aida" as their surnames. At the same time, the Kurisu clan in Iemitsu's territory intermarried with the Aida clan, and the Aida clan gradually prospered in the area.

In 1180, Minamoto no Yoritomo raised an army to revive the Minamoto clan. In 1185, the Heike clan was destroyed, and Ashida and his party seized the opportunity to expand their territory.

Iemitsu's son Michiie, relying on his military and political talents and the support of the Minamoto clan, expanded his power from the original Hikami County to the three counties of Amada, Kagura, and Funai, and soon occupied half of Tamba. After three generations of management by Michiie, Tadashi, and Masashi, the Ashida faction finally established its position as a powerful force in Tamba. When Masashi's grandson Tameie came to power, the family moved to Akaino and settled in Chikugoya Castle in the southern mountains of Akaino, and took the local place name "Akai" as the surname. Tameie had two sons. The eldest son, Ieyoshi, inherited his father's Goya Castle, while the second son, Shigeie, moved to Asahi Village and took "Ogino" as his surname.

In 1526, the real power in the shogunate was held by Hosokawa Takakuni, and Hatano Hidetada and his two uncles Yanagimoto Kenji and Konishi Motomori were close attendants to Hosokawa Takakuni. In July of that year, Hosokawa Takakuni believed in slander and forced Konishi Motomori to death. The angry Hidetada and Kenji returned to Tamba and began to secretly communicate with Hosokawa Harumoto, the opponent of Hosokawa Takakuni.

In November of the same year, Hosokawa Takakuni sent troops to attack Yanagimoto Kenji and Hatano Hidetada. Yanagimoto Kenji retreated to Kamioji Temple, while Hatano Hidetada sent troops from Yakami Castle to assist him. At the same time, Akai Tadie also led troops to support Yanagi and eventually defeated Hosokawa Takakuni's punitive army.

After the Battle of Kamioji Castle, the Akai clan took advantage of the situation and took over Kashira County, becoming a powerful family that controlled two counties.

In 1533, Hatano Hidetada joined the remnant of Hosokawa Takakuni and Hosokawa Harukuni, and was ordered to attack Akai Tadao, who was a vassal of Hosokawa Harumoto. After Akai Tadao was killed in the battle, Hatano Hidetada defeated Naito Kunisada who came to Yagi Castle to provide assistance, and basically controlled the entire Tamba Province.

After this battle, Akai Tokiie and Iekiyo joined the Harima Bessho clan. However, in 1536, Hosokawa Takakuni committed suicide, and Hatano Hidetada returned to Hosokawa Harumoto's side. The Akai clan, which had always supported Hosokawa Harumoto, also recovered its territory in Tamba. Akai Tokiie returned to Tamba and built a castle near Mount Eboshi as a base for entering and leaving Amada County.

At this point, the situation in Tamba was basically clear. At present, Hatano Hidetada is still the dominant family in the country, but the Akai and Ogino families who occupy the two counties of Kashiwa and Hyokami are not on good terms with him; at the same time, the northwestern Amada County is controlled by the Shiomi clan whose capital is Yokoyama Castle (historically Fukuchiyama Castle).

In addition, the Sakai and Momii clans in Taki County and the Adachi clan in the southern part of Hikami County were also temporarily suppressed by the Hatano clan. There were also many voices of opposition to Hatano Hidetada within their clans, and they were secretly communicating with the fugitive Naito Kunisada, becoming "time bombs" planted around Yakami Castle.

Hatano Hidetada gradually lost the trust of Hosokawa Harumoto and began to worry about his ruling position in Tamba. In order to still be able to intimidate the surrounding people and the exiled Naito clan, he urgently needed to win over Yoshishige as a new backer. After all, the current Tamba Province was the territory of the Wakasa Takeda clan to the north and west.

As for Yoshishige, due to the current territory defense situation, he also needed a stable Tamba. The most direct and labor-saving way to maintain stability was to let Hatano Hidetada, who was close to him, continue to control Tamba, although this control was not absolute.

Although there was a voice in the family that hoped that Yoshishige could take over Tamba and completely eliminate the threat from Tango and Wakasa flanks, Yoshishige thought that the time was not right. After all, Tamba was still nominally under the influence of Hosokawa Harumoto. Although the various forces in the country were not in harmony, they could still maintain superficial unity due to the authority of the Kanrei. Under such circumstances, it was not a wise choice for Yoshishige to rashly invade Tamba.

However, this does not mean that Yoshishige will ignore what happens in Tamba and do nothing.

First, he tried to tame some of the people in the three northern counties of Tamba, namely Amada, Kakuro, and Kuwata, such as the Kaneyama clan who were at odds with the Shiomi clan, the Shikako and Uehara clans who had long been oppressed by the Akai clan, and the relatively independent Kanabashi and Kawakatsu clans in Kuwata County.

Taking advantage of the urgent need of these people for a strong support to resist hostile forces, Yoshishige soon established more frequent contacts with them. Many of these people even sent their children to Atagoyama Castle to serve as Yoshishige's close associates, in order to strengthen the relationship with the Wakasa Takeda clan.

Secondly, he extended a helping hand to the Adachi clan, who also belonged to Yamagaki Castle in Hikami County and were oppressed by Ashida's faction (Akai and Ogino), and promised to help them resist the invasion of the Akai clan and build it into a bridgehead from Tajima to Tamba.

The Adachi clan descended from Engen, the son of Engen of Fujiwara no Kitaie. Engen took "Adachi" as his surname because he ruled Adachi County in Musashi Province. He served four generations of the Minamoto family, including Minamoto Yoshitomo, Yoritomo, Yoriie, and Sanetomo, and was granted Uma Yoshinobu when he was young.

When Minamoto no Yoritomo started his rebellion, he was the first among the Musashi warriors to join the battle. He was active in the suppression of the Taira family and was appointed as a clerk of the Komuni Office, becoming a member of the later "Thirteen-member Council" (the Taiga drama "13 Men of Kamakura-dono" was based on this period). Tomoto was not only brave but also good at administration, and was a very capable person.

His grandson, Tomasa Adachi, obtained the position of local lord in Sashisho, Tamba Province, for his contributions in the Jōkyū War, and moved westward. He gradually grew stronger and became a local force with Yamagaki Castle as its center of activity.

It can be said that the ancestors of the Adachi clan were much more prosperous than the Ashida clan, but now they are surrounded on three sides by the Akai clan and are often threatened and oppressed. Therefore, the current head of the clan, Adachi Motokiyo, was unwilling to accept this, so he took the initiative to seek support from Yoshishige through the Tajima Taitagaki clan, with whom he had long been in contact.

The reason why he did not choose to ask Hatano Hidetada for help, but instead asked the neighboring Wakasa Takeda clan for help, was very simple:
Both the Hatano and Akai families were subordinate to Hosokawa Harumoto. Hatano Hidetada was not in power and was unwilling to offend the Akai family because of the Adachi family, thus bringing the matter to Hosokawa Harumoto. Moreover, the Adachi family was located in a remote area, which was of no benefit to the Hatano family.

Therefore, all Hatano Hidetada could do was to give Akai "friendly reminders" from time to time, and he was powerless to do anything else.

For the Takeda clan in Wakasa, the Adachi clan was very important.

Not only can they serve as one of the bridgeheads for the Takeda clan to enter and exit Tamba in the future, but they can also guard Asago County in Tajima from the flank. The Ikuno Silver Mine is located in Asago County, so the importance of the Adachi clan is self-evident.

Finally, in order to strengthen the exploration of Tamba and make plans for the future, Yoshishige persuaded Hatano Hidetada to agree to build a street connecting Atagoyama Castle and Yakami Castle on the grounds that it would be convenient for Hatano Yoshino to visit his relatives.

The Tango section was built by Yoshishige, and the Tamba section was built by Hatano Hidetada. After completion, the street was called "Tamba-michi". Later generations called it "Hatano-michi" or "Yoshino-michi" because of its original purpose. (End of this chapter)