Uesugi Kenshin

Introduction

Sengoku Period is the period in which bushi warriors were able to distinguish themselves the most in battle. During this period, there were “daimyo” or warlords who conducted battle while mastering military arts themselves. Out of the many daimyos, we introduce you to Uesugi Kenshin, known for his exceptional conducting abilities and succession of victories.

Uesugi Kenshin was referred to by other names such as “God of War” and “Dragon of Echigo” for being so skilled in battle. He is also famed for the Battles of Kawanakajima against Takeda Shingen of Kai Province, which consisted of five major battles. Let us explore this notable figure as well as the life he led. 

Birth〜First Battle

Sengoku warlord, Uesugi Kenshin was not originally from the Uesugi Family but was born into the Nagao Family who served as a “shugodai” or military governor of Echigo Province (present-day Niigata Prefecture). He was born Nagao Torachiyo in 1530 in Kasugayama Castle of Echigo as the fourth son of the Nagao Family. Kenshin is his Buddhist name, given to him posthumously.

At the time Kenshin was born, the Nagao Family of Echigo was divided into three, and they were in dispute over which Nagao Family was to become the shugodai. In 1536, Kenshin’s father, Nagao Tamekage, retreated due to pressure from Echigo’s provincial lord, Uesugi Sadanori. Consequently, Kenshin’s brother Nagao Harukage took over as head of the family.

Because Kenshin had been neglected by his father, he was relocated to Rinsenji temple situated in present-day Jōetsu City, Niigata Prefecture. At Rinsenji, Kenshin spent his days playing with castle models or games of military prowess. He is taught and raised by the head priest, Tenshitsu Kōiku.

In 1542, Kenshin’s father, Nagao Tamekage passed away. When the enemy forces attacked the Kasugayama Castle, Kenshin wore a suit of armor and protected his dead father’s coffin. In 1543, Kenshin reached “genpuku”, which is equivalent to Japan’s coming-of-age ceremony back in the day. He is given the name, Nagao Kagetora.

Kenshin then enters Tochio Castle to become the district manager of Koshi under his older brother, Nagao Harukage. Meanwhile, in Echigo, Uesugi Sadazane was adopting the child of Date Tanemune as his son-in-law. This causes internal strife with Echigo divided into those who were for or against this adoption.

To defeat Nagao Harukage, enemy forces assailed Tochio Castle where Nagao Kagetora (Uesugi Kenshin) resided. This is what is known as the Battle of Tochio Castle. Under this circumstance, Kagetora divided the castle’s soldiers and ordered one-half to make a raid on the enemy’s camp from behind. He sent more soldiers into the enemy’s camp which was in a state of confusion, and the end achieved his first victory in battle.

By 1548, Kenshin’s distinguished war services had gained him the vigorous support of people who wished for him to become the shugodai. To mediate the situation, Uesugi Sadazane appointed Kenshin to take over the head of the house to eventually make him the shugodai. In 1550, Sadazane passed away. Since he had no successor, the 13th shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshiteru, appoints Uesugi Kenshin as shugodai, as well as the daimyo of the Echigo Province.

Battle of Kawanakawajima against Longtime Enemy, Takeda Shingen

When it comes to Uesugi Kenshin, you cannot leave out the famous Battle of Kawanakajima against his longtime enemy, Takeda Shingen. The stories of rivalry between these two are well-known in history. They competed against each other with military strategies for territorial expansion. Let’s look into the Battle of Kawanakajima from the point where Kenshin begins to rule Echigo.
In 1551, Kenshin defeats Nagao Masakage who he had been opposing in Echigo, and accomplishes the unification of Echigo. Concurrently, a powerful family of the Shinano region had come to rely on Kenshin in their attempts to attack Shingen. In 1552, Murakami Yoshikiyo of Shinano is defeated by Shingen, and he seeks Kenshin’s help.

This marks the beginning of the five battles that would become known as the Battle of Kawanakajima. Kenshin sent troops and drove Shingen’s forces away. However, since Shingen once again began to attack, the two forces clashed in Kawanakajima, which was a strategic point for both armies.

The first of the Battle of Kawanakajima is called, the “Battle of Fuse”, in which Kenshin wins back Murakami Yoshikiyo’s residence, Katsurao Castle. Since he had been planning to go to Kyoto and Shingen also had certain military gains, this battle reached a closure.

In 1555, Kurita Eijyu of Zenkōji temple double-crosses Kenshin and turns to Shingen’s side, causing the two to clash once again over Zenkōji. This is the second Battle of Kawanakajima. As the two confronted each other with the Sai River in between them in the decisive battle, it is also referred to as the “Battle of Saikawa (Sai River)”. After 200 days of confrontation, they reconciled through the mediation of Imagawa Yoshimoto.

Following this incident in 1556, Kenshin’s senior vassal, Ōokuma Tomohide, betrays Kenshin by secretly communicating with Shingen and starting a rebellion. Tomohide fled to Shingen’s side, and in 1557, the third Battle of Kawanakajima took place. However, with the mediation of Muromachi Shogunate’s 13th shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru, they reconciled.

In 1559, the Kantō Kanrei (shogunal deputy), Uesugi Norimasa, handed over the headship of the family as well as an official position to Kenshin. As the new Kantō Kanrei, Kenshin besieges Hōjō Ujiyasu’s Odawara Castle with the support of the Kantō generals. Hōjō Ujiyasu seeks help from Shingen, and Shingen leads his troops into Shinano.

This marks the beginning of the fourth Battle of Kawanakajima, also known as the “Battle of Hachimanbara” which involved fierce combat between the two armies. Shingen plans a pincer attack on Kenshin’s army, but Kenshin becomes aware of this plan. He secretly sets up a camp under the nose of Shingen’s army and begins an attack.

Shingen’s army is cornered, Kenshin advances further into the enemy camp, and a one-on-one battle is fought between Kenshin and Shingen. Shingen gets wounded, but with the arrival of a detached force, the table is turned. Kenshin is left with no other choice but to flee. Both sides were exhausted, bringing the fourth Battle of Kawanakajima to an end.

Later on, the fifth Battle of Kawanakajima occurs because Kenshin and Shingen intervened in an internal strife in Hida Province. The two armies were in confrontation, but this battle ended without a decisive result. From fighting five battles of Kawanakajima, people were in such awe of Kenshin that they began to refer to him as the “Dragon of Echigo”.

Odawara Castle: the castle that Uesugi Kenshin could not even conquer

The Odawara Castle was Hōjō’s residence, and the Siege of Odawara was what brought Uesugi Kenshin to the Kantō region. The solid Odawara Castle is also the last castle that Toyotomi Hideyoshi besieged when he was about to become the ruler of Japan.
The event that led up to Kenshin’s decision to attack Odawara Castle was the request for support from Kantō Kanrei, Uesugi Norimasa. As explained earlier, Kantō Kanrei is the position of a shogunal deputy that assists the Kamakura Kubō (governor-general) of the Muromachi Shogunate. Norimasa was driven out of Kōzuke Province and turned to Kenshin through Shinano.

Kenshin is given the position of Kantō Kanrei and head of the Uesugi Family from Norimasa in 1560. He immediately heads to Kyoto, and gains permission from the 13th shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru to call himself Uesugi Masatora and the cause to defeat Hōjō as Kantō Kanrei.

Firstly, Kenshin began to take by storm the castles surrounding Odawara Castle. Because of the request from Satomi of Awa, he took over the Numata Castle of Kōzuke. Hōjō retreats from Satomi’s castle which he had been attacking and heads to Musashi Province.
Since the invasion of Uesugi’s army continued, Hōjō Ujiyasu was besieged in his home ground, the Odawara Castle. The vassals of the Uesugi Family who were Kantō Kanrei in the past gathered to join Kenshin in deciding to siege Odawara Castle.

At the Siege of Odawara, the troops broke through the gates and engaged in a back-and-forth battle with Hōjō’s army, but were having difficulties entering the castle. They eventually set fire to the castle in an attempt to provoke Hōjō’s army and drive them out, but Hōjō’s army remained unfazed.

Hōjō requested support from their allies, Imagawa and Takeda (Shingen). While Imagawa’s army headed to support Odawara Castle, Shingen advanced his men to northern Shinano. As the soldiers were discontent due to the long-term expedition, Kenshin’s army withdrew. From here they head to fight in the fourth Battle of Kawanakajima.

Etsu-So Alliance and Hōjō 

In 1568, Hōjō Ujiyasu of Sagami Province dissolved the alliance with Takeda Shingen because Shingen broke the alliance by making an invasion. Shingen defeats Imagawa, which belonged to the same alliance, and makes an advance towards Odawara Castle. It is at this point that Hōjō decides to ally with Uesugi Kenshin.

At first, Kenshin was hesitant about forming this alliance. However, since he was not pleased with having to repeatedly dispatch troops to Kantō and also because Hōjō had once invaded his castle, he decided to proceed with the alliance. Furthermore, Kenshin also thought that this alliance can restrain Shingen’s moves.

The alliance that Uesugi Kenshin and Hōjō Ujiyasu formed was called the “Etsu-So Alliance”. However, the alliance caused feelings of distrust among the warlords of Kantō because they feared the increased control of the Hōjō over Kantō.

In 1571, Hōjō Ujiyasu passed away. He was succeeded by Hōjō Ujimasa. Ujimasa abandoned the Etsu-So Alliance, and once again allied with Shingen. Kenshin and Hōjō were enemies yet again.

Additionally, Shingen organized an Ikkō ikki rebellion in Ecchu Province to head to Kyoto as well, to stop Kenshin. The repeated Ikkō rebellions were a lot to handle for Kenshin, and he began to move towards suppression of Ecchu Province and Noto Province.
While Kenshin is distracted by matters in Ecchu, Hōjō Ujimasa invades Kōzuke, and they end up in confrontation across the Tone River. Kenshin destroyed Hōjō’s castle one by one, all except for the Kaneyama Castle. Meanwhile, Ujimasa attacked Hanyū Castle which has long been Kenshin’s base in Kantō.

As a result, Kenshin abandoned Hanyū Castle because he was focused on suppressing Ecchu. There was a warlord of Kantō who still requested support from Kenshin, and Kenshin responded yet none of the other warlords joined him. This made it apparent that Kenshin’s power within Kantō was in decline.

Siege of Nanao and Battle of Tedori River

To suppress Ecchu and head to Kyoto, Uesugi Kenshin advances his troops to the west and defeats the Ecchu Ikkō Ikki. After defeating the Ecchu shugodai, Shiina Yasutane, Kenshin suppressed Ecchu. As he was in a hurry to head to Kyoto, he continued to advance his troops to suppress Noto.

The center of Noto was Nanao Castle. The lord of this castle was shugodai, Hatakeyama Haruōmaru, but since he was only a child, Chōtsugutsura held all the real power. Kenshin seeks action from the men of Uesugi’s side within Nanao Castle, but Chōtsugutsura, who had requested reinforcement from Oda Nobunaga, puts up a stubborn resistance.

In 1576, most castles around Nanao Castle had fallen, and Nanao Castle was surrounded as well. However, Nanao Castle was a gigantic, impregnable castle built on the top of a mountain, so it could not be taken down by force. A new year came without them being able to make much progress. In 1577, Hōjō made an advance so they retreated temporarily.

Kenshin again began to attack Nanao Castle. At this time, a plague spreads inside the castle and takes the life of the lord of the castle, Haruōmaru. Nonetheless, Chōtsugutsura, who believed Nobunaga would send reinforcement, did not surrender.

Kenshin once again seeks action from the men of Uesugi’s side in Nanao Castle, and this time a rebellion breaks out inside the castle. Due to this, Chōtsugutsura and other vassals on Oda Nobunaga’s side are killed, and the impregnable Nanao Castle finally falls after a whole year. On a side note, Nobunaga did send support such as Shibata Katsuie to rescue Nanao Castle but it was too late.

After the fall of Nanao Castle, Kenshin found out that Nobunaga’s troop was heading in their direction, so he decided to head down south from Nanao Castle to Kaga. Meanwhile, Nobunaga’s army, Katsuie, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi were in disagreement. They advanced their troops without knowing that Nanao Castle had already fallen.

Kenshin awaits Nobunaga at a castle situated in the direction that his troops were headed. Not aware of the situation, Katsuie’s troops are unable to handle the sudden emergence of Kenshin’s army and retreat. As for Nobunaga’s army, they struggled to cross the Tedori River while being pursued by Kenshin, and eventually, they were defeated. This is the Battle of Tedorigawa.

The End of Uesugi Kenshin

With the defeat of Oda Nobunaga’s army at the Battle of Tedorigawa in 1577, Uesugi Kenshin returns to Kasugayama Castle in preparation for going to Kyoto. In the following year, Kenshin suddenly collapsed while preparing for battle and passed away. It is considered that he died from cerebral hemorrhage but the truth remains unknown.

Kenshin did not have any children, but he had two adopted sons, Uesugi Kagekatsu and Uesugi Kagetora. Since Kenshin did not choose a successor while he was alive, this causes a succession struggle. This is called the Otate War. Uesugi Kagekatsu won this battle and became the head of the Uesugi Family.

Although attacked by Nobunaga, Uesugi Kagekatsu was able to avoid the downfall of his family because of the Honnōji Incident. Later on, he is appointed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi as one of the Gotairō (council of five elders). However, when Tokugawa Ieyasu became the ruler of Japan, he was transferred to the Yonezawa Domain. There, he became the first feudal lord of the Yonezawa Domain.

Summary

Uesugi Kenshin is one of the most famous Sengoku generals. He was called the “God of War” for his brilliant performance on the battlefield, as well as his belief in the Buddhist god of warfare, Bishamonten. Additionally, he was also called the “Dragon of Echigo”, and many warlords were in awe of his abilities.

f you would like to see Uesugi Kenshin’s battles, we recommend you take a look at the streaming service “Samurai vs Ninja”. You will be able to see the glorious battles of Kenshin and many other Sengoku warlords.