~I'm not evil! I'm just misunderstood. (Long pause) And evil…~

Worked my butt off for this info too, so like, use with care!

Castles During the Sengoku Period:

During the Sengoku Period (Warring States Period), literally hundreds of castles were constructed throughout Japan. The first castles were built high a top inaccessible mountains to serve as both a watchtower over the land and a safe sanctuary for the daimyo during a war. These castles are in comparason smaller and do not maintain as extensive moats, turrets or other supporting structures found in other castle types. These are called yamajiro(mountain castle). Iwakun and Gifu castles are prime examples of yamajiro among the castles.  The mountaintop castle was therefore faded out in favor of more practical designs. The hirayamajiro(flatland-mountain castle) was built on a low hill with a good view of the surrounding area. The main keep of these castles was built larger and taller than the mountain top castles providing a good vantage point to watch over the land. Oda Nobunaga built the first such castle, Azuchi Castle, in 1579. Azuchi Castle was destroyed after Nobunaga's death in 1582. With the change from mountaintop castles the donjon of flatland castles also became more beautiful and grand.

Sengoku "Warring States" Period (1467-1615)

The Sengoku Period is usually defined as the years from 1467-1573, but I would like to loosely define it as the entire time period from the Onin Wars until Tokugawa Ieyasu consolidated his power in 1615.

The Sengoku Period is one of the most interesting periods in Japanese history and gives rise to some of the most famous historical figures. It is the golden age of the samurai. Following the Onin Wars (1467-1477), Ashikaga rule weakened and Japan was subsequently thrown into a century of anarchy.

Political forces and alliances changed regularly and everyone continually battled for more power and larger territories. Into this chaos marched Oda Nobunaga. Utilizing brilliant military and political tactics Nobunaga began the unification of Japan. He was, unfortunately, forced to commit suicide by one of his own lieutenants, Akechi Mitsuhide, in 1582. Nobunaga's top aid Toyotomi Hideyoshi picked up where Nobunaga left off and completed the unification of Japan.

Hideyoshi lived a colorful life indulging in the arts and also waging two disastrous invasions of Korea. Before his death in 1598, Hideyoshi established a government ruled by a council of lords in place of his young heir Hideyori.

A complicated power struggling involving the lords of Hideyori's council ended in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Tokugawa Ieyasu, a member of the aforementioned council, emerged as the victor and moved the military capital to his castle town of Edo (Tokyo).

In 1603 Tokugawa was named Shogun by the emperor who gave him undeniable supreme military command over the country. In 1615 Tokugawa stormed Hideyori's fortress of Osaka Castle and eliminated the only remaining threat to his power. Tokugawa died a year later in 1616 and the Sengoku Period came to a close.

The Tokugawa period (also known as the Edo period) is often referred to tenka taihei, which translates into the great peace under the heaven. The Tokugawa period is referred to this because this period is characterized by 250 years of peace and political stability. In this era of peace and political stability, intellectual and cultural establishments flourished. Also, in this era of peace and political stability, the Samurai code of Bushido flourished.

Suicide and Redress Seppuku, also called hara-kiri, is a form of ritualized suicide by disembowelment and was used to prevent dishonor. This act was only reserved for the samurai class, and was highly ritualized in feudal Japan. In the act of seppuku, a samurai would draw a blade into the left side of his abdomen, and make a cut towards the right side of the abdomen. Next he turns the blade into the wound, and make a cut upwards . After this is done, another samurai, typically a good friend, will server the head of the samurai committing seppuku. While in the act of seppuku, the samurai remains perfectly calm, and shows not signs of pain or discomfort on their face.

Shogun (full title, "Seii Taishogun" or 'Barbarian Subduing Generalissimo') was the title of the generals of Japan during the feudal periods (1185-1868). The shogun was theoretically subordinate to the emperor. Although nominally he was the supreme authority, his power over local affairs was limited by the rights of the feudal barons, the daimyo. a military general who held all the political military and authority in Japan

Daimyo---Literally “Great name” A powerful warlord in feudal Japan, who controlled large estates and extensive resources.

Samurai Warriors in service of the great Daimyos; protecting both the Daimyos’ lands and the peasants that worked in it.

Ninjitsu People don't know very much about the art itself. First case of mentioning ninjutsu was in the year of 520.
    In time when Shoguns (military rulers of Japan) ruled, Japan was divided in dozens of provinces, which was ruled by daimyos, military commanders. Wars between this daimyos were very often. Their armies fought one another, and many warriors - samurais died in those battles. For a samurai, to die while fighting for his lord was in fact one of the greatest honours, because that's what their code Bushido, The Warrior's Path, ordered them to do. But for the special purposes, daimyos used ninja warriors, because they weren't limited with the Bushido code like the samurais.
    Ninjas worked on special missions, like for example espionage, all kinds of diversions, sabotages, assassinations of enemy commanders, etc. Their code was to complete the task given to them, by any means.

Sword Vs Fan (????) Sometime after his duel with Gunbei - after he starting questioning the essence of things - Musashi was supposed to have answered a challenge to a duel by fighting with a steel Fan. Fans, while an unusual weapon, are not unheard of in Chinese or Japanese fighting arts. Musashi was meant to have utilised the fan as such whereby his opponent could not best him... eventually the duel ended with the surrender of the frustrated opponent. Neither were hurt. This example is usually cited to explain the mindset behind the superior swordsman Musashi had become - he understood the essence of swordsmanship therefore any other weapon (or art, example = calligraphy) was an extension of this. See the Kenjutsu section for a bit more analysis on this concept.

Splitting Rice (While in Ogasawara service in Akashi, 1615-1627 approx.) This is more a one of those Musashi-Myths rather than a famous duel but I think it serves a purpose in this section.

An Ogasawara retainer by the name of Aoki came to Musashi for fencing lessons. This Aoki was a proud one, and flamboyant at that - he came to class with a wooden practice sword and from the handle dangled colourful cloth streamers! Musashi decided to teach him a lesson. He ordered some rice and placed one grain in the head of a follower. To the amazement of everyone around he proceeded to draw his sword and cut down on the followers head; the man was not hurt and, on close examination, the rice was found to have been cut in two. Musashi then, incredulously, performed the feat twice more! At this he boomed at Aoki about his ostentatious sword and poor mental attitude... Aoki jumped up and fled the training hall.

Miyake Gunbei (While in Ogasawara service in Akashi, 1615-1627 approx.) Soon after the incident described above and while Musashi was visiting the province of Himeji, he was challenged by four retainers of the Hemiji Daimyo. The first up was one Miyake Gunbei. Seemingly he was both an experienced warrior and a good swordsman. It is not these properties, however, that wrote his name in the record books - his duel with Musashi was the first recorded in which Musashi uses Two Swords (although Wooden) to defeat an opponent. The duel had been such that not even Gunbei, an experience swordsman, could do anything against Musashi's formidable new style... the match ended when, in desperation, Gunbei ran at Musashi and impaled himself on Musashi's short sword. Gunbei's three colleagues apologised to Musashi for ever having challenged such a superior swordsman as he and left.