View Full Version : The Zen of Nobunaga
A great Japanese warrior named Nobunaga decided to attack the enemy although he had only one-tenth the number of men the opposition commanded. He knew that he would win, but his soldiers were in doubt.
On the way he stopped at a Shinto shrine and told his men: "After I visit the shrine I will toss a coin. If heads comes, we will win; if tails, we will lose. Destiny holds us in her hand."
Nobunaga entered the shrine and offered a silent prayer. He came forth and tossed a coin. Heads appeared. His soldiers were so eager to fight that they won their battle easily.
"No one can change the hand of destiny," his attendant told him after the battle.
"Indeed not," said Nobunaga, showing a coin which had been doubled, with heads facing either way.
-Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
Where did you get this information CEWest?
Where did you get this information CEWest? Can you provide more information on this like which japanese clan is the warrior in and where did the battle took place?
Is it from a website can you provide the web adderss to me? thanks
Dwimmerlaik
05-11-2002, 00:29
Nobunaga of Clan Oda, going into battle against Yoshimoto of clan Imagawa, the battle later named Okehazama (June 19 1560). The excellent samurai archives website has the skinny on this and many other battles of the period.
Edited for spelling errors...
[This message has been edited by Dwimmerlaik (edited 05-10-2002).]
It came from my favorite Zen book:
"Zen Flesh, Zen Bones : A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings"
by Paul Reps, Nyogen Senzaki (Editor)
Thanks for your information, I believe he is a great warrior in Japan, he believes in Shinto more than Buddhism, because I did read that he destroyed a lot of buddhist monks temples and slaughtered many monks during his warrior life.
That was because they defied him - it wasn't animosity directed towards buddhism, just a group of practioners.
Here is an applicable quote I came across a few years ago that is interesting in that it gives a little insight into Nobunaga and his destruction of the Enryaku-ji on Mt. Hiei, and which shows, in essence, that he wasn't against buddhism, just the monks of the mountain:
"I am not the destroyer of this monastery. The destroyer of the monastery is the monastery itself. As you know I am one who has not known a moment of peace. I have risked my life. I have devoted myself to hard work and to a life of denial of my personal desires. I have given myself to the hardships of warrior life in order that I might restrain the turbulence within the land, check the decline of imperial prestige and restore it, improve the prevailing manners and customs, and perpetuate the benefits of government and religion. But last year ... Asakura and the Asai seized the opportunity of my absence to invade Shiga in this province at the head of several tens of thousands of mounted troops. Thus I was compelled to return here and to expel them from Tsubogusa. The deep snows retarded their flight and they were about to be slain by our men when the monastic inmates of Mt. Hiei came to their assistance. You were sent to dissuade and to reason with the monks, but they would not listen. Whereupon, I sent another envoy ... to inform them that if they persisted in their decision, a buildings without exception ... would be burned and destroyed, and all inmates ... would be decapitated. Still they would not yield. I do not speak falsehoods. It is they who obstruct the maintenance of law and order in the country. Those who would help rebels are themselves traitors to the country.
If, moreover, they are not destroyed now, they will again become a peril to the nation. Therefore not a single life should be spared."
...and not a single life was.
Yes, Okehazama put Oda in the driver's seat toward his ultimate goal. The attack was so sudden (in the pouring rain) that Yoshimoto thought his troops were fighting each other.
Correct me if I'm wrong CEWest.
------------------
"Je vous repondrai par la bouche de mes canons"
-Frontenac
(I will answer you with the blast of my canons)
-Trad. libre
That is weird CeWest I also read a book with a chinese warrior who was going north to attack his enemies to restore peace to his kingdom, and he went into a temple and toss a coin and he said the same thing that the warrior Nobunaga said and defeated his enemies.
Buddhism has its roots in China (after India), the story probably came with it, and someone in Japan probably eventually attributed Nobunaga with it.
[This message has been edited by CEWest (edited 05-12-2002).]
Why do they want to do that?
Quote Originally posted by tienyi:
Why do they want to do that?[/QUOTE]
Assuming that is what happened, I guess it would be to make him 'larger than life'. Legendary warriors need epic stories, don't they? Someone probably heard the Chinese version, told someone else, and one thing leads to another, and Nobunaga becomes the guy who did it.
Confused, but any CeWest thanks for explaining.
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