IV - To Avenge the Fallen

In the wake of Yamato fields the Ikko-Ikki were completely thrown out of the province. The remnants of the armed forces still left in region were forced to retreat north with the Hattori hot on their heels. Yamato was lost and Yasunaga, In-field commander of all Hattori forces, was keen to keep the pressure on. Though he himself was called away to the west, his lieutenants easily seized their clan's former capital at Iga. with the Ikko lacking a strong unified leader in the south, and with reinforcements nowhere close enough to support the disorganized militias, the Hattori rolled up the southern part of Honshu quite easily.

Iga and Yamato were back in Hattori hands by the first chill of winter.


The first snow fall at Todaiji,
Clan Hattori territory
November, 1554

Though the campaign had proven to be an utter disaster, the Ikko Republic had been damaged far more by the loss of Sazuki Sadayu, the hero of the Ikko movement and beloved of the people. As Commander In-Field of all Ikko-Ikki, he was more responsible for the spread of the movement than any other man alive. Apart from Shonyo himself, perhaps, and there were citizens of the republic who would even contest that! But there is one thing none could contest, and that was the effect Sadayu's death had on the holy man. Shonyo disappeared into seclusion upon news of his most trusted general and friend's passing, none saw him save his advisors and Shimozuma Jutsurai, the de facto head of the Ikko administration.

Records of meetings held by the two men are hard to come by, and what transpired isn't fully clear. But as months passed, Jutsurai began to make more and more public appearances. Always having stayed in the background, he was far more active after the death of Sadayu. Proposing far more local edicts and ordinances, relaxing restrictions on trade, and further increasing payment and compensation for peasants who answered the call of the Ikko-Ikki to battle. Despite his militaristic background and reputation, he was the unifying force the Republic sorely needed. The army was in shambles, not only from the southern campaign, but from over five years of near constant campaigning. Jutsurai was responsible for the rebuilding and recruitment efforts that sprang up across the republic. Greater temples and dojos were built where men could dedicate themselves, not only to the Ikko faith, but to the pursuit of war. It wasn't long before he had the Ikko-Ikki rebuilt, and a new battle cry ready to be tested on the fields.

"To seek battle while knowing little of war is foolish. To know war and not seek battle is equally as foolish." ~ Shimozuma Jutsurai

The Republic had shifted its focus, under Jutsurai's leadership, a much more proactive stance in regards to external threats would from this point would be taken. No longer would the motto of the Ikko-Ikki be to capture and defend. When a threat was perceived to the republic, the Ikko-Ikki would attack. The people offered little resistance to this change. Many had died in the south, their greatest hero amung them! As the period of mourning passed, a powerful thirst for revenge took hold. It is not at all unlikely that rabel-rousing efforts played a huge part in that. But historians have found little evidence to paint Jutsurai as anything but a savior of a fledgling power.

This new direction was in direct opposition to Shonyo's teachings, who was conspicuously more and more distant from the Ikko-Ikki movement after 1554. Still the leader of the people's faith, he secluded himself in the mountainous region of Echizen, surrounded by monks loyal to him and the Ikko. From time to time he would make pilgrimages to the capital city, but for the most part, he distanced himself from Jutsurai's administration. Strangely, he never condemned it either. If he had, it is unlikely Jutsurai could have taken the people in the direction he did.

Jutsurai, meanwhile, consolidated his power as Shonyo withdrew from the public eye. As the new year dawned upon Japan the Ikko Republic was well on its way to recovering from the debacle that was the previous campaign. However, there was a growing concern that it simply could not sustain further fighting. The Ikko-Ikki needed time to settle down and catch their breath before any further expansion could be seriously considered. Jutsurai knew that if another forray into the south was made it would need to be quick and precise. Lucky for him, the Hattori clan was suffering far more than the Ikko-Ikki was.

In the Aftermath of Yamato Fields and the recapturing of Iga, the Hattori had been forced to fight five major battles along the breadth of their realm. Initially, this paid off when they obliterated the Yamana clan in north centeral Japan, but the political fallout made them no friends. Their list of enemies had grown quite large through their war-mongering reputation. Perhaps the only power in central Honshu who had not fought them was the Ashikaga forces in Kyoto, and even there tension was starting to mount! The time for Jutsurai came in 1555, when Hattori Yasunaga was killed in battle on the border with the Tokugawa. Spread thin and their most dangerous commander now out of the way, the Ikko-Ikki would strike...


The Battle of Todaiji
Jan, 1555
Beligerents: Ikko Republic v Clan Hattori
Commanders: Matsunaga Hirotsugu | Hata Shigehira

The Battle of Todaiji was an altogether small engagement. Counting to its credit likely only half the total number of troops per side that fought at Yamato fields, yet its impact was substantial. Stretched thin and facing increasingly desperate times as they fought in all directions, central Honshu was ripe for the taking. The Ikko-Ikki launched a brutal assault upon Iga in 1555 that secured the province with relative ease. Matsunaga Hirotsugu, commander of the Ikko-Ikki in the south, managed to take the Fortress at Iga in a daring night raid, suffering little casualties. His victory, and subsequent march into Yamato, set the stage for Todaiji, and the carnage it inspired.



Arriving in late January the fields were frozen over and a terrible chill cut straight to the bone as the Ikko-Ikki made their way foward. The road to Todaiji was not at all easy, a winter march is deadly if not properly undertaken, and the Ikko-Ikki had suffered greatly through their trek. Still, they stood proud, ready to do battle with the republic's enemies. The Ikko were never ones to shy away from their duty in service, and the dicipline instilled by Jutsurai's reforms only drove that home further. Another gift of the reforms was the presence of Ikko-Ikki cavalry. A first for the republic!



Led by a promising new warrior by the name of Hajikano Yukiie, they were the pride of Jutsurai but an unproven investment, as Todaiji would be their first true taste of blood. But to men like Hirotsugu, they represented a danger. Until now the state itself had armed and trained all who took up arms for the Ikko-Ikki, these men were wealthy enough to provide their own arms, and were afforded greater training than your average foot soldier. Thought it was true Samurai had carried the Ikko banner in battles previous (some to great honor!) they were always ronin. Hirotsugu and others like him, worried a dangerous precedent was being set...



Across the field, blocking the road toward Kii province was Hata Shigenhira, with the rest of the Hattori forces at his command. A man of some tactical skill, he had served honorably and was responsible for organizing the push that drove the Ikko remnant forces out of yamato, some years prior. Though he had not had true battle experience, he was sadly the best the Hattori could muster after so many losses. Yet as the Ikko-Ikki advanced upon him, cold wind biting at his face, he began to wonder if he could hold back the tide.

Hirotsugu would give his adversary little time to think about what he could or could not do. Ordering the cavalry to swing wide around the left, he marched his men forward under the covering fire of the archers and slammed his men home, meeting the hattori toe to toe, just as the Ikko-Ikki had done at Yamato. The difference now, was that they were on even ground and the fight was fair. Even so, the men of the Hattori clan stood their ground tenaciously, even as the banner went high and Yukiie's cavalry charge hit home, breaking the line into a number of different areas of action, they held the line.



Hirotsugu couldn't believe it. Even broken, the Hattori made the Ikko-Ikki fight, tooth and nail for every last inch. Step by bloody step, his men were continuing to push forward, but they were suffering two, sometimes three men felled for every hattori soldier slain. He couldn't sustain this pace, and he knew it! Battlefield reports indicate Hirotsugu sent word to Yukiie multiple times, ordering him to charge his men against the hattori rear - but the cavalry commander couldn't comply. His men were locked in a vicious struggle in and around the left flank with the Hattori cavalry, and were suffering heavy losses.



Just as it appeared the Ikko-Ikki would be forced to withdraw, the site of yellow banner, caught high in the wind caught Hirotsugu's attention. Yukiie had managed a break through and was barreling down hard on the Hattori flank. His men came crashing in, breaking the lines even further and forcing a total route! The men cheered over the broken bodies of their enemies as Yukiie led the cavalry on to persue the routers. The day'd been won, the cavalry had proven beyond any doubt their power and place within the Ikko-Ikki forces. But Hirotsugu was unconvinced. Matsunaga Hirotsugu was no fool. Correspondence from the general paint the picture of a paranoid and resentful man. He believed Yukiie was deliberately holding back the charge, today its impossible to tell if this was indeed the case, as battle records of the Sengoku era cannot always be reliable. What is known, however, is that casualty reports from the Tokugawa front paint a very disturbing picture. The Hattori cavalry divisions were decimated in the fight against Tokugawa Ieyasu.. It is unlikely they could have delayed Hajikano Yukiie and the rest of the Ikko cavalry for so long..

In the aftermath of Todaiji, Hattori resistance in central Honshu completely collapsed. Hata Shigehira escaped the battle, or is to believed to have as his body was never found - but no further records of a man by his name appear in history after that point. The Ikko-Ikki pressed their advantage, and by 1558, had completely whiped out all Hattori resistance in the central Honshu, including retaking what the Hattori clan had "stolen" from the Yamana. Pushed out of their homelands, their greatest heroes dead, and the tide turning against them, the Hattori Clan sued for peace. Jutsurai accepted their offer in the Iga Accord of 1558, and a time of peace was once again brought to the Republic.

Jutsurai would use this great victory as proof, not only that his army reforms had been much needed and highly effective, but that the Republic should aggressively seek out its enemies and deal with them upon the field. There is little evidence that anyone opposed that view, peacefully or otherwise. He had defeated the enemies who had brought down the great Sadayu, who could argue? And if they did, he now had the power to "quell" such arguments.

As soldiers of the Ikko-Ikki consolidated and secured their vast new holdings, a new threat began to make itself known... One far greater than the Hattori Clan had ever been...