Yasushi Inoue - The Samurai Banner of Furin Kazan

There are many people to whom I would like to offer my appreciation, but all cannot be named. The following made special contributions and offered assistance in key areas without which I could not have completed the translation of Furin Kazan.

My many thanks and heartfelt appreciation should go to:

Yasushi Inoue who provided such powerful material to work with. The University of Calgary students in my many Japanese civilization classes over the years who complained that there are few, if any, any interesting books to read on the Japanese Warring era and gave me the idea, and the motivation, to translate this book. The Department of Germanic, Slavic, and East Asian Studies of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Calgary, which supported me all through the years of my study giving me the opportunity and support to complete this work. Also to the two very supportive Department Heads that lead the Department during these years, Nick Zekulin and Xiao-jie Yang. My brother, Hirano Takashi, who drove me to the related historical areas in Japan, including to the house where Yamamoto Kansuke’s descendents live and where his grave stone is located. I thank him for his knowledge of Japanese history and for communicating the details of that history to me. My son, Patrick John Riley, who reluctantly helped me to read through the textbook and provided advice on the appropriate use of masculine expressions. My daughter, Maureen, who constantly supported me and encouraged me to complete this translation. My neighbor, Jean Hamel, who read an early translation, offered me some advice and encouraged me that this book was worthwhile publishing. And, last but not least, my husband, Mike Riley for his brutal attention to detail. As challenging and as difficult as it is to accept detailed criticism of one’s own work, it is a necessary part of the creative process.

To all of these people, I am very grateful as I see this dream go to the bookstores.

— YOKO RILEY

THIS BOOK, ENTITLED Furin Kazan in the original Japanese, was written by Inoue Yasushi in the year 1958.

This book is about Takeda Shingen (1521–1573), Sengokudaimyo 1of the province of Kai (Yamanashi Prefecture). A celebrated statesman and military commander, Takeda Shingen was exalted as the strongest warrior of the Sengoku period. A series of battles he fought against Uesugi Kenshin, Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and other powerful daimyo have been taken up in many novels and motion pictures as the most dramatic events of the Sengoku period.

A seemingly trivial conflict named Onin no Ran drove Japan into a warring period of over one hundred years. The centralized government, under the strong control of the military leader called a Shogun , lost its power. During the period from 1480 to 1590, a previously united Japan crumbled and was divided into many small fiefdoms, the leaders of which tried to expand their power by conquering neighboring territories.

It is hard to tell how many of these local warlords appeared and disappeared during this era. A new phenomenon in the country was emerging: the hierarchical order, once very restrictive unless one was born to high samurai rank, was beginning to break down. This emerging phenomenon was called Gekokujo , which means that the lower defeats the upper, and anyone who had the ability and power could ultimately aspire to lead. This was the classic shift from an absolute hereditary monarchy model to a meritocracy.

As the order crumbled during the warring era, the people faced a time of cruelty and treachery and of death and survival. The strong and powerful daimyo swallowed up their weaker neighbors without mercy.

The Samurai Banner of Furin Kazan is the story of the strategist who served one of the strongest warlords in this era. Takeda Shingen, the warlord of Kai district, first appeared in Japanese history in 1541 at the age of twenty-one, when he exiled his father to a neighboring territory.

Furin Kazan is a story of Takeda Shingen, as assisted by his one-eyed, crippled strategist Yamamoto Kansuke, and how he explored and extended his territory. A new history of the east was about to be created by three young powerful leaders, Takeda Shingen, Imagawa Yoshimoto, and Hojo Ujiyasu. If these three had clashed, they would have destroyed each other. Cooperation among these rivals was essential.

Yamamoto Kansuke’s love toward his master and concubines and his brilliant strategies inspired by his passion for war and his admiration for his enemies’ war tactics are brilliantly expressed throughout this book.

The army of Takeda Shingen carried a standard on which four Chinese characters, fu-rin ka-zan, were printed. These characters aptly represented Shingen’s way of fighting. Thus, translated, the title of this book means:

fu

rin

ka

zan

fu Be as swift as the wind

rin Be as silent as the wood

ka Attack as fiercely as fire

zan Be as composed as the mountain

I completed the translation of The Samurai Banner of FurinKazan , historical fiction from the feudal era of Japan written by Inoue Yasushi, as input to the Japanese Civilization course that I teach at the University of Calgary, to enhance students’ understanding of the social situation of an era for which very limited documentation exists in English. This translation provides detailed reference materials for the study of pre-twentieth century Japanese civilization with a focus on the samurai culture, which is the base of modern Japanese civilization and its way of thinking and societal, economic, and organizational structures.

Although all of Japanese history has contributed to the complex mosaic that Japan is today, samurai philosophy, the Bushido 2ethic, and this particular period of history have had a particularly formative effect on Japan today and, in particular, the present Japanese business and bureaucratic culture.

Teaching Japanese civilization for the last nine years, I found that large numbers of students showed a high level of interest in the samurai culture as a subject for essay assignments. However, feudal documents dealing with the life of the samurai are very limited, although reference materials referring to theories of Bushido (the way of samurai, samurai disciplines, self-control etc.) are available.

Historical fiction using contextually and historically accurate daily life and events can fill this void by providing a depiction of the life of the samurai, women’s position in the samurai culture, traditions and social values as they really were.

In this foreword, I have followed the traditional Japanese convention of placing the surname first and the first name last.

Thus, the author’s surname is Inoue and his given name is Yasushi and he is referred to here as Inoue Yasushi.