Stories of loyal warriors were often recorded in the various war tales,
from the very early tales during the Heian and medieval periods to much
later accounts, among which are the most well known and celebrated,
Chushingura, and literary works such as the sixteenth-century Budô
shoshinshu (The Code of the Samurai) and the twentieth-century Bushidô
(Way of the Warrior). Among earlier records, perhaps the best known is the
story of Kusonoki Masashige’s exemplary display of loyalty to Emperor
Godaigo in the final scene of the Battle of Minatogawa. Having his forces
reduced to just a few tens of men, Masashige withdrew with his brother
Masasue to a house where they planned to commit seppuku (suicide). Their
retainers lined up in front of them and after reciting a prayer they cut open
their bellies (hara kiri). Then, Masashige asked his brother into which of
the nine existences (i.e., the nine possible levels of rebirth, according to
Buddhist teaching) he wished to be reborn. Masasue laughed and answered
that he wished to be reborn into this same existence for seven more times
so that he could fight the enemies of Emperor Godaigo. Masashige af-
firmed a similar wish after which they pointed their swords at each other
and fell on the swords simultaneously. Some six hundred years later, the
Japanese kamikaze fighters of World War II wrote down the same resolu-
tion on their headbands before going out on their last mission.
Such behavior embodies the ideal for a samurai, but many famous war-
riors fell far short of that ideal. Loyalty and disloyalty were often comple-
mentary. Minamoto no Yoritomo hunted down his younger half brother
Yoshitsune, forcing him to commit seppuku. Takeda Shingen forced his fa-
ther into exile so that he could become the head of the Takeda clan. Akechi
Mitsuhide, one of Oda Nobunaga’s most trusted generals, betrayed Nobu-
naga and assassinated him while Nobunaga was camping at a temple. Toyo-
tomi presented his rush to take revenge as an act of supreme loyalty toward
his lord. In practical terms, the general who avenged the death of Nobunaga
could claim to be his successor by virtue of loyalty. Toyotomi knew that this
reasoning was not good enough to secure his position, so immediately after
killing Akechi Mitsuhide he appointed himself as the guardian of
Nobunaga’s son, who was a young child at the time. Again, he claimed this
role on the pretext of supreme loyalty to Nobunaga, but its practical impli-
cations were that Toyotomi now secured his position.
Nevertheless, Toyotomi’s reliance on his display of loyalty as a way to
support his claim to replace Nobunaga shows that appreciation for loyalty
indeed existed, even if only superficially. Indeed, when Toyotomi was on his
deathbed he made his generals sign a blood oath to maintain peaceful suc-
cession after his death. Although they all showed loyalty to Toyotomi and
signed the oath, shortly after his death they fought each other in the Battle
of Sekigahara.194 Japan