Top 10 Greatest Samurai Leaders

originally this week I was supposed to put out my battle of nagashi no Sengoku Jidai series episode but unfortunately I'm still waiting for a book I ordered to come in to help me finish up my research for the video so instead I want to do something a little different and rather simple for this week that being a top 10 list for a while now I have been brainstorming topics for samurai top 10 lists and I think the perfect place to start is the top 10 greatest samurai leaders these are the figures who led their clans into legend cementing powerful legacies and altering the currents of Japanese history however these men are not necessarily fighters so don't expect to see names like sanada yukimura and Minamoto shizune on this list that's a list for another time and before we dive in I want to explain my thought process behind the list for each person included here I want to take into account their accomplishments and how it impacted Japan essentially examining their legacy then using my personal opinion I will rank just how important each of their legacies are this isn't a list ranking who would defeat who in battle but a comparative ranking of how their actions affected the country you may have a different list than me including figures that I left out and that's great if you do please share it in the comments section because I'd love to hear what you guys think so then let's start things off with number 10 Tyra Q amore jumping all the way back to the 12th century we can see the landscape of Japan was vastly different the samurai were powerful but not in control just yet however after the climactic Hogan and rebellions that shook Kyoto to its core Tyra Kiyomori emerged as the most powerful man in the entire country by the end of the turmoil in the capital he had crushed all his military rivals namely the Minamoto clan and banished the surviving Minamoto family members to the far reaches of the land by 1180 he had used his might to dictate politics in Kyoto influencing the Emperor and seizing control of the imperial court while working to cement the stability of his clan for generations to come it is of course when he pushed forth with his scheme to name his grandson as the next Emperor that all hell broke loose and the a war began a war which would ultimately see the downfall of his clan yet he died of natural causes early in the war thus I will not attribute his clans defeat upon him instead I will judge him on his extraordinary legacy of being one of the greatest non Shogun samurai rulers who have ever lived number nine Takeda Shingen by 1540 Japan was deep within the Sengoku Jidai Japan's age of warring States the Takeda clan which through separate branches had ruled over several provinces had slowly declined with their last major holding being that of Chi province his father Nobu Tora had nearly led the clan into ruin after countless reckless military campaigns prompting shingen's military coup which one in control had Shingen failed the Takeda would most likely have faded away into obscurity yet with Shingen at the helm he was able to vastly expand the Takata clan's territory becoming a regional power and later being the only clan truly capable of taking on the oda she again was a military genius most notably seen during his intense chess matches against his rival who uzuki can she at Kawa Nakajima he is also famous for the stability he established through his methods of governance and his adherence to Sun Tzu's Art of War from which he raised his foot in Kazan that roughly read the phrases fast as the wind gentle as the forest ferocious as fire and immovable as a mountain however for as great as he was Shingen fell short in the realm of succession failing to pass on his strategic prowess to his son and heir katsuyori who would lead the clan to its demise number 8 where Sookie can she by the onset of the single coogee die the u.s. suki clan was one of the most powerful forces in the entire country yet their military short calm and disjointed family would eventually lead to a shattering of the clan by 1551 had it not been for the promising samurai nagao kagetora the uesugi would have no doubt succumbed to their enemies cateura using political cunning convinced the desperate leader of his Vasuki allies nori masa to name him the future heir to the clan and grant him authority over the province of Ichigo and the title of Connery the Shogun all deputy over the Kanto region with little choice in the matter nori masa agreed thus the US suki clan reunified and re strengthened its position all thanks to kagetora who would in time take up the teachings of a monk and change his name to Kenshin in the years to come he would fight against the fearsome Hojo throughout Kanto and clash with his rival Takeda Shingen at Kiwanuka Jima halting the Takeda advance as they attempted to press into a chi go he is a direct comparison to Takeda Shingen however where Shingen failed to cement the future of the Takeda ken sheen fared somewhat better there would be a brief power struggle after his death yet for the most part the power of the u.s. Yugi remained intact surviving the Sengoku Jidai and allowing the uesugi family to live on to this day number 7 Morimoto nori like the previous two entries on this list Motul nori was a gifted military commander several times overcoming insurmountable odds and achieving ultimate victory with perhaps his greatest success being at the Battle of miyajima where he tricked an entire enemy force onto an island only to be surrounded and destroyed to truly get a full scope of Multan Ali's accomplishments one need only look to the spectacular rise of the Mori clan beginning as a seemingly insignificant family in Aki province molten re would skillfully lead the clan to greatness wiping out the mighty imago and og clan to essentially secure control over all of western Honshu after his death he managed to keep the stability of the Mori intact by instilling a strong sense of kinship between his three sons who would go on to defend their father's legacy although they found themselves on the losing side at Saqqara the Maury family would have their revenge during the Beauchene war where the Mori would be one of the leading clans fighting on the Imperial side of the struggle eventually succeeding in overthrowing the Tokugawa Shogunate on top of this the Mori family still lives on to this day all thanks to mortal nari number six Saigo Takamori a samurai general from Satsuma Takamori would fight on the Imperial side of the Beauchene war being one of the most important military leaders who saw the overthrow of the Tokugawa Shogunate winning the key victory against the Shogunate forces at toba-fushimi and even accepting the surrender of the Shogunate army defending Edo castle however he found himself opposed to the many changes coming to Japan during the Meiji Restoration and instead argued that attention should be focused on the modernization and reorganization of the Japanese military yet wherever he turned his suggestions were often shot down this prompted him to eventually resign and returned to Satsuma where he gained a following of dissatisfied former samurai in time leading to the Satsuma rebellion of 1877 although Takamori and his rebels were utterly crushed through his defiance to the bitter end and adherence to traditional japanese and samurai values his cause was shortly after garner sympathy from the Emperor and new imperial government who would in time bring a traditional mindset back to Japan amidst all of the westernization and modernization and most importantly samurai military traditions would be seen integrated into the new Imperial Japanese Army interestingly enough in the film The Last Samurai the character of katsu moto played by Ken Watanabe is based off of Saigo Takamori number 5 Ashikaga takauji after the end of the Mongol invasions of Japan the Kamakura Shogunate suffered as the samurai who had went forth to defend Japan from the Mongols received roughly little to nothing in return for their efforts seeing the weakening of the Shogunate emperor go-daigo would secure a vast amount of samurai followers and eventually declare open war on the Shogun and although for the first portion of the war things fared well for the Kamakura Shogunate eventually there would be a massive betrayal the former Shogunate loyalists ashika takauji at the head of a large and mighty force turned coat and set off to retake koto in the name of the emperor following this the Kamakura Shogunate would be ultimately pushed back east and crushed in the aftermath takuji was one of the most important samurai figures although when emperor go-daigo attempted to strip power from the samurai takauji would eventually be forced to take up arms against him scoring a number of impressive and important victories against Imperial loyalists and conquering Kyoto yet again this time allowing him to establish the Ashikaga Shogunate which would rule for 235 years number 4 Oda Nobunaga there is so much to be said about the fool of owari in the midst of the chaos that was the single kuchi die a man would rise to take Japan by storm coming out of seemingly nowhere Nobunaga unified his fractured province of awadhi then in a complete and unexpected turn of events defeated an enemy who's forced numbered roughly 10 times larger than his own following this Nobunaga set off on a path for glory first conquering Mino then moving on to seize the capital after puppeting the ashikaga shogunate he launched a campaign to bring an end to the warring period by unifying the land under his sword he would form a spectacular war band and even though he would come to be surrounded by enemies his forces would still triumph wiping out the as I and isaku defeating the Eco wiki pushing the once-powerful Miyoshi off of Honshu and dealing a crippling defeat to the Takeda clan while in power he can be seen as a savage and brutal ruler while also a champion of Western culture he even became a true pioneer on the usage of Western firearms in battle using them to full effect against his unfortunate enemies Nobunaga would have most likely held an excellent chance of achieving his ultimate ambition was it not for an unexpected betrayal that cost him his life in 1582 however through the groundwork he had laid the foundation was set for his successor to continue his work and finally unify the land he would go down in history as the first of japan's three great unifiers number three toyota me Hideyoshi a protege of Nobunaga Hideyoshi was born a peasant yet after years of excellent service he eventually became a samurai commander he gained fame fighting under Nobunaga using his cunning trickery and ingenuity to win battles and seize objectives by the time of Nobunaga's death in 1582 he was on campaign against the Mori clan yet through political prowess he was able to achieve a quick truce so that he could rush back to avenge his fallen master defeating the traitor akechi mitsuhide a at Yamazaki then moving to conquer the land of his old ally shibata katsuie in the battle of shizuka taki through these victories Hideyoshi became the heir apparent to Nobunaga's ambition allowing him to set out on a grand conquest to finish what Nobunaga had started in 1585 he invaded Shikoku and subjugated the truce Okabe then from 1566 to 1567 he led an invasion of Kyushu succeeding in bending the island clans to his will his final obstacle was the mighty Hojo clan of Kanto who fell after a hard-fought war in 1591 after that point Japan was essentially his as no one else chose to stand against him all were subject to his will he then made several controversial decisions one was the sword hunt an action which stripped any non samurai from kiri and weaponry outside of a campaign another was the removal of class advancement no more would a she go to foot soldiers be able to advance to the rank of samurai and most importantly he launched two hard-fought but ultimately failed invasions of Korea these being known as the engine war he would die in 1598 unfortunately leaving Japan in another state of turmoil yet his legacy lives on as the extremely important second of Japan's three great unifiers number two Tokugawa Ieyasu being probably the most patient of any samurai on this list the man originally known as Matsudaira Muto Yasu was constantly waiting for the right moment to strike after his Lord eeeem Ogawa Yoshimoto fell in battle against the oda he immediately declared his independence and secured an alliance with the soon-to-be great Nobunaga from that point on he steadily worked to advance the status of his clan eventually changing his name to that of Tokugawa to better connect himself to the sawaki ng an act which would later allow him to take the title of Shogun he would seize vast amounts of territory first after the fall of the Takeda then later after the fall of the Hojo skillfully he kept his armies out of the failed Korean campaigns thus after the death of puyo Tomi Hideyoshi he was quickly seen as the strongest power in the country after an eruption of tension between himself and a number of Toyotomi loyalists he would win the climactic battle of sekigahara which paved the way for the establishment of his new Tokugawa Shogunate the powerful regime that would last for roughly two hundred and sixty-five years and be seen as the strongest of Japan's three shogunate's Ieyasu would go down as the third and final of Japan's three great unifiers bringing an end to the Sengoku Jidai while also assuring in a new age of peace number one Minamoto Yoritomo coming full circle we return to the 12th century for our final and most significant samurai leader yuri tomo was one of the Minamoto family members who was exiled by taiyaki ahmadi after the end of the AG rebellion years later when taiyaki ahmadi announced his plans to name his grandson as the heir to the imperial throne there was an outcry among many in Japan calling for war against the Taira and for the exiled Minamoto lords to return beginning the game pay war although yuri tomo was not the first to come out of exile he would be the most important he had been held in captivity by the old Hojo clan in Kanto but quickly earned their trust and joined forces with them in defiance of the Taira in time his numbers would grow and eventually he would take war to not only the Taira but also other hostile members of the Minamoto clan most notably the ravenous Minamoto Yoshi naka who Yuri Tommo had to put down after his sacking of Kyoto in the end ultimate victory in the Gympie war was won after the taya were defeated at the Battle of don'know aura Yuri Tomo was now the most important samurai in Japan seeing a need to ensure stability for years to come and to create a system in which the samurai held true Authority he would go on to take on the old title of Shogun military leader of all Japan and with it established the first Shogunate his legacy is that which saw the transition of power from the Emperor and the imperial court to the samurai class sure one could argue that the samurai would have in time inevitably taken over regardless yet it is because of Yuri tamil that the samurai took control when they did and held the country in their grip for almost seven centuries so that is my list of the top 10 greatest samurai leaders I'm sure there were names that you were expecting to see that I left out or perhaps you may have thought the order I had them in would be different and if that's the case like I said before leave me your thoughts in the comments I'd love to see what your top 10 greatest samurai leaders list looks like in the future I do plan on making several more of these top ten lists but until then thank you for watching and don't forget to Like subscribe and ring that notification bell if you enjoyed this video and found it to be most interesting you

Channel: The Shogunate

Views: 69,767

Rating: 4.9288464 out of 5

Keywords: Samurai, Japan, History, battle, military, conflict, Shogun, Shogunate, daimyo, Kyoto, Tokyo, Edo, Sengoku Jidai, Feudal Japan, Katana, Honor, Top 10, Rank

Id: GjFVPFzMZik

Length: 17min 59sec (1079 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 20 2020