Interview with the Translator, Hills of Silver Ruins, Battles & Politics

Kate: In a prior post about Battle Tactics, you write, “Ieyasu was the least skilled as a battlefield tactician. But when it came to politics and the art of the deal, he was the grand master. At the pivotal Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, he won the day largely by convincing many of the opposing generals to sit on their hands or switch sides.” 

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Granted, I heard it first on Stargate, but it’s a common refrain in history. How common is it in Japanese history?

Eugene: At the Battle of Sekigahara, "the enemy of my enemy" is basically how Ieyasu won over the erstwhile allies of Ishida Mitsunari. Although the conflict between Ieyasu and Mitsunari was ostensible about who would control the regency of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's son, everybody knew that Ieyasu had no intention of handing over power once it was squarely in his hands.

The problem was, in the later years of his life, Hideyoshi alienated many allies (and family members) ruthlessly eliminating anybody who might challenge his son's accession. As Hideyoshi's enforcer, Mitsunari took much of the blame. So while the Eastern armies were solidly united under Ieyasu, for MItsunari, trying to keep the Western armies on the same page was like herding cats.

When the Battle of Sekigahara  commenced, Mitsunari commanded (on paper) 120,000. Ieyasu had 75,000. At the end of the day, the actual conflict pitted 81,000 against 88,000. That stunning reversal reflects how many clan leaders decided they loathed Ieyasu less than they hated Mitsunari.

Taira no Kiyomori similarly made so many enemies during his lifetime keeping the Taira clan firmly in control of the Kyoto aristocracy that after his death, the Minamoto had little difficulty finding allies. Interestingly, both the Minamoto and the Tokugawa would consequently move the seat of government far away from Kyoto, the former to Kamakura (just south of Tokyo) and the latter to Edo (Tokyo).

A more recent example occurred in the runup to the Meiji Restoration in the mid-19th century. The three main players were the Shogunate, the Choshu clan, and the Satsuma clan (the Tosa clan got in on the action later). The Choshu were sonno joi fanatics, meaning "Revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians."

To the great frustration of Shogunate officials like Ii Naosuke, Choshu couldn't be made to understand that expelling the barbarians was impossible. The Ansei purge just made things worse (and got Naosuke assassinated). But the Shogunate seemed to have the upper hand after the Kinmon Incident, during which Satsuma forces crushed an attempt by Choshu to seize control of Kyoto.

Satsuma had been trying for years to exert influence over the Shogunate in terms of trade policy, including an arranged marriage with the thirteenth Tokugawa shogun. Thanks to undercover diplomatic work conducted by Sakamoto Ryoma, Satsuma and Choshu finally agreed that they hated the Shogunate more than they hated each other and forged the Satcho Alliance in 1866.

Together, they overthrew the Shogunate a year later.