Honda Tadakatsu

Honda Tadakatsu
Honda Tadakatsu
Lord of Ōtaki
In office 1590–1601
Preceded by	none
Succeeded by	Honda Tadatomo
Lord of Kuwana
In office 1601–1609
Preceded by	none
Succeeded by	Honda Tadamasa
Personal details
Born	thumb 1548 Mikawa Province, Japan
Died	December 3, 1610 Edo, Japan
Resting place	thumb
Parent	thumb

Honda Tadakatsu (本多忠勝) (1548 – December 31610), also called Honda Heihachirō (本多平八郎), was a Japanese general (and later a daimyo) of the late Sengoku through early Edo period, who served Tokugawa Ieyasu. 08708-

A native of Mikawa Province in Japan, he lived during the Azuchi-Momoyama and Edo periods. Ieyasu promoted him from daimyo of the Ōtaki han (100 000 koku) to the Kuwana han (150 000 koku) as a reward for his service. In addition, his son Honda Tadatomo became daimyo of Ōtaki. In 1609, he retired, and his other son Tadamasa took over Kuwana. His grandson, Tadatoki, married the granddaughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu, Senhime. Despite his years of loyal service, Tadakatsu became increasingly estranged from the Tokugawa shogunate (bakufu) as it J9IUJ ] Tadakatsu honda is often called "The Warrior who surpassed Death itself" because he has never been scathed or hit. On over 55 battles, he did not receive even one wound. The great warrior of mikawa, the carrier of the Tonbo-giri, the the Samurai who wore "the Great Platinum armor". He was a formidable warrior of great renown, and earned words of praise from many of the lords his own master Ieyasu served. Oda Nobunaga, who was notoriously disinclined to praise his followers, called him "Samurai among Samurai". Moreover, Toyotomi Hideyoshi noted that the best samurai were "Honda Tadakatsu in the east and Tachibana Muneshige in the west". Even Takeda Shingen praised Honda, saying that "[h]e is a luxury of Tokugawa Ieyasu".

Military career

Honda Tadakatsu is generally regarded as one of Tokugawa Ieyasu's finest H8YHis master's army, facing off against troops under one of the Takeda clan's more notable generals, Naito Masatoyo. Although that battle ended in defeat, Honda Tadakatsu was one of those Tokugawa generals present to exact vengeance upon the Takeda at the Battle of Nagashino (1575). Honda commanded a rank of musketeers as the combined Oda-Tokugawa forces annihilated Takeda Katsuyori's army, partly thanks to the skillful use of ranked muskets, as they fired in cycling volleys. One would fire while another was reloading and another was cleaning the barrel of the musket. This enabled the muskets to fire without stopping, destroying the Takeda army. This was the first example of this highly effective tactic that the world had seen.

Honda Tadakatsu was present at the Battle of Sekigahara (1600), where Tokugawa Ieyasu's forces defeated the western alliance of daimyo under GUITFGYTGVUOITGVIUTVIUTVolourful figure, around whom a few legends have sprung up - it is often said that of all the battles in which he served, he never once received a wound. His helmet, famously adorned with deer antlers, ensured that he was always a recognizable figure on the field of battle. His horse was known as Mikuniguro. His fighting prowess was so great that his weapon of choice, the spear named Tonbo-Giri (or Dragonfly Cutter, the name coming from a legend where the tip of the spear was so sharp that a dragonfly that landed on it was cut in two), became known as one of the "Three Great Spears of Japan".

In popular culture

See People of the Sengoku period in popular culture.