Honda Tadakatsu
The Warrior Who Surpassed Death
Honda Tadakatsu is often referred to as “The Warrior who surpassed Death itself” as he never once suffered a significant wound, despite having fought in over 57 major battles.
Also known as Heihachiro, Honda Tadakatsu was born March 17, 1548 in Kuramae, Nukata, Mikawa Province (modern-day Nishi-Kuramae, Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture). The Honda were one of the oldest vassals of the Matsudaira / Tokugawa clans. In fact, the Tokugawa crest was derived from the Honda crest of three aoi, wild ginger leaves. As such, Tadakatsu was one of the Tokugawa clan’s top 4 generals, along with Ii Naomasa, Sakai Tadatsugu, and Sakakibara Yasumasa serving Tokugawa Ieyasu directly.
Battles
As a close retainer of Ieyasu, and a brilliant tactician, he was at Ieyasu’s side at the battles of Okehazama, Anegawa, Mikatagahara, Nagashino, Komaki Nagakute, and of course at Sekigahara. One of Honda Tadakatsu’s finest moments came in 1584 during the Komaki Nagakute Campaign. While Ieyasu departed to fight the Ikeda Tsuneoki led Toyotomi troops at Nagakute, Tadakatsu noticed Hideyoshi leading a large contingent in pursuit. With a just 30 or so mounted samurai, he directly challenged Hideyoshi’s forces at a ratio of 50 or 60 to 1 from across the Shonai River. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, in awe and surprised at Tadakatsu’s audacity and bravery, ordered that no harm come to him or his men.
Honda Tadakatsu was called a “samurai among samurai” by Oda Nobunaga. Similarly, Toyotomi Hideyoshi once commented that among samurai, there was “Honda Tadakatsu in the east and Tachibana Muneshige in the west”. Takeda Shingen also praised Honda, in saying that saying that “the only things above Tokugawa Ieyasu are his helmet and Honda Tadakatsu “. Honda Tadakatsu’s black armor with its distinctive deer antler fitted helmet was a familiar sight on the battlefield.
Tadakatsu’s helmet looks heavy and awkward with large thick horns mounted on top, however, the antlers were made of a lightweight paper mache covered in lacquer. One of the reasons for him having deer antlers was not just to make him look stronger or more fearsome, but because of an experience following a decisive battle. The story goes that after the Battle of Okehazama and the death of Imagawa Yoshimoto, Ieyasu finally found himself freed of the clutches of the Imagawa to whom he had been held hostage for around ten years. He decoded to escape home to Okazaki. Tadakatsu led the then 19 year-old Ieyasu back to Okazaki Castle. The previous days had seen quite a lot of rain, and so the rivers were swollen. As Tadakatsu was looking for a way cross, a stag deer made its way through the shallows, showing him the way. Seeing this as auspicious, Tadakatsu adopted the image of the deer in his efforts to further guide and serve his lord, Ieyasu — just as the deer had shown him the way — something he did bravely and honourably for the remainder of his life.
Armor
Of note is Honda Tadakatsu’s armor. Under the stag deer antler topped helmet which probably made him one of the most easily recognizable warriors on the battlefield, he wore a black set of tousei-gusoku armour known as the Kuro Ito Odoshi Dou Maru Gusoku, with a string of huge Buddhist rosary beads slung across his chest. This National Important Cultural Property designated suit of samurai armor is privately owned and kept in Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture. I’ve only seen it in person three times. It is stunning!
Tadakatsu’s Kuro Ito Odoshi Dou Maru Gusoku is made of nerikawa, rawhide, lacquered to make it resemble the steel armor of his contemporaries. Being of rawhide leather makes it very light. The sode shoulder guards of this armor however, appear to have been mislaid. According to the three remaining old scroll paintings of Tadakatsu, he used old fashioned O-sode guards with this set.
Weapons
Honda Tadakatsu was a master spearman, and owner of a particularly fine spear forged by the master sword-smith Fujiwara Masazane. The spear was known as the Tonbogiri, the Dragonfly Cutter, as it was said to have been so sharp that a dragonfly landing on the tip was apparently cut in half. Another famed weapon wielded by Honda Tadakatsu is the extant National Treasure designated Masamune forged sword some 67cm long and known as Nakatsukasa.
Honda Tadakatsu was 57 years-old when he took part in the Battle of Sekigahara, commanding just 500 samurai on the field that day. In a charge on the Shimazu clan war camp, Tadakatsu’s horse was felled from under him by a volley of arrows. Tadakatsu too crashed to the earth unhurt. Pausing only momentarily to offer a brief prayer for his fallen horse, he then took the reigns from one of his captains and continued to fight.
In 1601, following the Tokugawa clan’s victory at the decisive Battle of Sekigahara, the great General Honda Tadakatsu was transferred from his Otaki Domain in Kazusa Province (modern-day Chiba Prefecture) with 100,000 koku, and promoted to 150,000 koku at the strategically important Kuwana area. His son, Tadatomo would instead become lord of Otaki. There, on the instructions of the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu himself, he built the imposing Kuwana Castle, becoming the first lord of Kuwana Domain. Along with construction of Kuwana Castle, Tadakatsu also developed Kuwana township, with the Tokaido Highway passing directly through the castle grounds, and then on through the town center. Kuwana was a strategic point for both sea and land traffic, and became a lively castle town and flourishing post town.
One hundred years after its construction, Kuwana Castle was destroyed by a major fire. Although the bulk of the castle was quickly rebuilt, the tower keep was not. The castle structures were burned down again at the end of the feudal period Boshin War of 1868, and most of the castle’s stone walls were then demolished for use in a breakwater at nearby Yokkaichi. Today, the castle site and island-like baileys are maintained as Kuwana City’s Kyuka Park. Original remaining stone walls can be seen along the Horikawa River near the Kita Ote Bridge, along with a reconstructed turret and a fine statue of the local hero, Honda Tadakatsu.
Tadakatsu retired in 1609, and his second son, Tadamasa, took over his domain at Kuwana. Tadakatsu's daughter, Komatsu-hime married Sanada Nobuyuki and became the mother of Sanada Nobumasa, daimyō of Matsushiro Domain. Tadakatsu’s grandson, Tadatoki, married Senhime, a granddaughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Despite his years of loyal service and closeness to Ieyasu, Tadakatsu gradually became estranged from Ieyasu and the Tokugawa shogunate, seeming unable to make the transition from the chaos of civil war to the peace time civilian lifestyle.
Honda Tadakatsu died in Edo in 1610. The story goes that having cut his own hand during some woodcarving, taken up as a pastime, and watching his own blood flow from a blade wound for the first time, he decided his life was at an end, and willed himself to death aged 63, some weeks later.
