42 Facts About Honda Tadakatsu

Honda Tadakatsu, called Honda Heihachiro was a Japanese samurai, general, and daimyo of the late Sengoku through early Edo periods, who served Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Honda Tadakatsu was one of the Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings along with Ii Naomasa, Sakakibara Yasumasa, and Sakai Tadatsugu.

The Honda clan was one of the oldest Anjo fudai families, a family of fudai daimyo who had been serving Tokugawa Ieyasu since he was in Anjo.

In 1560, Honda Tadakatsu participated his first battle in the battle of Washizu Fort, where he accompanied his father.

In 1561, It was said that when he was aged just 14 years old, Honda Tadakatsu recorded his first kill in battle.

At first his uncle, Honda Tadazane, killed an enemy samurai and asked Tadakatsu to cut off the corpse head as trophy for Tadakatsu.

However, Honda Tadakatsu stated that he did not want to rely on others to achieve military merit.

Honda Tadakatsu followed suit by charging towards the enemy rank and made his own trophy by killing an enemy by his own hand.

Tadakatsu, who became the head of the core branch of Honda clan, was at first a follower of Jodo Shinshu.

However, as radical sectarian rebels of Ikko-ikki which following Jodo Shinshu broke out, Honda Tadakatsu abandoned Jodo Shinshu and changing his faith to Jodo-shu, as he stayed loyal to Ieyasu.

Honda Tadakatsu joined Ina Tadatsugu, Sakai Tadatsugu, Mizuno Sanzaemon, Torii Mototada, Okubo Honda Tadakatsu, and Ishikawa Tadanari to support Ieyasu in suppression of Ikko-ikki.

In 1566, at the age of 19, Honda Tadakatsu was promoted Hatamoto and was given command of 54 cavalry soldiers.

In 1570, Honda Tadakatsu gained distinction at the Battle of Anegawa against Azai and Asakura clans along with Tokugawa's ally, Oda Nobunaga.

Honda Tadakatsu survived the battle despite the grave danger he faced.

In 1572, during the Takeda clan campaign in Mikawa, Honda Tadakatsu participated in the forces of Tokugawa.

In 1573, Honda Tadakatsu served at Tokugawa's greatest defeat, the Battle of Mikatagahara, where he commanded the left wing of his master's army, facing off against troops under one of the Takeda clan's more notable generals, Naito Masatoyo.

Later in the same month, Honda Tadakatsu was one of the Tokugawa generals present at the Battle of Nagashino in 1575.

Honda Tadakatsu commanded a rank of musketeers as the combined Oda-Tokugawa forces annihilated the Takeda Katsuyori army, due to the skillful use of ranked muskets, as they fired in cycling volleys.

One source recorded that Honda Tadakatsu took his spear and personally engaged Masatoyo's soldiers on the frontline, preventing them from encroaching further.

Honda Tadakatsu fought hard until the Masatoyo's corps were annihilated, while Masatoyo himself captured.

The Kansei Choshu Shokafu chronicle has recorded that in the final phase of the battle, Tadakatsu fought ferociously until the Takeda forces routed, while a retainer of Honda clan named Kaji Masamichi managed to take the heads of Yamagata Masakage and Baba Nobuharu as a prize.

In 1581, Honda Tadakatsu participated in the Tokugawa army attack on Tanaka castle which guarded by Takeda clan general named Ichijo Nobutatsu.

In 1582, after the Honno-ji Incident, Honda Tadakatsu accompanied Ieyasu in an arduous journey to escape the enemies of Nobunaga in Sakai and returning to Mikawa.

Arthur Lindsay Sadler said that Honda Tadakatsu was "repelling the bandits" often during this journey.

In 1584, Honda Tadakatsu participated in the Komaki Campaign of Tokugawa against Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi was said to have been impressed by Honda Tadakatsu and commanded his army to not attack the small units of Honda Tadakatsu.

Yasumasa was preparing against the Sanada clan and Uesugi clan in the north, while Honda Tadakatsu was prepared to anticipate potential aggression from the Satomi clan in Awa Province.

In 1591, after one year settling in Mangi castle, Honda Tadakatsu move into Otaki Castle.

In 1600, Honda Tadakatsu had a major role in the Tokugawa campaign against Ishida Mitsunari faction.

However, the timely intervention of Honda Tadakatsu gave space for Kazuhide and Toyouji to escape from Sakon aggression, and Honda Tadakatsu managed to halt the western army from pursuing his comrades.

Later, Honda Tadakatsu participated at the Battle of Sekigahara as one of Eastern army commander.

At some point during this battle, Honda Tadakatsu rode his horse, "Migoku-Kuro", to penetrate the ranks of the camps of Shimazu Yoshihiro and Ukita Hideie, two of Western Army commanders.

However, Honda Tadakatsu refused this promotion, so Ieyasu instead assigned reward of 50,000 to Honda Tadakatsu's son instead.

Itazaka Bokusai, personal physician of Tokugawa Ieyasu, has recorded a memorial from anonymous soldier from Sekigahara in his work, "Keicho Chronicle", that after Ishida Mitsunari was caught and brought in to be executed, Honda Tadakatsu came close while bowed politely towards Mitsunari, and saying "Lord Mitsunari has made a mistake".

In 1609, Tadakatsu retired, and his other son Tadamasa took over the position of the head of Honda clan Knowing that he was nearing the end of his life.

Honda Tadakatsu reputation has gained praise from Oda Nobunaga, who praised him, called him a "samurai among samurai".

Honda Tadakatsu is nicknamed as "The Warrior who surpassed Death itself" because he never once suffered a significant wound, despite being the veteran of over 57 battles by the end of his life.

An anecdote recorded by Japanese writer Kusudo Yoshiaki has stated that Honda Tadakatsu always compared to another Tokugawa general Ii Naomasa, where despite being lightly armored, Tadakatsu never received any injury during his life, while Naomasa always received wounds every battle despite heavily armored.

The armor set used by Honda Tadakatsu has unique style of two-piece body with iron hinges.

Honda Tadakatsu's spear was named Tonbokiri, was made by Fujiwara Masazane.

Honda Tadakatsu appears in numerous Japanese jidaigeki set in the 16th century.

Honda Tadakatsu is a minor character in Akira Kurosawa's movie Kagemusha.