Maeda Toshinaga

Maeda Toshinaga (前田 利長, February 15, 1562 – June 27, 1614) was a Japanese daimyo who was the second head of the Kaga Domain. He was the eldest son of Maeda Toshiie and married one of Oda Nobunaga's daughters, Ei-hime.

He supported Tokugawa Ieyasu, and, after receiving his brother Toshimasa's lands (Noto, 215,000 koku), controlled a total of 1,250,000 koku, an amount exceeded only by the Shogunate. Toshinaga built and resided in Kanazawa Castle.

He had no children and adopted his brother Toshitsune as his heir.

Family

This article incorporates text from OpenHistory.

Mōri Terumoto

Mōri Terumoto (毛利 輝元, February 4, 1553 – June 2, 1625), son of Mōri Takamoto and grandson and successor of the great warlord Mōri Motonari, fought against Toyotomi Hideyoshi but was eventually overcome, participated in the Kyūshū campaign (1587) on Hideyoshi's side and built Hiroshima Castle, thus essentially founding Hiroshima.

Terumoto was a member of the council of Five Elders appointed by Hideyoshi. At the height of his power in late 16th century, Terumoto controlled 1.2 million koku. This means he could mobilize more than 120,000 men to a battle.

He sided against Tokugawa Ieyasu but was not present at the Battle of Sekigahara. Terumoto was in Osaka Castle defending Toyotomi Hideyori at the time and surrendered to Ieyasu soon after Sekigahara. Ieyasu reduced Terumoto's domains, leaving him only Nagato and Suō Provinces, worth 369,000 koku in total.

He is believed to have been a below-average general on and off the battlefield, having lacked motivation and will. He made little impact in these final years of the Sengoku period, as he often had his subordinates and lesser members of the clan fight instead. It is believed that if he had fought at Sekigahara or brought Hideyori to the battlefield, Ieyasu would have been defeated. However, he managed his domain well and successfully held the Mōri clan together even when his domain was reduced to a third.

Samurai Warriors

Samurai Warriors (戦国無双, Sengoku Musō, Sengoku Musou in Japan, lit. Unrivaled Warring States) is the first title in the series of hack and slash video games created by Koei's Omega Force team based loosely around the Sengoku ("Warring States") period of Japanese history and it is a sister series of the Dynasty Warriors series, released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2004. A port of this game called Samurai Warriors: State of War has been released for the PlayStation Portable, which includes additional multiplayer features.

Gameplay

In the basic gameplay of Samurai Warriors, the player takes the role of a single officer in battle and must fend off hordes of enemy soldiers and defeat the enemy commander. The player has at their disposal a range of combo attacks and crowd-clearing special moves known as Musou attacks. The variety of attacks available increase as the character increases in level and gains new weapons.

Musou attacks can only be performed when the character's Musou gauge has filled up, which does so gradually when the player inflicts or receives damage. Additionally, if the player is low on health or possess a special skill, they can use their special True Musou attack which causes elemental damage in addition to normal damage as well as adds on a trio of attacks that cleans up the final few enemies in the vicinity. One difference between Samurai Warriors and Dynasty Warriors is the ability to perform free-style combo attacks during Musou attack mode, during which the game enters bullet-time; common soldiers move very slowly, however officers are unaffected. Other abilities that Samurai characters have over the Dynasty series include the ability to perform a roll to dodge attacks, and deflect incoming arrows with their weapon.

Samurai Warriors 4

Samurai Warriors 4, known in Japan as Sengoku Musou 4 (戦国無双4, Sengoku Musō Fō), is a hack and slash game by Tecmo Koei, and sequel to Samurai Warriors 3.

Development

The game was made to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the series. While the game was confirmed to be in development for the PlayStation 3 as early as 2012, it was not until the SCEJA Press Conference in September 2013 that the game was officially announced, with a version for PlayStation Vita in addition to PlayStation 3, and was released on March 20, 2014 in Japan, while a PlayStation 4 port followed on September 4, 2014. It was also released in North America on October 21, 2014 and Europe on October 24, 2014.

A revised version, Samurai Warriors 4-II (戦国無双4-II, Sengoku Musō Fō Tsu) was released on February 11, 2015 in Japan and was released in North America on September 29, 2015, and in Europe on October 2, 2015, but it does not contain the original stories from Samurai Warriors 4. A second expansion, Samurai Warriors 4: Empires (戦国無双4 Empires, Sengoku Musō Fō Emupaiyāzu) was released in Japan on September 17, 2015 and it will be released in North America and Europe in 2016.

Akechi Mitsuhide

Akechi Mitsuhide (明智 光秀, March 10, 1528 – July 17, 1582), first called Jūbei from his clan and later Koretō Hyūga no Kami (惟任日向守) from his title, was a general who lived during the Sengoku period of Feudal Japan. His full name was thus Akechi Jūbei Minamoto-no-Mitsuhide (明智 十兵衛 源の光秀).

Mitsuhide was a general under daimyo Oda Nobunaga, although he became famous for his rebellion against Nobunaga in 1582, which led to Nobunaga's death at Honno-ji.

Early life and rise

He was born in Tara castle, [Mino Province]-now Gifu Prefecture Mitsuhide is a descendant of Toki-Akechi family of the shugo Toki clan. Mitsuhide is rumored to be a childhood friend or cousin of Nohime. It is believed that he was praised to be a general among 10 thousand by Saitō Dōsan and the Toki clan during their governorship of the Mino province. When Dōsan's son, Saitō Yoshitatsu, rebelled against his father in 1556, Mitsuhide sided with Dōsan.

Mitsuhide began serving the "wandering shogun" Yoshiaki Ashikaga as one of his guardians under Hosokawa Yusai. Shogun Ashikaga ordered Asakura Yoshikage to be his official protector, an offer which Yoshikage declined. Yoshiaki appealed to Mitsuhide, who suggested Oda Nobunaga instead.