I was watching the Japanese historical drama FURIN KAZAN tonight.
This episode made me think of the Biblical story of Gideon.
In this episode a caste controlled by the HOJO clan is under siege by
the UESUGI clan. The HOJO send a force of 8,000 men to relieve the
siege against the UESUGI who have a force of 80,000. The HOJO defeat
the larger army by staging a night attack. Of course this
is "Hollywood" so there are some scenes I'm not sure of. But according
this episode the prostitutes had the soldiers distracted and in
disarray when the HOJO attacked. The attackers wore white to
distinguish themselves from the enemy.
I decided to do a web search and found an answers.com description of
this battle. Like Gideon, the HOJO used a night attack to achieve
victory. Unlike Gideon, the HOJO faced an overconfident enemy as
opposed to a fearful enemy. With Gideon, the LORD had placed a certain
fear in the enemy. I think the Japanese used night attacks in the
Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) and World War II. Marine
General Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller used barbed wire, with empty bullet
casings to serve as an early warning against night attacks by the
Japanese.
If anyone expresses skepticism about the victory of Gideon, one can
point to this battle where a small force beat an army ten times it
size. I wonder if the Japanese leader who orchestrated that attack,
may have known of the story of Gideon? I think Portuguese
missionaries had arrived in Japan.
Anyway here is the Answers.com web reference of the battle:
Battle of Kawagoe: Information from Answers.comBattle of Kawagoe
Battle of Kawagoe Part of the Sengoku period Honmaru of Kawagoe castle
Date 1545 Location Kawagoe castle , Musashi Province (today,
www.answers.com/topic/battle-of-kawagoe - 43k - Supplemental Result -
# posted by GuyTak @ 10:29 PM
