Change Log

v1.0.2 — 2026-10-12

Applies to both the digital edition and the paperback. No interpretation or analytical conclusion has changed.

Chapter 1 named the wrong commissioners as the issuers of the articles denouncing Ieyasu; this has been corrected. Other passages that disagreed with the sources or with other parts of the book have also been corrected.

The Story

Chapter 1: The Castle That Would Not Fall: Correction of a factual error. The articles of the 17th day of the 7th month denouncing Ieyasu were issued together with a joint letter of the three commissioners; Ishida Mitsunari was not among them.

• Before: While he was away, the commissioners (bugyo) in Osaka, Ishida Mitsunari among them, issued articles denouncing Ieyasu.
  After: While he was away, the three commissioners (bugyo) Natsuka Masaie, Mashita Nagamori and Maeda Gen'i issued articles denouncing Ieyasu.

Chapter 4: The Western Army Leaves Ogaki: The point at which the Ukita force reached South Tenma has been brought into line with the scenes before and after.

• Before: Konishi Yukinaga took North Tenma and Ukita Hideie South Tenma, the two peaks of Mount Tenma.
  After: Konishi Yukinaga took North Tenma and Ukita Hideie was moving onto South Tenma, the two peaks of Mount Tenma.
• Before: “They’ve finished drawing up,”
  After: “They’re drawing up,”

Chapter 5: Turning the Defensive Line: The location of the Fujikawa plateau has been corrected (within the village of Fujishita, west of the Fujikawa River).

• Before: on the Fujikawa plateau (Fujikawadai), the high ground west of the village of Fujishita.
  After: on the Fujikawa plateau (Fujikawadai), the high ground in the village of Fujishita, west of the Fujikawa River.

Chapter 6: Concentrating Force at One Point: The flank of the Ukita force left without Western units is now specified as the southern flank.

• Before: With Otani’s sector broken, there was no longer any Western unit on the Ukita force’s flank.
  After: With Otani’s sector broken, there was no longer any Western unit on the Ukita force’s southern flank.

Analysis

Analysis I-2 Not Assessing the Western Army as a Single, Unified Army: The statement about the troops on Mount Nangu now matches what the sources support. They did not come down to attack the Eastern Army from behind, but they did come down the mountain when they withdrew.

• Before: the statement that the troops on Mount Nangu did not come down the mountain is based on Evidence C-7.
  After: the statement that the troops on Mount Nangu did not come down the mountain to attack the Eastern Army from behind is based on Evidence C-7.

Analysis I-6 How Mitsunari Responds, with Mount Matsuo Taken: "Moving only part of the force" has been removed from the responses said not to be compared. The table in the same section does compare detaching part of the force to attack the Kobayakawa and sending the Mori forces ahead to Sekigahara.

• Before: The responses compared are the five in the table; intermediate responses such as moving only part of the force, falling back, or opening fresh talks with the Kobayakawa are not compared.
  After: The responses compared are the five in the table; other possible responses, such as falling back or opening fresh talks with the Kobayakawa, are not compared in this analysis.

Analysis I-7 Treating the Four Houses Not as a Number of Troops but as Four Houses: "Set no deadline" could be read as contradicting Analysis I-8 and I-10, which treat the start of the Kobayakawa attack as the four houses' deadline for deciding. What the envoys did not state was a deadline in their message, and the text now says so.

• Before: He asked for neither their company nor a reply, set no deadline, and said nothing of how a house that remained on Otani's side would be treated.
  After: He asked for neither their company nor a reply, set no deadline in the message, and said nothing of how a house that remained on Otani's side would be treated.

Evidence

Evidence A-5 Opponents and Postwar Treatment: Terazawa Hirotaka has been removed from the units said not to be listed. He appears in the same table as an opponent in the row for Konishi Yukinaga.

• Before: Of the units that Nihon senshi: Sekigahara eki names as attacking Ishida's or Konishi's forces, Kato Yoshiaki, Kanamori Nagachika, Ikoma Kazumasa, and Terazawa Hirotaka are not listed.
  After: Of the units that Nihon senshi: Sekigahara eki names as attacking Ishida's forces, Kato Yoshiaki, Kanamori Nagachika, and Ikoma Kazumasa are not listed.

Evidence A-6 Troop and Koku Figures and Totals: On the grant of Chikuzen and Chikugo to Hideaki, which gives no koku figure, the text now stays within what the cited study shows. That other grants of the same day carry koku figures shows that the blank in the study's table is not an omission.

• Before: Other grants issued by the same five men on the same day do carry koku figures, so this is not an omission.
  After: Other grants issued by the same five men on the same day do carry koku figures, so the blank in Horikoshi's Table 6 is not an omission.

Evidence A-8 Routes and Distances, the 12th to the 15th Day of the 9th Month: Before the battle Mitsunari was at Ogaki, not at Sawayama. The passage compares distances from each lord's home base, and now says so.

• Before: Mitsunari, at Sawayama about 20 kilometers from Sekigahara in a straight line, had 5,820,
  After: Mitsunari, whose base at Sawayama was about 20 kilometers from Sekigahara in a straight line, had 5,820,

Evidence B-7 Governing Chikuzen: "Entered the domain" could be read as referring to Bunroku 4 (1595), mentioned just before. The grant documents cited date from Keicho 4 (1599), when Hideaki returned to Chikuzen from Echizen.

• Before: Grants of fiefs to his retainers began immediately after he entered the domain.
  After: Grants of fiefs to his retainers began immediately after his return to Chikuzen.

Evidence B-8 Transfer to Bizen and Mimasaka, and Early Death; Evidence B-9 Certainty of His Domain Governance: The year in which Hideaki issued prohibition notices and letters of donation to temples and shrines in Okayama had been narrowed to Keicho 6. The sources include documents of the 2nd month of Keicho 7, so the text now gives Keicho 6–7.

• Before: In Keicho 6 (1601) he issued prohibition notices (kinzei) and letters of donation to temples and shrines,
  After: In Keicho 6–7 (1601–02) he issued prohibition notices (kinzei) and letters of donation to temples and shrines,
• Before (table in Evidence B-9): Letters of donation and prohibition notices (kinzei) of 1601
  After (table in Evidence B-9): Letters of donation and prohibition notices (kinzei) of 1601–02

Evidence C-1 How the Sources Are Handled: A sentence describing the two signatories of the copy of the jointly signed letter of the 17th day of the 9th month (Ishikawa Yasumichi and Hikosaka Motomasa) as being in the Sawayama area, relaying the course of the fighting to the rear, has been deleted, because no source for it could be found.

• Before: The two men were in the Sawayama area, in a position to relay the course of the fighting to the rear.
  After: (deleted)

Evidence C-5 The Move from Ogaki to Sekigahara: For the time of the fighting on the 15th there is a contemporary document (the "hour of the snake" in the jointly signed letter of the 17th). Not everything rests on later memoranda and estimates, so the sentence now gives the degree.

• Before: the deployment and timings of the 15th depend on later memoranda and scholars' estimates, and accounts differ.
  After: the deployment and timings of the 15th depend largely on later memoranda and scholars' estimates, and accounts differ.

Evidence C-8 The Author's Own Inferences, and the Assumptions Made for the Analysis: Two corrections.

First, what reached the Western Army at Ogaki on the 14th was word that Kobayakawa had gone over to Ieyasu's side (according to the memoranda of Shimazu retainers), not word of an advance.

• Before: and that on the same day word of Kobayakawa's advance reached the Western Army
  After: and that on the same day word that Kobayakawa had gone over to Ieyasu's side reached the Western Army

Second, without a prior agreement, the entry onto Mount Matsuo is a statement of intent to act on the Eastern side; it does not extend to a promise to fight. The wording now matches Analysis I-4 and I-5.

• Before: at any level up to (iii), the entry is a statement of intent made through action, showing that he would fight on the Eastern side.
  After: at any level up to (iii), the entry is a statement of intent to act on the Eastern side.

Maps

Map 3 The Deployment at Sekigahara (paperback and digital edition): When v1.0.1 kept unit labels off the units' areas, each label also avoided its own unit, so the labels drifted out of place: Ukita Hideie's label ended up far from his position, near Mount Matsuo, and Kutsuki Mototsuna's label was hidden under Kobayakawa Hideaki's. Each label is now placed by its own unit, and labels no longer overlap one another.

Maps in the digital edition: The map corrections made to the paperback in v1.0.1 (unit labels drawn above place names, more legible labels on the deployment map, and on the views from the camps the "(behind a ridge)" notes dropped and the place names limited to Mount Matsuo, Mount Nangu and Mount Sasao) now also appear in the digital edition.

v1.0.1 — 2026-10-05

Issued with the publication of the paperback, and applies to the paperback only (the digital edition remained at v1.0.0). No change to the text.

• The maps are easier to read. Unit labels (the boxed names) are drawn above place names, and labels on the deployment map no longer overlap the units' lines and areas. On the views from the camps, the "(behind a ridge)" notes have been dropped and the place names limited to Mount Matsuo, Mount Nangu and Mount Sasao; the wording of the note on the views has been simplified.
• In Evidence C-10, the title of the printed collection containing three Shimazu retainers' memoranda has been corrected from Kagoshima kenshi shiryo to Kagoshima-ken shiryo.
• The colophon now carries the paperback's ISBN (paperback only).

v1.0.0 — 2026-10-02

First Edition published.