3 Comments
User's avatar
Tuta's avatar

Fiction or not, I think there is an interesting piece of information here. The fact that they are using an opportunity. This opportunity could only be exploited if Honma and Inomata were the ones going undercover as spies. It could not have been done by just anyone. To be able to use opportunities like this, any warlord would have had to trust their retainers to do this kind of work. Both be willing to do it and competent to do it.

Expand full comment
Rob Tuck's avatar

It’s also worth noting that Honma and Inomata’s operation was in a sense unsanctioned; it was not approved by Uesugi Norimasa, the ostensible Uesugi lord. Nagao Igen, per the account, took it upon himself to plan and execute because he thought Norimasa wasn’t taking the Hojo threat seriously. Even though the operation was a success in execution, internal politics got in the way. I didn’t mention this in the post itself for space reasons, but the two vassals Kanno and Uehara tried to have Honma and Inomata poisoned later for their role in embarrassing them. In a way, the mix of competence, corruption, and petty jealousy seems somehow more true to life than anything else…

Expand full comment
Tuta's avatar

Ah, so not only is this a story about espionage, it is one about assassination as well (even though it appears to have failed).

Expand full comment