Abstract
The film Heaven and Earth (1990) is a historical film about the rivalry between daimyos Kagetora and Takeda in Japan. The film shows several dramatic battles in which Kagetora and Takeda took part. At the same time, there is no true view of the causes of the rivalry and the personal aspect of the battles is overestimated. Nevertheless, the film is based on many historical facts and especially the battles, in particular the tactics applied by the warlords, were shot professionally. Thus after watching the film Heaven and Earth the perception of the rivalry between Kagetora and Takeda may look too generalalized and require more research in order to understand fully why two powerful leaders competed with each other.
Key words: Sengoku Period, Takeda Shingen, Kagetora (Uesugi Kenshin), Battles of Kawanakajima
The film Heaven and Earth was directed by Haruki Kadokawa and shot in Canada in 1990. The film is set in feudal Japan in the times of the Sengoku Period. This period was very difficult for Japan, because there were many social and economic problems, political disputes and military conflicts between different clans. The Emperor of Japan and the Shogun were unable to keep peace in all provinces and therefore the local leaders (daimyo) started to fight with each other for the control over the territories. The film Heaven and Earth is also about the long lasting conflict between two legendary daimyos Kagetora (Uesugi Kenshin) and Takeda Shingen.
Takeda Shingen had an extraordinary military strength and was referred to as The Tiger of Kai. He took under control a large territory in Japan, but he is more famous for his battles with Kagetora that are widely known as the Battles of Kawanakajima. In turn, Kagetora ruled Echigo province and in the film he is shown as a brave warlord that wants to protect his native land from the aggressive attacks carried out by Takeda Schingen. He was able to develop a wealthy province and in several battles he proved to be a skilful warlord and as the result he was regarded by many as the god of war.
Takeda and Kagetora were very cautious in their behavior toward each other and did not want to put under risk their power. They avoided large clashes and withdrew if there was the danger of great loss. Nevertheless, there were several military clashes between Takeda and Kagetora that could not be avoided. One of them, The Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima, led to the large number of casualties and the duel between two leaders. In the film, Takeda and Kagetora furiously fight in the duel and Kagetora eventually wins though does not kill his main enemy. Instead he and his army decide to retreat. Takeda’s army suffered much more in the battle but was able to continue the fight thanks to the advantage in the number of warriors. Thus it is not clear who actually won the Battle of Kawanakajima. Apparently, the viewers sympathize with Kagetora who was able to come out of a very difficult situation.
In the film, Kagetora and Takeda were shown as brilliant strategists that could anticipate the moves of each other. For instance, Kagetora was able to get out of the blockade and eventually outsmarted Takeda at the end of the film. At the same time Takeda could successfully fight Kagetora who according to the film had never lost in the battles before. One more example of Kagetora’s and Takeda’s tactical skills is the way they fought in the final battle. Kagetora did not have enough warriors and applied the tactics of the Rolling Wheel that allowed the wounded and tired warriors to take a rest and the stronger warriors to continue to put pressure on Takeda’s warriors. At the same time Takeda had to regroup his warriors, because they did not expect that Kagetora would attack first. He chose the Crane’s Wing formation. This was the tactics for defense that was targeted at surrounding the attacking enemy. Missile weapons were used at the front line to slow down the enemy and the outstretched troops were supposed to defeat the enemy. Most of the battles between Takeda and Kagetora occurred near the rivers on the plains where both commanders could see how their troops were moving. Therefore, Takeda and Kagetora had a possibility to make the proper changes in the tactics if they saw that they were going to lose or that the enemy could quickly retreat.
Undoubtedly, the film Heaven and Earth is a feature film and may have put more emphasis on the thrilling plot rather than objective showing of the violent events that took place in Japan in the XVI century. The main characters are shown as the brave and generous warlords that care about the people of their provinces. As the result, the modern perceptions of the past history are sometimes inconsistent with the truth. One should not forget that Japan ended up in a very deep political and economic crisis in the XVI century that led to the multiple conflicts between the provinces. Moreover, Japan had a feudal society and warlords were offered land in exchange for the military protection of the ruler or other high ranking people. In that period the Emperor was very weak and because of that there was a chaos in the country. The ordinary people must have suffered the most.
Perhaps the modern perceptions are influenced by the numerous legends and rich folklore culture that exist in Japan. The film Heaven and Earth retells some of the legends that add a lot of drama and charm to the main characters. So the viewers are fascinated by the generosity and uncompromising attitude of the Japanese historical persons and are not interested in the causes of the long-lasting rivalry between Takeda and Kagetora.
In conclusion, in the film Heaven and Earth the viewers may see an approximate course of rivalry between two powerful warlords that lived in the Sengoku Period in Japan. There were several clashes between Takeda’s and Kagetora’s clans and the biggest battle took place in Kawanakajima in 1651. At the end of the film, one can hear that two warlords never met again after that battle. However, there is an opinion among the historians that there was another battle in Kawanakajima that lasted more than 2 months, but both sides withdrew. The film does not provide the description of the key historical events during the Sengoku Period and thus one may think that the rivalry between Takeda and Kagetora was based on the personal grounds. However, the rivalries and military conflicts were common in Japan during that historical period. Nevertheless, the film “Heaven and Earth” is very interesting to watch, because there are many battle scenes and the plot is fascinating.
Works Cited
Heaven and Earth. Dir. Haruki Kadokawa. Perfs. Takaaki Enoki, Masahiko Tsugawa,
Atsuko Asano, Naomi Zaizen Christian. Haruki Kadokawa Films, 1990. Web. 11
February 2016.
