SAR_sarsential™_toolbox_11/14

Above: PGIA 30K SAR BLMTT. Sarsential 11: sashimono [ brand-tag, trademark, identity ].

" [ Plate ] 52. Mount Tobisu dawn moon -- Toda Hanbei Shigeyuki [ Sakai Tadatsugu ]. [ A ] personal emblem […] a pennant, called a sashimono. This was fastened to [the] back as an identifying feature and served as rallying point in the confusion of battle. […] The print illustrates the Battle of Mount Tobisu near Nagashino in Mikawa province […] On the tenth day of the fifth lunar month of 1575, the Tadeka army attacked Nagashio castle. The rod of the castle, an ally of Nobunaga's, held off the attack. Hard pressed, he sent an urgent request for reinforcements to Nobunaga and Ieyasu, who were camped nearby. One of Ieyasu's retainers, Sakai Tadatsugu, suggested a plan. To maintain secrecy, Nobunaga publicly dismissed the plan, but privately authorised Sakai Tadatsugu to proceed. Marching trough the night in heavy rain, Tadatsugu led 4500 men along a difficult path to the top of Mount Tobisu, close to the castle. As dawn broke they charged down the mountainside and, with the advantage of surpise, routed the besieged Tadeka forces. Here the rainclouds have parted to reveal a dawn moon in the lightening sky."

John Stevenson in ' [wooblock printmaker] Yoshitoshi's One hundred aspects of the moon', first published in 2001 in The Netherlands by Hotei Publishing, Leiden

See also Akira Kurosawa's 'Kagemusha': http://www.criterion.com/films/948-kagemusha

Banners and standards: http://forums.samurai-archives.com/viewtopic.php?t=1638

Brand-tag: http://bartvanbroekhoven.com/en-US/running/119-sar-act-3-1

Plate 52 from Tsukioka Yoshitoshi's 'One hundred aspects of the moon': http://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?museum=&t=objects&type=all&f=&s=skull&record=21

John Stevenson's book mentioned above: http://www.brill.com/yoshitoshis-one-hundred-aspects-moon