Narrow Road To The Deep North 31

   

   Zen has no secrets other than seriously thinking about life and 
   death.’ 
                                             Takeda Shingen, the Tiger of Kai 


   ‘Those who are reluctant to give up their lives and embrace death 
     are not true warriors.... Go to the battlefield firmly confident of 
     victory, and you will come home with no wounds whatever. 
     Engage in combat fully determined to die and you will be alive; 
     wish to survive in the battle and you will surely meet death. 
     When you leave the house determined not to see it again you 
     will come home safely; when you have any thought of returning 
     you will not return. You may not be in the wrong to think that 
     the world is always subject to change, but the warrior must not 
     entertain this way of thinking, for his fate is always 
     determined.’ 
                                       Uesugi Kenshin, the Dragon of Echigo 

Sometimes we pass over small incidents that might help us appreciate more celebrated men and events. The interactions of minor samurai often told the bigger story better. 
In Chinese mythology the Tiger and the Dragon were always bitter rivals who tried to defeat one another, but neither was ever able to gain the upper hand. In the mid 1500s of the Sengoku, it became the fulfillment of a prophecy. 
The Tiger of Kai and the Dragon of Echigo would thrash each other to a bloody standstill, in the eleven years it took to fight the five Battles of Kawanakajima.