A comedy duo formed in 1975 of the team of All-Giant and All-Hanshin. Their name is based on a pun: because of the 9 inches' height difference between them, they are the Giant and a Half ("half" is pronounced "hanshin", which is also homonym to the name of a baseball team, Hanshin, traditional rival of the Giants in the Japanese baseball Central League.)

Title: Settsu no Kami

A vassal of Oda Nobunaga, born in what is now Ikeda City in Osaka as eldest son and heir to Araki Yoshimura (some say Araki Takamura). He served as vassal to Ikeda Katsumasa and married the daughter of Ikeda Nagamasa. He later served the Miyoshi Clan when they took over the Ikeda Clan, but was noticed by Nobunaga and allowed to become a vassal of the Oda Clan.

Nobunaga gave him Settsu Province as well as several castles, and Murashige fought in many of Nobunaga's wars, including the ten-year siege of Ishiyama Hongan Temple.

In October of 1578, Murashige suddenly revolted against Nobunaga. (Opinions differ on why he did so; Nobunaga apparently held Murashige in high esteem, and his betrayal came as a shock.) Oda's army besieged Murashige at Itami Castle, and he resisted bitterly for the space of a year. However, when his attendants Nakagawa Kiyohide and Takayama Ukon betrayed him, he was left at a severe disadvantage. Thereafter he fled alone to the Mouri Clan. His wife and children as well as soldiers and everyone else left behind at Itami Castle (some 600 people) were executed at Kyoto.

In 1582, after Oda's death and Toyotomi Hideyoshi came to power, Murashige returned to Sakai City in Osaka as a master of the tea ceremony. In the beginning he called himself Araki Douhun (荒木道糞), formed of the characters for "road" and "excrement" in remorse for abandoning his wife and children. Later, Hideyoshi forgive him his past errors and gave him the name Doukun (道薫), with "excrement" changed to "fragrance".

He died in Sakai at the age of 52.

Title: Koga Kubou (1535 - 1552)

Haruuji was born eldest son to Ashikaga Takamoto. He formed an alliance with Houjou Ujitsuna in 1538 and married his daughter Houjunin. However, he was hostile towards Ujitsuna's successor Houjou Ujiyasu, and formed an alliance with Ougigayatsu-Uesugi Tomosada and Yamanouchi-Uesugi Norimasa. He joined them in a attack on the Houjou in the Battle of Kawagoe Castle in 1546, the loss of which deprived him of the power of Koga Kubou. He was forced to confer that title on his second son Ashikaga Yoshiuji (whose mother was Houjunin) in 1552. Two years later, his castle at Koga was attacked by Ujiyasu, and he was confined to Hatano in Sagami. He was allowed to return to Koga Castle in 1557, but was confined to Kurihashi Castle when the coup he was planning to bring his eldest son Ashikaga Fujiuji back to power came to light.

He died in 1560 at the age of 53.

The 13th shogun of the Ashikaga Shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshiteru became shogun at the age of 11 and reigned from 1546 to 1565. During a period when the shogun was a puppet to the powerful daimyo around him, Yoshiteru was nevertheless respected for his displomacy, and many famous daimyo such as Oda Nobunaga and Uesugi Kenshin traveled to the capital to pay their respects.

Yoshiteru committed suicide in Kyoto when Matsunaga Hisahide invaded with Miyoshi Yoshitsugu and overran his few personal troops.

Also known as: Heitarou (平太郎), Nikaidou Moritaka (二階堂盛隆)

18th generation lord of the Ashina Clan who was adopted by Ashina Moriuji to continue the family line. He was originally the son of Nikaidou Moriyoshi and a hostage of the Ashina Clan, but was adopted into the clan when Ashina Morioki's early death left the clan without an heir.

However, he was very unpopular with the Ashina retainers after his succession, and was assassinated at the age of 24.

Afterwards, his widow took the clan in hand. He had two daughters, one of whom became the wife of the next clan head, Ashina Yoshihiro

Also known as: 盛重, 義勝

Second son of the daimyo Satake Yoshishige, he became the 20th head of the Ashina Clan when he married Ashina Moritaka's daughter. However, he lost the Ashina lands to Date Masamune after the betrayal of one of the Ashina's key vassals at the Battle of Suriagehara in 1589. He then fled to Hitachi and was later given land there by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Bandou Eiji was a pitcher with the Chunichi Dragons from 1959 to 1969 before becoming a television entertainer, hosting several variety and game shows throughout his career.

Chousokabe Motochika was a daimyo of Tosa Province and 20th head of the Chousokabe Clan. He was the eldest son and heir of Chousokabe Kunichika, the 19th head. He was decorated for his first campaign at the age of 22.

After he succeeded as clan head, he took control of the entire Tosa Province, then managed to take Awa Province, Sanuki Province, and Iyo Province at the fall of the Miyoshi, Sogou, and Kouno clans, respectively. However, his hold over the four provinces lasted for just a few weeks, for he lost the three provinces he had gained in the Siege of the Four Provinces in 1585 to Toyotomi Hideyoshi (then still serving Oda Nobunaga).

During the next decade, Motochika fought several campaigns under Hideyoshi with his sons, including the Siege of Odawara in 1590 in which he led the Chousokabe Navy.

He died of illness in 1599 and was succeeded by his fourth son Chousokabe Morichika.

Also known as: Mutou Yoshiuji (武藤義氏)

Head of the Dewa Daihouji Clan, son of Daihouji Yoshimasu. The Daihouji supported the Uesugi Clan in the background. In order to repel invasion by Mogami Yoshiaki, Yoshiuji formed an alliance with the Date Clan in 1574, but it failed. He later fostered good relations with Oda Nobunaga for the same purpose, but when Nobunaga died in 1583, he was betrayed by vassals in collusion with Yoshiaki and was killed.

Yoshiuji was known for his prowess in battle and fought in many campaigns, but neglected administration of his own lands. He was also prone to violent behavior, and was called a bad lord by his people.

First-born son of Date Masamune who could not inherit his father's position as head of the Date Clan because his mother was a concubine. Hidemune became the founding lord of Uwajima-han in Iyo Province.

Titles: Echizen no Kami, Mutsu no Kami
Also known as: birth—Bontenmaru (梵天丸), adult—Tojirou (藤次郎), posthumous—Teizan (貞山), self-introduction—Fujiwara no Masamune (藤原政宗), religious—Takeru Hikonomikoto (武振彦命), nickname—One-Eyed Dragon (独眼竜)

Date Masamune was a powerful daimyo in the Northeastern part of Japan during the Sengoku Period. He was the 17th-generation head of the Date Clan and the founding daimyo of Sendai-han. He was the eldest son of Date Terumune and Yoshihime, the daughter of Mogami Yoshimori.

Masamune was born in Yonezawa Castle (modern-day Yamagata Prefecture). He lost the use of his right eye after falling ill of smallpox in his childhood, and would later come to be known as the One-eyed Dragon. However, because of it his mother thought him unfit for rule of the clan, and favored his younger brother. When Date Terumune retired from the position of the clan head in 1584, Masamune killed his brother and became the head of the clan at 18.

Masamune was known as a brilliant tactician. Shortly after he became head of the clan, Oouchi Sadatsuna, a Date vassal, defected to the Ashina Clan in the Aizu region of Mutsu Province. Masamune declared war on the Ashina for the betrayal, but was forced to retreat by the Ashina general, Iwashiro Morikuni. Three months later, Masamune laid seige to Oouchi's stronghold at Otemori. It was said that he put some 800 people to the sword in retaliation for the betrayal. Thereafter the Hatakeyama Clan, the traditional rival of the Date Clan, kidnapped Masamune's father, who was then killed in battle when Masamune and his troops engaged the kidnappers. War ensued between the two clans, and Masamune would ruthlessly subjugate his neighboring clans, even those who were allied by marriage or kinship. He defeated the Ashina Clan in 1589, but was called by Toyotomi Hideyoshi to lay siege to Odawara Castle of the Houjou Clan.

He served both Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, though neither trusted him completely due to his ambition and aggression. Under Tokugawa Ieyasu Masamune controlled one of the largest fiefdoms in Japan and turned Sendai from a small fishing village to a large and prosperous city. He encouraged foreigners and was largely lenient towards Christanity and its practioners. He funded and backed the first Japanese expedition to sail around the world, which visited such places as the Philippines, Mexico, Spain and Pope Paul V in Rome.

He died in Edo at the age of 70 of esophageal cancer, and was entombed in the Zuihouden according to his last will and testament. His second son (eldest son by his legal wife Megohime) Date Tadamune inherited the position of clan head after him.

The second-generation lord of Sendai-han, 18th head of the Date Clan, second son of Date Masamune. His mother, Megohime, daughter of Tamura Kiyoaki was the legal wife of Date Masamune, making Date Tadamune his father's eldest legitimate son. He became the lord of Sendai-han at 38 after his father's death.

He raised Sendai-han's social status greatly during his governance, and was called 'the wise enterprising lord'. He died at the age of 60 and was entombed in the Kansenden.

Titles: Mutsu no Kami, Mimasaka no Kami

Third-generation lord of Sendai-han, 19th head of the Date Clan, sixth son of Date Tadamune. His mother was the sister of the emperor's mother, making Tsunamune the emperor's cousin. He became the heir after the death of his elder brother, Date Mitsumune.

He was given to dissipation, which later lead to a rebellion to put his two-year-old eldest son, Date Tsunamura, in his position. However, there are theories that it was a pretense for the Shogunate, which was watching him closely. He was a person of refinement who left behind great works of art, poetry, calligraphy, laquer, and sword.

He died in Edo of cancer of the larynx, and was entombed in the Zenouden.

Edoya Nekohachi III was an actor and comedian, well known for his imitations of animal sounds such as chickens and crickets. His father, Edoya Nekohachi I, was also a master imitator.

Fukuzawa Yukichi was a Japanese author, writer, teacher, translator, entrepreneur and political theorist who is regarded as one of the founders of modern Japan and a leader of the Meiji Restoration.

He learned Dutch, then English after Commodore Perry arrived in Japan and traveled to the US and Europe as envoy for the Tokugawa Shogunate. His writings about these travels, Seiyou Jijou (Things Western), became best-sellers, and he was regarded as Japan's foremost expert on the West. His works were preeminent during the Meiji Period, and in them he emphasized the importance of understanding the principle of equality of opportunity, study as the key to greatness, and individual strength. These works greatly aided the pro-modernization forces of Japan during the period of unrest in the last days of the Tokugawa Shogunate and motived the Japanese people to embrace change.

Fukuzawa's portrait appears on the 10,000-yen note and was the only figure to remain after the banknotes redesign in the early 2000s.

The 96th emperor of Japan, whose reign from 1318 to 1339 was a rocky one; he became emperor at the age of 29, tried to overthrow the Kamakura Shogunate, was exiled, became emperor again after capturing the Kamakura Shogunate with the support of Ashikaga Takauji (destroying the Houjou Clan in the process), began a restoration aimed at making him the most powerful ruler in the East, was chased out of Kyoto by Ashikaga Takauji, and established the Southern Court in Yoshino in 1336 in opposition to the Northern Court established by Ashikaga in Kyoto. He died of illness in 1339.

A Mutsu warlord who, hard-pressed by Date Masamune, asked for the intercession of Date Terumune, Masamune's retired father. However, he kidnapped Terumune at swordpoint instead. He was later killed by Masamune for his double-cross.

Also known as: Kasai Mitsuo (笠井光男), Kon-chan, Konbei-Shishou

Hayashiya Konbei is a comic story teller and performed on the show "Shouten," a Japanese TV comedy program with has been broadcast since 1966 and is the second-longest running TV show in Japan.

Son of Honjou Saneyori who, like his father, served Uesugi Kenshin. He was made master of Numata Castle.

After Kenshin's death, he took Uesugi Kagetora's side in the Otate no Ran. He escaped just before the surrender of the castle to Uesugi Kagekatsu. Afterwards, he continued to oppose Kagekatsu with Kanamari Chikatsuna of Sanjou Castle. In 1580, when Tochio Castle fell, he fled into the Aizu.

Title: Echizen no Kami

One of Uesugi Kenshin's most experienced but most troublesome retainers. His father, Honjou Fusanaga, was the head of the Honjou Clan, but his castle was stolen away by his younger brother Ogawa Nagasuke just before Shigenaga was born. He died soon after. Shigenaga became the head of his clan at a very young age with his uncle as his guardian. Shigenaga was said to have a strong, daring temperment from childhood. On the 13th anniversary of his father's dead, he had his uncle Nagasuke seized and drove him to suicide, thereby taking back the real power of the clan.

Though in the beginning he was hostile towards Nagao Kagetora (Uesugi Kenshin), whom his uncle had supported, he became one of Kenshin's vassals in 1558 and fought in many of his battles, including the Battles of Kawanakajima. However, Shigenaga had a strong tendency towards independence; in 1568 he schemed with Takeda Shingen to declare his independence from Kenshin. The rebellion was put down by Kenshin, and Shigenaga surrendered with the intercession of Ashina Moriuji. His son and heir Honjou Akinaga was given as hostage, and Shigenaga was forgiven.

After Kenshin's death, he initially supported Uesugi Kagetora in the Otate no Ran, but surrendered to Uesugi Kagekatsu and later served him.

Also known as: 北条菊寿丸, Houjou Nagatsuna (北条長綱)

Historically: A warlord of the Houjou clan in the Sengoku province of Sagami, the fourth and youngest son of Houjou Souun and a concubine from the influential Katsurayama Clan. He entered Kongouou Temple, the bettou-ji (administrative temple) of Hakone Shrine, at a young age and later became its head. He took the name of Gen'an (lit. Phantom hermitage) upon his retirement.

He had three sons, all of whom died before him, and two daughters. He adopted Houjou Saburou (Uesugi Kagetora) as his heir, but the adoption was annulled when Kagetora was sent to Echigo. His grandson Ujitaka (son of his second son) later became his heir.

Houjou Genan was described as a master of horsemanship and archery who led armies, but also a man of culture who was skilled with his hands. He became elder statesman and trusted adviser to Ujiyasu and Ujimasa. He was 97 when he died (though opinions differ); eight months later, the Houjou clan was attacked by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and destroyed.

Also known as: Houjou Tsunanari, Kushima Tsunashige (福島綱成)

Houjou Tsunashige was born son of Kushima Masashige, a vassal of the Imagawa Clan. Most of his family was killed in battle with Hara Toratane of the Takeda Clan in 1521. A family vassal escaped with Tsunashige to Odawara, where he entered the service of Houjou Ujitsuna. His father was killed in the Iwagawa internal discord of 1536 between Imagawa Yoshimoto and his half brother Genkou Etan (there are also accounts that he escaped safely and joined Tsunashige).

Tsunashige found favor with Houjou Ujitsuna, who married one of his daughters to him and bequeathed him the Houjou name. The "tsuna" part of his name also came from Ujitsuna.

When the Houjou began fighting the Uesugi Clan in 1537, Tsunashige participated in many of battles. He continued to be a trusted commander of the clan after Ujitsuna died in 1541 and Houjou Ujiyasu became clan head. In 1546, during the siege and battle at Kawagoe Castle, he held out against an overwhelming enemy force for many months, finally achieving an astounding victory for the Houjou Clan.

In 1571 at the death of Ujiyasu, Tsunashige retired and gave over the family to his son, cutting off his hair and adopting a Buddhist name. He died in 1587 of illness.

Title: Sagami no Kami
Also known as: Matsuchiyomaru (松千代丸—childhood), Shinkurou (新九郎—nickname), 慈雲院松巌傑公 (posthumous)

Ujimasa was born in 1538 as the second son of Houjou Ujiyasu and his principle wife Zuikeiin, daughter of Imagawa Ujichika, and was older brother of Houjou Ujiteru, Houjou Ujikuni, Houjou Ujinori, Houjou Ujitada, Houjou Saburou (Uesugi Kagetora), and Houjou Ujimitsu. He became heir to the clan when his older brother Shinkurou died before reaching adulthood.

Ujimasa married Oubaiin, eldest daughter of Takeda Shingen and Sanjou-no-Kata, on the occasion of the three-way alliance between the Takeda, Imagawa, and Houjou clans in 1554. Their marriage was thought to be a happy one.

Ujimasa succeeded his father as the fourth head of the Sagami Houjou Clan in 1559 upon Ujiyasu's retirement. His first task upon becoming heir of the clan, per clan convention, was a a land survey evaluating how the Houjou lands were being used and the condition of the people serving on those lands. His relationship with his brothers was good throughout, and they were be a huge help to him in the governing of the clan.

In 1561, Uesugi Masatora (Uesugi Kenshin) of Echigo laid siege to Odawara Castle with a huge army gathered from the Kantou and south Mutsu. Under the leadership of his father Ujiyasu, Ujimasa was able to drive back the army. After the Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima, he was able to take back a large part of North Kantou from the Uesugi in concert with Shingen.

In 1568, seizing the opportunity presented by the decline of the Imagawa Clan after Imagawa Yoshimoto's death at Oda Nobunaga's hand, Takeda Shingen invaded Suruga, laying siege to Yoshimoto's heir, Imagawa Ujizane in Kakegawa Castle. Ujimasa led the Houjou forces to repel the Takeda army and formed an alliance with Tokugawa Ieyasu of Mikawa in order to rescue Ujizane (his brother-in-law by way of his younger sister Hayakawadono). Ujimasa then had Ujizane adopt his son Ujinao as his heir, thus giving the Houjou Clan a legitimate claim to the territory of Suruga. In order to hold back Takeda, he formed an alliance with his old enemy Uesugi Kenshin, giving his younger brother Saburou (Uesugi Kagetora) as hostage. The severing of ties with the Takeda Clan, however, meant the dissolution of his marriage with his beloved wife Oubaiin.

In 1569, Takeda Shingen laid siege to Odawara Castle, delivering a crushing defeat to the Houjou Clan (though recent analysis by historians indicate that Shingen lost a great many men as well). In 1570, Suruga belonged almost wholly to Shingen.

In October of 1571 upon his father's death, Ujimasa broke off his alliance with Kenshin and reformed the alliance with Shingen in accordance with his father's will, after which fighting between the Houjou and Uesugi clans flared up again.

Kenshin's death in 1578 triggered a fight for succession to the Uesugi Clan between his two adopted sons, Uesugi Kagekatsu and Uesugi Kagetora (the Otate no Ran). Ujimasa was tied up at that time in a confrontation with Satake Yoshishige and Utsunomiya Kunitsuna in Shimotsuke, so sent his brother Houjou Ujikuni to their brother's aid in his place while asking Takeda Katsuyori for reinforcements. Katsuyori betrayed the Houjou and formed an alliance with Uesugi Kagekatsu, and the Otate no Ran ended with Kagetora's death and Kagekatsu's succession.

Ujimasa broke off the alliance with the Takeda clan a second time and formed an alliance with Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu to attack the Takeda territory in a pincer movement, but shifting alliances and hard fighting left the conclusion unclear. In 1580 Ujimasa proposed to Oda Nobunaga, who had just taken Ishiyama Hongan Temple, that the Houjou Clan become a vassal of the Oda Clan, but Takeda Katsuyori managed to form an alliance with Oda first. Ujimasa retired from the position of clan head in the same year, but like his father before him still held onto the government and military affairs of the clan.

In the following years, the Houjou Clan managed to gain control over a vast territory: Sagami, Izu, Musashi, Shimousa, Kazusa, Hitara, Shimotsuke, and a part of Suruga. Interestingly, however, Ujimasa did not seem to hold the ambition of ruling the entire country, a tradition passed down from the founder of the Late Houjou Clan, Houjou Souun. Instead, Ujimasa concentrated on independence for the 8 Kantou provinces under Houjou rule and alliances with other strong warlords such as Tokugawa Ieyasu and Date Masamune.

In 1589, using Ujimasa's refusal to proceed to the capital to attend him as pretext, Toyotomi Hideyoshi gathered an army of 220,000 to lay siege to Odawara Castle. It overran castles in the Houjou territory in quick succession. The siege against Odawara Castle lasted from May to August. On August 4, Ujimasa offered to surrender his life for the lives of his men. Toyotomi demanded the lives of both Ujimasa and his brother Ujiteru, as well as the lives of their vassals Matsuda Norihide and Daidouji Masashige. Ujimasa and Ujiteru committed seppuku on August 10.

Ujimasa left behind the following tanka verses for his death poem:

「雨雲の　おほえる月も　胸の霧も　はらいにけりな　秋の夕風」
「我身今　消ゆとやいかに　おもふへき　空よりきたり　空に帰れば」

translated (Sadler 1978, pp. 160–161):

Autumn wind of eve,
blow away the clouds that mass
over the moon's pure light
and the mists that cloud our mind,
do thou sweep away as well.

Now we disappear,
well, what must we think of it?
From the sky we came.
Now we may go back again.
That's at least one point of view.

There is another verse which is sometimes attributed to his brother Ujiteru, but is most often attributed to Ujimasa:

「吹くと吹く　風な恨みそ　花の春　もみじの残る　秋あればこそ」

which may be translated:

The wind's resentment—
Oh, see how it blows against
The flowering spring.
Yet it will leave us anon
The bright colors of autumn.

Houjou Ujinao was the eldest son and heir of Houjou Ujimasa. His mother was Ujimasa's principle wife, Oubaiin, daughter of Takeda Shingen. He became the fifth head of the Later Houjou Clan in 1580 when his father retired. He married Tokuhime, daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu, in 1583 after a year of battles between the Houjou and Tokugawa armies over the provinces of Kouzuke, Shinano, and Kai, left masterless after the deaths of both Takeda Katsuyori and Oda Nobunaga.

After the Siege of Odawara in 1590, Toyotomi Hideyoshi spared Ujinao's life in part because he was Ieyasu's son-in-law. He was exiled to Mt. Kouya along with his brothers, uncles, and retainers. There he lived under house arrest until the beginning of 1591, when Toyotomi granted him a fief of 10,000-koku in Osaka and allowed his wife to join him there. However, he died there in November of the same year of smallpox at the age of 30.