A little history first;
The Ikko-ikki were leagues of peasant farmers, Buddhist monks and Shinto priests who rose up against daimyo rule in 15th- and 16th-century Japan.
(Many excelled in the use of the fearsome naginata, a razor-sharp blade set on a long pole-arm)
They rebelled violently many times and even defeated Nagao Tamekage in the 1536 Battle of Sendanno.
Many of the temples we see, as tourists, outside Osaka, as peaceful and serene places of devotion today were in fact heavily fortified.
Towards the end of the 16th century, nearly every road to the capital from this western part of the country was controlled by them
and so Tokugawa Ieyasu, with the help of Jodo-shu sohei (another sect of warior monks),
had to comprehensively defeat the Mikawa Ikko-ikki in the Battle of Azukizaka.
as for me
my small band of warrior monks are still waiting for white headscarves (I'm still very reluctant to spray them white) from Geobra
(the , blade is non-Playmo, fitted perfectly without having to reduce or increase the diameter of the original sword handle)
