In the film and television drama "Shadow" directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Deng Chao, it is the story of ZiYu, the governor of the Pei State, and his "shadow" Jingzhou; and in ancient history, in fact, many characters have had "shadows", and their role is similar to the "stand-ins" used in filmmaking now, such as sun jian, a fierce general in the Three Kingdoms period, who was surrounded by Xu Rong, a general under Dong Zhuo, and almost died in battle, fortunately, the loyal general Zu Mao took the initiative to attract the attention of the enemy army, so that Sun Jian escaped the disaster.
In the Japanese Sengoku period, there was a special name for this kind of stand-in - shadow warrior, and the shadow warrior was used very frequently at that time, after all, the life of a country lord was enough to affect the survival of his own people, and now after the death of Kawayoshimoto, the powerful Imakawa clan instantly declined; in view of this, the lords looked for people with similar faces everywhere, as their own stand-ins, to ensure their own life safety.
Therefore, the daimyo at that time, and even some of the military generals with status, had stand-ins, among which the most widely circulated were Tokugawa Ieyasu and his shadow warriors. According to rumors, the real Tokugawa Ieyasu had been injured by Takeda Nobuharu, takeda Nobuharu' brother, during the Battle of the Three Sides, and in a panic, Tokugawa Ieyasu fled all the way to Nanzong-ji Temple under the escort of his guards, but due to his serious injuries, he eventually fell ill and died at Nanzong-ji Temple; the reason for this rumor is that there is a tomb of Tokugawa Ieyasu at Nanzong-ji Temple.
Later, the Tokugawa clan, fearing that it would continue to decline, simply let Tokugawa Ieyasu's shadow warrior Seiryada Motonobu replace Tokugawa Ieyasu. Interestingly, there is a Book in Japan called "The Deeds of Shishin Tokugawa Ieyasu" compiled by Suichiro Muraoka, which also says that the real Tokugawa Ieyasu has long been killed in battle, but the time and place of death are different, in this book, Tokugawa Ieyasu was killed by his courtiers after the Battle of the Barrel Pan (again Muramasa?). He was later replaced by Motonobu Seiryoda.
The book also cites a great deal of evidence, such as that in Tokugawa Ieyasu's later years, an old man who took care of him as a child came to see him, and as a result, Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered the old man not to look up at him. Although many people think that the book "The Deeds of Shih tzu Tokugawa Ieyasu" is a novel and cannot be studied as a canon, this book has been guaranteed and prefaced by Yasushi Shigeno, a professor at Tokyo Imperial University and the founder of modern Japanese practical political history.
In short, it is not known whether Tokugawa Ieyasu was killed in battle, and whether the later Tokugawa Ieyasu was replaced by his shadow warrior Seiryada Motonobu, after all, there is no evidence. Therefore, this statement has always been debated in Japanese historians and folk circles. Although the matter of Tokugawa Ieyasu and his shadow warriors is doubtful, the affairs of another famous general during the Sengoku period, Takeda Shingen, and his shadow warriors, have been confirmed.
Takeda Shingen was the seventeenth governor of the Takeda clan of Kai, a famous politician and military figure, who ascended to the throne by exile of his father; Takeda Shingen was a great warrior in his lifetime, and he opened up territory from 850,000 stones to more than 900,000 stones in his lifetime, except for Oda Nobunaga, who could match only Maori Motoki; he had been in the battlefield since he was sixteen years old, and he had experienced hundreds of battles, of which the larger battles were about eighty, which was already terrifying in terms of the frequency of this war.
For this reason, Takeda Shingen was known as the "Tiger of Kai", and was later known as "the first warrior of the Warring States" and "the first general of the Warring States"; such a high frequency of war, even if Takeda Shingen was very confident in his martial arts, he had to make some precautions, especially the ninjas who were good at assassination. And Takeda Shingen's shadow warriors are not randomly selected, and it can even be said that his shadow warriors are willing to be his stand-ins, and his shadow warriors are his own brother Takeda Nobuharu.
Because they were brothers, the two looked very similar, and because Takeda Nobuhiro was so obsessed with martial arts, he often wore Takeda Shingen's armor to charge at the front, while Takeda Shingen sat in the rear and calmly commanded the battle; it was this model that made the Takeda clan invincible. Of course, this Takeda Nobutoshi is not a simple shadow warrior, he is both literate and martial, coupled with strategic and tactical vision, he has always been known as an unborn famous general with Shingen.
During the Fourth Battle of Kasakajima, Takeda Shingen's army was overwhelmed by Uesugi Kenshin's army, and the situation was very critical; at this time, Takeda Nobuharu used himself to attract the attention of the Uesugi army, and eventually died of outnumbered battle. In addition to Takeda Shingen, Takeda Shingen also has a number of shadow warrior stand-ins, and these shadow warriors of his are all heavily trained warriors with extraordinary strength, they fight for Takeda Shingen in the front, while the real Takeda Shingen is sitting in the rear safely, and it is extremely safe.
In fact, everyone knows how big the danger factor of being a shadow warrior is, but for those lower-level samurai who have no way out, it is not a way out to become a shadow warrior, as long as they can hold on and make great achievements, maybe they will develop in the future. In addition to the lower-level samurai as shadow warriors, many people in the family will also willingly act as shadow warriors for the family master, because in their view, the family master is the most important person in the family, and it is an honor to be able to ward off disasters for the family master; in short, the source of the shadow warrior is very extensive, but their purpose is the same.