page_title: Pretext
section_title: Uses in warfare
hierarchical_section_title: Pretext / Uses in warfare
caption_attribution_description: This photograph shows part of the inscription on the bell at Hokoji in Kyoto, Japan. I took the photo and contribute my rights in the file to the public domain; individuals and organizations retain rights to images in the file. This bell dates back to the 17th century, and thus there is no chance that the creator died recently enough to still claim copyright.
context_page_description: A pretext is an excuse to do something or say something that is not accurate. Pretexts may be based on a half-truth or developed in the context of a misleading fabrication. Pretexts have been used to conceal the true purpose or rationale behind actions and words.
  In US law, a pretext usually describes false reasons that hide the true intentions or motivations for a legal action. If a party can establish a prima facie case for the proffered evidence, the opposing party must prove that these reasons were "pretextual" or false. This can be accomplished by directly demonstrating that the motivations behind the presentation of evidence is false, or indirectly by evidence that the motivations are not "credible". In Griffith v. Schnitzer, an employment discrimination case, a jury award was reversed by a Court of Appeals because the evidence was not sufficient that the defendant's reasons were "pretextual". That is, the defendant's evidence was either undisputed, or the plaintiff's was "irrelevant subjective assessments and opinions".
  A "pretextual" arrest by law enforcement officers is one carried out for illegal purposes such as to conduct an unjustified search and seizure.
context_section_description: The early years of Japan's Tokugawa shogunate were unsettled, with warring factions battling for power. The causes for the fighting were in part pretextural, but the outcome brought diminished armed conflicts after the Siege of Osaka in 1614–1615.
  1614 (Keichō 19): The Shogun vanquished Hideyori and set fire to Osaka Castle, and then he returned for the winter to Edo.
  August 24, 1614 (Keichō 19, 19th day of the 7th month): A new bronze bell for the Hōkō-ji was cast successfully  ; but despite the dedication ceremony planning, Ieyasu forbade any further actions concerning the great bell:
  "[T]he tablet over the Daibutsu-den and the bell bore the inscription "Kokka ankō" (meaning "the country and the house, peace and tranquility"), and at this Tokugawa Ieyasu affect to take umbrage, alleging that it was intended as a curse on him for the character 安 (an, "peace") was placed between the two characters composing his own name 家康 ("ka-kō", "house tranquility") [suggesting subtly perhaps that peace could only be attained by Ieyasu's dismemberment?] ... This incident of the inscription was, of course, a mere pretext, but Ieyasu realized that he could not enjoy the power he had usurped as long as Hideyori lived, and consequently, although the latter more than once Hideyori dispatched his vassal Katagiri Kastumoto to Ieyasu's residence (Sunpu Castle) with profuse apologies, Ieyasu refused to be placated."
  October 18, 1614 (Keichō 19, 25th day of the 10th month): A strong earthquake shook Kyoto.
  1615 (Keichō 20): Osaka Summer Battle begins.
  The next two-and-a-half centuries of Japanese history were comparatively peaceful under the successors of Tokugawa Ieyasu and the bakufu government he established.
caption: Inscription on bell at Hokoji in Kyoto
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