I might be reading into this, but when I researching for something, I realised that most ‘famous’ samurais and warriors had died in the 6th and 7th months. I don’t know if this was because of something like weather, as they all died different years and or different days. I just want to know if anyone knows about this, or has any answers.
Minamoto no Yoshitsune died 15 June 1189 Oda Nobunaga died 21 June 1582 Sanada Yukimura died 3 June 1615 Date Masamune died 27 June 1636 Mitsuhide Akechi died 2 July 1582 Chosokabe Motochika died 11 July 1599 Hijikata Toshizō died 20 June 1869 Okita Sōji died 19 July 1868 Harada Sanosuke died 6 July 1868 Okada Izō died 3 June 1865 (There might be more, but these are the ones that I know. Also more ‘famous’ than the others I know of)
Well the short answer is...they didn't.
However, your question piqued my interest. I randomly picked out 140 names off the top of my head, and here's the result:
| Month | Others | War | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| Feb | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| Mar | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| Apr | 7 | 2 | 9 |
| May | 9 | 3 | 12 |
| Jun | 12 | 8 | 20 |
| Jul | 17 | 4 | 21 |
| Aug | 13 | 2 | 15 |
| Sep | 7 | 5 | 12 |
| Oct | 6 | 4 | 10 |
| Nov | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| Dec | 9 | 9 | |
| Total | 107 | 33 | 140 |
With this it becomes clear why the summer months see more deaths than the others. That was when most of the campaigning, fighting, and travelling took place, and the physical stress it entailed. Since "famous samurai" are basically a biased pick for "samurai who did stuff", that makes perfect sense for a plurality (not majority) of deaths to occur in the summer. I actually tried to not include multiple names who died at the same battle. If I did, May to October would become way more pronounced (and January would catch up a little bit because of Mikatagahara).
The names are below if you're interested:
| Name | Date | Year | War/Others |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minamoto no Yoshitomo | 11-Feb | 1160 | War |
| Taira no Motomori | 2-May | 1162 | Others |
| Taira no Shigemori | 2-Sep | 1178 | Others |
| Taira no Kiyomori | 20-Mar | 1181 | Others |
| Minamoto no Yoshinaka | 4-Mar | 1184 | War |
| Taira no Tomomori | 25-Apr | 1185 | War |
| Taira no Munemori | 19-Jul | 1185 | Others* |
| Fujiwara no Hidehira | 30-Nov | 1187 | Others |
| Minamoto no Yoshitsune | 15-Jun | 1189 | War |
| Fujiwara no Yasuhira | 14-Oct | 1189 | Others* |
| Minamoto no Yoritomo | 9-Feb | 1199 | Others |
| Minamoto no Yoriie | 14-Aug | 1204 | Others |
| Hōjō Tokimasa | 6-Feb | 1215 | Others |
| Hōjō Takatoki | 4-Jul | 1333 | War |
| Kusunoki Masashige | 5-Jul | 1336 | War |
| Nitta Yoshisada | 17-Aug | 1338 | War |
| Akamatsu Norimura | 18-Feb | 1350 | Others |
| Ashikaga Takauji | 7-Jun | 1358 | Others |
| Ashikaga Yoshiakira | 28-Dec | 1367 | Others |
| Sasaki Takauji (Dōyō) | 12-Sep | 1373 | Others |
| Ashikaga Yoshimitsu | 31-May | 1408 | Others |
| Ashikaga Yoshinori | 12-Jul | 1441 | Others |
| Yamana Sōzen | 15-Apr | 1473 | Others |
| Hosokawa Katsumoto | 6-Jun | 1473 | Others |
| Asakura Takakage | 21-Aug | 1481 | Others |
| Ōta Dōkan | 25-Aug | 1486 | Others |
| Ōuchi Masahiro | 6-Oct | 1495 | Others |
| Nagao Kageharu | 22-Sep | 1514 | Others |
| Hōjō Sōun | 9-Sep | 1519 | Others |
| Ōuchi Yoshioki | 29-Jan | 1529 | Others |
| Hōjō Ujitsuna | 10-Aug | 1541 | Others |
| Amago Tsunehisa | 30-Nov | 1541 | Others |
| Ōuchi Yoshitaka | 30-Sep | 1551 | War |
| Rokkaku Sadayori | 21-Jan | 1552 | Others |
| Sue Harukata | 16-Oct | 1555 | War |
| Saitō Dōsan | 28-May | 1556 | War |
| Imagawa Yoshimoto | 12-Jun | 1560 | War |
| Yamamoto Kansuke | 18-Oct | 1561 | War |
| Mōri Takamoto | 1-Sep | 1563 | Others |
| Miyoshi Nagayoshi | 10-Aug | 1564 | Others |
| Nagao Masakage | 21-Aug | 1564 | Others |
| Ashikaga Yoshiteru | 17-Jun | 1565 | War |
| Satake Yoshiaki | 25-Nov | 1565 | Others |
| Mori Yoshinari | 19-Oct | 1570 | War |
| Mōri Motonari | 6-Jul | 1571 | Others |
| Hōjō Ujiyasu | 21-Oct | 1571 | Others |
| Hirate Hirohide | 25-Jan | 1573 | War |
| Takeda Shingen | 13-May | 1573 | Others |
| Asakura Yoshikage | 16-Sep | 1573 | War |
| Azai Nagamasa | 26-Sep | 1573 | War |
| Satomi Yoshitaka | 19-Jun | 1574 | Others |
| Baba Nobuharu | 29-Jun | 1575 | War |
| Matsunaga Hisahide | 19-Nov | 1577 | War |
| Uesugi Kenshin | 19-Apr | 1578 | Others |
| Takenaka Shigeharu (Hanbei) | 6-Jul | 1579 | Others |
| Ashina Moriuji | 28-Jul | 1580 | Others |
| Hayashi Hidesada | 21-Nov | 1580 | Others |
| Ukita Naoie | 2-Feb* | 1582 | Others |
| Sakuma Nobumori | 18-Feb | 1582 | Others |
| Takeda Katsuyori | 3-Apr | 1582 | War |
| Oda Nubunaga | 21-Jun | 1582 | War |
| Akechi Mitsuhide | 2-Jul | 1582 | War |
| Shibata Katsuie | 14-Jun | 1583 | War |
| Ryūzōji Takanobu | 4-May | 1584 | War |
| Ikeda Tsuneoki | 18-May | 1584 | War |
| Niwa Nagahide | 15-May | 1585 | Others |
| Date Terumune | 29-Nov | 1585 | Others |
| Araki Murashige | 20-Jun | 1586 | Others |
| Takigawa Kazumasu | 21-Oct | 1586 | Others |
| Kikkawa Motoharu | 25-Dec | 1586 | Others |
| Hōjō Tsunashige | 11-Jun | 1587 | Others |
| Ōtomo Sōrin | 11-Jun | 1587 | Others |
| Andō Chikasue | 2-Oct | 1587 | Others |
| Sassa Narimasa | 7-Jul | 1588 | Others |
| Inaba Yoshimitchi (Ittetsu) | 5-Jan | 1589 | Others |
| Tozawa Moriyasu | 7-Jul | 1590 | Others |
| Hōjō Ujimasa | 10-Aug | 1590 | War* |
| Gamo Ujisato | 17-Mar | 1595 | Others |
| Sakai Tadatsugu | 17-Dec | 1596 | Others |
| Hattori Masanari (Hanzō) | 23-Dec | 1596 | Others |
| Kobayakawa Takakage | 26-Jul | 1597 | Others |
| Ashikaga Yoshiaki | 9-Oct | 1597 | Others |
| Rokkaku Yoshikata | 19-Apr | 1598 | Others |
| Toyotomi Hideyoshi | 18-Sep | 1598 | Others |
| Maeda Toshiie | 27-Apr | 1599 | Others |
| Chosokabe Motochika | 11-Jul | 1599 | Others |
| Torii Mototada | 8-Sep | 1600 | War |
| Ōtani Yoshitsugu | 21-Oct | 1600 | War |
| Ishida Mitsunari | 6-Nov | 1600 | Others* |
| Kuki Yoshitaka | 17-Nov | 1600 | Others* |
| Ii Naomasa | 24-Mar | 1602 | Others |
| Kuroda Yoshitaka (Kanbei) | 19-Apr | 1604 | Others |
| Sakakibara Yasumasa | 19-Jun | 1606 | Others |
| Honda Tadakatsu | 3-Dec | 1610 | Others |
| Shimazu Yoshihisa | 5-Mar | 1611 | Others |
| Sanada Masayuki | 13-Jul | 1611 | Others |
| Katō Kiyomasa | 2-Aug | 1611 | Others |
| Mogami Yoshiaki | 26-Feb | 1614 | Others |
| Yūki Harutomo | 25-Aug | 1614 | Others |
| Takayama Ukon | 3-Feb | 1615 | Others |
| Sanada Nobushige (Yukimura) | 3-Jun | 1615 | War |
| Katakura Kagetsuna | 4-Dec | 1615 | Others |
| Tokugawa Ieyasu | 1-Jun | 1616 | Others |
| Shimazu Yoshihiro | 30-Aug | 1619 | Others |
| Naoe Kanetsugu | 23-Jan | 1620 | Others |
| Uesugi Kagekatsu | 19-Apr | 1623 | Others |
| Fukushima Masanori | 26-Aug | 1624 | Others |
| Tōdō Takatora | 9-Nov | 1630 | Others |
| Tokugawa Hidetada | 14-Mar | 1632 | Others |
| Date Masamune | 27-Jun | 1636 | Others |
| Tachibana Muneshige | 15-Jan | 1643 | Others |
| Yagyū Munenori | 11-May | 1646 | Others |
| Date Shigezane | 16-Jul | 1646 | Others |
| Tokugawa Iemitsu | 8-Jun | 1651 | Others |
| Tokugawa Ietsuna | 4-Jun | 1680 | Others |
| Tokugawa Yoshimune | 12-Jul | 1751 | Others |
| Shimazu Nariakira | 16-Jul | 1858 | Others |
| Tokugawa Iesada | 14-Aug | 1858 | Others |
| Yoshida Shōin | 21-Nov | 1859 | Others |
| Ii Naosuke | 24-Mar | 1860 | Others |
| Tokugawa Nariaki | 29-Sep | 1860 | Others |
| Takana Shinbei | 11-Jul | 1863 | Others |
| Okada Izō | 3-Jul | 1864 | Others |
| Tokugawa Iemochi | 29-Aug | 1866 | Others |
| Takasugi Shinsaku | 17-May | 1867 | Others |
| Sakamoto Ryōma | 10-Dec | 1867 | Others |
| Tōdō Heisuke | 13-Dec | 1867 | Others* |
| Kondō Isami | 17-May | 1868 | Others* |
| Harada Sanosuka | 6-Jul | 1868 | War |
| Okita Sōji | 19-Jul | 1868 | Others |
| Hijikata Toshizō | 20-Jun | 1869 | War |
| Komatsu Kiyokado (Tatewaki) | 16-Aug | 1870 | Others |
| Kawakami Gensai | 12-Jan | 1872 | Others |
| Yamanouchi Yōdō | 26-Jul | 1872 | Others |
| Etō Shinpei | 13-Apr | 1874 | Others* |
| Kido Takayoshi | 26-May | 1877 | Others |
| Saigō Takamori | 24-Sep | 1877 | War |
| Ōkubo Toshimichi | 14-May | 1878 | Others |
| Matsudaira Shungaku | 2-Jun | 1890 | Others |
| Date Munenari | 20-Dec | 1892 | Others |