On 28 June 1575, the Battle of Nagashino was fought between Oda Nobunaga and Takeda Katsuyori during the Sengoku Period.
Why did it happen?
The Sengoku Period began when simmering unrest in Japan resulted in the Onion War (1467-77), during which daimyo (feudal lords) fought the Kamakura Shogunate for supremacy. The centralised authority had broken down by the sixteenth century, and Japan had become divided between competing warlords. In 1560, the daimyo Oda Nobunaga won his first great victory over the Yoshimoto and Matsudaira clans at the Battle of Okehazama. By 1568, he ruled the capital city Kyoto, but in 1575, the Takeda clan under Takeda Katsuyori invaded his ally, Tokugawa Ieyasu, to provoke a response. Katsuyori subsequently besieged Nagashino Castle, although Torii Suneemon, the occupant, escaped and alerted Oda and Tokugawa that the castle had only enough supplies for five days. The two sent a large relief army to break the siege.
Who was involved?
The army of Oda Nobunaga at Nagashino numbered 25,000 infantry, 10,000 cavalry, and 3,000 arquebusiers. The arquebusiers, who wielded firearms introduced to Japan in 1543, were arrayed in the vanguard, protected by a wooden palisade. Behind them were two lines of ashigaru spearmen with mounted samurai in the rear. Oda Nobunaga commanded the left, while his ally, Tokugawa Ieyasu, led the right. The army of Takeda Katsuyori numbered 10,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry. When battle commenced, Katsuyori left 3,000 infantry to continue the siege of Nagashino Castle while he led 7,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry to attack Nobunaga’s forces.
What happened?
The battle began when Takeda Katsuyori’s cavalry charged Oda Nobunaga’s palisade but was repulsed by his arquebusiers and ashigaru spearmen. Eight of Takeda’s twenty-four generals were killed in the attack. The Takeda cavalry then decided to dismount from their horses and attack the palisade on foot. Oda Nobunaga ordered his infantry to venture from behind the palisade and attack the weakened Takeda army. At the same time, Tokugawa Ieyasu detached a 3,000-strong raiding party towards Nagashino Castle. Meanwhile, Takeda Katsuyori ordered his samurai to envelop Oda Nobunaga’s left flank. Fierce hand-to-hand fighting developed before Takeda Katsuyori gave the order to retreat. Finally, Tokugawa’s raiding party surprised the Takeda siege lines and, with the help of Nagashino Castle’s 500-strong garrison, defeated Takeda’s forces, who had suffered 10,000 casualties.
What changed as a result?
The Battle of Nagashino was a victory for Oda Nobunaga. As pointed out by Saul David, “Nagashino amounted to more than just a military triumph: symbolically, it marked Nobunaga out as a potential national leader. In hindsight, it was a victory, not just for Nobunaga, but also for modern ways of making war” (David, 2009, p.127). The Takeda clan declined steeply until 1582, when it was decisively defeated at the Battle of Tenmokuzan. However, Oda Nobunaga would not live long enough to enjoy his triumph, for he was forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for insulting the mother of his general, Akechi Mitsuhide, that same year. He was succeeded by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who invaded Korea in 1592-98 before, in turn, being succeeded by Tokugawa Ieyasu, who ended the Sengoku Period with his victories at Sekigahara (1600) and Osaka (1615).
Bibliography
David, Saul. War: The Definitive Visual History. New York, Dorling Kindersley, 2009.
Grant, R.G. Battle: A Visual Journey Through 5,000 Years of Combat. London, Dorling Kindersley, 2005.
Webb, Jonathan. “Battle of Nagashino, 1575.” The Art of Battle. Last revised 2009. www.theartofbattle.com/battle-of-nagashino-1575/
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