Battle of Okehazama
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| Campaigns of Oda Nobunaga |
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| Okehazama - Azukizaka - Chōkōji - Kanagasaki - Anegawa - Ishiyama Hongan-ji - Mount Hiei - Nagashima - Mikata ga Hara - Hikida - Odani - Ichijō ga dani - Itami - Nagashino - Mitsuji - Kizugawaguchi - Shikizan - Tedorigawa - Hijiyama - Temmokuzan - Uzu - Honnōji |
The battle of Okehazama (桶狭間の戦い Okehazama-no-tatakai) took place in May of 1560. In this battle, Oda Nobunaga defeated Imagawa Yoshimoto and established himself as one of the front-running warlords in the nationwide conflict that characterized the Sengoku period.
Background
In May or June 1560, Imagawa Yoshimoto, with an army of perhaps 25,000 men, set forth on a march to Kyoto. Entering the Oda territories in Owari province, he first took the border fortresses of Washizu and Marune before setting up camp in a wooded gorge known as Dengaku-hazama. This was all reported to Oda Nobunaga by his scouts, who then led his own force into position at a temple called Zenshōji.Had Nobunaga decided on a frontal assault, the battle would have been deceptively easy to predict; his army was outnumbured ten to one by the Imagawa forces. A frontal assault would be suicidal, and an attempt to hold out at Zenshōji would only last a few days. Thus, Nobunaga decided to launch a surprise attack on the Imagawa camp.
The battle
Nobunaga left a small force at the temple, to attract his enemies' attention and to distract them from the force, 3000 strong, which was moving towards them in a round-about way through the wooded hills.The Imagawa army did not expect an attack, and were particularly not alert as a result of the incredible heat. The chance they would detect the approaching Oda forces was further hindered by the sudden downpour and thunderstorm which arrived as their attackers were making their final movements towards the camp.
When the storm passed, Nobunaga's men poured into the camp from the north, and the Imagawa warriors, taken completely unawares, fled in every direction. This left their commander's tent undefended, and the Oda warriors closed in further. Imagawa Yoshimoto, unaware of what had transpired, heard the noise and emerged from his tent shouting at his men to quit their drunken revelry and return to their posts. By the time he realized, moments later, that the samurai before him were not his own, it was far too late. He deflected one samurai's spear thrust, but was beheaded by another.
Aftermath
With their leader dead, and all but two of the senior officers also killed, the remaining Imagawa officers defected to other forces. In a short while, the Imagawa faction was destroyed. The victory by Nobunaga was hailed as miraculous, and this proved to be his first step to his goal of unification. One of the officers who would betray the Imagawa was Matsudaira Motoyasu (later to be known as Tokugawa Ieyasu) from Mikawa province, along with Honda Tadakatsu. Matsudaira formed his own force in Mikawa, and would later would become an ally of Oda Nobunaga, and the last of the great unifiers.List of notable samurai in the battle
Oda side
- Oda Nobunaga
- Shibata Katsuie
- Hattori Kazutada
- Mori Yoshikatsu
- Kinoshita Tokichiro
Imagawa side
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