Battle of Nagashino

The Battle of Nagashino (長篠の戦い, Nagashino no Tatakai) was an armed conflict in 1575. The battle took place near Nagashino Castle (長篠城) on the plain of Shitaragahara (設楽原) in the Mikawa province (三河) of Japan.

Battle of Nagashino
Part of the Sengoku period
General launching his troops to attack the castle of Nagashino in 1575, by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
Date June 28, 1575 Location Nagashino, Mikawa Province, Japan Result Siege fails; Oda-Tokugawa victory
Belligerents
Takeda forces	Combined forces of Oda and Tokugawa
Commanders and leaders
Takeda Katsuyori, Anayama Nobukimi, Takeda Nobukado, Takeda Nobutoyo	Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Okudaira Sadamasa
Strength
15,000	38,000
Casualties and losses
Between 3,000 and 10,000 dead, incl. 54 samurai leaders Takeda Nobuzane Baba Nobufusa Yamagata Masakage Naito Masatoyo Hara Masatane Sanada Nobutsuna Sanada Masateru Kasai Mitsuhide Wada Narishige Yonekura Shigetsugu	6,000 Matsudaira Koretada

Nagashino Castle

Forces under Takeda Katsuyori (武田勝頼) attacked the castle. The Takeda attacked the castle, because it threatened supply lines.

Okudaira Sadamasa (奥平貞昌) commanded the 500 defenders of the castle. The defenders had 200 matchlocks and at least once cannon.

Nagshino plain

Both Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康) and Oda Nobunaga (織田信長) sent troops to break the siege and their combined forces defeated the Takeda attack.

Nobunaga's use of firearms to defeat Takeda's cavalry is considered as a turning point in Japanese warfare. His tactical innovation was the wooden stockades and rotating volleys of fire which led to a decisive victory at Nagashino.

Popular culture

The Battle of Nagashino and the last years of the Takeda clan are dramatised in Akira Kurosawa's 1980 movie Kagemusha (Shadow Warrior).

Other websites

• Battle of Nagashino animated battle map Archived 2010-01-28 at the Wayback Machine by Jonathan Webb