Who Won the Battle of Nagashino and What Was Its Impact?

On a rain soaked plain in the summer of 1575, the very soul of samurai warfare was put on trial. For centuries, the battlefield had belonged to the warrior elite, where the thundering charge of noble cavalry could shatter any infantry line. But the Battle of Nagashino would challenge this age old truth with a revolutionary and deafening roar.

This was not merely a clash between two of the most powerful clans of the Sengoku period; it was a brutal confrontation between Japan’s martial past and its gunpowder future. To witness how a wall of peasant soldiers armed with simple firearms could decimate the most feared cavalry in the nation is to understand a fundamental shift in the art of war, a type of pivotal moment that Thefactsofwar is dedicated to exploring in all its tactical and historical depth.

Where was the Battle of Nagashino?

The Battle of Nagashino took place in Mikawa Province, which is located in modern day Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The initial part of the conflict involved the Siege of Nagashino Castle, a small but strategic fortress situated at the confluence of two rivers.

However, the main, decisive engagement did not occur at the castle itself. Oda Nobunaga and his ally, Tokugawa Ieyasu, chose to confront the Takeda army on a nearby plain called Shitaragahara. This location was deliberately selected for its tactical advantages. The plain of Shitaragahara was a stretch of open, marshy ground bisected by the Rengo River.

Nobunaga recognized that this terrain would hinder the effectiveness of the Takeda’s powerful cavalry charge, forcing them into a bottleneck. The choice of this specific site for the river valley combat was a critical element of Nobunaga’s military innovation and a clear indication that he intended to fight the battle entirely on his own terms. The Nagashino battlefield was less a meeting of two armies and more a carefully prepared killing ground.

Map Battle of Nagashino

A map of the Battle of Nagashino provides a clear visual representation of Oda Nobunaga’s tactical genius. The map typically shows Nagashino Castle to the west, situated at a river junction and depicted as being under siege by the main Takeda army.

The focus of the map is the plain of Shitaragahara to the east of the castle. Here, the combined Oda and Tokugawa forces are shown deployed in a strong defensive line. The most crucial feature illustrated on the map is the series of extensive wooden barricades or palisades that Nobunaga ordered constructed. These fences are shown stretching across the plain, protecting the front of the Oda and Tokugawa line. Behind these fortifications, the map would pinpoint the positions of thousands of Ashigaru musketeers, the core of Nobunaga’s strategy.

Opposite this prepared defense, the map shows the army of the Takeda Clan under Takeda Katsuyori. Their forces are depicted advancing across the plain, with their famous cavalry units positioned in the vanguard, poised to launch a frontal assault directly into Nobunaga’s prepared defenses. The map effectively illustrates a classic scenario: a powerful offensive force being lured into attacking a heavily fortified defensive position, highlighting the brilliance of the Oda Nobunaga tactics.

Summary of the Battle of Nagashino

The Nagashino decisive battle, fought on June 21, 1575, was the culmination of a simmering daimyo rivalry and a masterclass in revolutionary battle tactics. It represented a seismic daimyo power shift in the chaotic landscape of the Sengoku period.

The Prelude: Shingen’s Shadow and the Siege of a Castle

The Takeda Clan, based in Kai Province, was one of the most powerful and feared military factions in Japan. Under the legendary leader Takeda Shingen, their army, and especially their elite samurai cavalry, was considered nearly invincible. However, Shingen died in 1573, and leadership passed to his son, the proud and ambitious Takeda Katsuyori. While a capable warrior, Katsuyori was constantly burdened by the pressure to live up to Shingen’s legacy and prove his own greatness.

In 1575, seeking to expand his power and strike a blow against his rival Tokugawa Ieyasu, Katsuyori led a 15,000 man army into Mikawa Province. His target was Nagashino Castle, a small but strategically important outpost loyal to Tokugawa. The Siege of Nagashino Castle began. The small garrison held out bravely, but they were vastly outnumbered and running out of supplies. In a legendary act of bravery, a low ranking samurai named Torii Suneemon slipped through the Takeda lines to alert Tokugawa and his powerful ally, Oda Nobunaga, of their desperate plight. Though Suneemon was captured and crucified by the Takeda on his return, his mission was a success.

Nobunaga’s Response: A New Kind of Army

Oda Nobunaga, the most powerful daimyo in Japan and the driving force behind the Japanese unification movement, saw an opportunity. He had long been a proponent of military innovation, particularly the use of Tanegashima firearms, the matchlock arquebuses introduced to Japan by the Portuguese. Unlike many of his contemporaries who viewed guns as dishonorable weapons unfit for samurai, Nobunaga recognized their immense potential to create firepower superiority.

He mobilized a massive army of 30,000 men and marched to join Tokugawa Ieyasu’s 8,000 soldiers. Instead of directly attacking the Takeda army, Nobunaga chose to set a trap. He moved his combined force to the plain of Shitaragahara and began preparing for a new kind of battle, one that would rely on technology and discipline over individual martial skill.

The Battlefield is Set: A Wall of Wood and Fire

Nobunaga’s plan was a masterpiece of defensive tactics. He ordered his soldiers to construct long, staggered lines of wooden palisades and barricades across the front of his position. These wooden fence strategy defenses were designed to break the momentum of the charging Takeda cavalry, throwing them into disarray and making them easy targets.

Behind these barricades, Nobunaga placed his most crucial weapon: 3,000 Ashigaru musketeers. These were common foot soldiers, not elite samurai. Nobunaga organized them into ranks and trained them to fire in coordinated volleys. While the historical accuracy of a perfect, continuous firing rotation (the Raiting-gata tactic) is debated, the core concept was revolutionary. By having ranks of soldiers fire while others reloaded, he could create a near continuous storm of bullets. This disciplined use of Ashigaru firepower was the cornerstone of his entire strategy.

The Fateful Charge and the Wall of Fire

The Takeda generals, veterans of countless victories under Shingen, were contemptuous of Nobunaga’s defenses and the peasant soldiers wielding firearms. They were confident that the unparalleled shock power of their cavalry could smash through any obstacle. Overruling his more cautious advisors, Takeda Katsuyori ordered a full frontal assault.

As the famed Takeda cavalry charged across the plain, they were met with a cataclysmic roar. The first rank of Oda musketeers unleashed a massive volley of lead balls from behind the safety of their barricades. The effect was devastating. The charge was stopped dead in its tracks as horses and their elite samurai riders were torn apart. Before the Takeda could recover, a second volley ripped through their ranks, then a third.

Wave after wave of Takeda warriors charged forward, only to be systematically destroyed by the relentless musket fire. The battle turned into a slaughter. The cavalry charge failure was absolute. The few Takeda samurai who managed to get through the storm of bullets and over the barricades were met by ashigaru spearmen who finished them off. The Takeda’s greatest strength had been rendered completely useless by Nobunaga’s innovative tactics.

The Takeda Collapse

The battle was a catastrophe for the Takeda Clan. They lost many of their most experienced and famous generals, men who had been the backbone of the clan’s military might for decades. With its leadership decimated and its veteran warriors lying dead on the field, the Takeda army disintegrated. Katsuyori managed to escape, but his army was shattered, and the power of his clan was broken forever. The Takeda clan downfall had begun.

Battle of Nagashino Casualties

The Battle of Nagashino casualties were horrifically one sided and starkly illustrated the effectiveness of Oda Nobunaga’s tactics.

• The Takeda Clan suffered catastrophic losses. Out of their army of 15,000, it is estimated that over 10,000 were killed. This included a huge number of their most valuable and experienced commanders and veteran samurai.
• The combined Oda and Tokugawa forces, protected by their fortifications and fighting from a distance, suffered relatively light losses, estimated to be around 2,000 to 6,000.

The lopsided casualty figures sent a shockwave through Japan. It was undeniable proof that the age of the individual samurai hero was being replaced by the age of disciplined, firearm equipped armies.

Who Won the Battle of Nagashino?

The Battle of Nagashino was a complete, overwhelming, and decisive Oda Nobunaga victory. In alliance with Tokugawa Ieyasu, Nobunaga’s forces utterly destroyed the army of the Takeda Clan. The victory was not just tactical but also strategic and psychological, effectively eliminating one of the main obstacles to Nobunaga’s ambition of unifying Japan.

Conclusion

The Battle of Nagashino legacy is profound and far reaching. It stands as one of the most important and revolutionary battles in the entire history of feudal warfare. The Nagashino significance lies not simply in the Takeda defeat, but in the manner of that defeat. It was a clear and brutal demonstration that traditional samurai tactics, no matter how brave or well executed, were obsolete in the face of modern technology and innovative strategy.

The battle was a historical turning point that validated Nobunaga’s military philosophy and cemented his position as the primary power in Japan, accelerating his campaign for Nobunaga unification. It highlighted the rising importance of the Ashigaru role, proving that disciplined common soldiers armed with effective weapons could defeat the elite warrior class. The clash at Nagashino forever changed the face of samurai battles, ushering in the gunpowder era in Japan and paving the way for the end of the century long Sengoku period. It was, in essence, the battle that brought medieval Japan to a violent and thunderous end.