The Battle of Okehazama took place in June 1560. In this battle, Oda Nobunaga defeated Imagawa Yoshimoto and established himself as one of the front-running warlords in the Sengoku period.

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Before the battle Edit

In June 1560, Imagawa Yoshimoto assembled an army of possibly 25,000 men for an advance on Kyoto. Oda Nobunaga, whose territory was first to invade, sent scouts to get an up to date picture of the situation. They reported that his border fortresses of Washizu and Marune were destroyed and that the vast bulk of the Imagawa army, including the commander-in-chief himself, had chosen to rest at a place called Dengaku - hazama, a wooden gorge where they were celebrating their victories in some style. It was territory that Nobunaga knew well and provided the perfect opportunity for a surprise attack.[1]

Battle Edit

Oda Nobunaga took up position at Zenshoji, quite near the Imagawa's fort of Narumi, and directly in line with Dengaku - hazama. Here Nobunaga rigged up a dummy army and led 3,000 men on a circular route through the wooded hills to drop down beside Dengaku - hazama from the north.[2] As the opening stage of a march on the capital, Imagawa Yoshimoto invaded Owari and brought down two of Nobunaga's forts, Wazashi and Marune.[3] The Imagawa army grew complacent and took a break to perform the traditional Head-viewing ceremony in a small wooden revine called Okehazama.[4] As Nobunaga's men drew silently near, a terrific thunderstorm began which cloaked Nobunaga's final movements as the Imagawa troops huddled under trees from the torrential rain. As the clouds blew away, the Oda troops poured into the gorge of Dengaku - hazama. The Imagawa troops were so unprepared for an attack that they fled in all directions leaving Yoshimoto's curtained field headquarters quite unprotected. Imagawa Yoshimoto had so little knowledge of what was going on that he drew the conclusion that a drunken fight had broken out among the men, and seeing a angry looking samurai running towards him, barked out an order for the man to return to his post. He realized that it was one of Nobunaga's men when the samurai aimed a spear - thrust at him but by then it was too late. Yoshimoto himself drew a sword and cut through the shaft of the spear, but before he could any more a second samurai grabbed him and lopped off his head. All but two senior officers of the Imagawa were killed.[5] Hattori Koehita, one of Nobunaga’s men, pierced Yoshimoto with a spear, and Mōri Yoshikatsu, also one of Nobunaga’s men, killed Yoshimoto. It took Nobunaga only two hours to get the victory.[6]

Aftermath Edit

The Imagawa’s dreams for taking Kyoto were shattered and from this point, the Oda began their rise to power. A concrete number for Yoshimoto's strength is difficult to come by, and figures range from 10,000 to 25,000.[7] With this dramatic victory Oda Nobunaga was raised to the front rank of military commanders.[8] In the battle more than 2,500 of Imagawa soldiers were killed. They were buried in Senninkuza by a local Buddhist priest Ryuki Kaioh II of Sogenji Temple.[9]

Gallery Edit