The was fought in 1582 in Yamazaki,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, located in current-day Kyoto Prefecture. This battle is sometimes referred to as the Battle of Mt. Tennō (天王山の戦い ''Tennō-zan no tatakai''). In the

Honnō-ji Incident The was an attempt to assassinate Japanese daimyo Oda Nobunaga at the Honnō-ji temple in Kyoto on 21 June 1582, resulting in the suicide by '' seppuku'' of both Nobunaga and his son Oda Nobutada. The unprotected Nobunaga was ambushed by ...

Akechi Mitsuhide , first called Jūbei from his clan and later from his title, was a Japanese ''samurai'' general of the Sengoku period best known as the assassin of Oda Nobunaga. Mitsuhide was a bodyguard of Ashikaga Yoshiaki and later a successful general under ...

, a retainer of

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

, attacked Nobunaga as he rested in

Honnō-ji is a temple of the Nichiren branch of Buddhism located in Kyoto, Japan. Honnō-ji incident Honnō-ji is most famous for the Honnō-ji incident – the assassination of Oda Nobunaga – that occurred there on 21 June 1582. Nobunaga lodged at ...

, and forced him to commit ''

seppuku , sometimes referred to as hara-kiri (, , a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour but was also practised by other Japanese people ...

''. Mitsuhide then took over Nobunaga's power and authority around the Kyoto area. Thirteen days later, Oda's forces under

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

met Mitsuhide at Yamazaki and defeated him, avenging his lord (Nobunaga) and taking Nobunaga's authority and power for himself.

Background

War Council Before the Battle of Yamazaki

Honnō-ji Incident

When Nobunaga died, Hideyoshi was busy fighting the

Mōri clan The Mōri clan (毛利氏 ''Mōri-shi'') was a Japanese samurai clan descended from Ōe no Hiromoto. Ōe no Hiromoto was descended from the Fujiwara clan. The family's most illustrious member, Mōri Motonari, greatly expanded the clan's power ...

in the

Siege of Takamatsu In the 1582 , Toyotomi Hideyoshi laid siege to Takamatsu Castle, which was controlled by the Mōri clan. He diverted a nearby river with dikes to surround and flood the castle. He also constructed towers on barges from which his gunmen could ...

. After betraying and defeating Nobunaga at

, Mitsuhide sent a letter to the Mōri. The letter contained a request for an alliance to crush Hideyoshi, but the letter's messenger was intercepted by Hideyoshi's forces and the plot was revealed.

Great Chugoku retreat

Upon hearing news that Nobunaga had been killed, and that Akechi Mitsuhide had taken command of his possessions,

Hashiba Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

immediately negotiated a peace treaty with the Mōri by demanding the

Shimizu Muneharu , also known as , was a military commander during the Sengoku period. He served the Mōri clan (one of the powerful clans in Bitchu Province) as a retainer to Kobayakawa Takakage and took part in the expedition to unify the Chūgoku region. He w ...

from

Takamatsu 270px, Takamatsu City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Takamatsu city center 270px, View from Yashima to Takashima port is a city located in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 414,134 in 190120 households and a popul ...

, and remained careful to keep Nobunaga's death a secret. Once the treaty was secured, on 25 June, Hideyoshi's forces retreated from Chugoku region and he led his troops on a forced march towards

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the c ...

, covering up to 40 km a day, spending the night at his

Himeji Castle is a hilltop Japanese castle complex situated in the city of Himeji which is located in the Hyōgo Prefecture of Japan. The castle is regarded as the finest surviving example of prototypical Japanese castle architecture, comprising a network o ...

, and reaching

Amagasaki 270px, Amagasaki Castle 270px, Aerial view of Amagasaki city center 270px, Amagasaki Station is an industrial city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 455,555 in 223812 households, and a population ...

on 29 June.

Niwa Nagahide , also known as Gorōzaemon (五郎左衛門), his other legal alias was Hashiba Echizen no Kami (羽柴越前守), was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku through Azuchi-Momoyama periods of the 16th century. He served as senior retainer to the ...

and

Oda Nobutaka was a samurai and member of the Oda clan. He was adopted as the head of the Kanbe clan, which ruled the middle region of Ise Province and so he was also called Kanbe Nobutaka (神戸信孝). Biography Nobutaka was born as the third son of Od ...

joined him as he passed through

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

Prelude

Akechi Mitsuhide controlled two castles ( Shōryūji and Yodo) in the Yamazaki region. Learning of the size of Hideyoshi's army and not wanting to be caught inside a castle with his force divided, Mitsuhide resolved to prepare for battle somewhere to the south. Due to its position between a river and a mountain, Yamazaki provided Mitsuhide with choke points that could ease the number of enemies his forces would have to face at any one time. Meanwhile, Hideyoshi decided that a wooded area called

Mount Tennōzan , or simply Tennōzan, is a mountain in Ōyamazaki, Kyoto, Japan. The name originates from a shrine on the mountain dedicated to Gozutennō. History Throughout history, the mountain was a place of great strategic importance due to its location ...

, just outside the town of Yamazaki, was key to strategic control of the road to Kyoto. He sent a detachment under Nakagawa Kiyohide to secure this area, while he led the majority of the army to Yamazaki himself. His forces took over the mountain and gained a significant advantage. Mitsuhide arranged his army behind a small river (the Enmyōji-gawa), which provided an excellent defensive position. On the night of 1 July, Hideyoshi's generals

Nakamura Kazuuji Nakamura may refer to: Places *Nakamura, Kōchi, a former city in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan *Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, a ward in Nagoya city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan People *Nakamura (surname), a list of people with the surname Other uses *Nakamura s ...

and

Horio Yoshiharu was a Japanese '' daimyō'' during the Azuchi–Momoyama and Edo periods. He was appointed to the position of one of san-''chūrō'' (three arbiters) by Toyotomi Hideyoshi along with Ikoma Chikamasa and Nakamura Kazuuji. He was the first ...

sent a number of ''

ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance, espionage, infiltration, deception, ambush, bodyguarding and their fighting skills in martial arts, including ninjutsu.Kawakami, pp. 2 ...

'' into the Mitsuhide camp, setting fire to buildings and generally causing fear and confusion, and therefore robbing the enemy of their sleep for most of the night.

The Battle

On the following morning, the main fighting began as Hideyoshi's men began to form up along the opposite shore of the Enmyōji-gawa from the enemy, and a portion of Mitsuhide's samurai, led by

Matsuda Masachika (died 1582) was a member of the Japanese Akechi clan. Masachika was born into a prestigious family of the Tanba Province region and lived during the 16th-century Sengoku period and the early years of the Azuchi–Momoyama period. In 1582, fo ...

and Nabika Kamon, crossed the river, seeking to make their way up the wooded Tennōzan hill. They were driven back by

arquebus An arquebus ( ) is a form of long gun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier. Although the term ''arquebus'', derived from the Dutch word ''Haakbus ...

fire, and so Hideyoshi felt confident enough to launch the right wing of his forces, under the command of Kato Mitsuyasu and

Ikeda Tsuneoki , also known as Ikeda Nobuteru (池田信輝), was an Ikeda clan ''daimyō'' and military commander under Oda Nobunaga during the Sengoku period and Azuchi–Momoyama periods of 16th-century Japan. He was a retainer of the famous warlords Oda N ...

, across the river, and into Mitsuhide's front lines. They made some progress, and were soon joined by the left wing, with support from atop

. The majority of Mitsuhide's men fled, with the exception of the 200 men under Mimaki Kaneaki, who charged and were destroyed by Hideyoshi's larger force. Soon, panic set in among the Akechi army, and Hideyoshi's army chased them back to Shōryūji, where the garrison collapsed. Mitsuhide himself fled much further, to the town of Ogurusu, where he was killed by a gang of bandits. Mitsuhide is thought to have been killed by a bandit known as Nakamura about two weeks after the battle.

In popular culture

The Battle of Yamazaki is the final stage of Akechi Mitsuhide in ''

Samurai Warriors is the first title in the series of hack and slash video games created by Koei's Omega Force team based closely around the Sengoku ("Warring States") period of Japanese history and it is a sister series of the ''Dynasty Warriors'' series, relea ...

'' and the first stage of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in ''

Samurai Warriors 2 is a sequel to the original ''Samurai Warriors'', created by Koei and Omega Force. The game was released in 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360, and ported to Microsoft Windows in 2008. Like the ''Dynasty Warriors'' series, an ''Empires'' e ...

''. It also features as a campaign map in '' The Conquerors'' expansion of the real-time strategy game ''

Age of Empires II ''Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings'' is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Released in 1999 for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh, it is the second game in the '' Age of Empires'' series. ...

''. The battle is also the basis for the

Sonny Chiba , known internationally as Sonny Chiba, was a Japanese actor and martial artist. Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in Japan and later before an international audience. Born in Fuku ...

martial arts film ''

Shogun's Ninja also known as Ninja Bugeichō Momochi Sandayū is a 1980 Japanese film directed by Norifumi Suzuki. Hiroyuki Sanada landed his first lead role in the film. Plot Toyotomi Hideyoshi sends Shiranui Shōgen to Iga in search of the Momochi clan's ...

''.