April 17th, 1565
Fuefuki River, 10 miles from Tsutsujigasaki Palace,Kai Province
The Imagawa march towards Tsutsujigaski Palace, would not go unopposed. The Takeda had received aid from the unlikeliest source Uesugi Kenshin himself.
The Imagawa army had stopped between the meeting point of the Kamanashi and Fuefuki Rivers. Yoshimoto’s senior commanders Okabe Motonobu, Asahina Yasuyoshi, and Sekiguchi Chikanaga, and Udono Nagamochi were given command of the vanguard, rearguard, and flanks respectively. The Imagawa army had several thousand hand gunners with both shields to set up makeshift defenses, and cases for their weapons as recent innovations.
The Imagawa had adopted a gyroin formation, which saw Motonobu’s forces form a semicircle with Yasuyoshi and Chikanaga commanding the flanks. The Uesugi advanced in a loose formation, with the Takeda advancing behind them at a slower pace on the flanks.
The Imagawa sent a small force to screen the Uesugi, both sides had skirmished with archers and muskets before withdrawing as the Uesugi continued to advance. Motonobu's forces continued to remain where they were as the Uesugi finally attacked. The Imagawa and Uesugi largely remained in a stalemate, however, the Uesugi were rotating fresh units of troops to drive and brake the Imagawa center. [1]
the Takeda cavalry had ridden around the Uesugi to the flanks of the Imagawa, with infantry not far behind them. The cavalry had dismounted and join the infantry, with the Takeda forces advancing in waves. The Imagawa had set up makeshift defensive positions with their gunners behind shields and with the rest of the Imagawa flanks as support. The Imagawa had fired off several volleys, to varying degrees of success, but the Takeda had reached the Imagawa flanks. [2]
The fighting saw the Takeda and Uesugi forces making little headway but gradually tiring the Imagawa army. The Takeda's first wave had retreated, while the Uesugi and Takeda sent in fresh troops. The Imagawa had remained in position and withstood the second set of attacks.
Yoshimoto had given orders for the rearguard to move around their own flanks and strike at the Takeda. The attack by the rear guard was followed up with the flanks attacking the Takeda army, the Takeda were driven back allowing detachments from the flanks to relieve the front. The Uesugi army had pulled back to join with the Takeda forces.
Uesugi Kenshin had ridden towards the Takeda army to meet Takeda Shingen.
"This plan of yours has failed Shingen, what are we to do now? The Imagawa seem undaunted in their march," Kenshin had said with an annoyed tone.
"We retreat and let Yoshimoto believe he has won. I will head back to Tsutsujigaski and man the defenses, you are to retreat in a different direction, and start moving towards the palace when I give the signal."
"And if this plan fails too?" asked Kenshin, his tone unchanging.
"Then retreat back to Echigo if need be, that foolish brat will get his wish." Shingen had said with a tone of resignation.
April 18th, 1565
Tsutsujigasaki Palace, Kai Province
The Imagawa Army had besieged Tsutsujigasaki Palace, while not an actual castle it was still formidable in own right. The Imagawa were preparing to assault the castle when the Takeda sallied out catching them off-guard. The Takeda forces charged the Imagawa who only had a little time to organize, with both sides clashing in a disorganized melee. The fighting saw the Imagawa make a temporary withdraw, while the Takeda formed a Kakuyoku formation.
However, the Takeda was not the only threat the Imagawa faced, as the Uesugi were marching from the west. The Imagawa adopting a Ganko formation and shifting their position against the incoming enemy, with the Imagawa gunners hastily forming a screening force. The Uesugi adopted an aggressive Hoshi formation to overwhelm the Imagawa
The Imagawa army had started to spread out to face the combined Takeda-Uesugi armies. With three central units led by Yasuyoshi, Motonobu, and Chikanaga backed by four smaller units and a 3 unit vanguard in front of them, with several clusters of gunners only slightly behind the vanguard.
The Uesugi would advance towards the left unit while the Takeda attacked the vanguard and remaining two units. The initial Takeda attack drove the vanguard back and forced the central and right units together leaving them under threat to be enveloped, while the left unit was in danger of being overwhelmed by the Uesugi. The Imagawa only had four smaller units in reserve to engage the enemy, they split into separate commands of two units. One group would attack the Uesugi and the other group would attack the Takeda.
The force attacking the Takeda struck at one of their formations wings, allowing Motonobu and Chikanaga to counter-attack the Takeda. While Yasuyoshi's unit managed to stop the Uesugi attack to a standstill. Both sides had started to pull back. Both sides had suffered serious losses with the Takeda retreating back to Tsutsujigaski, and the Uesugi preparing the march back towards to Echigo. The Imagawa would opt to retreat rather than risk another battle with the Takeda and Uesugi.
[1] A tactic Kenshin had used at the fourth Battle of Kawanakajima.
[2] Apparently the Takeda cavalry may not have existed as popularly depicted. Most Japanese horses could hardly carry an armored samurai of the period or at least not charge with them, nor did they exist as dedicated cavalry units. so cavalry was either mainly used as dragoons except for troops to dismount and fight or used as horse archers. There is an exception at Nagashino, one unit of Takeda Cavalry did ride quite fast, but they were from Kozuke in Kanto.
A apologize if it has been almost a month, last month was not kind to me at all. More updates are incoming I've taken to adding some improvements to the maps, and an index.