Chapter 7: Yoshiaki’s Last Gamble
One of the people Motochika had reached out to in a bid to gain allies against the Oda was former shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki (足利義昭). Ever since Nobunaga had driven him out of Kyoto and ended the Muromachi shogunate (室町幕府) in 1573, he had been exiled in Bingo province (備後国) where he waited for a chance to coalesce anti-Oda forces around him and revive the shogunate. Despite his numerous efforts over the years, Yoshiaki had been completely unsuccessful.
Portrait sketch of Ashikaga Yoshiaki
However, when Motochika sent a letter asking for support in late 1582 in return for the Chosokabe supporting Yoshiaki’s reinstatement as shogun, he saw an opportunity. While in reality Motochika was offering an empty promise to Yoshiaki under opportunistic pretenses, the latter took it seriously and embarked upon his own letter-writing effort. In addition to the pro-Motochika Hatakeyama Masahisa in Kii province that was already considering an attack on Oda lands in Izumi and Kawachi provinces (和泉国, 河内国), Yoshiaki also contacted displaced Mōri vassals in the ceded provinces and even Kikkawa Motoharu, Mōri Terumoto’s uncle who still secretly wished for conflict with the Oda, and planned an uprising of him and other dissatisfied Mōri retainers against Hideyoshi’s forces to coincide with Yoshiaki also taking a stand and Masahisa’s army marching into Oda lands absent of major generals like Akechi Mitsuhide and Ikeda Tsuneoki in March 1583.
Unfortunately for Yoshiaki, Hideyoshi and Terumoto figured out what was going on and swiftly suppressed any rebellious sentiments in the West. Hideyoshi immediately sent a messenger to Azuchi Castle while also sending a few thousand troops towards Yoshiaki. The former shogun, realizing what was happening, fled in disguise to the Hatakeyama, who immediately raised arms against Nobunaga. His army, incorporating Yoshiaki’s supporters as well as the Negoro Temple warrior monks and Saika mercenary regiments (根来衆, 雑賀衆), numbered 20,000, and immediately entered Izumi province.
With no major armies in the areas, Nobunaga charged Oda Nobutada with gathering an initial army of 8,500, with the majority of forces being Yamato province’s (大和国) Tsutsui Junkei’s (筒井順慶) troops, and also requested assistance from Hideyoshi and Katsuie.
Yoshiaki and Masahisa’s first target was the city of Sakai, the Oda clan’s most important trading hub. They started sieging the city in March; however, they faced stiff resistance from Matsui Yuukan (松井友閑), the city’s magistrate, and from the few thousand samurai and townsfolk armed with arquebuses, who prevented Yoshiaki’s forces from crossing the city’s moat. At night, raids were conducted on the camp by both Yuukan and Nobutada, whose army was positioned nearby. The raids wore down Yoshiaki’s army’s morale, especially as the former shogun failed once again to be an inspiring figure.
After two weeks, Masahisa intervened and changed course, choosing instead to chase down the Oda army they still heavily outnumbered. By then, however, Katsuie’s army of 15,000 and Hideyoshi’s army of 10,000 were nearby and Nobutada was able to link up with both, now possessing a grand total of 33,500 troops. Yoshiaki’s, meanwhile, had suffered some casualties and desertions but still numbered 17,000. The two armies would meet at Yamazaki, an area bordering both Settsu and Yamashiro provinces (摂津国, 山城国).
The Ashikaga-Hatakeyama army, which camped on the small Enmyouji River (円明寺川) utilized the warrior monk’s experience with firearms and organized a front line of 5,000 arquebusiers while positioning the cavalry in the wings and the rest of the largely spear-wielding ashigaru infantry behind the arquebusiers. Meanwhile, the Oda army positioned its center and wings across from the Ashikaga’s, with Katsuie manning the left wing, Hideyoshi the right wing, and Nobutada the center. Nobutada also placed a hidden cavalry contingent led by Nagaoka Fujitaka (長岡藤孝) and his son Tadaoki (長岡忠興) on Mt. Tennouzan (天王山), and this would be key in the outcome of the battle.
The battle started with the Oda wings charging first, crashing into the Ashikaga wings despite some gunfire from their arquebusiers. As the Ashikaga cavalry got pushed back, the ashigaru spear infantry assaulted from the sides of the center and for a moment, the battle was a stalemate left and right. Seeing a chance, Nobutada ordered the center to charge, but it was immediately set aback by the arquebusiers in the front row.
At this moment, the Nagaoka contingent rode down from Mt. Tennouzan and flanked the Ashikaga right, scything through the army. The Oda numbers finally turned the tide, the Ashikaga men completely collapsing in the face of the advancing Oda and quickly disintegrating into a completely routed mob. However, the warrior monks refused to surrender, gathering together while surrounded on all sides after the rest of the forces had retreated. They resisted viciously with their matchlocks and naginata polearms, and it is said that every last warrior monk was slain.
Salmon=Oda, Blue= Ashikaga-Hatakeyama
The battle, later known as the Battle of Yamazaki (山崎の戦い), was a complete disaster, and eventually Yoshiaki was captured while retreating. On the orders of Nobunaga, he was beheaded and his head displayed at Rokujougawara (六条河原), a longtime execution ground in Kyoto, as a grisly, mocking way of allowing Yoshiaki to “return” to Kyoto. Thus, the main line of the Ashikaga clan became extinct.
