Kawanakajima
In 1561, warlords Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin had one rare chance to prove their mettle and claim dominance over Japan's largest island
Blow-by-blow of this samurai showdown
THE KAWANAKAJIMA PLAIN IN SHINANO 16-17 OCTOBER 1561
It was the height of the Sengoku Jidai (1467 CE-1603 CE), the terrible age when Japan’s imperial system nearly collapsed among feuding warlords. As powerful samurai families vied for supremacy, either by supplanting their betters or conquering enemy domains, one particular rivalry echoed through the centuries to be hailed as an indelible part of Japan’s national heritage. At the time of the Sengoku, two great houses, one led by a relentless military strategist and the other by a pious warrior, sought to expand their territory along the western edge of the Kanto Plain on the main island of Honshu. The struggle would drag on for 11 years.
In the province of Shinano there was an empty plain called Kawanakajima where the Sai and Chikuma rivers met. It was over this terrain that the armies belonging to Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin faced each other on numerous occasions, but they never committed the full might of their samurai on a decisive battle. The reason for their enmity was direct control of Shinano; the Takeda clan wanted it added to their domain while the Uesugi deemed it a useful buffer to protect their own province, Echigo. In 1555, the two armies even camped on opposite ends of Kawanakajima waiting several months for the perfect opportunity to conclude a siege. Despite the fact that the Takeda were on the defensive and had the advantage of possessing firearms, no decisive chance came and the armies withdrew at the onset of winter. Years passed, and in September 1861 Uesugi Kenshin was confident enough to once again mobilise his samurai and march from his fortress by the sea, Kasugayama. Echigo had prospered under his rule and he was well-regarded for his courage and loyalty. Born under the name Nagao Kagetora into a family of samurai retainers, the future Daimyo was made an honorary member of the Uesugi clan and adopted the name ‘Kenshin’ upon taking a Buddhist monk’s holy vows. Unlike many other warlords in the Sengoku era, he had no ambitions to vie for Kyoto, the Imperial capital and seat of the Ashikaga Shogunate that had perished decades before. Instead, the best years of his life were spent thwarting his nemesis, Takeda Shingen.
Kenchin’s older rival was a formidable adversary who aspired to conquer a sizeable domain, surpassing that which he inherited from his kinsmen, whom he had imprisoned and usurped to secure his own leadership over the landlocked province of Kai. Barely 15 years old during his first battle, by the age of 40 Takeda Haronobu’s hardearned experience and temperament made him feared throughout Japan.
Like Kenshin, he chose to rebrand his public persona with the Buddhist appellation ‘Shingen’ to embellish his stature as a local ruler. Although an unrelenting taskmaster to his own samurai, Shingen cultivated a reputation for fairness when dealing with his subjects. But since he was never content with just the province of Kai, Shingen thought it paramount to seize a larger swathe of land in the west nearer the sea. This meant subduing the province of Shinano and the idyllic Kawanakajima plain with it, since it could be used as a viable route for commercial and logistical traffic.
Despite his successful attacks on Shinano that drove its rulers to exile, Takeda Shingen had little control over Kawanakajima and its mountains. For the sake of expedience, he maintained a fortress with a commanding view over the Chikuma river. This stronghold, called Eizo, was a modest affair by the standards of the time but it could support several thousand samurai and had ramparts strong enough for withstanding a siege. Unknown to Takeda Shingen, his arch nemesis Uesugi Kenshin
was already on the march and Eizo’s token garrison was insufficient to repel a determined push from the other side of the Chikuma river. In the beginning of October a Takeda army, 20,000 strong, marched to the likeliest site for a decisive clash – Kawanakajima. A nominal alliance with the Hojo clan from the province of Odawara to the north, who were also feuding with the Uesugi in Echigo, provided a good enough casus belli.
By 15 October both armies were in close enough proximity for valuable intelligence to be gathered by each side. Takeda Shingen even observed the march of the Uesugi from his side of the Chikuma river. Once secure in the Eizo fortress Shingen was informed by his trusted military strategist Yamamoto Kansuke that the Uesugi army was encamped in the Saijoyama heights to the south east. This was clear proof of Uesugi Kenshin’s own intelligence. Holding elevated ground surrounded by forest, his army was almost impervious from attack. But the strategist Kansuke convinced his master that a narrow pass could be exploited for a raid on the Uesugi camp. Give him the right men, the Takeda strategist explained, and he would drive the Uesugi down to Kawanakajima.
Takeda Shingen recognised the tactics at play as described by his strategist. It was like a hunt, where the beasts are driven from their woodland hideouts to flee. As they rush over open ground in a brute panic, armed men blocking their path are at the ready for the ensuing slaughter. The Uesugi should meet the same fate. Once in disarray as they escaped the Saijoyama heights, the fastest way to the safety of their lands was over the rivers. Takeda Shingen applauded his strategist and decided to lay the trap himself. From Eizo he would march the bulk of his samurai to the Chikuma river’s western bank awaiting the Uesugi rout. Yamamoto Kansuke, on the other hand, assigned 12,000 samurai to a trusted general, Kosaka Masonobu, with overrunning the Uesugi encampment in a surprise attack.
Turning the tables
Unknown to the occupants of the Eizo fortress their strategy was compromised before it even began. The daimyos (minor nobles under the shogun) and upstarts who bickered throughout Japan spent fortunes on their samurais’ equipment – the Sengoku era saw the adoption of locally made Tanegashima muskets and other firearms – but placed greater value on critical intelligence. After all, outsmarting one’s enemies could produce a greater effect than a mere battle over open ground. So on the same night the Takeda army set out from Eizo fortress, Uesugi Kenshin led his army down from Saijoyama.
How exactly Kenshin guessed his rival’s plans has never been discovered. Perhaps a spy within Takeda Singen’s inner circle had relayed his latest findings to the Uesugis. Yet conclusive evidence of this betrayal is non-existent. It could have been a combination of decisiveness and wits for Kenshin. Indeed the discipline of his army was such that an evacuation involving 18,000 samurai went unnoticed. Before daybreak the Uesugi army had traveled down Saijoyama and crossed the Chikuma river. Prudence dictated that the army’s rear must be guarded, so Kenshin left 1,000 cavalrymen at a landmark called Amakasu.
Meanwhile, in the early morning of 17 October, an excited Takeda Shingen had arranged his 8,000 strong blocking force on the Kawanakajima plain ready to smash the fleeing Uesugi once Masonobu effected their retreat from the Saijoyama heights. The leader of the Takedas was so confident of victory that he remained seated in the small enclosure that
“BARELY 15 YEARS OLD DURING HIS FIRST BATTLE, BY THE AGE OF 40 TAKEDA HARONOBU’S HARD-EARNED EXPERIENCE AND TEMPERAMENT MADE HIM FEARED THROUGHOUT JAPAN”
served as his command post while deferential subordinates reported to him. An impenetrable fog had crept down from the nearby mountains and covered the battlefield in haze as the Takeda army waited in absolute silence. Soon, ever so slowly, the fog lifted and a worrisome noise reached the arrayed samurai. It was the ominous rumble of approaching cavalry and once the banners held aloft by the horsemen could be seen it became apparent to the Takeda their day would not be easy. The Uesugi were rushing toward them, lances and bows at the ready, and Masonobu’s own pursuit was nowhere to be seen.
What became the Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima spanned a single dreadful day. Separated from more than half their number, the Takeda samurai put up a valiant defence with their swords and spears. The Uesugi exerted themselves too, albeit in successive charges at their stubborn opponents. This tactic meant the Uesugi cavalry struck the immobile Takeda until their arrows and stamina were depleted, compelling a sudden withdrawal. Rather than allow for a moment’s reprieve, another wave of cavalry descended on the Takeda, who refused to scatter in their leader’s presence.
The singular moment of the battle involved Takeda Shingen’s near death at the hands of Uesugi Kenshin, who had stormed his enemy’s command post. Still astride his mount, Kenshin led a small retinue of cavalry and rushed the position. Rather than face a wall of loyal Takeda samurai, the enclosure was almost deserted except for Shingen himself, who was startled by Kenshin’s sudden appearance. Not missing the opportunity, Kenshin slashed at the Takeda daimyo, hoping to deliver a mortal blow. But Shingen, attired in full body armour complete with ornamental horns over his brow, blocked Kenshin’s sword with his sturdy two-sided fan, which functioned more like a commander’s baton. Before Kinshen could trample on the straining Shingen or swing his sword again to decapitate the Takeda daimyo, his horse was wounded by a spearman.
Dramatic reproductions of the Fourth Battle later contrived a separate episode involving the Takeda and Uesugi leaders. At an unspecified moment, Shingen was able to mount his horse and lead a counter-attack on the Uesugi, but was chased away by a relentless Kenshin whose head was wrapped in a white towel. This was atypical for mounted warriors, except that Kenshin was a devout Buddhist who donned religious garb even in combat. Wading
“SHINGEN, ATTIRED IN FULL BODY ARMOUR COMPLETE WITH ORNAMENTAL HORNS OVER HIS BROW, BLOCKED KENSHIN’S SWORD WITH HIS STURDY TWO-SIDED FAN”
into the Chikuma river, the two warlords slashed at each other with their swords. But the youthful Kenshin, who was just 31 years old to Shingen’s 40, overpowered his rival and struck the Takeda daimyo’s shoulder. Before the injured Shingen collapsed into the rushing currents beneath him, a group of Takeda samurai surrounded Kenshin and drove him away.
What almost ended the battle was the shambolic arrival of the 12,000 strong contingent led by Yosaka Masonobu, who were earlier tasked with attacking the Uesugi camped at Saijoyama. Upon discovering the position vacant, a worried Mosonobu led his samurai down the same mountain trail to reach the Kawanakajima plain below.
Their momentum was almost halted by a strong detachment of 1,000 Uesugi samurai guarding a crossing on the Chikuma river. Sheer force of numbers allowed the Takeda to prevail and they soon caught up with the Uesugi. It seemed as if an encirclement was underway yet before noon the tireless Kenshin had reorganised his formations and effected a clean withdrawal.
Nothing resolved
Distraught at his part in the failed Takeda plan, Yamamoto Kansuke led a final suicidal charge against the Uesugi in a bid to protect his master. Shingen’s own brother Nobushige was killed in the ensuing combat when the Uesugi cavalry fell upon the Takeda by the river. Many favoured generals and veterans were among the dead that littered the plain.
“IT SEEMED AS IF AN ENCIRCLEMENT WAS UNDERWAY YET BEFORE NOON THE TIRELESS KENSHIN HAD REORGANISED HIS FORMATIONS AND EFFECTED A CLEAN WITHDRAWAL”
No proper account of casualties on either side has ever been tallied in Japanese historical records. Neither did the Takeda and Uesugi leaders bother to write memoirs that detailed their own memories of the Kawanakajima campaigns. But the intensity of the showdown near the Chikuma river may have killed several thousand samurai. Such casualties were well above the usual battlefield losses during the Sengoku period, when daimyos preferred small clashes over great set piece engagements.
Neither the exhausted Takedas nor the battered Uesugis attained a clear victory on the fateful day. Still brooding over the battle’s outcome, Takeda Shingen returned to his province after collecting the severed heads of Uesugi samurai as trophies. But Uesugi Kenshin survived and control over the Kawanakajima plain was undecided. Two years passed before another clash occurred near the site of the fourth battle, but the actions that transpired then proved insignificant.
Fate rendered cruel judgment on the two warlords. For Takeda Shingen, no conquest
was too far-fetched and he perished during a siege of a castle held by Oda Nobunaga, then the most powerful warlord in Japan.
The Takedas’s power finally ebbed after the disastrous Battle of Nagashino in 1575 when Shingen’s son and heir led the clan’s legions against their familiar enemy, Nobunaga, and lost countless samurai to musket fire arrayed behind palisades.
However, the Uesugi fared worse. Kenshin died in suspicious circumstances at the age of 49. One version of his demise recounts how a ninja waited in a lavatory for his target to arrive. When the chance presented itself, a mortal wound was dealt to the Uesugi leader – it’s debatable whether the killing blow was a knife to Kenshin’s rectum or some other sensitive part of his anatomy.
The legacy of the struggle for Kawanakajima, including the celebrated Fourth Battle where the Takeda and Uesugi armies fought to exhaustion, is ambiguous at best. While it ranks among the larger engagements during the Sengoku period, it had little impact on the course of Japan’s history. The rise of the warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1603 marked the definitive end of the Sengoku period as another Shogunate was established, achieving for that which Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi strived. The ensuing Edo period, its name taken from the Tokugawa capital, lasted three centuries and saw a flourishing of the arts. Depictions of the Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima date to the 19th century when woodblock printing encompassed different genres, including historical topics. It was in this later period when the drama and symbolism around the rivalry between the Takeda and Uesugi was popularised.
A familiar scene that has been interpreted for generations is the personal duel between a shocked Takeda Shingen and a furious
Uesugi Kenshin. Shingen using his fan to block Kenshin’s sword blows lends a touch of humour and poignancy in creative retelling yet it’s curious how primary accounts that should describe the incident as it happened have never surfaced.
Even if it had little impact on Japan’s history, the Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima is useful for the lessons it imparts. Foremost is the value of sound intelligence for leaders who must decide quickly. Whatever methods and resources were at his disposal, Uesugi Kenshin turned a disadvantageous situation around and surprised his enemy by leading his forces out of the Saijoyama heights. In the process he deceived one part of the Takeda army and launched a surprise attack on the his rival in the Kawanakajima plain. Another timeless insight is knowing when to be flexible in difficult circumstances. Takeda Shingen had been overconfident about his plan to entrap the Uesugi, but once his samurai were caught between the Chikuma river and the attacking enemy, adaptation meant survival. The Takeda samurai did manage to hold off the Uesugis long enough to partially encircle them. But Uesugi Kenshi was wise enough to not press on and ordered a withdrawal that saved the bulk of his army.
Whether as a cultural artefact or a masterclass in strategic thinking and prudent leadership, the Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima will be remembered for generations.