The Battle of Muraki Castle (January 24, 1554) was one of the first victories of the young Oda Nobunaga in his struggle to unite the province of Owari against the powerful

Imagawa clan was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji by way of the Kawachi Genji. It was a branch of the Minamoto clan by the Ashikaga clan. Origins Ashikaga Kuniuji, grandson of Ashikaga Yoshiuji, established himself in ...

, whose army had invaded the eastern parts of Owari.

Background

In the spring of 1552, the seventeen-year-old Oda Nobunaga inherited family estates in the southwestern part of Owari Province (around Nagoya Castle). The southern parts of the province were ruled by his cousins, Oda from Kiyosu Castle. The eastern parts were ruled by the powerful Imagawa clan, who at the time also ruled the neighboring provinces of Mikawa, Totomi and Suruga, and by their vassals, the Matsudaira clan (later Tokugawa) from Mikawa. Also in the spring of 1552, a civil war began between Oda Nobunaga and Oda of Kiyosu in Owari. In response, the Imagawa clan moved west and built Muraki Castle in the southeast of Owari, besieging one of Nobunaga's vassals, Mizuno Nobumoto (uncle of Tokugawa Ieyasu), in his castle of Ogawa. Another vassal was persuaded to surrender the castle of Terumoto, cutting off Ogawa from the rest of the Nobunaga's territory.

Battle

Oda Nobunaga enlisted the help of his father in law Saito Dosan, lord of the province of

Mino Mino may refer to: Places in Japan * Mino, Gifu, a city in Gifu Prefecture * Mino, Kagawa, a former town in Kagawa Prefecture * Mino, Tokushima, a town in Tokushima Prefecture * Mino, an alternate spelling of Minoh, a city in Osaka Prefecture * Mi ...

. Dosan immediately sent him 1,000 samurai, which Nobunaga left to protect Nagoya from the Oda of Kiyosu, and Nobunaga embarked his army 800

ashigaru were infantry employed by the samurai class of feudal Japan. The first known reference to ''ashigaru'' was in the 14th century, but it was during the Ashikaga shogunate (Muromachi period) that the use of ''ashigaru'' became prevalent by various ...

armed with long spears and 500 ashigaru with

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 ...

es (which at that time were still new weapons in Japan only imported in 1543) on the ships in Atsuta port south of Nagoya and sailed 13 miles along the

Ise Bay is a bay located at the mouth of the Kiso Three Rivers between Mie and Aichi Prefectures in Japan. Ise Bay has an average depth of and a maximum depth of . The mouth of the bay is and is connected to the smaller Mikawa Bay by two channels: ...

, landing southwest of the Ogawa Castle. After personally marching to Ogawa Castle to be informed by

Mizuno Nobumoto was a daimyō of Japan's Sengoku period. He was a son of Mizuno Tadamasa, and brother of Mizuno Tadashige. He is Tokugawa Ieyasu's uncle through Matsudaira Hirotada's marriage to his sister, Odai no Kata. In 1542, Nobumoto sided with Oda Nobuhid ...

about the situation, Nobunaga marched his army north and attacked the Imagawa forces in the Muraki Castle. Battle of Muraki was the first to demonstrate Nobunaga's military talent, not only was a naval landing on the

Chita Peninsula Chita Peninsula (知多半島 ''Chita Hantō'') is a peninsula to the south of Aichi Prefecture, central Honshū, Japan. It runs approximately north-south. To the west is Ise Bay, while to the east it encloses Mikawa Bay. It faces the Atsumi ...

well organized, but Nobunaga's arquebusiers applied coordinated reloading and volley fire in rotating platoons, which maintained the ramparts of the castle under continuous fire. The ferocity of the gunfire frightened defenders so much that they surrendered on the first call. The next day Nobunaga took the Terumoto Castle in the same way, burnt it to the ground and exterminated its owners, in order to show his vassals the consequence of betrayal. Then he retreated to Nagoya Castle and Nobunaga gave his thanks to Dosan's troops under Ando Morinari. later Morinari and his troops returned to Mino.

Aftermath

Defeating the threat of the powerful Imagawa clan, Nobunaga gained a great reputation in Owari and got a free hand for the final showdown with

Oda Nobutomo was a Japanese warlord during the Sengoku period. He was head of the Kiyosu Oda faction of the Oda clan, and ruled the four southern districts of Owari Province as '' shugodai''. After Oda Nobuhide died in 1551, Nobuhide's son Nobunaga was in ...

of Kiyosu. Three months later, Oda Nobunaga took Kiyosu Castle by treachery and united southern half of Owari It is said Nobunaga shed tears at the scene of mayhem, because many of his retainers killed in this battle.

References

Literature

* * * * {{Cite book , last=Turnbull , first=Stephen R. , url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50564411 , title=War in Japan 1467-1615 , date=2002 , publisher=Osprey , isbn=1-84176-480-9 , location=Oxford , pages=18 , oclc=50564411 Muraki Castle Muraki Castle