The two were fought during Oda Nobunaga's attempted sieges of the Ishiyama Hongan-ji in

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 ...

. The

Hongan-ji , also archaically romanized as Hongwanji, is the collective name of the largest school of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism (which further sub-divides into the Nishi and Higashi branches). 'Hongan-ji' may also refer to any one of several actual temple bu ...

was the primary fortress of the

Ikkō-ikki were rebellious or autonomous groups of people that were formed in several regions of Japan in the 15th-16th centuries; backed up by the power of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism, they opposed the rule of governors or ''daimyō''. Mainly co ...

, mobs of warrior monks, priests, and farmers who opposed Oda's rule. He ordered one of his admirals,

Kuki Yoshitaka (1542 – November 17, 1600) was a naval commander during Japan's Sengoku Period, under Oda Nobunaga, and later, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He was also the ninth headmaster of the Kuki family's school of martial arts, Kukishin-ryū and thus a very sk ...

, to organize a

blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are leg ...

against the fleets of the Ikki's allies, who sought to supply the fortress and break the siege. Many of the ruling families of the neighboring provinces opposed Oda, chief among them 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 pow ...

First battle (1576)

In the first battle, in 1576, the Mōri navy led by Motoyoshi, son of Murakami Takeyoshi, defeated Kuki Yoshitaka's fleet, breaking the blockade and supplying the fortress. Both sides fought with firearms, a rather new development in Japanese warfare; but Mōri's experience and knowledge of

naval tactics Naval tactics and doctrine is the collective name for methods of engaging and defeating an enemy ship or fleet in battle at sea during naval warfare, the naval equivalent of military tactics on land. Naval tactics are distinct from naval strat ...

was ultimately the deciding factor.

Second battle (1578)

Two years later, the

Ishiyama Hongan-ji The was the primary fortress of the Ikkō-ikki, leagues of warrior priests and commoners who opposed samurai rule during the Sengoku period. It was established in 1496, at the mouth of the Yodo River, on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea. At the t ...

was still under

siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characteriz ...

, and Oda's fleet, with

Takigawa Kazumasu , also known as Sakonshōgen (左近将監), was a samurai retainer and military commander of Oda Nobunaga, and later Toyotomi Hideyoshi, during Japan's Sengoku period. His biological son, Toshimasu, was adopted by Toshihisa and later Kazumasu ...

commanded a

White Ship The ''White Ship'' (french: la Blanche-Nef; Medieval Latin: ''Candida navis'') was a vessel transporting many nobles, including the heir to the English throne, that sank in the Channel during a trip from France to England near the Normandy ...

to accompany the six black ships commanded by

against Mori navy, made another attempt to break the Mōri supply lines. Going against convention, Yoshitaka fought with six very large ''o'atakebune'' ships, rather than a combination of small ('' kobaya''), medium ('' sekibune''), and large ('' adakebune'') craft. Normally, ''atakebune'' were floating wooden fortresses covered in gun and bow emplacements. According to some accounts, it may be believed that these six were ''Tekkōsen'', the first ironclads, and were built such that guns could not penetrate them. However, these crafts probably had limited iron plating in key locations rather than true ironclads, made primarily or entirely of metal. Several Mōri vessels under Murakami Takeyoshi were burned and sunk, and Oda's fleet ultimately achieved victory. The supply lines were broken, and the Hongan-Ji fell soon afterward. However, the Mori discovered an existing flaw in the ''Tekkōsen'' design during this battle. As Mōri samurai rushed to board the large ship, all the defending warriors ran to that side of the deck to defend themselves, and the vessel capsized as its center of gravity shifted. Yoshitaka went on to defeat the Mōri once more the following year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battles Of Kizugawaguchi 1576 in Japan Conflicts in 1576 Kizugawaguchi Mōri clan Kizugawaguchi