The siege of Katsurayama in March 1557 was fought between the forces of the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

Takeda Shingen , of Kai Province, was a pre-eminent ''daimyō'' in feudal Japan. Known as the "Tiger of Kai", he was one of the most powerful daimyō with exceptional military prestige in the late stage of the Sengoku period. Shingen was a warlord of great ...

and

Uesugi Kenshin , later known as was a Japanese ''daimyō''. He was born in Nagao clan, and after adoption into the Uesugi clan, ruled Echigo Province in the Sengoku period of Japan. He was one of the most powerful ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period. Known as ...

as part of the Kawanakajima campaigns. Katsurayama castle was a strategically vital

Uesugi Uesugi (sometimes written ''Uyesugi'') is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: People *Uesugi clan, a Japanese samurai clan **Uesugi Akisada, (1454–1510), a samurai of the Uesugi clan **Uesugi Harunori (1751–1822), a Jap ...

stronghold in the contested

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

and, when it was isolated from reinforcements due to late snow in early 1557, the

Takeda clan The was a Japanese samurai clan active from the late Heian period until the late 16th century. The clan was historically based in Kai Province in present-day Yamanashi Prefecture. The clan reached its greatest influence under the rule of Taked ...

used this opportunity to attack it. Although the castle garrison, consisting of the Ochiai clan and elements of the Murakami clan, defended Katsurayama furiously, the Takeda forces under

Baba Nobuharu , also known as , was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period. He was known as one of the " Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda Shingen". When Takeda Shingen took Fukashi castle (now Matsumoto Castle) in 1550, he entrusted it to Baba. War Experi ...

eventually stormed into the castle. Most of the garrison was killed in combat, while the families of the defenders committed

mass suicide Mass suicide is a form of suicide, occurring when a group of people simultaneously kill themselves. Overview Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious settings. In war, defeated groups may resort to mass suicide rather than being captured. Su ...

and the castle was burned to the ground.

Background

Before the 1550s,

had acted as buffer between the powerful Takeda and Uesugi clans whose strongholds were located to its south ( Kai Province) and north (

Echigo Province was an old province in north-central Japan, on the shores of the Sea of Japan. It bordered on Uzen, Iwashiro, Kōzuke, Shinano, and Etchū Provinces. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Echigo''" in . It corresponds today to Niigata ...

) respectively. In 1542, however, Takeda Shingen launched a campaign to conquer Shinano, and by 1550 he controlled most of the province's south and center and also directly threatened the Uesugi in Echigo. Uesugi Kenshin consequently advanced into Shinano in order to halt Takeda Shingen's expansionism, resulting in a military conflict between the two that lasted years. The initial confrontations between the rival ''daimyōs'' in 1553–1555 on the Kawanakajima plain in Shinano were inconclusive, however, so that Takeda Shingen decided to focus on a new objective in 1557. Instead of fighting the Uesugi along the Chikumagawa River as he had done so far, he would secure the mountain passes that went from the Kawanakajima plain west to Togakushi, from where he could circumvent and cut off the castles of Iiyama and Takanashi, and then strike into Echigo. In order to take control of the passes up to Togakushi, however, the Takeda first needed to eliminate the Uesugi fortress of Katsurayama, which Kenshin had built in 1553. Katsurayama castle thus became the new primary target for the Takeda forces. Katsurayama was a Japanese mountain castle typical of its time. Built using wood on a mountain peak west of

Zenkō-ji is a Buddhist temple located in the city of Nagano, Japan. The temple was built in the 7th century. The modern city of Nagano began as a town built around the temple. Historically, Zenkō-ji is perhaps most famous for its involvement in the b ...

and north of the Susohanagawa river, it was a well defensible fortress. Relatively small, it had a circular, wooden wall and a strong gatehouse as well as watchtowers. Its garrison consisted of the Ochiai clan and some troops of the Murakami clan, long-standing enemies of the Takeda. The overall commander of Katsurayama was Ochiai Haruyoshi, also known as Ochiai Bitchu no kami, a

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

from

Saku Saku may refer to: Places *Saku, Nagano, a city in Japan *Saku, Nagano (Minamisaku), a town in Japan *Saku Parish, a rural municipality in Harju County, Estonia **Saku, Estonia, a small borough in Saku Parish, Harju County, Estonia *Saku Constituen ...

who was determined to defend his castle at all costs. Despite this, the castle reportedly had one major weakness: while well stocked on food supplies, it lacked a source of fresh water within its walls. Katsurayama thus depended on a spring at Joshoji temple on the lower slopes of its mountain for drinking water. The Takeda forces, however, were unaware of this weakness.

Siege

The perfect opportunity to attack Katsurayama came in early 1557, when late snow made the passes from Echigo into Shinano impassable and thus isolated the castle from Uesugi reinforcements. As a result, a Takeda army of 6,000 samurai and

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 ...

under

, one of the renowned "

Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda Shingen 24 (twenty-four) is the natural number following 23 and preceding 25. The SI prefix for 1024 is yotta (Y), and for 10−24 (i.e., the reciprocal of 1024) yocto (y). These numbers are the largest and smallest number to receive an SI prefix to da ...

", launched an assault on Katsurayama in March 1557. This attack was effectively "a race against time", as the Uesugi would send reinforcements as soon as the thaw set in and the mountain passes were open again, and so the Takeda had to capture the castle before that could happen. Baba Nobufusa

Baba Nobuharu's men repeatedly attempted to scale the walls of Katsurayama, but the castle garrison was able to beat off the attacks. The fighting was fierce, leading to heavy casualties on both sides. Historian Stephen Turnbull notes for example the Takeda samurai Chino Yugeinojo who fought in all the

Battles of Kawanakajima The were a series of battles fought in the Sengoku period of Japan between Takeda Shingen of Kai Province and Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo Province from 1553 to 1564. Shingen and Kenshin contested each other for control of the plain of Kawanakaj ...

and accompanying campaigns, collecting eight heads in total; of these, he took four at Katsurayama alone. As these initial attacks did not succeed, the Takeda army settled into a siege, though it did not occupy the spring near Joshoji temple. The castle thus remained tenuously supplied with drinking water, but their situation remained precarious. Were the Takeda forces to learn of their low supply of clean drinking water, they would know that the garrison could not possibly hold out long enough for Uesugi reinforcements, providing a major advantage to the besiegers. According to popular accounts, the Ochiai consequently decided to deceive the Takeda by pouring white rice from the castle walls. The torrent of rice looked like a waterfall from the Takeda lines, thus fooling the besiegers into thinking that the Katsurayama garrison had such ample water supplies that they could waste them in taunting displays. This ruse was uncovered, however, when the chief priest of Joshoji temple told Baba Nobuharu's army that the castle's only source of water was located near his temple. The Takeda troops consequently occupied the spring at Joshoji, thus cutting off the defenders from fresh water. Turnbull notes that this story, though not unlikely, might be legendary and based on accounts of other sieges in Japanese history. In any case, the Takeda eventually made one final attempt to storm the castle. This time, the attackers managed to set fire to the castle buildings, and thus broke Katsurayama's defenses. Baba Nobuharu's men then launched a final assault, overrunning the last Ochiai and Murakami soldiers who died fighting in a

last stand A last stand is a military situation in which a body of troops holds a defensive position in the face of overwhelming and virtually insurmountable odds. Troops may make a last stand due to a sense of duty; because they are defending a tactic ...

alongside their commander Ochiai Haruyoshi. With the majority of the castle garrison killed in combat, the wives, female attendants and children of the defenders committed

by jumping off the mountain cliffs. Katsurayama castle was burned down completely, ending the "long and desperate struggle".

Aftermath

The destruction of Katsurayama castle allowed the Takeda forces to advance into the mountains, where they captured Nagahama castle on the borders of Echigo. Nagahama controlled one of the crucial passes into Uesugi-held lands and also allowed the Takeda to seize the nearby

Togakushi Shrine The is a Shinto shrine in Togakushi, Nagano (city), Nagano Prefecture, Japan. The shrine is at the base of Mount Togakushi () in Myōkō-Togakushi Renzan National Park. Togakushi Shrine consists of five shrines, known as the lower, middle, ...

, thus boosting both the military situation as well as the morale of the Takeda clan. From there, the Takeda army advanced against Iiyama castle in the east and besieged it. This time, however, the Uesugi army managed to relieve the castle garrison in late April 1557, forcing the Takeda to retreat. Consequent maneuvers by the opposing armies resulted in the Third Battle of Kawanakajima, or Battle of Uenohara, in August/September 1557. More a series of skirmishes than a major confrontation, this battle was inconclusive. Nevertheless, the destruction of Katsurayama and capture of Nagahama furthered Takeda control over Shinano Province, and, when the Takeda–Uesugi conflict was concluded in 1564, the Takeda firmly held almost all of Shinano.

Notes

References

Bibliography