Oda clan victory
22-632: The Battle of Okehazama ( 桶狭間の戦い , Okehazama-no-tatakai ) took place on 12 June 1560 in Owari Province , in today's Aichi Prefecture . In this battle, the heavily outnumbered Oda clan troops, commanded by Oda Nobunaga , defeated Imagawa Yoshimoto and established Oda as one of the front-running warlords in the Sengoku period . In 1560, Imagawa Yoshimoto, a powerful warlord who controlled Suruga , Tōtōmi , and Mikawa Provinces amassed an army of 25,000 men to march on Kyoto to challenge
44-529: A passage from the song "Atsumori" and intoned, "Man has but 50 years, and life is but a dream." He donned his armor, wolfed down a bowl of rice porridge while he was still standing, and departed. Nobunaga led his men in person from Kiyosu via Atsuta Shrine to a fortified temple called Zenshō-ji, a short distance away from Okehazama, on the other side of the Tōkaidō road. To bluff any Imagawa scouts, Nobunaga ordered his men to set up numerous flags and banners around
66-526: A powerful “Owari clan”, vaguely related to, or allied with the Yamato clan , who built massive kofun burial mounds in several locations within the province, from which archaeologists have recovered bronze artifacts and mirrors dating from the 4th century. Atsuta Shrine is of very ancient origin, ranking with Ise Shrine in importance, and is the repository of one of the Imperial Regalia of Japan ,
88-461: Is said to have fought off one attack by the spear wielding Mori Shinsuke, cutting through the Oda samurai’s spear, and into the man’s knee. He was then tackled by a second Oda samurai, Hattori Koheita, who promptly took the general's head. With their leader and all but two of the senior officers killed, the remaining Imagawa troops either surrendered or fled. The Battle of Okehazama is regarded as one of
110-652: The Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi . Under the Engishiki classification system, Owari was divided into eight counties, which persisted as administrative units into the Edo period . The exact location of the provincial capital is not known, but is traditionally considered to have been located in what is now the city of Inazawa , although the Ichinomiya of the province is located in what is now Ichinomiya . During
132-530: The Heian period , the province was divided into numerous shōen controlled by local samurai clans. However, by the Sengoku period , the province had fragmented into many small territories largely dominated by the Oda clan . Under Oda Nobunaga , the province was reunified. Nobunaga began his campaign to reunify Japan from his stronghold at Kiyosu Castle . and many of his retainers (who later became daimyōs under
154-652: The Tokugawa shogunate ) were natives of Owari, including Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Katō Kiyomasa . Under Tokugawa Ieyasu , the province was assigned as a feudal domain to his ninth son, Tokugawa Yoshinao with official revenues of 619,500 koku , the largest domain in the Tokugawa clan holdings outside of the shogunate itself. Yoshinao was founder of the Owari Tokugawa clan , one of the Gosanke , which had
176-523: The Oda forces made a flanking maneuver and attacked the Imagawa army at Dengaku-hazama from the north. However, familiarity of the Oda forces with the terrain and Nobunaga's propensity for aggressive tactics make many modern historians theorize that the attack was actually a frontal assault on Yoshimoto's camp, either by design or by accident. In any event, the Imagawa army was caught by surprise. The Imagawa were celebrating their recent easy victories, and as
198-582: The Warring States period During the Sengoku period in the 1540s and 1550s, Yoshimoto Imagawa attempted to establish his clan as the strongest in eastern Japan. However, after the death of Yoshimoto at the Battle of Okehazama in 1560, many Imagawa officers defected to other clans. Once a powerful clan. Within a decade, the clan had lost its entire land holdings to the Tokugawa and Takeda clans. The Imagawa subsequently became masters of ceremonies in
220-564: The Zenshō-ji to give the appearance of a much larger force. The actual sequence of events of the Battle of Okehazama has been much embellished by legend and is historically unclear. Traditionally it has been held that the vast discrepancy in numbers caused Nobunaga and his men on June 12 to secret themselves into position in an area known as Kamagatani on the other side of the Imagawa’s main camp, and
242-468: The afternoon was very hot, many had removed their armor. Using a thunderstorm to mask their movements, the Oda troops struck hard at the heart of the Imagawa camp, which was in a narrow valley. The surprise attack caused a panic and the Imagawa troops broke ranks and many attempted to flee. Imagawa Yoshimoto, unaware of what was transpiring, heard the noise and emerged from his tent shouting at his men to quit their drunken revelry and return to their posts. By
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#1732766029266264-431: The battlefield, Okehazama Kosenjō , a National Historic Site of Japan . Located at Minamiyakata, Sakae-cho, Toyoake City , the site hosts The Shichikokuhyo, or Seven Granite Pillars, with each pillar representing Yoshimoto's seven warlords. The first of the pillars bears the words, "Imagawa Yoshimoto was killed here." The battlefield is now a park. Owari Province Owari Province ( 尾張国 , Owari no Kuni )
286-510: The hereditary right of succession to the position of shōgun should the main line fail. The castle town of Nagoya prospered during this period, and Owari Province was especially known for its ceramics industry. Following the abolition of the han system in 1871 after the Meiji Restoration , former Owari Domain and Inuyama Domain were transformed into short-lived prefectures, which were joined with Nukata Prefecture , which
308-511: The increasingly weak and ineffective Ashikaga shogunate for control of the country. The army followed the route of the Tōkaidō highway, and crossed from Mikawa into Owari province, which had recently been united by the local warlord Oda Nobunaga . The 25,000 Imagawa forces quickly overran the Oda's border fortresses of Washizu, Matsudaira forces led by Matsudaira Motoyasu took Marune fortress , and Yoshimoto set up camp at Dengakuhazama, located in
330-589: The most significant turning points in Japanese history. The Imagawa clan was greatly weakened and would soon be destroyed by its neighbors. Oda Nobunaga gained greatly in prestige, and many samurai and minor warlords (including Imagawa's former retainer, Matsudaira Motoyasu, the future Tokugawa Ieyasu ) pledged fealty. The battle was the first time Nobunaga noticed the talents of the sandal-bearer Kinoshita Tōkichirō, who would eventually become Toyotomi Hideyoshi . In 1937, Japan's Ministry of Education designated
352-669: The provinces of the Tōkaidō . Under the Engishiki classification system, Owari was ranked as a "superior country" (上国) and a "near country" (近国), in relation to its distance from the capital. Owari is mentioned in records of the Nara period , including the Kujiki , although the area has been settled since at least the Japanese Paleolithic period, as evidenced by numerous remains found by archaeologists. Early records mention
374-488: The superior numbers of the enemy" and ordered a counterattack. The geography of the area in which the Imagawa set up their camp was well known to Nobunaga and his scouts, as they had often used the area for war games in the guise of falconry hunts. The evening before the attack, Nobunaga gathered his men and told them that to wait would be suicide and that it be best to attack the enemy head on, before sending them home to rest. He awoke early next morning and dressed. He recited
396-456: The time he realized, moments later, that the samurai before him were not his own, it was too late to organize a defense. Yoshimoto was not, as is popularly believed, killed in his war camp. Yoshimoto and his men quickly abandoned their camp and fled to the fighting that was taking place. Yoshimoto was attacked by Mōri Shinsuke and Hattori Koheita . Yoshimoto, Munenobu, and Naomori engaged them in melee and parried their initial attack. Yoshimoto
418-420: The village of Okehazama, just outside of what is now the city of Nagoya . In opposition, Oda Nobunaga could field only about 2000-3000 men, or roughly one-tenth of the Imagawa army. Although some of his staff recommended withdrawing to the Oda stronghold of Kiyosu Castle , Nobunaga was aware that Kiyosu would not be able to withstand a siege. He instead stated that "only a strong offensive policy could make up for
440-854: 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 . Ashikaga Kuniuji , grandson of Ashikaga Yoshiuji , established himself in the 13th century at Imagawa ( Mikawa Province ) and took its name. Imagawa Norikuni (1295–1384) received the provinces of Tōtōmi, and later Suruga, from his cousin Shōgun Ashikaga Takauji Ounami no Kori, Mikawa (modern day Nishio, Aichi ) mainly Suruga Province and Tōtōmi Province during
462-461: Was a province of Japan in the area that today forms the western half of Aichi Prefecture , including the modern city of Nagoya . The province was created in 646. Owari bordered on Mikawa , Mino , and Ise Provinces. Owari and Mino provinces were separated by the Sakai River , which means "border river." The province's abbreviated name was Bishū ( 尾州 ) . Owari is classified as one of
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#1732766029266484-698: Was the former Mikawa Province, to form the new Aichi Prefecture in January 1872. At the same time, the province continued to exist for some purposes. For example, Owari is explicitly recognized in treaties in 1894 (a) between Japan and the United States and (b) between Japan and the United Kingdom . Owari Province consisted of eleven districts: [REDACTED] Media related to Owari Province at Wikimedia Commons Imagawa clan Imagawa clan ( Japanese : 今川氏 , Hepburn : Imagawa-uji )
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