The Battle of Yamazaki was fought in 1582 in Yamazaki, Japan, located in current-day Kyoto Prefecture. This battle is sometimes referred to as the Battle of Mt. Tennō
Part of Sengoku Period
Date
July 2, 1582
Location
Yamazaki, Yamashiro province, Japan
Coordinates
34°54′25.4″N 135°41′28.8″E
Result
Oda clan victory
Hideyoshi begins his consolidation of power
Territorial
changes Hideyoshi taking Nobunaga's authority and power
Belligerents
Forces of the Akechi clan
Forces of the Oda clan
Combatants
Akechi clan
Akechi Mitsuhide Executed
Akechi Hidemitsu †
Akechi Mitsutada †
Akechi Mitsuyoshi †
Saitō Toshikazu †
Saitō Toshimitsu †
Ise Sadaoki †
Matsuda Masachika †
Mimaki Kaneaki †
Ogawa Suketada
Nabika Kamon
Tsumaki Norikata
Shibata Katsusada
Tsuda Nobuharu
Murakami Kiyokuni
Toda Yukimasa
Suwa Morinao
Atsuji Sadayuki
Namikawa Yasuie
Mizoo Suketomo
Horio Shobei
Araki Yukishige
Takeda Motoaki
Oda clan
Hashiba Hideyoshi
Niwa Nagahide
Ikeda Tsuneoki
Hachiya Yoritaka
Oda Nobutaka
Hashiba Hidekatsu
Hashiba Hidenaga
Horio Yoshiharu
Katō Mitsuyasu
Katō Kiyomasa
Takayama Ukon
Nakagawa Kiyohide
Hachisuka Iemasa
Kuroda Yoshitaka
Hori Hidemasa
Ikoma Chikamasa
Fukushima Masanori
Otani Yoshitsugu
Nakamura Kazuuji
Kimura Shigeori
Mikoda Masaharu
Ikeda Motosuke
Tanaka Yoshimasa
Strength
Akechi clan
10,000～16,000
Oda clan
20,000～36,000
Casualties and losses
Akechi clan
3,000 killed
Oda clan
3,300 killed
Background
When Nobunaga died, Hideyoshi was busy fighting the Mōri clan. After betraying and defeating Nobunaga at Honnō-ji, Mitsuhide sent a letter to the Mōri. The letter contained a request for an alliance to crush Hideyoshi, but the letter's messenger was captured by Hideyoshi's forces and the plot was revealed.
Upon hearing news that Nobunaga had been killed, and that Akechi Mitsuhide had taken command of his possessions, Toyotomi Hideyoshi immediately negotiated a peace treaty with the Mōri, remaining careful to keep Nobunaga's death a secret. Once the treaty was secured, he then led his troops on a forced march towards Kyoto, averaging 30 to 40 km a day.
Akechi Mitsuhide controlled two castles (Shōryūji and Yodo) in the Yamazaki region. Due to his lack of men for the impending battle with Hideyoshi, he attempted to win the hearts of the people in that region in order to gain more troops. However, his appeals to Hosokawa Fujitaka were fruitless, and so he was unable to add significant strength to his forces. Less than two weeks after Mitsuhide's betrayal, Hideyoshi's army finally arrived and attacked Mitsuhide's inferior forces at Yamazaki. Learning of the size of Hideyoshi's army and not wanting to be caught inside a castle with his force divided, Mitsuhide resolved to prepare for battle somewhere to the south. Due to its position between a river and a mountain, Yamazaki provided Mitsuhide with choke points that could ease the number of enemies his forces would have to face at any one time. Meanwhile, Hideyoshi decided that a wooded area called Tennōzan, just outside the town of Yamazaki, was key to strategic control of the road to Kyoto. He sent a detachment under Nakagawa Kiyohide to secure this area, while he led the majority of the army to Yamazaki himself. His forces took over the mountain and gained a significant advantage. Mitsuhide arranged his army behind a small river (the Enmyōji-gawa), which provided an excellent defensive position. That night, Hideyoshi's men sent a number of ninja into the Mitsuhide camp, setting fire to buildings and generally causing fear and confusion.
The battle
On the following morning, the main fighting began as Hideyoshi's men began to form up along the opposite shore of the Enmyōji-gawa from the enemy, and a portion of Mitsuhide's men crossed the river, seeking to make their way up the wooded Tennōzan hill. They were driven back by arquebus fire, and so Hideyoshi felt confident enough to launch the right wing of his forces across the river, and into Mitsuhide's front lines. They made some progress, and were soon joined by the left wing, with support from atop Tennōzan. The majority of Mitsuhide's men fled, with the exception of the 200 men under Mimaki Kaneaki, who charged and were destroyed by Hideyoshi's larger force.
Soon, panic set in among the Mitsuhide army, and Hideyoshi's army chased them back to Shōryūji. Mitsuhide himself fled much further, to the town of Ogurusu, where he was captured by bandits and killed. Mitsuhide is rumored to have been killed by a peasant warrior with a bamboo spear by the name of Nakamura; however, there were also rumors that he was not killed, but rather started a new life as a priest called Tenkai. Hideyoshi used this victory as a stepping-stone to gain control over Nobunaga's former territories and eventually all of Japan.
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