| Siege of Uchiyama | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Sengoku period | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Takeda clan | Uchiyama garrison | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Takeda Shingen | Oi Sadakiyo | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 2900 | 2200 | ||||||||
The 1546 siege of Uchiyama was one of many battles fought by Takeda Shingen bid to gain control of Shinano Province. His troops surrounded the fortress and starved out the garrison.
The battle took place during the 16th-century Sengoku period, also known as the "Age of Civil War". After the Ōnin War (1467–77), the shōgun 's system and taxation had increasingly less control outside the province of the capital in Kyoto, and powerful lords ( daimyōs ) began to assert themselves. Such lords gained power by usurpation, warfare or marriage—any means that would safeguard their position. It was manifested in yamajiro ("mountain castles"), which overlooked the provinces. [1]
One of the most ambitious and successful warlords of the period was Takeda Shingen, the daimyō of the Takeda clan, which dominated Kai Province. Bordering Kai to the north was Shinano Province, a large mountainous territory which was not controlled by a single clan but by several relatively weak ones, notably the Suwa, Ogasawara clan, Murakami and Takato. As such it was an attractive target to its neighbours, in particular the Takeda to the south and Uesugi clan of Echigo Province to the north. Takeda Shingen's father, Takeda Nobutora, had already made a probing expedition into Shinano in 1536 (leading to the Battle of Un no Kuchi), and after becoming daimyō himself Shingen mounted his own invasion in 1542, which ended with the successful conquest of the Suwa. One of the castles Shingen seized was that of Nagakubo, which he entrusted to Oi Sadataka. However, in 1543 Sadataka betrayed Shingen and went over to the Takato. Shingen responded by mounting a second invasion of Shinano in 1543, and he quickly seized Nagakubo and captured Sadataka. Sadataka's son Oi Sadakiyo continued to resist, making his base at Uchiyama, but Shingen was temporarily distracted by a renewed the threat from the Takato, whom he spent the next two years fighting. [2]
Once that threat was finally dealt with, Shingen was free to turn his attention back to Oi Sadakiyo. He marched against Sadakiyo's fortress at Uchiyama in June 1546 and successfully starved it into submission. [3]
Uchiyama subsequently became a Takeda base for operations deeper in Shinano Province. After the Takeda reverse at the Battle of Uedahara it was attacked and burned on 1 June 1548 by Ogasawara Nagatoki and the Murakami clan, but Shingen's general Oyamada Nobushige regained it in September. [4]
Takeda Shingen, of Kai Province, was a pre-eminent daimyō in feudal Japan with exceptional military prestige in the late stage of the Sengoku period. Shingen had been a warlord of great domestic skill and competent military leadership. He was a complicated figure, at times utterly cruel.
The Battles of Kawanakajima 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.
Murakami Yoshikiyo was a Japanese samurai from the Murakami clan and retainer of the Uesugi clan during the Sengoku period of the 16th century. Yoshikiyo followed in fighting against both Takeda Nobutora and his son Takeda Shingen. Yoshikiyo was also a very close ally under Uesugi Kenshin and one of Shingen's bitterest opponents for his high kill-counts in their conflicts.
Sanada Masayuki was a Japanese Sengoku period lord and daimyō. He was the head of Sanada clan, a regional house of Shinano Province, which became a vassal of the Takeda clan of Kai Province.
The Battle of Uedahara (上田原の戦い) was the first defeat suffered by Takeda Shingen, and the first field battle in Japan in which firearms were used. It took place in Shinano Province or the modern-day Nagano Prefecture.
Ogasawara Nagatoki (小笠原長時) was a Japanese samurai daimyō of Shinano Province in the Sengoku period.
Takeda Nobushige was a samurai of Japan's Sengoku period, and younger brother of Takeda Shingen. Takeda Nobushige held the favor of their father, and was meant to inherit the Takeda lands, wealth and power, becoming head of the clan. However, Shingen rebelled against their father and seized the lands and power for himself.
Uesugi Norimasa was a daimyō of feudal Japan, and held the post of Kantō Kanrei, the shōgun's deputy in the Kantō region. He was the adoptive father of Uesugi Kenshin, one of the most famous warlords in Japanese history.
The Battle of Sezawa was one of many battles fought by Takeda Shingen in his bid to take control of Shinano Province during the Sengoku Period of Japan.
The siege of Fukuyo was one of many steps taken by Takeda Shingen in his bid to seize control of Shinano Province. The fortress at Fukuyo lay in the Ina valley, south of Lake Suwa. Tozawa Yorichika, an ally of Takatō Yoritsugu, lord of Takatō castle, surrendered quickly. The Battle of Ankokuji followed the siege.
The Siege of Nagakubo (長窪城) was a battle of Japan's Sengoku period. It took place in 1543 as part of Takeda Shingen's bid to control Shinano Province, Japan. He took the castle of his former ally, Oi Sadataka, who had deserted him to ally with Murakami Yoshikiyo. Oi was sent to Takeda's home city of Kōfu as a prisoner, where he was then killed.
The 1545 siege of Takatō castle, Takeda Shingen continuing his sweep through the Ima Valley of Shinano Province, seeking to take control of the entire province, he defeated Takatō Yoritsugu, the castellan.
The 1550 siege of Fukashi was one of a series of battles waged by Takeda Shingen in his long campaign to conquer Shinano province, which was ruled by a number of minor daimyō, notably the Suwa, Ogasawara, Murakami and Takato.
The siege of Shika castle, which took place in September 1547, was one of many battles fought in Takeda Shingen's bid to seize control of Shinano Province.
The 1547 Battle of Odaihara was one of a series of battles waged by Takeda Shingen in his long campaign to conquer Shinano province. In this particular encounter he was fighting the forces of Uesugi Norimasa, who was based in Echigo province but had decided to intervene in Shinano to prevent Shingen from overrunning the whole province. The Uesugi army attempted to relieve the castle of Shika, which Shingen had besieged, but were attacked and defeated at Odaihara on 19 September 1547.
The 1553 siege of Katsurao was one of many sieges undertaken by the warlord Takeda Shingen in his long campaign to gain control of Japan's Shinano province, which was ruled by a hodgepodge of minor daimyō, notably the Suwa, Ogasawara, Murakami and Takato.
The 1566 siege of Minowa was one of several battles fought by the Takeda clan in their campaigns to seize the lands of the Uesugi clan, during Japan's Sengoku period. It is part of a larger power struggle between Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin.
Hara Masatane was a senior retainer of the Takeda clan during the late Sengoku period of Japanese history. He was known as one of the 'Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda Shingen'.
Takatō Castle is a Japanese castle located in the city of Ina, southern Nagano Prefecture, Japan. At the end of the Edo period, Takatō Castle was home to a cadet branch of the Naitō clan, daimyō of Takatō Domain. The castle was also known as Kabuto Castle. Built sometime in the 16th century, it is now largely ruins.
The Siege of Katsurayama in March 1557 was fought between the forces of the Japanese daimyō Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin as part of the Kawanakajima campaigns. Katsurayama castle was a strategically vital Uesugi stronghold in the contested Shinano Province and, when it was isolated from reinforcements due to late snow in early 1557, the Takeda clan 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 eventually stormed into the castle. Most of the garrison was killed in combat, while the families of the defenders committed mass suicide and the castle was burned to the ground.