Summary

The Battle of Uedahara (Japanese: 上田原の戦い, Uedahara no tatakai) was a battle during Japan's Sengoku period. The battle took place in 1546 and was the first defeat of Takeda Shingen. It was further the first battle in Japan in which firearms were used.

Takeda Shingen joined forces that had captured Shika Castle and led an army of 7,000 men north to confront the threat of Murakami Yoshikiyo. Shingen's vanguard was led by Itagaki Nobukata. When Itagaki attacked head-on against Murakami's vanguard, the attack was met and Itagaki himself was killed.

Murakami used 50 men of infantry armed with Chinese hookbusses, which were meant to support the archers. In all, 700 of Takeda's men were killed, including Itagaki, and two other generals, Amari Torayasu and Hajikano Den'emon. Shingen himself was wounded by a spear in his side.

Sources

1. Battle of Uedahara
2. Slag bij Uedahara
3. ^ a b Turnbull, Stephen (2013). Kawanakajima 1553–64: Samurai power struggle. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. pp. 27, 30. ISBN 9781846036521.
4. ^ a b c Turnbull, Stephen (2019). Samurai vs Ashigaru: Japan 1543–75. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 30. ISBN 978-1-4728-3242-9.
5. ^ a b Turnbull, Stephen (2016-10-30). Samurai in 100 Objects: The Fascinating World of the Samurai as Seen Through Arms and Armor, Places and Images. Casemate Publishers. ISBN 978-1-4738-5039-2.
6. ^ Stephen Turnbul, The Samurai Sourcebook, Cassell & Co., 1998, p. 211, ISBN 1854095234.