Varley and Nagashino

I will continue to discuss Varley's article. The more I read it, the more interesting the paper becomes. The article discussed the Battle of Nagshino a great deal. What took me by surprise was the number of soldiers who participated in the battle. This would be critical and will explain why in a moment. Varley stated, "By some estimates, Nobunaga had 30,000 troops and Ieyasu 8,000 ( a combined total 38,000) and Takeda Katsuyori had 15,000. But Owada Tetsuo believes that the actual totals were about half of these numbers" (Varley p. 118).

I do have the Owada Tetsuo book that has the information. Sengoku Juu Dai Kassen no Nazo listed the information. To tell you the truth, I just purchased the book two weeks ago. Here is the numbers Owada wrote in his book. Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu 18,000 and Takeda Katsuyori 6,000. See pages 113, 118-9. If you break up the Oda and Tokugawa armies, Oda 10,000 and Tokugawa 8,000?

Here is the critical factor, If Nobunaga had around 10,000 troops and if you include Fujimoto Masayuki's radical theory, then Nobunaga's gunners would have made up to 10% of the army.
Fujimoto's radical theory could make some sense. However, I still do not believe it. What is even more stunning was Katsuyori's low numbers. If that was the case, then it was a real disaster for the Takeda.

Varley's article still needs to be discussed. There is a wealth of information that has to be looked at. As I said before, it is one of the best I have read so far this year.


Tenka no Tame!