Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Nobunaga's Forts

Nobunaga did build five main forts that was ready for the Imagawa advance. The five forts were: Tange, Zenshoji, Nakajima, Washizu, and Marune. There were three less known forts as well (Mukaiyama, Shokoji, and Hikamiyama).

For information on on the numbers, please see Owada Tetsuo Okehazama no Tatakai, pp. 86-87 and Hashiba Akira Shinsetsu Okehazama, p. 180. As for the construction quality of forts during the Sengoku Era see Paul Varley "Oda Nobunaga, Guns, and Early Modern Warfare in Japan" pp. 105-125.

The five forts were built around 1559 and they had a purpose.

  • Tange, Zenshoji, and Nakajima were to balance out Narumi Castle.
  • Marune and Washizu were to counter Odaka Castle.
  • Washizu was to counter Odaka and Narumi.
  • Marune was to counter Odaka and Kutsukake Castle.


The area of Fort Tange commanded by Mizuno Tatewaki with 340 soldiers.


















Fort Zenshoji commanded by Sakuma Nobumori with 450 soldiers.







Fort Nakajima commanded by Kajikawa Takahide with 250 soldiers.











Fort Marune was commanded by Sakuma Morishige with 150 soldiers and Fort Washizu by Oda Nobushige with 520. All numbers are approximate.

Here is a great link with maps, forts/castles, and the campaign route.

http://www.geocities.jp/chiezo_ikomai/okehazama/okehazama.html


Nobunaga no tame!

5 comments:

owenandbenjamin said...

Are those markers that are designating where the forts once stood? Do they say anything about the forts?

otsuke said...

They are the markers where the forts once stood. Sadly, the forts of Tange and Nakajima have no English explaination borads. Fort Zenshoji, Marune, and Wahsizu do. Some are on my flickr photo.

My Kunitori Monogatari movie came in today. Plan to watch some it tonight. now I am just waiting for my royalty check to come in. Also I plan to give some money in the future to Mr. Kajino for the statues.

owenandbenjamin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
owenandbenjamin said...

Speaking of royalty checks, I just read how Amazon will give authors a bigger cut if they place there books into the e-reader system for the Kindle.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/01/amazon-offers-authors-bigger-cut-of-book-sales-snubs-traditional-publishers.html

otsuke said...

I always prefer a hard copy of a book. I did not make much, but the money will go to books, yen, the SA, and some to the stautes.

Mr. Kajino e-mailed me earlier while I was out. If you are looking for a book on Yoshimoto that is not written by Owada Tetsuo, Arimatsu is your man.

Arimatsu Yugaku, Imagawa Yoshimoto, 2008. I was going to buy this book last year, but just did not have the time. Simply forgot about it.