Sunday, May 18, 2014

2014 Nagashino Festival



Earlier this month, the 2014 Nagashino Festival was held in Aichi Prefecture.  In 2001, I was lucky to attend the festival.  My past experience was nothing but pure joy as the matchlock rifles were fired.  As one can say, "I love the smell of saltpetre in the morning!"

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/behind_news/social_affairs/AJ201405070054

Last year I was able to visit Shitaragahara battlefield for a few hours.  That being said, you actually need a couple of days to really understand the battlefield and the tactics of Nobunaga and Ieyasu.  The Shitaragahara Museum is a must visit, no exceptions and no excuses.  I was finally able to visit the museum last year and the teppo (matchlock rifle) displays are incredible.

Geography often plays a vital role in warfare and the Battle of Nagashino is no different.  One of the most important things Nobunaga and Ieyasu did was to move their armies as close as possible to the Takeda camp so their calvary and light infantry did not have much room to move.  In short, shorten the battlefield to your advantage.

Nobunaga no tame!

3 comments:

Daeva said...

Cool.
Must be said that you can see the matchlock scene during every festival dedicated to Nobunaga XD
This year I wanna try to see the Funaoka Matsuri...

I was reading that the "three volleys of fire" thing is probably not true... Do you have further infos on this theme?

otsuke said...

I have a friend who has done a lot of research on Nagashino. He is an army officer and takes the battle to a new level. On my links list, look for Sengokufieldmanual. Then type in Nagashino. There were proabaly more guns than academics realize.

Also the Samurai Archives has several podcasts that are related to Nagashino. Highly recommended!

Daeva said...

Yes, yes, I know Nathan :D I already bothered him on Google+ to get infos to visit Nagashino battlefield!

I can't watch videos or podcasts 'cause my English is insufficient XD
But yeah, I'm aware of the works of Samurai Archives :3 ! (I wish they'd go back to writing stuff XD)