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The '' were fought in the Sengoku Period of Japan between Takeda Shingen of Kai province and Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo province in the plain of Kawanakajima, in the north of Shinano Province, located in the southern part of the city of Nagano.
The five major battles took place in 1553, 1555, 1557, 1561 and 1564. The best known and severest among them was fought on September 10, 1561.
The battles started after Shingen conquered Shinano province, expelling Murakami Yoshiharu and Ogasawara Nagatoki who subsequently turned to Kenshin for help.

Contents

The first battle

The second battle

The third battle

The fourth battle

The fifth battle

In popular culture

References

The first battle

In the First Battle of Kawanakajima, in June of 1553, Takeda Shingen penetrated far into the Kawanakajima plain, his vangard encountering the forces of Uesugi Kenshin at a shrine to Hachiman. They disengaged, and met up again a few kilometers away, but no decisive battle was fought.

The second battle

In 1555, the second battle of Kawanakajima, also known as the Battle of Saigawa, began when Takeda Shingen returned to Kawanakajima, advancing up to the Sai River. He made camp on a hill to the south of the river, while Uesugi Kenshin was camped just east of the Zenkoji temple, which provided him an excellent view of the plain. However, the Kurita clan, allies of the Takeda, held Asahiyama fortress a few kilometers to the west; they menaced the Uesugi right flank. Kurita Kakuju's defenses were bolstered by 3000 Takeda warriors.
Kenshin launched a number of attacks against the Asahiyama fortress, but all were repulsed. Eventually he moved his army onto the plain, redirecting his attention on Takeda's main force. However, rather than attacking, both armies waited, for months, for the other to make a move. Finally, battle was avoided as both leaders retired to deal with domestic affairs in their home provinces.

The third battle

The third battle took place in 1557 when Takeda Shingen captured a fortress called Katsurayama, overlooking the Zenkoji temple from the north-west. He then attempted to take Iiyama castle, but withdrew after Uesugi Kenshin led an army out of Zenkoji.

The fourth battle

The fourth battle resulted in greater casualties for both sides, as a percentage of total forces, than any other battle in the Sengoku Period, and is one of the most tactically interesting battles of the period as well. In September of 1561, Uesugi Kenshin left his Kasugayama fortress with 18,000 warriors, determined to destroy Takeda Shingen. He left some of his forces at Zenkoji, but took up a position on Saijoyama, a mountain to the west of, and looking down upon, Shingen's Kaizu castle. Unbeknownst to Kenshin, the Kaizu castle contained no more than 150 samurai, and their followers, and he had taken them completely by surprise. However, the general in command of the castle, Kosaka Danjo Masanobu, through a system of signal fires, informed his lord, in Tsutsujigasaki fortress, 130 km away in Kōfu, of Kenshin's move.
Shingen left Kōfu with 16,000 men, acquiring 4000 more as he traveled through Shinano Province, approaching Kawanakajima on the west bank of the Chikumagawa (Chikuma River), keeping the river between him and Saijoyama. Neither army made a move, knowing that victory would require the element of surprise, to throw the enemy off-balance; Shingen was allowed into his fortress at Kaizu. Along with his ''gun-bugyō'' (army commissioner), Yamamoto Kansuke, a strategy was conceived.
Kōsaka Danjo Masanobu left Kaizu with 8000 men, advancing up Saijoyama under cover of night, intending to drive Kenshin's army down to the plain where Takeda Shingen would be waiting with another 8000 men in ''kakuyoku'', or "crane's wing", formation. However, whether via spies in Kaizu or scouts looking down from Saijoyama, Kenshin guessed Shingen's intentions, and led his own men down to the plain. Kenshin descended from Saijoyama by its western flanks. Instead of fleeing Kosaka's dawn attack, Uesugi Kenshin's army crept down the mountain quietly; Using bits of cloth to deaden the noise of the horse's hooves. As dawn broke, Shingen's men found Kenshin's army ready to charge at them, not fleeing from the mountain.
Uesugi's forces attacked in waves, in a 'Kuruma Gakari' formation, in which every unit is replaced by another as it becomes weary or destroyed. Leading the Uesugi vangaurd was one of Uesugi's 'Twenty-Eight Generals, Kakizaki Kageie. Kakizaki's unit of mounted samurai clashed into Takeda Nobushige's unit; Nobushige died following in fierce hand-to-hand combat. While the ''kakuyoku'' formation held surprisingly strongly, the Takeda commanders eventually fell, one by one. Seeing that his pincer plan had failed, Yamamoto Kansuke charged alone into the mass of Uesugi samurai, suffering upwards of 80 bullet wounds before retiring to a nearby hill and committing ''seppuku''.
Eventually, the Uesugi forces reached the Takeda command post, and one of the most famous single combats in Japanese history ensued. Uesugi Kenshin himself burst into the headquarters, attacking Takeda Shingen who, unprepared for such an event, parried with his signalling fan as best as he could, and held Kenshin off long enough for one of his retainers, Hara Osumi-no-Kami, to spear Kenshin's mount and drive him off.
The Takeda main body held firm, despite fierce rotating attacks by the Uesugi. Obu Saburohei fought back against Kakizaki's samurai. Anayama Nobukumi destroyed Shibata of Echigo, and forced the Uesugi main force back to the Chikumigawa.
Meanwhile, Kosaka's stealth force reached the top of Saijoyama and, finding the Uesugi position deserted, hurried down the mountain to the ford, taking the same path they had expected the fleeing Uesugi to take. After desperate fighting, they punched their way through the 3000 Uesugi warriors defending the ford ( under the command of Uesugi general, Amakazu Kagemochi.), and pressed on to aid Takeda's main force. The Kosaka force then attacked the retreating Uesugi from the rear. Takeda Shingen's many great generals including his younger brother Takeda Nobushige and great uncle Murozumi Torasada were killed in the field.
In the end, the Uesugi army suffered 72% losses, while the Takeda had 62% casualties. The chronicles seem to indicate that the Takeda made no effort to stop the Uesugi from retreating after the battle, burning the encampment at Saijoyama, returning to Zenkoji, and then to Echigo Province.

The fifth battle

In 1564, Shingen and Kenshin met for the fifth and final time on the plain of Kawanakajima. Their forces skirmished for 60 days, and then both withdrew.

In popular culture

As the fourth battle between Shingen and Kenshin was the most famous among all of them, it is one of the stages in the Samurai Warriors series.

References

★ Sansom, George (1961). "A History of Japan: 1334-1615." Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.

★ Turnbull, Stephen (1998). 'The Samurai Sourcebook'. London: Cassell & Co.

★ Turnbull, Stephen (2002). 'War in Japan: 1467-1615'. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.