Siege of Inabayama Castle

, circa 1583 , by Utagawa Yoshiiku, 19th century In 1549, young Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582), who later became a major daimyō of Owari Province, Japan and would initiate the unification of 16th century Japan, was married to Nōhime, the daughter of Saitō Dōsan, leader of the rival Saitō clan of neighboring Mino Province. Nobunaga was the second son of Oda Nobuhide, head of the Oda clan, who was at that time fending off opponents on the northern and eastern borders of Owari Province, matters that were complicated by internal dissent. Saitō Dōsan, lord of Mino, was a strong and ruthless leader, but internal strife had begun to split the Saitō into factions. Both clans needed some respite to deal with more pressing problems and thus the political marriage of Nobunaga and Nōhime brought an end to the clans' rivalry and their border skirmishes. Dōsan indeed changed his will and named his son-in-law, Oda Nobunaga, his legal heir. Shortly thereafter Dōsan was killed by one of Yoshitatsu's retainers at the Battle of Nagaragawa. At the time Nobunaga was not in a position to help his father-in-law and the Saitō civil war soon ended before any active intervention could be mounted. In 1561 Yoshitatsu died of leprosy and his son, Saitō Tatsuoki, succeeded to the leadership of the clan. At the time Tatsuoki was young but, as he attained adulthood, he was eventually considered incapable of effective leadership by his peers and retainers, viewed with contempt by his subordinates, and even despised by the local peasantry. After the Oda defeated the Imagawa clan at the 1560 Battle of Okehazama, then allied with the Matsudaira clan soon after, Nobunaga was in a more secure position to focus on their northern neighbor, the Saitō clan. Nobunaga's plans for an invasion of Mino were ostensibly motivated by revenge for the death of his father-in-law, Saitō Dōsan, but Yoshitatsu died before Nobunaga could attack. As a result, Nobunaga reasoned that Yoshitatsu's heir, Tatsuoki, likewise benefited from Dōsan's demise, and thus continued with his plans for invasion, using revenge as a pretext. ==Mino campaign==

, 2008 In 1561, Nobunaga moved his base to Komaki Castle and started his campaign in Mino Province, defeating Tatsuoki in both the Battle of Moribeand the Battle of Jushijo in June of the same year. Oda Nobunaga mounted forays into Mino territory in 1561 and 1563, which resulted in brief battles. In each expedition Nobunaga and his 700 troops were outnumbered by rapidly assembled forces under local daimyo, who would muster up to 3,000 men. Caught in the open and unable to organize a defense, he fell back each time to his home territory. The local history of Gifu city states that in 1564 Nobunaga went so far as to attack Inabayama Castle, the headquarters of the Saitō clan. Although it was considered nearly impregnable, Tatsuoki fled the parapets and hid within the castle while his retainers Takenaka Shigeharu (called Hanbei) and Andō Morinari commanded the defense. Nobunaga then left or was driven out soon afterward. Starting in 1564, Oda Nobunaga began dispatching his sandal-bearer and loyal retainer, Kinoshita Tōkichirō, to convince, with liberal bribes, many of the warlords in the Mino area to defect to the growing alliance under the Oda clan. Kinoshita was impressed by his integrity and invited him to an extended stay in his home as a guest. Hanbei admitted that the Saitō clan could not survive for much longer under Tatsuoki, and accepted Kinoshita's invitation in exchange for a promise of leniency if ever the Saitō leadership fell into Kinoshita's hands. In 1566, in anticipation of the upcoming campaign, Kinoshita proposed that a castle should be built somewhere near Inabayama Castle to serve as a staging point for the Oda forces. To this end, with support from Hachisuka Koroku, Kinoshita built Sunomata Castle on the bank of the Sai River opposite Saitō territory. The advantage of the castle's proximity to the enemy was also a problem during construction. Until the castle was complete, Kinoshita's men and the construction site were vulnerable to an amphibious attack from across the river. however it is more likely that it was the tower's skeleton with a facade that was seen from the opposite bank. The result of the hasty construction was meant to give his own men a vantage point and to surprise and impress the enemy. Nobunaga then ordered Kinoshita to remain as steward of the castle, and bestowed upon him the name Hideyoshi. ==Siege==

, known as Inabayama at the time of the battle In 1567, Oda Nobunaga led an attack against the Saitō clan of Mino Province. The clan headquarters and administrative center for Mino Province was Inabayama Castle, a mountain fortress atop Mount Inaba (in present-day Gifu city). As Saitō Tatsuoki, the daimyo of the clan, had shown himself to be a cowardly and ineffective ruler, Takenaka Hanbei had staged a coup and took command of the castle and its garrison. Although Tatsuoki was allowed to remain the titular head of the clan, he contributed nothing to the outcome of the battle. When the Oda army entered Mino, Hanbei prepared the garrison for the defense of the castle. Nobunaga entered the region, made contact with allies, and the core of Nobunaga's army of about 5,000 troops crossed the Kiso River. As the troops assembled on the far shore, Nobunaga sent two messengers, Murai Sadakatsu and Shimada Hidemitsu, to three of the Saitō clan's top vassals, known as the Mino Triumvirate, asking for their cooperation in the upcoming battle. Mino warlords that Kinoshita Hideyoshi had persuaded to defect brought additional troops to Nobunaga's banner. As the forces loyal to Nobunaga moved across the plain, several skirmishes were fought in a futile effort to repulse the invading forces. the prevailing siege tactics of the day, the layout of the Japanese castle, and the events that followed, it can be inferred that Nobunaga's forces pressed their attack and probably breached the outer defenses of Inabayama Castle. It is also certain that Kinoshita Hideyoshi devised a plan in which a small force would scale the north face of the mountain, enter the castle, and rush to open the gates for the besieging army. Nobunaga approved and charged Kinoshita with leading the raid. For his team Kinoshita selected Horio Yoshiharu, Hachisuka Koroku, and five or six other men. On 26 September Nobunaga was so confident of Kinoshita's plan and the outcome of the battle that he had an heraldic partition erected on the battlefield, where he held a meeting with his top officers and allotted tasks pertaining to the reconstruction of the castle following the battle. He also greeted the daimyo of the Mino Triumvirate, who were stunned by his audacity, and offered them sake. leading Kinoshita Hideyoshi and his team on their mission to Inabayama Castle On the night of 26 September, Kinoshita gathered his team and, concerned over the late summer heat and the exertions in store, provided them with gourds of fresh water. Horio Yoshiharu then guided Kinoshita Hideyoshi and the small assault force around to the back of the mountain, where they climbed the steep slopes by the light of a full moon. At dawn, while Kinoshita's mission was in progress, the main force under Kuroda Kanbei proceeded with its attack on the castle. Sometime after dawn, Kinoshita's team infiltrated the castle, set fire to a storehouse and the powder magazine, and then rushed to open the front gates, cutting down whoever got in their way. With explosions erupting from the powder magazine and the other building burning fiercely, the castle defense quickly devolved into chaos, as the shocked and exhausted defenders thought they were under a full-scale attack from behind. Kinoshita's men, filthy from the night's exertions and brandishing bloody swords as they rushed across the main courtyard, added to the impression. The castle garrison was thrown into complete disarray as men were pulled from the parapets to face the nonexistent assault, while others threw down their weapons and surrendered. When Kinoshita's team had attained the gatehouse they tied their gourds to spears and waved them to their allies below to signal they were in position, whereupon Kuroda's infantry charged the open gates and overran what was left of the castle's garrison. While Kuroda's men mopped up the last of the resistance, Kinoshita's team found a place to rest, while Horio Yoshiharu passed around a large gourd of sake he had taken from the castle's supply. By the end of 27 September 1567, Inabayama Castle had fallen, and the remaining lords of Mino province formally surrendered to Nobunaga. ==Aftermath==

In about two weeks' time Nobunaga had entered the sprawling Mino Province, raised an army, and conquered the ruling clan in their mountaintop castle. Following the battle, the Mino Triumvirate, awed by the speed and skill of Nobunaga's conquest, permanently allied themselves to Nobunaga. The castle-town of Inoguchi was likewise renamed Gifu, after the mountain from which Wu Wang launched his campaign to unify China. ==Order of battle==

At the outset of the siege, Nobunaga organized the troops of his allies and retainers into several divisions, with a reserve and a vanguard: • Main Division • 3,000 troops under Oda Nobunaga and Niwa Nagahide • First Division • 2,000 troops under Shibata Katsuie • 2,000 troops under Ikeda Tsuneoki • Second Division • 1,000 troops under Mori Yoshinari • 1,000 troops under Maeda Toshiie • 1,000 troops under Sassa Narimasa • Reserve Division • 2,000 troops under Sakuma Nobumori • Vanguard • 1,000 troops under Kinoshita Hideyoshi and Kuroda Kanbei • "Mino Triumvirate" forces, unspecified numbers under: • Ujiie Naotomo • Andō Morinari • Inaba Yoshimichi • Others ==See also==