Battle of Uedahara

• Murakami Yoshikiyo (7,000) vs. Takeda Shingen
  • Date: September 1548
  • Location: Shinano province
  • KIA: (Takeda) Amari Torayasu, Itagaki Nobukata, Hajikano Den'emon

Uedahara occured as a result of Takeda Shingen's push into Shinano and his ongoing conflict with the Murakami and Ogasawara. This confrontation saw the use of 50 Chinese matchlocks by the Murakami, who surprised and defeated the Takeda army near Ueda. Takeda had just taken Shiga castle, prompting Murakami to lead an army to meet him near Ueda. The bulk of the fighting happened on Uedahara, on the western bank of the Chikuma river. The Takeda vanguard was badly bloodied, and forced to retire. At least one source (the works of Rai Sanyo) records that Shingen and Murakami personally traded blows in this action, though given that this same source incorrectly has Shingen winning the battle, the accuracy of the story is hard to determine.

References

• Initial text from Samurai-Archives.com FWSeal & CEWest, 2005