Battle of Nagashino
Also called: Battle of Nagashino and Shitaragahara, Battle of Shitaragahara
The allied army of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu crushed Takeda Katsuyori, who was besieging Nagashino Castle, with muskets and palisades at Shitaragahara. The Takeda lost many famous generals and went into decline.
Unknown author (Edo period, circa 18th century) · Public domain · Source
In 1575 Takeda Katsuyori, Shingen’s heir, invaded Mikawa and besieged Nagashino Castle, held by Okudaira Sadamasa, who had gone over to the Tokugawa. Nobunaga and Ieyasu came to its relief with some 38,000 men, built palisades against horsemen on the Shitaragahara plain west of the castle and lined them with musketeers. On 29 June the roughly 15,000 Takeda troops charged this position and were badly beaten.
The Takeda lost veteran commanders such as Baba Nobuharu, Yamagata Masakage and Naitō Masatoyo. The famous “three-rank volley” of 3,000 guns firing in turn is a story from the Edo period that many historians now doubt; even so, the battle is counted a turning point in Japanese warfare for its use of massed firearms from fixed positions. The Takeda were destroyed by the Oda and Tokugawa in 1582.