Battles of Kawanakajima
Also called: Battle of Hachimanbara
Takeda Shingen of Kai and Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo fought five times between 1553 and 1564 over the Kawanakajima plain in northern Shinano. The fiercest was the fourth battle in 1561, but neither side won a decision.
after Katsukawa Shuntei (died in 1824) by Hiroshige (1797-1858) · Public domain · Source
The rivalry began when lords of northern Shinano such as Murakami Yoshikiyo, driven out by Takeda Shingen’s conquest of the province, appealed to Nagao Kagetora (Uesugi Kenshin) of Echigo. Their armies faced each other around Kawanakajima, where the Chikuma and Sai rivers meet, in 1553, 1555, 1557, 1561 and 1564.
In the fourth battle (Hachimanbara), on 17–18 October 1561, the two armies collided head-on in thick fog and both suffered heavy losses; Shingen’s brother Takeda Nobushige and the strategist Yamamoto Kansuke were killed. The story that Kenshin rode alone into Shingen’s headquarters and slashed at him while Shingen parried with his war fan is a legend told in the Kōyō Gunkan and similar works. The battle was indecisive, and the two rivals were left dividing northern Shinano and holding each other in check.