Nobunaga 004: Tiger vs Viper - The Battle of Kanouguchi

Today's post will be about a pretty important figure in Nobunaga's life: Saitou Dousan(斎藤道三).

At this time point of the story, he was the ruler of Mino Province(美濃国) directly north of the Oda-controlled Owari.

The Viper of Mino

The history of Mino Province actually was similar to that of the Owari Province. If you remember, Oda Nobuhide pretty much usurped another family's position that was considered unobtainable for him and became the de facto ruler of Owari. Saitou Dousan basically did the same in Mino.

Except the man had a even humbler beginning. He grew up as a young monk in Kyoto. He later became an oil merchant and eventually a samurai. He traveled to Mino and became a retainer of Mino's governing family, the Toki family(土岐氏).

One thing led to another, and long story short, every boss he ever had either died or disappeared, and he kept inheriting their family names and powers through what people speculated were questionable means. Even the last name "Saitou" was stolen from a previous boss.

His last boss at the time of this story, the shugo daimyou of Mino, Toki Masafusa(土岐政房) passed away. Two of Masafusa's sons, Toki Yoritake(土岐頼武) and Toki Yoriaki(土岐頼芸) fought for the position of the family head. Saitou Dousan(called Hidetatsu(秀龍) at the time) helped "mediate" this conflict. After a series of political manipulations, assassinations and large scale battles that affected all of Mino, Saitou Hidetatsu/Dousan ended up becoming the ruler of Mino and both of the two brothers lost their foothold in Mino.

Pretty shady character, right? Dousan was often cited as a very successful case of gekokujou where a man with humble beginnings usurped the higher-ups. Though it did hurt his reputation quite a bit. In fact, some books listed him as one of the three "villains of the Sengoku period"(the other two being Matsunaga Hisahide and Ukita Naoie). The more well known nickname, however, was "the Viper of Mino(美濃のマムシ)". These names really showed how people felt about him.

Sometimes the most ruthless ways were the most effective ways, if you could pull them off, that is. Dousan took advantage of the conflict between the two Toki brothers, posing as someone who wanted to "help" them, but in reality destroyed their family and took power away from them. Dousan now had full control over Mino.

But the Tokis didn't give up this easily.

Toki Yoriaki seeking help from outsiders.

After Toki Yoriaki was exiled, he was contemplating revenge against Dousan. He went to Dousan's southern neighbor Oda Nobuhide for help.

In this age of turmoil where everyone was going crazy expanding power, did Nobuhide actually want to help some relic from Mino's past? Of course not. But he agreed anyway. Not because he particularly liked this guy or felt sorry for him, but because this was an obvious excuse for him to get involved in Mino's politics. It gave him a legitimate reason to attack and take Mino for himself. Nobuhide could use this guy to legitimize his military actions, and there will always be a hundred ways to get rid of this little guy after Mino is taken over.

In addition, Yoriaki's nephew, Yorizumi(土岐頼純) escaped northwards to Echizen(越前). Echizen was Asakura(朝倉) territory. Yorizumi's mother was the sister of the current Asakura family head, Asakura Norikage(朝倉教景), making Norikage Yorizumi's maternal uncle. Yorizumi was now also trying to convince Asakura to attack Mino.

Despite all the shit that Yoriaki and Yorizumi's father Yoritake went through in the past, the Toki family now realized that Saitou Dousan was the real enemy. Yoriaki and Yorizumi were reaching out to each other and trying to take Mino back for the Toki family. The Tokis arranged an agreement between the Oda and the Asakura, making them form an alliance against Saitou Dousan. Oda would attack from the south, and Asakura would attack from the north simultaneously. See map for details.

The Oda-Asakura simultaneous attack against Mino.

(Note: the date for this battle is slightly debated. Some say 1544, others say 1547. Pick your favorite. The only difference would probably be whether Nobunaga was old enough to be in it. Therefore games that made this battle playable would say it was 1547.)

And with that, the battle between the Tiger of Owari aand the Viper of Mino began. Sources disagree regarding the number of troops Oda Nobuhide and Asakura Norikage brought. But it was as little as 5000, or as many as 26,000. Either way, it was a very sizable army considering the population of Japan at the time.

Could Dousan the Viper withstand this epic attack and come out of it alive??!?!?!

The answer will be revealed... Right now.

Yes.

The number of men Dousan had wasn't recorded but we know that he was outnumbered. However, based on the Dousan's past you can bet that he had some tricks up his sleeve.

The first thing Dousan did was to tell Asakura and Oda that he wanted... peace. He tried to negotiate with the two and avoid actual battle.

Oda Nobuhide and Asakura Yorikage did not listen. They probably felt that the Viper was not to be trusted. They continued to press on with their attacks.

Why did Dousan show weakness as the first thing in this battle?

It's all about tricking your opponents. My guess would be that no matter how Asakura and Oda replied to the proposal, they would still be screwed.

As a cunning politician with years and years of experience, whatever "truce" Dousan reaches with these two would undoubtedly benefit Dousan.

And if these two refuse the peace proposal, it would still let their guards down against Dousan, underestimating him, thinking that Dousan was begging for their forgiveness, and opening themselves up for surprise attacks.

Back to the battle. Nobuhide continued to push northward, setting fire to Mino villages and destroying Dousan's resources. He even reached Dousan's home castle, Inabayama Castle(稲葉山城).

For whatever reason, Nobuhide decided to let his soldiers take a little break. Maybe he was trying to ease their fatigue? Or maybe he was tricked by Dousan's fake display of weakness earlier and was just "taking it easy"? We will never know. Before initiating the siege on Inabayama Castle, he let his force turn around to rest up.

Dousan obviously would not let this opportunity go to waste. His men had been preparing for a surprise attack for a while now. As soon as Nobuhide started to turn around, Dousan's men charged out of the castle and right into Nobuhide's troops.

The Oda soldiers did not expect this turn of an event as they were about to prepare for a siege. They were confused and panicked. Stuck at the location called Kanouguchi(加納口), Dousan's soldiers slaughtered thousands of Nobuhide's men. Nobuhide's brother Nobuyasu(織田信康) was killed in action along with at least 5 other Oda officers.

Nobuhide eventually managed to escape, but some sources say that he only had about 6 or 7 men with him when he arrived to safety.

In the northern front, Dousan tried another surprise attack against Ooga Caslte(大桑城), where Toki Yorizumi was residing. Dousan wanted to target him because he was the one who brought the Asakura into Mino. The attack was a success and Yorizumi was killed on the spot. Upon hearing the news, Asakura Yorikage did not want to take further risks. Exact timing is iffy but it was possible that he heard the news of Oda Nobuhide's big defeat in the south as well, leading him to retreat.

Back to Oda Nobuhide. He survived the battle, but it didn't change the fact that it was the worst defeat in his life. Oda's manpower and resources took an irreversible hit. Although we mentioned that the number of men he lost in this battle was up for debate, it didn't change the fact that the number was great enough to put Oda's continuing existence in the Sengoku period in question. Owari was now greatly weakened, and the Oda would have to really think about how to deal with the grim future.

A tomb(Oda-zuka/織田塚) was made for the Oda soldiers who lost their lives in this horrible defeat. It was built in Owari but was later moved to today's Gifu. You can still visit it today if you wish.

Oda-zuka, a tomb/monument for the Oda soldiers who lost their lives in the Battle of Kanouguchi

After such a disaster, what would be Nobuhide's next move? We will discuss it in the next article.