The Battle of Anegawa — Behind the “Great Victory” Myth: The True Decisive Battle of Nobunaga and Ieyasu Against the Azai and Asakura

6th month, 28th day, 1570 (Genki 1) | The Ane River floodplain, Azai District, Ōmi Province (present-day Nomura-chō to Mita-chō, Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture)

The Battle of Anegawa in Three Lines

• Only two months after the Kanegasaki retreat, a field battle among the foremost of the Sengoku period, in which the allied army of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu clashed with the allied army of Azai Nagamasa and Asakura Yoshikage.
• It has been called “a great victory for the allied Oda-Tokugawa army,” but in recent years the view that it is an exaggeration owing to Tokugawa-centered historiography has gained ground.
• That the Azai and Asakura continued to fight Nobunaga for three more years after the battle is taken as evidence that it was not a “decisive victory.”

The Mainstream View — A Textbook-Based Explanation

Background — From the Kanegasaki Retreat to Anegawa

To understand the Battle of Anegawa, one must begin with the Kanegasaki retreat that occurred two months before. In the 4th month of 1570 (Genki 1), Nobunaga took the field to subjugate Asakura Yoshikage of Echizen and brought down Tezutsuyama Castle and Kanegasaki Castle in Tsuruga District. But just as he was about to cross Kinome Pass, aiming at the Asakura stronghold of Ichijōdani, the defection of his brother-in-law Azai Nagamasa came to light. Fallen into the crisis of a pincer, Nobunaga left Kinoshita Tōkichirō (later Toyotomi Hideyoshi), Akechi Mitsuhide, and others as the rear guard and fled back to Kyoto by the Kutsuki crossing.

Having returned to Kyoto, Nobunaga swiftly set about preparing his counterattack. Two strategic tasks now bore down at once: retaliation for Nagamasa’s “betrayal,” and the subjugation of the Asakura of Echizen. Moreover, the situation surrounding Nobunaga was harsh. Rokkaku Yoshikata rose in Ōmi in concert with the Azai (the “Tokitsugu Kyōki”) and repeatedly set fires around Kyoto. The anti-Nobunaga forces of the Kinai and the nearby provinces had begun to move all at once.

Amid this, in a letter to Takeda Nobukata of Wakasa dated the 6th day of the 6th month, Nobunaga requested that he take the field as far as Takashima, “since there will be a battle on the 28th day of the 6th month.” In other words, already at the beginning of the 6th month Nobunaga had predicted (or planned) that a decisive battle would take place in northern Ōmi on the 28th day of the 6th month.

The Composition and Strength of Both Armies

The allied Oda-Tokugawa army, with Nobunaga as supreme commander, was organized at about 23,000–28,000 strong. Its chief commanders were Shibata Katsuie, Sakuma Nobumori, Sakai Masahisa, Ikeda Tsuneoki, Kinoshita Hideyoshi, Niwa Nagahide, Mori Yoshinari, Inaba Ittetsu, Ujiie Bokuzen, Andō Morinari (the West Mino Triumvirate), Takigawa Kazumasu, Akechi Mitsuhide, and others. Tokugawa Ieyasu participated as reinforcements with about 5,000 troops, accompanied by Honda Tadakatsu, Sakai Tadatsugu, Ishikawa Kazumasa, Sakakibara Yasumasa, and others.

The allied Azai-Asakura army, meanwhile, was about 15,000–20,000. Azai Nagamasa took the field from his stronghold of Odani Castle, and the main Azai commanders—Isono Kazumasa, Endō Naotsune, Akao Kiyotsuna, Kaihō Tsunachika, Azai Masazumi, Shinjō Naoyori, and others—participated. As for the Asakura army, its commander was not the head Yoshikage but his cousin Asakura Kagetake, who led about 8,000–10,000 troops. Gathered in the Asakura army were the Echizen men: the fierce general Magara Naotaka, who wielded the great sword “Tarō-tachi,” his younger brother Magara Naozumi, his son Magara Takamoto, and also Maeba Shinpachirō, Kurosaka Bitchū, and others.

What deserves attention is that Asakura Yoshikage himself did not move from Ichijōdani and did not take the field at Anegawa. Yoshikage avoided a full-scale decisive battle against Nobunaga’s threat and entrusted the response to his cousin Kagetake. This judgment would later become a foreshadowing of the fall of the Asakura clan.

The Burning of the Odani Castle Town — A Move Toward the Decisive Battle

On the 19th day of the 6th month of 1570 (Genki 1), Nobunaga set out from Gifu Castle and began his invasion of northern Ōmi. On the 21st, Nobunaga placed his camp at Toragozen-yama and ordered his retainers to burn down the castle town of the Azai stronghold of Odani Castle. With this, the conflict with the Azai advanced to a stage that could no longer be avoided.

Odani Castle was one of Japan’s five great mountain castles, built on Mt. Odani at an elevation of 495 meters—a formidable castle difficult to take by storm in a single stroke. Avoiding a reckless assault, Nobunaga turned to a plan of attacking Yokoyama Castle, a branch castle about 8 kilometers south of Odani Castle. Yokoyama Castle was a key point dividing Nagamasa’s domain into north and south; holding it would split the Azai clan’s forces. At the same time, if Nagamasa came out of Odani Castle to relieve Yokoyama Castle, it could be brought to a field battle. It was Nobunaga’s typical tactic of “starving out and luring out.”

6th Month, 24th Day — The Siege of Yokoyama Castle and the Junction of Ieyasu’s Army

On the 24th day of the 6th month, Nobunaga besieged Yokoyama Castle and placed his headquarters at Tatsugahana (present-day Mita-chō, Nagahama City). The same day, Tokugawa Ieyasu’s army of about 5,000 joined up. The formation of the allied Oda-Tokugawa army was set.

Meanwhile, just as Nobunaga had planned, Nagamasa took the field from Odani Castle. Asakura Kagetake’s army also joined, and the allied Azai-Asakura army deployed at Ōyoriyama (present-day Higashi-Kōzaka-chō, Nagahama City), facing the Oda-Tokugawa army. The Ane River flowed between the two armies. The Azai-Asakura army formed up on the north side, the Oda-Tokugawa army on the south. A tense standoff continued for three days.

The Puzzling Movement of the 27th

What is interesting in the account of volume three of the “Shinchō Kōki” is the passage that on the morning of the 27th of the 6th month the Azai-Asakura army “broke camp” and vanished from Ōyoriyama. To paraphrase: thinking that the Azai-Asakura army, having broken camp in the predawn of the 27th, had retreated, the Oda side then found them suddenly appearing in the predawn of the 28th at a distance of about thirty chō (about 3.3 kilometers).

Regarding this “vanish-and-reappear” movement, as discussed below, two theories stand side by side: that it was a surprise-attack tactic, and that it was a preparatory movement for a decisive battle whose date and time the two armies had arranged. In any case, in the predawn of the 28th of the 6th month, both armies deployed again on the two banks of the Ane River and advanced to the opening of combat.

Early Morning, 6th Month, 28th Day — The Battle Opens

The fighting is said to have begun around 6 a.m. Across the Ane River, on the west side (downstream) Tokugawa Ieyasu’s army and Asakura Kagetake’s army faced off; on the east side (upstream) Oda Nobunaga’s army and Azai Nagamasa’s army faced off.

The Ane River itself is a shallow river about 30–40 meters wide and several tens of centimeters deep. The two armies crossed the Ane River and hacked at one another, and a fierce battle unfolded that later ages would describe as “the river dyed with blood.”

The Eastern Wing — The Azai Army’s Fierce Assault

On the east side, the Azai army mounted a fierce assault. The vanguard unit of Isono Kazumasa broke through the defenses of Sakai Masahisa and Ikeda Tsuneoki of the Oda army one after another and is said to have closed in on Nobunaga’s headquarters. In the later war chronicle “Azai Sandaiki,” it became the famous scene called “Isono Kazumasa’s breaking of eleven ranks,” in which he broke through eleven of the thirteen ranks of the Oda army’s defenses.

At this point, the Oda senior retainer Mori Yoshinari and the West Mino Triumvirate, such as Inaba Ittetsu, are said to have attacked into the flank of the Azai force. Through this relief the Oda force recovered, and the tide of battle gradually turned in the Oda’s favor. There is also a tradition that in Hideyoshi’s army, the strategist Takenaka Hanbee, seeing the momentum of the Azai army, advised changing the formation to “a defensive ring,” by which Hideyoshi’s army held out (though the source is not certain).

The Western Wing — The Asakura Army vs. the Tokugawa Army

On the west side too, the Asakura army was at first superior, and the Tokugawa army was forced into a hard fight. Honda Tadakatsu of the Tokugawa side dared a “lone-rider charge”—reckless to the point of seeming foolhardy—against the Asakura army of 10,000 closing on Ieyasu’s headquarters. It was a self-sacrificing act to rouse his allies.

There the fierce general of the Asakura army, Magara Naotaka, stood in his way. Magara was a giant of over two meters, a warrior of peerless strength who wielded the great sword “Tarō-tachi,” 221 centimeters in blade length. The single combat in which Honda Tadakatsu’s famed spear “Tonbogiri” and Magara’s Tarō-tachi clashed would be handed down to later ages as “the famous scene of the Battle of Anegawa.”

The turning point of the battle is said to have been a flank attack by Ieyasu’s close retainer Sakakibara Yasumasa. Yasumasa launched a surprise attack on the flank, from the west, of the Asakura force, and the Asakura army was thrown into disorder. Gradually the situation tilted in the Tokugawa’s favor.

The End of the Fighting and the Dead

The collapse of the Asakura army was conveyed to the Azai army as well, and the Azai army too gave way entirely and withdrew. The fighting was decided in a few hours of the morning. One record gives nine hours, but it is thought that in fact it was about four or five hours.

According to the “Shinchō Kōki,” the dead were over 1,100 for the Azai-Asakura army and about 800 for the Oda-Tokugawa army. The two armies together produced fewer than 1,900–2,000 dead. It was a war of attrition that can hardly be called an “overwhelming victory.”

On the Azai side, central commanders such as the senior retainer Endō Naotsune, Nagamasa’s own younger brother Azai Masamoto (Masayuki), Azai Masazumi, Yuge Iezumi, and Imamura Ujinao died. On the Asakura side, the Magara clan—Magara Naotaka, Magara Naozumi, and Magara Takamoto—died in battle. On the Oda side too, Naotsune, the heir of Sakai Masahisa, who had struggled in the early fighting, and others died.

Post-Battle Handling — The Surrender of Yokoyama Castle and Hideyoshi’s Posting

The day after the Battle of Anegawa, Nobunaga pursued to within about 50 chō (about 5.5 kilometers) of Odani Castle and set fire to the houses of the castle town. But judging that taking Odani Castle in a single stroke was difficult, he fell back to below Yokoyama Castle.

Yokoyama Castle soon surrendered. Nobunaga posted Kinoshita Hideyoshi as castle warden of Yokoyama Castle. This was an epoch-making moment for Hideyoshi, his first time becoming master of a castle. After the fall of Odani Castle three years later, Hideyoshi was granted the former Azai domain, built Nagahama Castle, and established his position as a daimyō. The post-battle handling of Anegawa became the first step toward the later birth of “Hideyoshi, ruler of the realm.”

Nobunaga, meanwhile, returned in triumph to Gifu on the 4th day of the 7th month. To the imperial court in Kyoto, congratulations of “most splendid” were conveyed, and outwardly it was advertised as “a great Oda victory.” But the reality of the result was, as discussed below, complex.

Multiple Theories — Exploring Possibilities from Various Angles

Theory 1: Was the Battle of Anegawa Really a “Great Victory”?

The Battle of Anegawa has long been written in textbooks as “a great victory for the allied Oda-Tokugawa army,” and depicted in dramas and novels as a brilliant victory. But in recent years, research that directly questions this received view has appeared, and the historical assessment of the Battle of Anegawa is greatly shaken.

Ōta Hiroshi’s “evenly matched” theory

Ōta Hiroshi, a visiting professor at the University of Shiga Prefecture who served as director of the Nagahama Castle Museum of History in Nagahama City, pointed out in “Azai Nagamasa and the Battle of Anegawa” (Sunrise Shuppan, 2011) and “The Battle of Anegawa and the Space of the Battlefield” (in “A Combat History of Nobunaga’s Army,” Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 2016) that the Battle of Anegawa was not an Oda landslide but a battle in which the strength of the two armies was evenly matched.

One of his grounds is the number of dead. The fewer than 2,000 dead for both armies conveyed by the “Shinchō Kōki” is, compared even with the Battle of Sekigahara (about 8,000 of 160,000 = 5%), a casualty rate of about the same order—about 2,600 of 52,000 (5%). This is not a figure meaning “annihilation” or “destruction,” but merely the attrition rate of an ordinary-scale Sengoku field battle.

Watanabe Daimon’s “Tokugawa-historiography exaggeration” theory

The historian Watanabe Daimon raised a more pointed problem in his April 2026 Yahoo! News article “Was the Battle of Anegawa Not a ‘Great Victory’?” The Edo period was, after Tokugawa Ieyasu opened his shogunate, an age in which for about 260 years the Tokugawa reigned as seii taishōgun. In such a political environment, there is a possibility that the story that “the Tokugawa army aided the Oda army and won a great victory” was emphasized.

That is, it may be said that political consideration for the Tokugawa possibly influenced the assessment of the Battle of Anegawa. Many of the war chronicles and history books of the Edo period strongly bore the character of extolling the deeds of the Tokugawa house. The exploits of Ieyasu, Honda Tadakatsu, and Sakakibara Yasumasa at the Battle of Anegawa were highly likely deified as a typical example of this.

The Azai-Asakura resistance that continued for three years after the battle

The greatest counterevidence to the “great victory theory” is the historical development after the Battle of Anegawa. If it had truly been a “great victory,” it would not have been strange for the Azai and Asakura clans to have been destroyed by this battle. But in fact the two clans were not destroyed immediately after the Battle of Anegawa.

After the Battle of Anegawa, Nagamasa and Yoshikage continued to fight as the core of the anti-Nobunaga encirclement. At the Shiga Campaign of the 9th month, the allied Azai-Asakura army, joining with Mt. Hiei, encamped in northern Ōmi and drove Nobunaga into a tight spot. The burning of Mt. Hiei in 1571 was retaliation for this support of the Azai and Asakura. In 1572, Takeda Shingen began his westward campaign, and until the 4th month of 1573 Shingen’s threat continued to bind Nobunaga.

In the end, the Asakura clan fell at the Battle of Ichijōdani in the 8th month of 1573 (Tenshō 1), and the Azai clan fell at the Battle of Odani Castle on the 1st day of the 9th month of the same year. This was fully about three years after the Battle of Anegawa. This fact strongly suggests the possibility that the Battle of Anegawa was not a decisive battle of annihilation.

The shared structure with the Battle of Nagashino

Watanabe Daimon points out that this “great victory myth” problem is not limited to the Battle of Anegawa. The Battle of Nagashino (1575) has the same structure. The Battle of Nagashino is often told as an overwhelming victory for the allied Oda-Tokugawa army, but the Takeda clan did not fall until seven years after the battle (1582). “Victory” did not equal “immediate annihilation.”

Even when a victor is in history called the winner of a “great victory,” the possibility that this was exaggerated by later ages is by no means small. The Battle of Anegawa is one typical example of this. The point recent research has nearly reached is something like “the allied Oda-Tokugawa army won with a slight advantage, but could not deal a decisive blow, and it became a war of attrition.”

Theory 2: Is Isono Kazumasa’s “Breaking of Eleven Ranks” Historical Fact?

The greatest famous scene of the Battle of Anegawa is “Isono Kazumasa’s breaking of eleven ranks”—the episode in which the fierce Azai general Isono Kazumasa broke through eleven of the thirteen ranks of the Oda army’s defenses and closed in on Nobunaga’s headquarters. From the Edo-period war chronicles onward, it has been widely known as a typical highlight of a Sengoku battle.

But the historicity of this anecdote is extremely doubtful.

The “Azai Sandaiki” is the only source

The account of “breaking eleven ranks” first appears in the “Azai Sandaiki,” compiled in the Genroku era (end of the 17th century). It is a war chronicle telling the deeds of the three generations of Azai, drawn from the Azai house’s viewpoint. By contrast, the contemporary Sengoku-period sources “Shinchō Kōki,” “Mikawa Monogatari,” “Tōdaiki,” and “Nendaiki Shōsetsu” contain no account whatsoever of Isono Kazumasa breaking through the Oda lines across many ranks.

The “Shinchō Kōki” records the scene of fierce battle—”pushing and being pushed, wildly entangled, raising black smoke, grinding sword-ridges, splitting hand-guards”—but makes no mention of any tremendous charge by Isono Kazumasa. It is extremely likely a later embellishment.

The very premise of a “thirteen-rank defense” is unnatural

To begin with, deploying a “thirteen-rank defense” in a Sengoku-period field battle is itself militarily unnatural. To arrange as many as thirteen ranks in depth requires a fairly broad battlefield and a large force. Constructing a thirteen-rank formation on the limited battlefield of the Ane River floodplain is difficult both geographically and in terms of troop numbers.

According to historical researchers, the actual Oda army was highly likely in a formation of about six or seven ranks. Hideyoshi seems to have been somewhat behind the vanguard, and the “thirteen ranks” Isono Kazumasa is said to have broken through is reasonably regarded as an exaggeration by the war-chronicle authors.

The “padding” of the Azai Sandaiki

That the “Azai Sandaiki” had the character of emphasizing the achievements of the Azai side cannot be overlooked. The fact of the defeat at Anegawa could not be changed, but the story that “there was a fierce assault that fought hard to the end and closed in on Nobunaga’s headquarters” served to protect the honor of the defeated. “Breaking eleven ranks” was a narrative device for converting the humiliation of defeat into a “heroic tale.”

Of course, it is a fact that Isono Kazumasa was one of the commanders who fought hard at the most fiercely contested point of the Battle of Anegawa. Kazumasa afterward held out in Sawayama Castle, enduring the Oda attack for a long time, and in the end surrendered to the Oda through Hideyoshi’s stratagem. Kazumasa’s personal valor was indeed high, but depicting it as the concrete result of “breaking through eleven of thirteen ranks” should be judged a later embellishment.

The reality is at the level of “a partial breakthrough of the Oda formation”

In the view of recent historical and military researchers, while it is possible that Isono Kazumasa’s unit did press close to Nobunaga’s headquarters, the concrete situation of “breaking through ten or more ranks in sequence” is an exaggeration—this is the broad understanding. “It seems to be a fact that the Azai army temporarily threatened the Oda main force, but its scale and form were not as dramatic as the ‘breaking of eleven ranks'” (per the Sengoku BANASHI commentary).

The famous scenes of the Battle of Anegawa thus crossed the boundary between historical fact and story and came to have an independent life as a “highlight” of the Sengoku period. “Breaking eleven ranks” is not historical fact, but as a story conveying the romance of Sengoku battle, it is still cherished by many today.

Theory 3: Did the “Single Combat” of Honda Tadakatsu and Magara Naotaka Really Happen?

Another famous scene of the Battle of Anegawa is the single combat of the Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings’ Honda Tadakatsu and the fierce Asakura general Magara Naotaka. As a duel of famed swords—”Tarō-tachi vs. Tonbogiri”—it has been repeatedly depicted in storytelling, novels, and dramas. But the historicity of this anecdote too has been questioned in recent years.

No account in the “Shinchō Kōki”

The contemporary Sengoku-period source “Shinchō Kōki” contains no account whatsoever of single combat between Honda Tadakatsu and Magara Naotaka. The “list of heads taken” in the “Shinchō Kōki” records that “the head of Magara Jūrōzaemon was taken by Aoki Minbu (Kazushige).” In other words, the fact conveyed by the more reliable source is that the one who felled Magara Naotaka was not Honda Tadakatsu but Aoki Kazushige.

The sword of Magoroku Kanemoto that Aoki Kazushige used at this time was handed down as the “Aoki Kanemoto” or “Magara-kiri Kanemoto” and is now designated an Important Art Object. The outcome of the single combat is, in the sources, recorded as the achievement of Aoki Kazushige.

Yamaga Sokō’s “Buke Jiki” too records only that “Magara was killed,” without writing by whom. Many other sources say “the Sakisaka brothers took him.”

The “single combat theory” is an 18th-century invention

The single combat of Honda Tadakatsu and Magara Naotaka is depicted on the basis of the “Shinsho Taikōki” written by Kurihara Ryūan in the 18th century. The development—Honda Heihachi rushing in where the Sakisaka brothers were struggling against Magara—is highly theatrical. To begin with, the “Shinsho Taikōki” is a work with the character of “a compilation of storytelling,” and its credibility is held to be low.

The “Hōan Shinchō-ki” also conveys a tradition that “the one Aoki Kazushige felled was not Jūrōzaemon but his son (Magara Takamoto),” so the one felled and the owner of the achievement are conveyed in several variations. This is thought to be the result of various warrior houses continuing for several hundred years after the Battle of Anegawa to claim that “it was our ancestor who felled Magara.”

The new 2020 source, the “Magara-shi Kaki Oboegaki”

In 2020, the Fukui Prefectural Museum of History acquired an interesting new source. It is the “Magara-shi Kaki Oboegaki” written by the Fukui-domain retainer Tashiro, a descendant of the Magara clan. The work, drawing on the testimony of Sakisaka Shikibu, a participant in the Battle of Anegawa who later served the Fukui domain, relates a story handed down in the Magara clan.

According to its content: “the one Sakisaka Yoshimasa felled was an old warrior called Magara Bizen-no-kami”; “Bizen-no-kami had in his youth called himself Jūrōzaemon, and having repeatedly achieved military feats, his name was widely known to the world; later he gave the name Jūrōzaemon to his son and styled himself Bizen-no-kami”; and “the reason the figure corresponding to Bizen-no-kami is recorded as Jūrōzaemon in the ‘Hōan Shinchō-ki’ is probably that his former name was famous.”

In other words, Magara Naotaka called himself “Bizen-no-kami” at the time of the Battle of Anegawa, and “Jūrōzaemon” was the name of his son. If one follows this new theory, the confusion of the sources—Aoki Kazushige in the “Shinchō Kōki,” a different person in the “Hōan Shinchō-ki,” and the Sakisaka brothers in tradition—is resolved.

Honda Tadakatsu’s “lone-rider charge” may be historical fact

While the “single combat” itself has a strong color of invention, the episode of Honda Tadakatsu’s “lone-rider charge” is conveyed in several Tokugawa-side sources. The account is that, against the Asakura army closing on Ieyasu’s headquarters, Tadakatsu dared a lone-rider charge that seemed even foolhardy, roused his allies, and created the starting point of the counterattack. This anecdote, handed down as a tale of the Honda house’s valor, accords with Tadakatsu’s temperament as a warrior, and it is highly likely to reflect some reality.

In other words, the reality is probably something like: (1) Honda Tadakatsu roused his allies with a lone-rider charge; (2) Magara Naotaka also fought hard and gave the Tokugawa army trouble; and (3) in the end Magara was felled through the coordination of the Sakisaka brothers, Aoki Kazushige, and others. The romantic framing of “the single combat of Honda vs. Magara” is highly likely to have been invented by later story-writers who linked the valor of the two.

Still, the popular desire to seek “heroic tales” in Sengoku-period battles is universal, and these famous scenes will surely continue to be handed down. What is important is to understand them by distinguishing historical fact from story.

Theory 4: Was the Battle of Anegawa a Surprise Attack, or a Decisive Battle of Arranged Date and Time?

Regarding how the fighting began, recent research has presented a new interpretation as well.

Takazawa Hitoshi’s “Asakura-Azai surprise-attack theory”

The historical researcher Takazawa Hitoshi, in his work “New Shinchō Kōki” (V2-Solution, 2011), argues that the Battle of Anegawa was a surprise attack by the Asakura-Azai army. His grounds are the following account of the “Shinchō Kōki.”

To paraphrase: thinking that the Azai-Asakura army, having broken camp in the predawn of the 27th of the 6th month, had retreated, the Oda then found them suddenly appearing in the predawn of the 28th at a distance of about thirty chō (about 3.3 kilometers).

— Source: Ōta Gyūichi, “Shinchō Kōki,” vol. 3

In Takazawa’s interpretation, the Oda army, thinking the Azai-Asakura army had broken camp, had returned its forces again to the formation of besieging Yokoyama Castle. There, suddenly, the Azai-Asakura army appeared on the opposite bank of the Ane River. The Oda army had the back of its headquarters struck, and the two armies plunged into combat at once without arranging their formations.

Taking the surprise-attack theory, it becomes possible to explain why the Tokugawa army struggled in the early stage and Isono Kazumasa could break through the Oda formation: because the surprise attack kept the Oda-Tokugawa army from arranging its formation.

The “arranged date-and-time decisive battle theory”

On the other hand, in his letter to Takeda Nobukata of Wakasa dated the 6th day of the 6th month, Nobunaga requested that he take the field as far as Takashima since there would be a battle on the 28th of the 6th month. In other words, the date of the battle had been decided in advance, and that means it had also been communicated to the Azai-Asakura side. On this ground, there is also a theory that the Battle of Anegawa was “a decisive battle the two armies fought with date and time arranged.”

In Sengoku-period field battles, it was not rare for both armies to face off in advance and “decide the day of decisive battle.” There was an aspect of a “ceremonial decisive battle” in which both armies arranged their formations and fought according to a certain etiquette. If the Battle of Anegawa was such a “pre-announced decisive battle,” it becomes a different interpretation from the surprise-attack theory.

The “feigned retreat → reversal offensive” theory

As a third theory, there is also the view that the Azai-Asakura army’s once-withdrawal from Ōyoriyama on the 27th was a “feigned retreat” that induced the carelessness of the Oda-Tokugawa army before they turned to a reversal offensive. The breaking of camp itself was fact, but it was not a “retreat” but a “tactical redeployment.”

The “feigned retreat → reversal offensive” is one of the standard tactics of the Sengoku period, seen in many battles such as Okehazama and Mikatagahara. If the Azai-Asakura army used this tactic, it was planned combat preparation of a different level from a surprise attack.

The compromise of “arranged date and time + feigned retreat”

These theories are not necessarily opposed. Even if the two armies had a broad agreement of “battle on the 28th of the 6th month,” each side’s tactical judgment worked in the timing of the start of fighting that day and in how the formations were arranged. The scenario in which the Azai-Asakura army once broke camp to make the Oda army careless and then launched a reversal offensive in the predawn of the 28th includes both “a pre-announced decisive battle” and “an element of surprise.”

The whole picture of the Battle of Anegawa may have been a rather sophisticated field battle for the Sengoku period, combining such composite tactics. The image of “a simple head-on decisive battle” is currently being revised by recent research.

Theory 5: Was Sakakibara Yasumasa’s Flank Surprise Attack the Decisive Blow?

In the received view of the Battle of Anegawa, the turning point of the battle is said to have been the flank surprise attack on the Asakura army by Ieyasu’s close retainer Sakakibara Yasumasa. Yasumasa charged the flank of the Asakura force from the west, and the Asakura army was thrown into disorder and routed; drawn along by this, the Azai army too collapsed entirely—this is the textbook interpretation of the situation.

But this “Sakakibara Yasumasa flank surprise attack” too has had its historicity questioned in recent years.

A place where, by the terrain, a surprise attack is impossible

According to history enthusiasts and researchers who have actually visited the old Anegawa battlefield, there are voices saying “when you go to the site, even an amateur can see it is terrain where no surprise attack is possible.” The Ane River floodplain is open terrain spreading into a plain, and no great hill or forest concealed the flank of the Asakura camp. For Yasumasa to mount a “surprise attack from the flank” would require a considerable detour, and realizing it on a battlefield where the two armies were engaged is practically difficult.

The contemporary source “Shinchō Kōki” too contains no concrete account of a flank surprise attack by Sakakibara Yasumasa. There is the broad account that “the Tokugawa army defeated the Asakura army,” but the concrete tactical depiction of “Sakakibara Yasumasa’s surprise attack from the flank” relies on the later tradition of the Tokugawa retainers.

An invention by Edo-period Tokugawa historiography

Watanabe Daimon’s point, touched on in Theory 1—that under the 260-year Tokugawa shogunate the story that “the Tokugawa army aided the Oda army and won a great victory” may have been emphasized—applies to this Sakakibara Yasumasa flank surprise attack as well.

Sakakibara Yasumasa was one of the Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings, and his family name continued after the establishment of the later Tokugawa shogunate. In the history books of the Tokugawa retainers, accounts emphasizing Yasumasa’s exploits increased. The story that “the one who made the turning point of the Battle of Anegawa was Yasumasa” was highly likely formed gradually as the generations of Yasumasa’s descendants among the Tokugawa retainer band proudly handed it down.

The reality is “the hard fighting of the whole Tokugawa army”

The actual turning of the situation was the result of the hard fighting of the whole Tokugawa army linked with the relief by the Oda side’s West Mino Triumvirate (Inaba Ittetsu, Ujiie Bokuzen, Andō Morinari)—this is the current leading interpretation. The reality is probably that Honda Tadakatsu’s lone-rider charge restored the Tokugawa army’s morale, and Ieyasu, Sakai Tadatsugu, Ishikawa Kazumasa, Sakakibara Yasumasa, and others coordinated to push back the Asakura force.

At the same time, on the Oda side’s eastern wing too, the West Mino Triumvirate attacked into the flank of the Azai army and checked Isono Kazumasa’s charge. That the situation on both wings turned simultaneously is thought to have led to the total collapse of the Azai-Asakura army.

In other words, the balanced understanding is that the outcome of the Battle of Anegawa was decided not by “the exploit of a single hero” but by “the coordination and tenacity of the whole allied Oda-Tokugawa army.” “Sakakibara Yasumasa’s flank surprise attack” is handed down as a symbolic episode of the turning of the situation, but one should be cautious about taking it as literal historical fact.

The power of a story that needs a “hero”

To seek a “hero” in the story of a battle is a universal desire common to the tellers and the listeners of history. By simplifying a complex situation into “the outcome was decided by the exploit of a single hero,” the story becomes easy to understand and easy to remember.

The famous scenes of the Battle of Anegawa—”Isono Kazumasa’s breaking of eleven ranks,” “the single combat of Honda Tadakatsu vs. Magara Naotaka,” “Sakakibara Yasumasa’s flank surprise attack”—are all highly likely to have had a certain historical core while being exaggerated and embellished in the later storytelling. By understanding them as distinct from historical fact, one can draw closer to the true image of the Battle of Anegawa.

Viewed Strategically

Viewing the Battle of Anegawa from the standpoint of strategy, two lessons emerge: Nobunaga’s intent of a “pre-announced decisive battle,” and the difference between “victory” and “annihilation” in the Sengoku period.

First, Nobunaga’s strategy of a “pre-announced decisive battle.” In his letter to Takeda Nobukata of Wakasa dated the 6th day of the 6th month, Nobunaga foretold a battle on the 28th of the 6th month. This can be read not as mere wishful thinking but as evidence that Nobunaga strategically chose “decisive battle.”

Having been hurt at the Kanegasaki retreat, Nobunaga wished to settle the problem of Nagamasa and Yoshikage not by “a war of endurance” but by “decisive battle.” Nagamasa’s Odani Castle was formidable and hard to capture, and the Asakura stronghold of Ichijōdani, deep in Echizen, was hard to campaign against. If he continued a war of endurance against both, he would be attacked also by other forces of the anti-Nobunaga encirclement, such as Takeda Shingen and Honganji Kennyo, and fall into a multi-front war. To avoid that, Nobunaga chose a decisive-battle strategy of “smashing the main forces of both armies in a single field battle.”

Burning the Odani castle town to enrage Nagamasa, and besieging Yokoyama Castle to draw him out to its relief—this series of operations was a setup to lure Nagamasa and Yoshikage into a field battle. It is highly likely that Nobunaga predicted the Azai-Asakura army’s taking the field and had read its timing as well, as “around the 28th of the 6th month.”

Second, the difference between “victory” and “annihilation” in the Sengoku period. The Battle of Anegawa was indeed a victory for the allied Oda-Tokugawa army. But that “victory” does not immediately mean “the enemy’s annihilation” is an essential characteristic of Sengoku-period field battles. The fewer than 2,000 dead for both armies together is a large figure for a field battle of the time, but the casualty rate against the total strength of the two armies (about 50,000) is only about 4%. Most of the main forces escaped, leaving a chance for a rematch.

After the Battle of Anegawa, Nagamasa returned to Odani Castle, and Asakura Kagetake too withdrew to Echizen. Asakura Yoshikage’s main army remained at Ichijōdani, unharmed. The total strength of the Azai-Asakura army was at the level of “having received a certain blow” at the Battle of Anegawa, far from the level of “having been annihilated.”

This fact made possible the Azai-Asakura resistance that continued for three years after the battle. The Shiga Campaign (9th–12th months of 1570), the burning of Mt. Hiei (9th month of 1571), Takeda Shingen’s westward campaign (1572–73), the continuation of the anti-Nobunaga encirclement—from the Battle of Anegawa to the fall of the Azai and Asakura in the 8th–9th months of 1573, three years were required.

Third, Asakura Yoshikage’s strategic blunder. Yoshikage did not himself take the field at the Battle of Anegawa, but entrusted the response to his cousin Asakura Kagetake. This was a decisive misjudgment.

The Asakura army’s total strength was about 8,000–10,000, but this was only about half of the maximum force the Asakura clan could mobilize. Had Yoshikage taken the field leading a main army of 20,000, it is highly likely the Azai-Asakura army could have fought the Battle of Anegawa with the advantage. Because Yoshikage did not move from Ichijōdani, the Battle of Anegawa became the disadvantageous framing of “Nagamasa’s main force + a part of the Asakura” against “the full strength of the Oda + Tokugawa reinforcements.”

It is conjectured that Yoshikage’s judgment had several circumstances behind it, such as “being unable to empty the home province of Echizen” and “the inclinations of the retainer band.” But strategically, it is certain that he let slip a perfect chance to weaken Nobunaga. Yoshikage’s lack of decisiveness was also a foreshadowing of the fall of the Asakura clan three years later.

Fourth, a reassessment of Tokugawa Ieyasu’s role. Ieyasu dispatched 5,000 reinforcements to the Battle of Anegawa. This was a large-scale dispatch amounting to most of Mikawa’s total strength, a heavy burden for Ieyasu as well. Having passed through “his first experience of participating as reinforcements in another daimyō’s war” at the Kanegasaki retreat, at Anegawa Ieyasu was forced into full-scale combat participation.

Ieyasu’s participation impressed upon Nobunaga the seriousness of the Oda-Tokugawa alliance. At the same time, for Ieyasu it became an occasion to reconfirm the reality that “to maintain the alliance with Oda Nobunaga, one must commit one’s own forces without stinting.” Ieyasu would put this lesson to use in the later Battle of Mikatagahara and Battle of Nagashino as well.

Fifth, a setup for Hideyoshi’s advancement. In the post-battle handling of the Battle of Anegawa, Hideyoshi was appointed castle warden of Yokoyama Castle. This was an epoch-making event for Hideyoshi, his first time becoming master of a castle. After the fall of Odani Castle three years later, Hideyoshi was granted the former Azai domain (the three northern districts of Ōmi), built Nagahama Castle, and established his position as a daimyō.

The Battle of Anegawa was, for Hideyoshi, a second milestone of advancement following “the hero of the rear guard” (Kanegasaki). That the fall of Azai Nagamasa connected to the first step of Hideyoshi’s taking of the realm is an ironic turn of fate in Sengoku history.

Finally, a word on the modern viewpoint regarding the assessment of the Battle of Anegawa. Whether “great victory” or “evenly matched”—which assessment is correct may change further with the advance of future research. What is important is not to treat the “textbook received view” as absolute, but to grasp what is being problematized in the latest research.

In that sense, the Battle of Anegawa became a battle symbolizing the reexamination of the Sengoku period’s “great victory myths.” History is written by the victors and embellished by the political circumstances of later ages. The attitude of reading it critically and trying to approach the true image may be the greatest lesson that modern historical research teaches us.

Famous Words and Sayings of This Battle

“Pushing and being pushed, wildly entangled, raising black smoke, grinding sword-ridges, splitting hand-guards.”

A passage in which the “Shinchō Kōki” depicts the scene of fighting at the Battle of Anegawa. It conveys the close combat in which the two armies waged a give-and-take fierce battle, grinding the ridges of their swords and splitting their hand-guards against one another. Concrete heroic tales such as “Isono Kazumasa’s breaking of eleven ranks” and “the single combat of Honda Tadakatsu vs. Magara Naotaka” are not written, but it is clear that the reality of the fierce battle itself certainly existed. Compared with the splendid depictions of the later war chronicles, the concise account of the Shinchō Kōki is highly likely to convey the reality of the battlefield.

— Ōta Gyūichi, “Shinchō Kōki,” vol. 3

“Make my head an honor for your house.”

Handed down as the last words of the fierce Asakura general Magara Naotaka, said to have been felled at the end of a hard fight at the Battle of Anegawa. Exhausted, Naotaka is said to have thrown away the Tarō-tachi and offered up his own head, telling them “take this and make it your feat.” It is regarded as a saying showing the cleanness of a warrior, but the source is later war chronicles, and its historicity is unknown. Even so, it is cited in many works as words symbolizing the view of life and death of a Sengoku warrior.

— Later war chronicles and tradition

“Most splendid.”

The words of congratulation sent from the imperial court to Nobunaga upon receiving the report of victory at the Battle of Anegawa. Outwardly Nobunaga advertised the news of victory as “a great Oda victory,” and by obtaining the court’s congratulations as well, he raised his own authority. But the reality of the result was complex, as later research shows, and the words “great victory” strongly bore the aspect of political staging. They may be called words symbolizing the gap between the advertisement of “victory” in history and the reality.

— From the diary of a courtier

Anecdotes and Episodes of the Battle of Anegawa

The Seven Spears of Anegawa — Seven Ashigaru Captains Praised for Their Feats

To seven ashigaru (foot-soldier) captains of the Oda house who performed military feats at the Battle of Anegawa, special letters of commendation were given by Nobunaga. These are called the “Seven Spears of Anegawa.” It is an honorable appellation of Nobunaga’s army, on a par with the Seven Spears of Shizugatake. Specifically, the seven are said to be Sakuma Sadayoshi, Ajiki Yatarō, Toneri Yashirō, Koike Kichinai, Shimizu Matajūrō, Yokoe Magohachi, and Inada Ōinosuke.

That he gave letters of commendation to commanders who were ashigaru captains, not necessarily famous, can be said to show Nobunaga’s attitude of valuing “work on the ground.” On the other hand, compared with how the Seven Spears of Shizugatake led to the great advancement of the later Fukushima Masanori, Katō Kiyomasa, and others, the Seven Spears of Anegawa are poor in subsequent tales of advancement. Whether a chance of history or a feature of Nobunaga’s personnel policy, it is an intriguing contrast.

The Ane River — Why Was It Called the “River of Blood”?

As a result of the fierce fighting of the Battle of Anegawa, the water of the Ane River is said to have been dyed red with blood. The place names “Chihara” (Field of Blood) and “Chigawa” (River of Blood) near the old battlefield convey the ghastliness of this battle to the present.

The Ane River itself is a shallow river several tens of centimeters deep, but in a battle that produced fewer than 2,000 casualties on both sides together, it is indeed possible that a great deal of blood flowed into the river. The expression “the river was dyed with blood” includes exaggeration, but it remains in the local tradition as a symbolic memory conveying the fierceness of the fighting.

Endō Naotsune’s Plan to Shoot Nobunaga

There is a tradition that at the Battle of Anegawa the Azai senior retainer Endō Naotsune disguised himself as an Oda-side commander, infiltrated Nobunaga’s headquarters, and aimed at Nobunaga’s head. Just one step short, his identity was seen through by the Oda-side Takenaka Shigenori (Hanbee’s younger brother), and he was felled.

The “Shinchō Kōki” records that “Endō Kiemon (Naotsune)” was felled by “Naka Kyūsaku (Shigenori),” and the possibility that Naotsune was attempting a bold action cannot be denied. Naotsune was known as a close retainer of Nagamasa and is recorded at the head of the list of the dead at the Battle of Anegawa. The truth of the “shooting of Nobunaga” is unknown, but as a senior retainer who held Nagamasa’s full trust, his hard fighting at the risk of his life on the battlefield certainly existed.

The Tragedy of the Magara Clan — Father Naotaka, Son Takamoto, Brother Naozumi

The fierce Magara clan of the Asakura army suffered a devastating blow at the Battle of Anegawa. The father Naotaka, the son Takamoto, and the brother Naozumi are all said to have died in battle on the Ane River floodplain.

The Magara house were kokujin of Magara-no-shō in Echizen, who had joined the Asakura forces as guest commanders. Naotaka was a giant of over about 2 meters, a warrior of peerless strength who wielded the great sword “Tarō-tachi,” 221 centimeters in blade length (288 centimeters in the “Asakura Shimatsuki”). His son Takamoto too was known for his great strength, handling the “Jirō-tachi” of 166 centimeters in blade length.

At the Battle of Anegawa, Naotaka volunteered for the rear guard against the Tokugawa army’s pursuit, and after cutting down enemies on all sides, is said to have been felled by Sakisaka Yoshimasa, Shikibu, and others. Takamoto is said to have turned back to the battlefield to see his father’s end and was cut down and lost his life. It is a tragedy showing the bond of father and son and the cleanness of warriors.

Even after the fall of the Asakura clan, the Magara clan survived in Echizen and left its lineage to later ages as the Fukui-domain retainer Tashiro. The “Magara-shi Kaki Oboegaki,” discovered in 2020, is the tradition of the Magara clan recorded by that Tashiro.

Isono Kazumasa’s Later Life — Nobunaga’s Stratagem and the Surrender of Sawayama

Isono Kazumasa, made the protagonist of the “breaking of eleven ranks” at the Battle of Anegawa, afterward held out in Sawayama Castle, resisting the Oda attack for a long time. Sawayama Castle was a strategic key point located at the southern edge of the Azai domain, on the border with Oda territory. That Kazumasa held out for three years even isolated was proof of his valor and powers of command.

But in the end, Kazumasa surrendered to the Oda through Hideyoshi’s stratagem. Hideyoshi spread a rumor within the Azai house that “Kazumasa is secretly communicating with the Oda,” and contrived to make Nagamasa harbor suspicion of Kazumasa and cut off his support. With his provisions exhausted, Kazumasa at last surrendered to the Oda.

The greatest hero of the Battle of Anegawa made to switch sides by stratagem—this is an ironic sequel to the battle. Kazumasa’s subsequent treatment was moderate, and he gained a certain position in the Oda house, but he later incurred Nobunaga’s wrath and fell from favor, his late years said to have been unfortunate.

“Two Things Too Good for Ieyasu” — The Fame of Honda Tadakatsu

The Battle of Anegawa was one of the battles that established Honda Tadakatsu’s fame as a warrior. In later years, Kosugi Sakon of the Takeda house wrote in a satirical graffito: “Two things are too good for Ieyasu: the Tang headgear and Honda Heihachi” (there are two things too fine for Ieyasu—the ornament called the Tang headgear, and Honda Heihachirō Tadakatsu). This is praise for his hard fighting in the rear guard at Hitokotozaka in the Battle of Mikatagahara, but the starting point of Tadakatsu’s valor was at the Battle of Anegawa.

In later years Nobunaga appraised Honda Tadakatsu as “a commander who combines both flower and fruit,” and Hideyoshi praised him alongside others as “the first in Japan, a peerless warrior of all ages” and “Honda Tadakatsu in the east, Tachibana Muneshige in the west.” The legend that Honda Tadakatsu was unwounded in the 57 battles of his life begins with the lone-rider charge at the Battle of Anegawa.

The Unexpected Bond of Ieyasu and Nagamasa — A Relationship 30 Years Later

Tokugawa Ieyasu and Azai Nagamasa, who became enemies at the Battle of Anegawa, would be bound together again 30 years later in an unexpected form. Nagamasa’s third daughter, Gō (Sūgen-in), became the principal wife of Ieyasu’s third son Tokugawa Hidetada, and the mother of the third shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu.

Nagamasa himself fell at 29, but his blood flowed into the heart of the Tokugawa shogunate through his daughters. That Ieyasu, who fought Nagamasa at Anegawa, took in his daughter as the wife of his grandson—it is an unexpected turn of history.

On the battlefield of the Battle of Anegawa, Ieyasu probably held no hatred of Nagamasa personally. The political positioning of “participating as reinforcements in the war of his ally Nobunaga” is closer to Ieyasu’s true mind. The later marriage relationship was an extension of such political judgment by Ieyasu.

The Anegawa Battle Screen — The Only Battle Picture in Japan

The only “Anegawa Battle Screen” in Japan depicting the Battle of Anegawa is held by the Fukui Prefectural Museum of History. Said to have been produced by the Echizen Matsudaira house in the Edo period, it is a six-panel pair of folding screens minutely depicting the scene of the fighting.

Each year from late June to early July (the season of the old lunar calendar when the Battle of Anegawa took place), it is specially opened to the public. It depicts famous scenes including later traditions—the single combat of Honda Tadakatsu and Magara Naotaka, the charge of Isono Kazumasa, the flank attack of Sakakibara Yasumasa—and is a precious source by which one can visually confirm how the “story” of the Battle of Anegawa was formed.

Battle of Anegawa Timeline

Date	Event
4th month, 1570	The Kanegasaki retreat — Nobunaga withdraws from Echizen on Nagamasa’s defection.
5th month	Nobunaga regroups at Gifu. Requests reinforcements from Tokugawa Ieyasu.
6th month, 6th day	In a letter to Takeda Nobukata of Wakasa, Nobunaga foretells “a battle on the 28th of the 6th month.” Plans the date of the decisive battle in advance.
6th month, 19th day	The allied Oda-Tokugawa army sets out from Gifu Castle and invades northern Ōmi.
6th month, 21st day	Nobunaga encamps at Toragozen-yama and burns the Odani castle town. Conflict with the Azai becomes unavoidable.
6th month, 24th day	Besieges Yokoyama Castle. Places headquarters at Tatsugahana. Tokugawa Ieyasu’s army of 5,000 joins.
6th month, 24th–26th	Azai Nagamasa takes the field from Odani Castle. Joins Asakura Kagetake’s 8,000 and deploys at Ōyoriyama. The two armies face off across the Ane River.
Early 6th month, 27th	The Azai-Asakura army “breaks camp” from Ōyoriyama and withdraws once.
Predawn, 6th month, 28th	The Azai-Asakura army suddenly deploys on the north bank of the Ane River (surprise-attack theory / reversal-offensive theory).
Around 6 a.m., 6th month, 28th	The Battle of Anegawa opens. East wing: Azai vs. Oda. West wing: Asakura vs. Tokugawa.
Morning, 6th month, 28th	Isono Kazumasa’s Azai army breaks through the Oda formation (“breaking eleven ranks” tradition). Honda Tadakatsu’s lone-rider charge, his hard fight with Magara Naotaka. The West Mino Triumvirate’s relief, Sakakibara Yasumasa’s flank attack (tradition).
Around midday, 6th month, 28th	The Asakura army collapses; the Azai army too gives way entirely. The fighting ends. About 2,000 dead on both sides together.
6th month, 29th	Nobunaga pursues to below Odani Castle and sets fires. Judging capture difficult, falls back to below Yokoyama Castle.
7th month, 1st day	Yokoyama Castle surrenders and opens. Nobunaga posts Kinoshita Hideyoshi as castle warden (Hideyoshi’s first castle).
7th month, 4th day	Nobunaga returns in triumph to Gifu. Congratulations of “most splendid” from the court.
9th month	The Shiga Campaign — the Azai and Asakura rise again and, joining with Mt. Hiei, drive Nobunaga into a tight spot.
9th month, 1571	The burning of Mt. Hiei — retaliation for supporting the Azai and Asakura.
8th month, 1573	The fall of the Asakura clan (the Battle of Ichijōdani).
1st day, 9th month, 1573	The fall of the Azai clan (the Battle of Odani Castle). Three years after the Battle of Anegawa.

* Dates are in the old (lunar) calendar. Row shading: orange = preparation for the decisive battle; red = the battle and its final settlement; yellow = post-battle developments.

Battle of Anegawa: Relationships of the Key Figures of Both Armies

The Allied Oda-Tokugawa Army

Role	Person	Movements in This Battle
Supreme commander	Oda Nobunaga	Led 23,000–28,000. Foretold the decisive battle of the 28th of the 6th month in advance, and lured Nagamasa into a field battle by besieging Yokoyama Castle.
Reinforcement commander	Tokugawa Ieyasu	Fought leading 5,000 reinforcements. Fierce battle with the Asakura on the west wing; struggled but pushed back through the hard fighting of the whole Tokugawa army.
Oda retainer	Kinoshita Tōkichirō (Toyotomi Hideyoshi)	Fought somewhat behind the vanguard. After the battle, appointed castle warden of Yokoyama Castle, becoming master of a castle for the first time.
Oda retainer	Shibata Katsuie	Fought as a senior retainer of the Oda house.
Oda retainer	Akechi Mitsuhide	Fought in the Oda army. His detailed role is poorly attested in the sources.
Hideyoshi’s strategist	Takenaka Hanbee	Fought as Hideyoshi’s strategist. Tradition that, seeing the Azai army’s momentum, he advised changing to a defensive ring.
Oda retainer	Sakai Masahisa	Served in the Oda vanguard but struggled against Isono Kazumasa’s fierce assault. His heir Naotsune died.
Oda retainer	Ikeda Tsuneoki	Bore a wing of the vanguard, but had his formation broken by the Azai offensive.
Oda retainer	Mori Yoshinari	A master of the cross-bladed spear, nicknamed one of “the three attacking Sa.” Said to have stopped Isono Kazumasa’s charge.
West Mino Triumvirate	Inaba Ittetsu	Attacked into the flank of the Azai force, the figure who turned the situation in the Oda’s favor.
Oda retainer	Niwa Nagahide	Handled the siege of Yokoyama Castle. Did not directly join the main battle.
Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings	Honda Tadakatsu	Dared a lone-rider charge against the Asakura army closing on Ieyasu’s headquarters, rousing his allies. Protagonist of the single-combat legend with Magara Naotaka.
Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings	Sakakibara Yasumasa	Said to have turned the situation with a flank attack on the Asakura force (possibly a Tokugawa-historiography invention).
Tokugawa retainer	Sakai Tadatsugu	The foremost of the Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings; commanded Ieyasu’s forces.
Tokugawa retainer	Aoki Kazushige	Recorded in the “Shinchō Kōki” as the commander who felled Magara Naotaka. Later a daimyō (lord of Asada domain).
Tokugawa retainers	The Sakisaka brothers	Sakisaka Yoshimasa, Shikibu, and others who in the end felled Magara Naotaka. Ancestors of the Fukui-domain retainer Tashiro.

The Allied Azai-Asakura Army

Role	Person	Movements in This Battle
Azai supreme commander	Azai Nagamasa	Took the field from Odani Castle and met the field battle. Fierce fight with the Oda army on the east wing; defeated and withdrew to Odani Castle.
Asakura commander	Asakura Kagetake	Asakura Yoshikage’s cousin. Led the Asakura army of 8,000–10,000 in place of Yoshikage. Defeated by the Tokugawa army and withdrew to Echizen.
Asakura head	Asakura Yoshikage	Did not move from Ichijōdani, did not himself take the field at Anegawa. His lack of decisiveness foreshadowed the fall of the Asakura three years later.
Azai senior retainer	Isono Kazumasa	The Azai vanguard. Protagonist of the “breaking eleven ranks” tradition. As lord of Sawayama Castle, resisted after the battle, later surrendering through Hideyoshi’s stratagem.
Azai senior retainer	Endō Naotsune	Nagamasa’s close retainer. Said to have closed in on Nobunaga’s headquarters, but was felled by Takenaka Shigenori and died.
Azai kinsman	Azai Masamoto (Masayuki)	Nagamasa’s own younger brother. Died at the Battle of Anegawa.
Azai senior retainer	Azai Masazumi	A commander who played a central role in the Azai house; died at the Battle of Anegawa.
Azai senior retainer	Akao Kiyotsuna	Fought as a senior retainer of the Azai house. The master of the Akao residence where Nagamasa took his own life at the later fall of Odani Castle.
Asakura fierce general	Magara Naotaka	A warrior of peerless strength wielding the “Tarō-tachi.” Protagonist of the single-combat legend with Honda Tadakatsu. Died in battle, felled by the Sakisaka brothers.
Asakura fierce general	Magara Takamoto	Naotaka’s son. A warrior of great strength handling the “Jirō-tachi” of 166 cm blade length. Died with his father at Anegawa.
Asakura	Magara Naozumi	Naotaka’s younger brother. Died at the Battle of Anegawa. The Magara clan suffered a devastating blow.

Related Historic Site Map — Battle of Anegawa

Spots on the Map:

• Odani Castle ruins (castle) — The residence of three generations of Azai, the place from which Nagamasa took the field.
• Toragozen-yama (fort / old battlefield) — Nobunaga’s camp when he burned the Odani castle town.
• Ōyoriyama (camp site) — The mountain where the Azai-Asakura army first deployed. They “vanished and reappeared” in the predawn of the 28th.
• Mitamura clan residence ruins (historic site) — The place where Asakura Kagetake’s headquarters was set.
• Chihara Park (old battlefield / park) — The fiercely contested site where “the river was dyed with blood” at the Battle of Anegawa.
• Anegawa old battlefield (old battlefield) — The center of the battlefield where, in 1570, the allied Oda-Tokugawa and Azai-Asakura armies clashed.
• Oda Nobunaga camp ruins (historic site) — The place where Nobunaga set his headquarters (Tatsugahana).
• Yokoyama Castle ruins (castle) — The Azai branch castle that was the origin of the fighting. After the battle, Hideyoshi became its castle warden.

* The map is a reference display based on modern roads. It differs from the roads and terrain of the Sengoku period.

📍 View the route on Google Maps (switchable between car/train)

Choose a Base for Exploring the Battle of Anegawa

Plan accommodation and a rental car around three parts of the story: the main battlefield along the Ane River, the Azai clan’s stronghold at Odani Castle, and the wider northern Ōmi route linking Yokoyama Castle, Nagahama, and Lake Biwa.

Walk the main battlefield

Stay in Nagahama for the Ane River battlefield

Use Nagahama as the main base for the battlefield monuments, the headquarters sites of the opposing armies, and the rural landscape along the Ane River.

Key historic sites

• Anegawa Old Battlefield
• Jinden, the site of Azai Nagamasa’s headquarters
• Jinkake-no-Yanagi, associated with Nobunaga’s headquarters
• Graves and monuments to warriors who fell in the battle

Find hotels and ryokan in Nagahama and Maibara Search rental cars near Maibara Station

Explore the Azai clan’s home ground

Stay near Odani Castle and northern Nagahama

Combine the battlefield with Odani Castle, the mountain stronghold from which Azai Nagamasa marched to Anegawa, and the museums preserving the history of the Azai clan.

Key historic sites

• Odani Castle ruins
• Odani Castle Sengoku Historical Museum
• Azai History and Folklore Museum
• Sugatani Onsen and the northern Nagahama area

Find hotels and ryokan near Odani Castle Search rental cars near Maibara Station for Odani

Follow the wider northern Ōmi campaign

Stay in Hikone for a wider eastern Lake Biwa itinerary

Use Hikone as an additional base for a wider eastern Lake Biwa itinerary linking Yokoyama Castle, Nagahama Castle, and other Sengoku-period sites.

Key historic sites and areas

• Yokoyama Castle ruins
• Nagahama Castle History Museum
• Kunitomo Gun Museum
• Hikone Castle and the eastern shore of Lake Biwa

Find hotels in Hikone and eastern Lake Biwa Search rental cars near Hikone Station

This section contains affiliate links. The battlefield and nearby museums can be visited in one day, while adding Odani Castle and the wider northern Ōmi sites is better suited to a two-day trip. A rental car is especially useful because the battlefield monuments and mountain-castle trailheads are dispersed. Odani and Yokoyama are mountain-castle sites, so check current accommodation availability, rental-car rates, museum opening days, shuttle-bus operation, parking rules, weather, trail conditions, seasonal closures, and booking terms on the linked pages.

Related Articles

Battle Articles

• Battle of Okehazama (1560) — Nobunaga’s starting point, ten years before Anegawa.
• Battle of Inabayama Castle (1567) — Nobunaga’s pacification of Mino, the premise of the northern-Ōmi alliance.
• The Kanegasaki Retreat (4th month, 1570) — The direct prelude to the Battle of Anegawa, Nagamasa’s defection.
• Battle of Mikatagahara (1572) — Ieyasu’s trial; Honda Tadakatsu’s hard fight in the rear guard at Hitokotozaka.
• Battle of Odani Castle (1573) — The fall of the Azai clan, the final settlement of the Battle of Anegawa.
• Battle of Nagashino (1575) — A battle sharing the structural problem of the “great victory myth.”

Warlord Articles

• Oda Nobunaga — Supreme commander; the strategy of the “pre-announced decisive battle.”
• Azai Nagamasa — Commander of the enemy army, Nobunaga’s brother-in-law, a young head who fell at 29.
• Asakura Yoshikage — The Asakura head who did not take the field at Anegawa; lack of decisiveness.
• Tokugawa Ieyasu — The supreme commander of the reinforcements, who fought leading 5,000.
• Toyotomi Hideyoshi — After the battle, castle warden of Yokoyama Castle; an important milestone of advancement.
• Honda Tadakatsu — Protagonist of the legend of the lone-rider charge and single combat with Magara Naotaka.
• Akechi Mitsuhide — Fought as part of the Oda army.
• Shibata Katsuie — Fought as a senior retainer of the Oda house.
• Takenaka Hanbee — Hideyoshi’s strategist; the tradition of advising the defensive ring.
• Sakakibara Yasumasa — One of the Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings; protagonist of the flank-surprise tradition.

References

Primary Sources

• Ōta Gyūichi, “Shinchō Kōki,” vol. 3 — a contemporary record by a Nobunaga retainer. The most reliable basic source for the course of the battle, the number of dead, the list of heads taken, and so on.
• “Tokitsugu Kyōki” — the diary of the courtier Yamashina Tokitsugu. Conveys the Rokkaku’s concert with the Azai and the situation around Kyoto.
• “Masuda-ke Monjo” and “Nendaiki Shōsetsu” — contemporary sources conveying variant figures for the dead.
• “Annual Report of the Jesuits in Japan” — a record of European missionaries; the theory of 6,000 dead.
• Letter of Nobunaga (to Takeda Nobukata of Wakasa, dated the 6th day of the 6th month of Genki 1) — foretells the decisive battle of the 28th of the 6th month.
• “Magara-shi Kaki Oboegaki” (acquired by the Fukui Prefectural Museum of History, 2020) — records the tradition of the Magara clan, a new theory of the circumstances of the killing.

Secondary Sources (Edo Period Onward)

• “Azai Sandaiki” (compiled in the Genroku era) — the first appearance of “Isono Kazumasa’s breaking of eleven ranks.” A war chronicle from the Azai-house viewpoint.
• “Hōan Shinchō-ki” — records the tradition that “the one Aoki Kazushige felled was not Jūrōzaemon but his son.”
• “Asakura Shimatsuki” — the Asakura-side viewpoint; the theory of the Tarō-tachi at 288 cm blade length, and so on.
• “Shinsho Taikōki” (18th century, by Kurihara Ryūan) — the first appearance of the single combat of Honda Tadakatsu and Magara Naotaka.
• “Buke Jiki” (Yamaga Sokō) — records only that “Magara was killed.”
• “Kan’ei Shoka Keizuden” and “Tokugawa Jikki” — emphasize the exploits of Ieyasu, Honda Tadakatsu, and Sakakibara Yasumasa by Tokugawa historiography.
• Anegawa Battle Screen (held by the Fukui Prefectural Museum of History) — produced by the Echizen Matsudaira house, the only Anegawa battle picture in Japan.

Major Research Works and Papers

• Ōta Hiroshi, “Azai Nagamasa and the Battle of Anegawa: The Trajectory of Its Prosperity and Fall” (Sunrise Shuppan, Tankai Bunko, 2011) — an important study reexamining the “landslide theory.”
• Ōta Hiroshi, “The Battle of Anegawa and the Space of the Battlefield” (in Fujimoto Hisashi et al., eds., “A Combat History of Nobunaga’s Army,” Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 2016).
• Takazawa Hitoshi, “New Shinchō Kōki” (V2-Solution, 2011) — proposes the Asakura-Azai surprise-attack theory.
• Taniguchi Katsuhiro, “A Complete Record of Oda Nobunaga’s Battles: From Okehazama to Honnō-ji” (Chūkō Shinsho, 2002).
• Miyajima Keiichi, “Three Generations of the Azai Clan” (Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, Jinbutsu Sōsho, 2008).
• Satō Kei, “A Source-Critical Study on the Facts of the Battle of Anegawa,” Bulletin of the University of Fukui (a reexamination of the General Staff’s “Japanese War History: The Anegawa Campaign”).
• General Staff Office, ed., “Japanese War History: The Anegawa Campaign” — a Meiji-era military-science analysis, long the basis of the received view.

Public Papers and Commentary

• Watanabe Daimon, “Was the Battle of Anegawa Not a ‘Great Victory’? What Is the Unexpected Truth Hidden in the Nobunaga-Ieyasu Myth?” Yahoo! News Expert, April 2026.
• Serai.jp, “‘The Battle of Anegawa’: An Account of the Fierce Battle in Which Nobunaga and Ieyasu Defeated Azai Nagamasa [Japanese History Casebook],” 2025.
• Tōyō Keizai Online, “On the Eve of the Battle of Anegawa, as the ‘Anti-Nobunaga Forces’ Gathered Momentum: The Miserable End of the Man Who Tried to Snuff Out Nobunaga,” 2026.
• Bushō Japan, “Magara Naotaka in Single Combat with Honda Tadakatsu at Anegawa! His Prized Tarō-tachi…,” 2025.

Public Institution Materials

• Fukui Prefectural Museum of History (holder of the Anegawa Battle Screen).
• Nagahama City official tourism guide (Anegawa old battlefield, Chihara Park, Odani Castle Sengoku History Museum).
• Nagahama Castle Museum of History.

* This article is composed on the basis of the sources, research works, and papers above, as well as multiple information sources on the web. There are points on which interpretations of history differ even among researchers, and established views may change with the discovery of new sources or the advance of research.