Oda-style Siege of Okabe Motonobu for Over Two Years
These forts, collectively referred to as the “Six Forts of Takatenjin”, were equipped with wide and deep moats, tall earthwoks, and multiple layers of fences and palisades, forming a large-scale encirclement capable of completely isolating and starving out Takatenjin Castle.
This strategy resembles Oda Nobunaga’s siege operations, such as the Washizu Fort and Marune Fort, which surrounded and blockaded Odaka Castle and Narumi Castle prior to the Battle of Okehazama. It is also similar to the simultaneous siege of Miki Castle conducted by Hashiba Hideyoshi in Harima.
This approach involved surrounding the enemy castle with abundant forces while being prepared for possible attacks from enemy reinforcements. Ieyasu, who was an ally of Oda Nobunaga, shared this expertise and adopted it as his own tactic.
On the other hand, defending Takatenjin Castle were approximately 1,000 soldiers led by Okabe Motonobu, who was originally a retainer of the Imagawa clan and had also participated in the Battle of Okehazama. After the downfall of the Imagawa clan, he switched his allegiance to the Takeda clan.
Ieyasu deployed 5,000 troops within the completed siege. Firstly, he cut off the enemy’s access to self-sufficient food by ravaging the crops in the surrounding fields (“karita rōzeki”) and burned down the castle town. Later, in October 1580, Ieyasu initiated the siege of Takatenjin Castle. Instead of directly assaulting the impregnable mountain castle, he opted to weaken the enemy through siege and starvation, deploying an army of over 10,000 soldiers.
Fences were set up along each fortress and the connecting passages, with one soldier allocated for every “ken” (slightly less than 2 meters).
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