Battle of Okehazama
Oda Nobunaga goes down as one of the greatest warlords in Japanese history. It was the Battle of Okehazama that established him as one of the main warlords of the Sengoku period. In 1560, Imagawa Yoshimoto took an army of 25,000 men and marched toward Kyoto. In order to get to Kyoto he had to go through Oda territory in the Owari province. On his way, he took the fortresses of Washizu and Marune and then set up camp in Dengaku-hazama. The large army felt they would be protected inside the large wooded gorge.
When Oda received word of the army in his territory he took his own forces to the Zensho-ji temple which was a short distance from the gorge. Oda Nobunaga was heavily outnumbered with a force of only 2,000 to 3,000 men. There was no way that Oda could hold out at the temple if Imagawa attacked nor could his army win with a frontal attack.
In order to get the upper hand, Oda Nobunaga created a dummy army with enough banners to make Imagawa think that Oda not only had a large army but that it was stationed there. However, Oda took his main force and then made his way through the forests of the gorge to come out at the rear of the Imagawa army from the north. The movement of the Oda’s army was concealed by a large thunderstorm and the Imagawa army were not expecting any sort of attack.
When Oda and his men emerged from the woods, the larger army lost all discipline in the surprise of the attack. In the confusion Imagawa Yoshimoto’s tent was left undefended. He emerged from the tent to tell his men to return to their posts (he believed they had been drinking and causing a ruckus) only to find the battle raging about him. Imagawa Yoshimoto was quickly killed along with all but two other senior officers of the army. With no leadership, the rest of the Imagawa army switch sides and joined Oda. Among the men who switched sides was Matsudaira Motoyasu who would later become Tokugawa Ieyasu and be a loyal ally to Nobunaga for the rest of the warlord’s life.