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Oda Nobunanga and Tokugawa Ieyasu versus Takeda Katsuyori: An army under Takeda besieges a castle when it is assailed by a much larger army under Oda/Tokugawa. Will Takeda’s samurai overpower Oda/Tokugawa’s relatively untested arquebuses performing volley fire?.
That the battle lasted eight hours suggests that the bow, sword and spear must also have played their part in the Oda-Tokugawa victory. Nevertheless, it is certain that the arquebus was central to the battle’s outcome, its correct application as a volley-firing weapon, combined with an excellent defensive arrangement, causing a high level of casualties and dealing a crushing blow to a force that was employing traditional methods of warfare. (McNab, 107)
Nagashino remains an interesting case study for the study of new technology in warfare, the arquebus only being introduced to Japan a few decades earlier. Both sides possessed the arquebus and yet the technology only helped one in any way. In this battle, we can see how the existence of technology is not itself a means of effecting change on the battlefield. For example, Oda-Tokugawa had to overcome a significant deficiency in the technology (that gunpowder does not work when it is wet), by putting in the effort to keep it dry. They also had to utilize the technology with the correct tactical application (volley fire), and as a suitable part of a larger battle plan (supporting defensive operations along the enemy’s main axis of attack).
Kure, Mitsuo. Samurai: An Illustrated History. Boston: Turtle, 2001.
McNab, Chris. “Nagashino, 1575.” In Battles that Changed Warfare 1457 BC – AD 1991, 98-107. London: Amber, 2008.Turnbull, Stephen. Battles of the Samurai. New York: Arms and Amour, 1987.
Map of Japan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sengoku_period
Map of the world: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_map_projections
Oda Nobunaga: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oda_Nobunaga
Takeda Katsuyori: http://www.samurai-archives.com/katsuyori.html
Tokugawa Ieyasu: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Tokugawa_Ieyasu.jpg
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