Battle of Minatogawa

Lineups in battle

date	July 5, 1336
place	Minato River, Settsu Province
output	Victory of the rebels

Parties to the conflict
Ashikaga Takauji	troops loyal to the emperor
Commander
Ashikaga Takauji	Kusunoki Masashige † Nitta Yoshisada
Troop strength
approx. 35,000	approx.17,500
losses
unknown	unknown

The Battle of Minatogawa ( Japanese 湊川の戦い Minatogawa no tatakai , Eng. Battle of the Minato River ) was a battle during the rebellion of Ashikaga Takauji against the Japanese Emperor Go-Daigo . It took place on July 5, 1336 on the Minato River in Settsu Province (today near Kobe in Hyogo Prefecture ). The Imperial Armed Forces, led by Kusunoki Masashige and Nitta Yoshisadatried to intercept the rebels led by Ashikaga Takauji. Although a defeat for the loyalists, the battle is "famous for the loyalty shown by Kusunoki Masashige".

background

In February 1336, the Ashikaga clan had occupied the capital Kyoto , but their head Ashikaga Takauji was soon forced to flee to Kyūshū . From this position of strength, Kusunoki Masashige tried to convince Emperor Go-Daigo to seek peace. Go-Daigo refused, believing that the threat posed by the Ashikaga clan could be removed. Nitta Yoshisada was ordered to assemble troops to defeat the Ashikaga armies.

Yoshisada began his campaign, but Akamatsu Norimura , who had sided with the Ashikaga clan, forced the imperial forces to a lengthy siege by defending Shirohata Castle in Harima Province . This gave the Ashikaga clan time to regroup and consolidate the forces from Kyushu by winning the Battle of Tatarahama on April 14th . Takauji immediately launched the counter-invasion and advanced by land and sea. Ended Yoshisada inform the siege of the advance, trying to find a better defensive position by after Hyōgo withdrew.

Course of the battle

Go-Daigo ordered Masashige to rally his forces and reinforce Yoshisada. Masashige wanted to let the Ashikaga clan into Kyoto and force them to defend, while the loyalists would cut off supplies. However, he did not succeed in convincing the emperor of this strategy. Masashige then ordered his eldest son, Kusunoki Masatsura , to return to his fiefdom . He himself intended to join Yoshisada. The imperial army had no war fleet that could have prevented an encirclement. Instead, they took up a defendable position near the Minato River and dispatched troops to the east. They should try to prevent a landing from the sea.

The Ashikaga rebels decided to encircle and destroy the imperial army. The main force led by Tadayoshi attacked the loyalists from the west to encircle Masashige. Shoni Yorihisa launched a flank attack from the south and Shiba Takatsune moved north to attack from behind. The landing of Hosokawa Jozen further east forced Yoshisada to evade encirclement by retreating. Masashige was quickly surrounded when Takauji's ships landed between two imperial troops without any disturbance. Abandoned by the main imperial forces, troops led by the Kusunoki clan were quickly overwhelmed. Kusunoki Masashige, his brother Masasue and all other clan members died. Yoshisada was pushed back to Kyoto and quickly abandoned the city as indefensible. Go-Daigo withdrew to the holy mountain Hiei-zan . The Ashikaga clan entered the capital unhindered and the new emperor Kōmyō was enthroned, thus beginning the era of Namboku-chō .

Cultural influence

The story of Ashikaga Takauji , Emperor Go-Daigo , Nitta Yoshisada and Kusunoki Masashige from the Genkō War to the establishment of the Northern and Southern Imperial Courts (Namboku-chō) is described in detail in the forty-volume epic Taiheiki . To worship Kusunoki Masashige, the Minatogawa shrine was built in the center of Kobe in 1871/72 .

Individual evidence

↑ Stephen Turnbull: The Samurai Sourcebook . Tōkyō Daigaku Shuppan-kai, London 1998, ISBN 978-1-85409-523-7 , pp. 206, 208 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d George Sansom: A History of Japan, 1334-1615 . Stanford University Press, Stanford 1961, ISBN 0-8047-0525-9 , pp. 44-53 .
↑ Stephen Turnbull: The Samurai, A Military History . MacMillan, London 1977, ISBN 0-02-620540-8 , pp. 101-102 .
^ Ivan Morris: The Nobility of Failure . Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Boston 1975, ISBN 978-0-03-010811-2 , pp. 132 .
↑ Hiroaki Satō: Legends of the Samurai . Overlook Duckworth, London 1975, ISBN 978-1-59020-730-7 , pp. 186-187 .

[1] Stephen Turnbull: The Samurai Sourcebook . Tōkyō Daigaku Shuppan-kai, London 1998, ISBN 978-1-85409-523-7 , pp. 206, 208 .

[sansom-2] George Sansom: A History of Japan, 1334-1615 . Stanford University Press, Stanford 1961, ISBN 0-8047-0525-9 , pp. 44-53 .

[3] Stephen Turnbull: The Samurai, A Military History . MacMillan, London 1977, ISBN 0-02-620540-8 , pp. 101-102 .

[4] Ivan Morris: The Nobility of Failure . Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Boston 1975, ISBN 978-0-03-010811-2 , pp. 132 .

[5] Hiroaki Satō: Legends of the Samurai . Overlook Duckworth, London 1975, ISBN 978-1-59020-730-7 , pp. 186-187 .