Japan's Warring States Period: The Rise of the Wakasa Tiger

Unlike other generals of the same period, Onitsuka Masaaki at this time was proficient in using the Jumonji spear, which was related to his experience in studying spearmanship in the Hozoin.

Hozoin is a branch temple of Kofuku-ji Temple in Nara. Its master Yinrong was very fond of martial arts, so he became a disciple of Daizen Taifu Moritada and learned spearmanship, and soon became an expert in it.

Legend has it that Yinrong saw the crescent moon reflected in the water of Sarusawa Pond in Nara, and was inspired to create a cross-shaped spear, the Jumonji Gun. Soon after, Yinrong began to teach this spear technique and founded the Hozoin-ryu dojo.

When Onita Masaaki was wandering around Kinki, he learned spearmanship from Yinrong at Hozoin and achieved some success. When he left after completing his studies, Yinrong gave him a ten-character spear named "Blue Monkey". From then on, one man and one spear opened a new chapter in their lives.

Compared with plain or straight spears without extra branches on the spear body, the Jumonji spear has forked sides and sharp blades, which can be used for stabbing, hooking, pushing, pecking, cutting, and blocking. Therefore, it is more flexible to use and has more diverse attack methods, which was a great breakthrough in the development of spearmanship at that time.

Therefore, when Masaaki Onitsuka rushed towards Masaaki Nakamura with a gun, the latter was surprised by the rare style of "Blue Ape" and was almost knocked to the ground by Masaaki Onitsuka at the first shot. Fortunately, he was experienced and his body subconsciously leaned back at the moment the gun stabbed him, and he escaped the disaster.

But before Nakamura Masashige could stand firm, Onitsuka Masaaki returned with his gun and fought again. His moves were swift, fierce and accurate, causing Nakamura Masashige to stagger back.

As Yin Rong said, "The ten characters are: stabbing with a spear, slashing with a naginata, and cutting with a hook and sickle. It can counter the enemy's moves and defeat them. It is indeed a powerful weapon to counter the spear."

This was indeed the case. Under the relentless pressure of Onitsuka Masaaki, Nakamura Masashige had to retreat and fight, and it was difficult for him to find a chance to counterattack. Even if Onitsuka Masaaki made one or two mistakes, Nakamura Masashige's shots were always effectively resolved by him.

The two fought until 2pm, and Nakamura Masashige was visibly exhausted. Seeing this, his second son Nakamura Masaki stepped forward with a gun to rescue him. Unexpectedly, after only five rounds of fighting with Onitani Masaaki, "Blue Monkey" pierced his lower ribs with a gun. Onitani Masaaki rushed forward with a gun against him, and finally stabbed him to death on a dead tree nearby.

"Bastard!" Nakamura Masashige doted on his youngest son the most. When he saw him die tragically at the hands of Onitsuka Masaaki, he was heartbroken. Regardless of his fatigue and pain, and the advice and obstruction of the samurai beside him, he picked up his gun and rushed into the battle again, roaring that he would fight to the death with Onitsuka Masaaki.

But how could Nakamura Masashige, who had lost his mind and exhausted his physical strength, be a match for Onitsuka Masaaki, who became more and more courageous as the battle went on?
Seeing that the other party was coming towards him with the determination to die, Onitsuka Masaaki did not hesitate and decided to give him a quick death. The "Blue Ape" quickly stabbed out from his hand, aimed at the injured left leg of Nakamura Masashige and shot it. After stabbing, he hooked it back, and in an instant, the whole leg was separated from the skin and flesh, and the blood was blurred. Nakamura Masashige let out a scream of "Ah", then knelt on the ground with a hideous face, and the spear in his hand fell to the side.

"Mr. Nakamura, please go to Hirasaka and keep your son company!"

Seeing that Nakamura Masashige had no strength to fight back, Onitsuka Masaaki went around behind him, ripped off the protective gear on his back, drew the katana from his waist, and slashed at the back of his neck!

"Pfft!"

With a wave of his sword, Nakamura Masashige fell to the ground. His head rolled twice on the ground and happened to stop next to his spear.

"He is indeed a worthy opponent, who will stay by my side until his death." After saying this, Oniwa Masaaki bowed respectfully to Nakamura Masashige's body, then took his head in his hand, raised it above his head, and shouted loudly: "Nakamura Shinzaburo Masashige has been captured by me, Oniwa Keijiro, you all should surrender quickly!"

In the morning, Mikami Tsunezane was captured, and in the afternoon, Nakamura Masashige was beheaded. In less than a day, two generals of the Inaba Yamana family were beheaded. This result threw the Inaba Yamana army, which was still fighting hard, into disarray.

Not only did the Inaba Yamana army that tried to encircle Nagasaka Nobumasa fall apart without a fight, but the troops that were struggling to hold on in front of him also lost their morale and retreated in all directions.

Under the blessing of the Takeda army's waves of "cry" like a tsunami, the defense line that Takeda Kuninobu painstakingly built began to collapse. The so-called偃月阵 had lost its original formation and was compressed into a "single-line long snake formation". Not only that, under the Takeda army's continuous cutting and cutting, this "single-line long snake formation" was also in danger of being divided and destroyed.

Seeing this, Takeda Kuninobu, who was at the back of the formation, immediately ordered the entire army to break contact with the Takeda army and move quickly towards himself, intending to reorganize the formation and gradually withdraw from the battlefield, so as to preserve the manpower and avoid being wiped out by the Takeda army in one fell swoop.

But the war had already come to this point, how could the blood-thirsty Nagasaka Nobumasa and Oniwa Masaaki stop there? Moreover, Yamagata Morinobu, who was far away in Imatadera, had no intention of quitting while he was ahead.

His idea was to defeat the Inaba Yamane Army before dark, and preferably to kill Takeda Kuninobu in one fell swoop, completely eliminating the enemy's ability to resist. After a short rest the next day, he and the Tajima Yamane Army would recapture the cities and villages that had been occupied a few days ago, and wait for Yoshishige's arrival at the border between Inaba and Tajima.

Upon learning that Yamagata Morinobu had no intention of stopping the pursuit, Sakakibara Nagamasa decided to lead the main force and led the remaining 1,500 men to quickly rush to the battlefield.

At this moment, Yamana Yutoyo in Yagi Castle also keenly observed the changes in the battle situation outside the city. In particular, when he saw that Sakakibara Nagamasa also led his troops to reap the fruits of victory, he wanted to get a piece of the pie, so he immediately ordered Tanjie Shoshi and Kakiya Tsugumo to lead 500 troops out of the west gate and south gate to launch a fierce attack on the flank and rear of the Inaba Yamana army.

With the participation of these one thousand men, excluding casualties and deserters, the troop strength ratio between the two armies on the battlefield reached five to two. In addition, the Inaba Yamana army's formation was in chaos and it was attacked from three sides, with casualties and deserters continuing to increase.

The battle lasted until around 4 p.m., when it was getting dark, Takeda Kuninobu's plan to gather the remaining troops and fight again was ultimately not realized due to the powerful offensive of the Takeda and Yamana coalition forces.

As the last defense line in the north of the main camp was breached by Nagasaka Nobumasa, the defense line in the east of the main camp was breached by Tajie Sho Yoshiyoshi, and the defense line in the south of the main camp was about to be breached by Kakiya Tsunari, Takeda Kuninobu, who was worried about his life, was forced to lead more than 400 people from the main camp to break out to the west under the persuasion of a group of soldiers.

Upon learning that Takeda Kuninobu had broken out alone, the Inaba Yamana troops who had surrounded and divided the enemy became like deflated balls. They lost their will and determination to resist, and under the intimidation and relentless pressure of the Takeda army, they either laid down their arms and surrendered or fled into the surrounding bushes. The few samurai who persisted in resisting were also turned into hornets' nests by the Takeda army's hail of guns and arrows.

Around five o'clock in the evening, except for the Makai troops led by Takeda Kuninobu who escaped with difficulty, the rest of the Inaba Yamana army were all destroyed or defeated.

Seeing that it was getting late, Sakakibara Nagamasa ordered the battle bell to be rung, and all the troops began to withdraw. As for the troops sent to pursue Takeda Kuninobu, they also returned to Yagi Castle under the leadership of Onitawa Masaaki.

According to him, although they failed to catch up with or kill Takeda Kuninobu, they did cause a lot of casualties to the horsemen of the famous Inaba Yamaga family along the way. Preliminary estimates show that the number of troops who were able to escape with Takeda Kuninobu was between two hundred and three hundred.

Thus, the largest battle in Tajima with 9,000 soldiers, the Battle of Yagi Castle, ended with the final victory of the Takeda-Tajima Yamana coalition. After this battle, the Tajima expeditionary army organized by Yamana Makoto was completely defeated. That night, Takeda Kuninobu led the remaining 230 men, stepped on the thick snow, and rode non-stop to the west through Myoken Mountain, crossed the Ogi-no-Mount Ogi, and finally escaped back to Takahira Castle in Inaba Homi County on the twelfth day of the first lunar month.

With the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Yagi Castle and Takeda Kuninobu's withdrawal from Tajima, those castles and villages that had previously been captured by the Inaba Yamana family returned to the hands of Yamana Yutoyo without any battle.

According to Yoshishige's previous plan, the counterattack against the Inaba Yamane clan needed to be carried out in four directions:
The Takeda army marched westward along the San'in Kaido with the support of the Tajima Yamana army, and advanced into Inaba by land and sea, directly taking Tottori Castle, and then approaching Tenjinyama Castle, the residence of Yamana Makoto. Another group marched south from Ikuno Castle, directly capturing the Kita-Harima area and preventing the Amago army from participating in the war.

The Tajima Yamane army also divided into two routes. One route set out from Tsurugamine Castle and headed westward into western Tajima; the other route set out from Yagi Castle, captured Kitayabu County where the Inaba Yamane army was entrenched, and then directly attacked Inaba, and finally joined forces with the Takeda army at the foot of Tenjinyama Castle.

However, when Yoshishige made this plan, he did not expect that Takeda Kuninobu would be defeated so thoroughly at Yagi Castle. Therefore, when the news of the victory reached Yoshishige, he and a thousand horsemen had just entered Tajima through Kayue Valley.

Since they had to wait for Yoshishige to arrive before launching a counterattack, Yamagata Morinobu and Yamana Takanori used this time to wipe out the Inaba Yamana clan's garrison and castle in Tajima.

On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, the same day that Takeda Kuninobu fled back to Inaba, Sakakibara Nagamasa led his army to capture Ashiya Castle in Nikata County;

On the 13th day of the first lunar month, Nagasaka Nobumasa led his army to capture the coastal castle of Moroyori, and the Takeda army completed the occupation of Nikkata County in western Tajima.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Morinobu Yamagata led two thousand men and defeated the two hundred defenders gathered in Oshiro Castle in Shichimi County, and eliminated the last stronghold of the Inaba Yamana clan in Western Tajima. So far, in just four days, two and a half counties and more than 120 villages in Western Tajima were brought under the jurisdiction of the Wakasa Takeda clan.

On the 16th day of the first lunar month, the Tajima Yamane army led by Tanjie Shoyoshi also captured dozens of villages in the northwest of Yabu County occupied by the Inaba Yamane clan.

However, according to the previous agreement between Yoshishige and Yamana Yutoyo, all the territories of the Inaba Yamana clan in Tajima were transferred to the jurisdiction of the Wakasa Takeda clan. Therefore, these villages were all handed over to Yoshishige after he arrived at Tsurumine Castle.

After completely capturing western Tajima, Yamagata Morinobu also ordered Nagasaka Nobumasa and Sakakibara Nagamasa to split their troops into two groups and attack two important mountain passes at the junction of Inaba and Tajima, namely Gamo Pass and Hiyama Pass.

These two mountain passes are the most important passages for Tajima to enter and exit Inaba except for water routes. Capturing these two mountain passes means occupying the bridgehead and forward position for capturing Inaba, and having the initiative to use force against Inaba.

After Yoshishige led his army to Tsurugamine Castle and stayed there for a while, he continued to advance westward on the 17th day of the first lunar month and arrived at Oshiro Castle, an important castle at the junction of Tajima and Inaba, and officially began to deploy the counterattack plan against Inaba.

According to Yoshishige's idea, Yamana Yutoyo would first lead a thousand troops to attack Inaba through the Hiyama Pass and capture Wakazakura Castle. They would then go north to capture Yamazaki Castle of the Yamazaki Mori clan and Usagi Castle, the residence of Takeda Kuninobu, to complete the conquest of southern Inaba, and then go north to Tenjinyama Castle.

Yoshishige himself led an army of more than 6,000 troops, passed through Gamo Pass and attacked the eastern part of Inaba. After capturing Nanakuma and Nijoyama Castles, he focused on attacking Tottori Castle, which had stronger defensive capabilities, and tried to arrive at the foot of Tenzan Castle at the same time as Yamana Yutoyo.

At the same time, Yoshishige had ordered Ataka Fuyuki to lead 500 naval troops to set out from Tango. After a brief stop at Moroyoshi Castle in Tajima for supplies, they would head west and land in the area of ​​Ōsaki Castle along the coast of Inaba to cut off any possible support from the Hoki navy of the Amago clan.

After everything was ready, Yoshishige formally ordered a counterattack against the Inaba Yamana clan.

However, just before the army set out, Yoshishige received news from Aki, and learned that just four days ago, Amago Akihisa was defeated at Yoshida-Koriyama Castle, and fled back to Izumo in a hurry while being pursued by the joint forces of Ouchi, Mori, and Takeda. The strength of the Amago clan was thus undermined.

"If the main family has received this news, then Yamana Samasuke of Tianshenshan Castle must have received it as well." Yoshishige thought.

Yamana Yufeng was already very excited at this moment: "The defeat of the Amago army is definitely good news for us. It means that they will not be able to support Inaba for a while. We don't have to rush to Tenjinyama Castle so much."

"I'm sorry, Kingo-dono, I don't agree with your point of view." To everyone's surprise, Yoshishige did not agree with Yamana Yutoyo's suggestion, and still preferred to capture Tenjinyama Castle as soon as possible and then control the entire Inaba.

As for the reason, he first asked back: "Your Highness, do you think that with our current strength, we can defeat the Niko army?"

After thinking for a moment, Yamana Yufeng shook his head and replied, "It seems that it is not possible. The Amago family is a daimyo with a million koku. Even if he loses to Ouchisuke, with your and my current power, I am afraid that we cannot shake his position in Sanin and Sanyo."

"In that case, isn't it better not to break off relations with the Niwa family?" Yoshishige continued to ask.

Yamana Yufeng still nodded: "Yes, isn't this also the reason why we decided to let the Inaba army take action first? If they take action first, our counterattack on Inaba will be justified, and the Amago family will have no reason to intervene. In this way, both sides can ensure nominal peace."

"As you said, we also hope to maintain peace with the Amago family in the end. So if the Amago family takes the initiative to send troops to Inaba and seize the castle in the east of Inaba, what should we do? Should we take it back from him, or watch him take a share of the spoils?"

After hearing what Yoshishige said, Yamana Yufeng was in a dilemma: "If I go to seize the city, I will inevitably conflict with the Amago family, which goes against the original intention of maintaining peace with them; but if I let them occupy Higashi-Inaba, I will not be willing to do so."

After thinking it over, Yamana Youfeng asked Yoshishige awkwardly, "Wuweidian, what do you think we should do?"

"It's very simple. Before the Amago army enters Inaba, we need to take down the entire Inaba. This way, we can solve the problem once and for all. This is why I hope to take down Tenjinyama Castle as soon as possible." Yoshishige replied. (End of this chapter)