On May 21, 1575 (Tenshō 3), the fields of Shitaragahara in Mikawa Province (modern-day Shinshiro, Aichi Prefecture) became the stage for one of Japan’s most pivotal battles. Here, the allied forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu clashed with the famed cavalry of Takeda Katsuyori.
The Oda-Tokugawa alliance fielded around 38,000 soldiers, while Takeda’s army numbered about 15,000. Despite the numerical advantage, facing the Takeda cavalry head-on was a daunting prospect. The cavalry had long been considered invincible, their charges breaking countless foes across the Sengoku era.
Nobunaga, however, devised an unprecedented strategy. His men erected triple lines of wooden palisades (bōsaku) across the battlefield, behind which he positioned rows of arquebusiers. Firearms were slow to reload, making sustained volleys difficult—yet Nobunaga overcame this limitation by employing a rotating, three-line system of alternating fire, what would later be remembered as the “three-stage volley fire.”
At dawn, Takeda’s cavalry launched its fearsome charge. But as the horses thundered forward, they were blunted by the palisades. Before they could regain momentum, a relentless hail of musket fire erupted. Gunpowder smoke, sparks, and deafening cracks rolled across the field, cutting down men and horses alike. The age of the bow and spear was giving way to the era of the gun.
By midday, the Takeda forces were in ruins. Notable commanders, including Yamagata Masakage and Naitō Masatoyo, fell in battle. Katsuyori himself barely escaped with a fraction of his men. The defeat marked the beginning of the Takeda clan’s decline, altering the balance of power in Japan.
The painting captures the decisive moment: Takeda’s cavalry, desperate and determined, surging against the Oda lines—only to be broken by the disciplined volleys of gunfire from behind the wooden palisades. In the fire and smoke of that day, Oda Nobunaga’s cold tactical brilliance announced the arrival of a new era in warfare.
