The Battle of Muraki Toride
The First Battle in which Oda Nobunaga used Matchlock Guns.
The Battle of Muraki Toride took place on this day, January 24, 1554 — It was the first battle in which Oda Nobunaga used matchlock guns.
Oda Nobunaga’s father, warlord Oda Nobuhide had died almost two years previously, and so the Owari region (western Aichi Prefecture) was seen as choice and easy pickings for rival warlord, the mighty Imagawa Yoshimoto of what is now Shizuoka Prefecture.
The Imagawa forces rolled across eastern Aichi Prefecture and into western Mikawa Province, capturing the strategically important Narumi Castle, Odaka Castle and Kutsukake Castle along the way. Their plan was to capture the Chita Peninsula. The eastern side of the peninsula was held by the master of Okawa Castle, Mizuno Nobumoto, an uncle of Tokugawa Ieyasu, and an ally of the then 20-year-old Oda Nobunaga. To attack Ogawa Castle, the Imagawa forces established Muraki Toride (A toride is a type of fortress, basically the same as a castle, but not seen as permanent). Muraki was about two kilometers north of Ogawa Castle. The fortresses site was well chosen, with gates opening to the East, the south side was protected by natural terrain, while the remaining sides were protected by deep moats and steep embankments.
Knowing that an attack was imminent, Mizuno sent messengers to Oda Nobunaga in his castle at Nagoya for assistance, however, Nobunaga turned him down. The reason was, despite his having taken leadership of the Oda clan, there was still family infighting, and the Owari districts had not yet been unified under Nobunaga’s command. If Nobunaga was to sally forth from Nagoya Castle to assist the Mizuno, it was highly possible that Nagoya would have been attacked in his absence, (most probably by the Oda faction in nearby Kiyosu Castle) and he could very well have lost his own castle in the meantime. Instead, Nobunaga called on his father-in-law, Saito Dosan of Inabayama (Gifu) Castle for assistance.
Dosan quickly dispatched 1,000 samurai to guard Nagoya Castle while Nobunaga took 1,500 of his men to Ogawa Castle. Nobunaga’s troops marched to Atsuta Shrine, boarding boats at the port directly south of the shrine, and sailed through a storm to modern-day Tokai City. On their arrival, they made a joint Mizuno / Oda attack on Muraki Toride. Some of the matchlock guns they carried were early pieces crafted by the Oda’s official blacksmiths, the Mizuno, based south east of Nagoya Castle.
The attack only lasted a few hours, yet it was an extremely close and violent battle. Over 400 of Nobunaga’s 1,500 men were killed in action, including many close friends and relatives. Despite the losses, victory would be claimed by Nobunaga. Six year later, in 1560, the Imagawa forces would again attempt to steamroll across Nobunaga’s lands, and again they would be defeated by Nobunaga at the Battle of Okehazama.
Of note is the fact that this was the first battle in which Oda Nobunaga employed the use of matchlock guns. Around 500 men had been trained in their use, and were sent forth as the front line force against Muraki. The gun had been introduced by the Portuguese in 1543, only 11 years earlier. 21 years after their introduction, Nobunaga would use 3,000 of the projectile weapons to decimate the Takeda clan at the 1575 Battle of Nagashino.
The site of the Muraki Toride is now the Yatsurugi Shrine (below), established in memory of the warriors killed there.
