Akamatsu Seiju is a good example of a samurai who


was also an ordained Buddhist priest – hence the head cowl.


worth, and very soon the Tokugawa army was in full retreat.


A samurai swordsman overcomes his victim in bloody fashion.


peasant soldiers forward into the gathering gloom to intimidate the Takeda into attacking him by throwing stones into their ranks. It had the desired effect, and the Takeda forward troops attacked with great vigour, pushing the stone-throwers to one side as they headed forward against the Tokugawa samurai. Ieyasu’s men withstood the assault well, but the three commanders sent as reinforcements by Nobunaga had not the same spirit for a desperate fight, particularly when they believed that Ieyasu’s decision had been wrong. At this point, the power of the renowned


Takeda cavalry came into its own. They were not charging a defensive line as they would do at Nagashino three years later. Instead they were advancing against disordered troops. It was the situation for which the ‘demon horsemen of Kai’ had been waiting, and they were led forward across the frozen ground by Takeda Katsuyori, who proved himself to be a fine leader of horsemen. It was now getting dark, and seeing the Tokugawa troops reeling, Shingen ordered a general assault by the main body. The charge by the mounted Takeda samurai had proved its


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THE FIGHTING WITHDRAWAL Ieyasu sent Okubo Tadayo back to plant Ieyasu’s personal golden-fan standard as a rallying point for the troops. Ieyasu himself was still in a fighting mood, and was all for charging back into the Takeda ranks to assist his comrade Mizuno Masashige, who was surrounded, or to die in the attempt. By now, the Takeda had reached Ieyasu’s headquarters troops and were surrounding his bodyguard, when Natsume Yoshinobu, the commander of Hamamatsu Castle, rode out from the fortress to persuade his lord to withdraw, and to hold back the enemy while he did so. But Ieyasu was in no mood to listen, so with the authority granted to him solely by his age, Yoshinobu tugged on Ieyasu’s bridle to bring his horse around, and struck it on the rump with his spear shaft, calling out to Ieyasu’s attendants to ride with their lord for the castle.


Hoping to mislead the Takeda,


Yoshinobu turned back to them shouting, ‘I am Ieyasu!’, and plunged into the fight to be killed. Amano Yasukage, who survived the action, kicked the bow out of a Takeda soldier’s hands as he took aim at Ieyasu, so the withdrawal must have been a closely fought action. Ieyasu himself put an arrow through one Takeda man who ran at him with a spear. To put heart into the defenders of


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