英語訳
[Header] Toyohashi City Historical Discussions - (Circumstances Before and After the Battle of Mikatagahara) - 110
[Main Text]
[Shingen] had Yamagata Masakage depart from Kōshū, first entering northern eastern Mikawa from Kami-Ina District, combining with forces from the three mountain districts, then advancing to Tōtōmi to join the main army. Shingen entered Tōtōmi on the tenth day of the tenth month, attacking and capturing the two castles of Tadrai and Iijima, then moving further south to establish divided camps at Kihara and Nishijima on the left bank of the Ōta River as well as in the Fukuroi region, from where he attacked Kuno Castle. At this point, on the thirteenth day, Ieyasu had Ōkubo Tadayo, Honda Tadakatsu, and Naitō Nobunari lead 3,000 troops to reconnoiter the enemy situation. They were discovered by enemy forces on the heights of Mikano-hara and, retreating to Hitokoto-zaka at Mitsuke, both armies clashed. Though the Tokugawa forces were vastly outnumbered, Honda Tadakatsu's performance was truly remarkable, and he managed to complete the reconnaissance mission and return to Hamamatsu with the entire unit intact. This is the famous Battle of Mitsuke Hitokoto-zaka.
Shingen then advanced his main army to attack Futamata Castle, and Yamagata Masakage also came from eastern Mikawa to join forces. Ieyasu had Matsudaira Kiyoyoshi defend Utsuyama fortress to maintain communications between Tōtōmi and Mikawa, sent Matsudaira Tadamasa and Shitara Sadamichi to Noda to assist Suganuma Sadamitsu, while he himself led troops to support Futamata Castle. However, Futamata Castle ultimately could not hold and surrendered. With this, Shingen had largely completed the measures sufficient to check the Tokugawa, so he had his subordinate generals garrison this newly occupied territory one by one, and on the twenty-second day of the twelfth month finally struck camp, taking the route through Shukuda and Osakabe, passing through Ii-no-ya, and attempting to emerge into eastern Mikawa.
Originally, Shingen's current undertaking, as I have mentioned repeatedly before, had as its purpose the planting of his banner in the capital, so it was not a matter of forcibly destroying the Tokugawa and annexing their territory. Particularly, according to Takeda reconnaissance, several units of Oda reinforcements had already arrived in Hamamatsu, and they believed that troops were massed from this Yoshida to Shiratsuka, so if they recklessly attacked places like Hamamatsu Castle, the Tokugawa stronghold, and spent many days doing so, more and more Oda reinforcements would gather and take advantage of their fatigue. In that case, the objective of westward advance would be greatly hindered here, so it would be better to avoid pointless battles and hurry toward the final objective
[Header margin] Mayor of Toyohashi Ōguchi Kiroku has devoted his extensive knowledge and inexhaustible energy to compiling the history of Toyohashi City for over a year, and now as that manuscript is nearly complete...
[Left Page]
[Header] This Toyohashi City Historical Discussion is published once weekly (on Tuesdays) and presented to readers of the San'yō Shimbun
[Main Text]
- this seems to have been Shingen's opinion. However, for Ieyasu, no matter how outnumbered he might be, to allow enemy forces to trample near the castle walls without shooting even a single arrow at them would be beneath a warrior's dignity. Victory or defeat rests with Heaven, so he rejected the remonstrations of his senior retainers and finally decided to go to battle. The Tokugawa forces at this time numbered only about 10,000 even including approximately 3,000 Oda reinforcements.
So Ieyasu deployed his forces on Mikatagahara, taking position north of Sai-ga-kubo and waiting for the Takeda forces to pass. At this time Sakai Tadatsugu led the Yoshida forces along with Oda auxiliary generals Sakuma, Hirate, Takigawa and others to form the right wing, while Ishikawa Kazumasa, Ogasawara Nagatada, Matsudaira Ietada, Honda Tadakatsu and others formed the left wing, and Ieyasu himself led the reserves deployed in a horizontal formation. However, when Shingen saw this, he intended to have two or three generals repel any attack while the main force continued its advance, but as his scouts persistently reported the weakness of the Tokugawa forces, he finally decided to give battle. The result was, as you all know, victory for the Takeda forces, but from Shingen's standpoint, I believe this battle was ultimately not very profitable.
Now, regarding this battle, various accounts have been written, and works like the "Mikawa Monogatari" contain quite interesting records, but as I don't think it's particularly necessary here, I'd like to limit myself to just describing the course of events. This battle took place, as you all know, on the twenty-second day of the twelfth month, beginning around 4 PM and already finished by around 6 PM. After the battle ended and Ieyasu had withdrawn into the castle, he left the various entrances to the castle grounds unlocked, so the Takeda generals Baba and Yamagata who had pursued them actually hesitated and did not attack further inside. Also that night, Amano Yasukage, Ōkubo Tadayo and others gathered musketeers to shoot at the Takeda camp at Sai-ga-kubo and achieved a surprise victory - these are famous stories that I'm sure you all already know. So on the following twenty-third day, there was much deliberation among the Takeda forces
[Header] Toyohashi City Historical Discussions - (Circumstances Before and After the Battle of Mikatagahara) - 111