| Siege of Kanegasaki (1570) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Sengoku period | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
|
Oda clan forces Tokugawa clan forces |
Asakura clan forces Azai clan forces Rokkaku clan forces Ikkō-ikki forces | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Oda Nobunaga Tokugawa Ieyasu Kinoshita Hideyoshi Sassa Narimasa Maeda Toshiie Ikeda Katsumasa Akechi Mitsuhide |
Castle garrison: Maeba Yoshitsugu Relief forces: Asakura Kagetake Azai Nagamasa Rokkaku Yoshikata | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 30,000 | 24,500 | ||||||
The 1570 Siege of Kanegasaki (金ヶ崎の戦い, Kanegasaki no Tatakai) occurred during Oda Nobunaga's struggle against the Asakura clan in Echizen Province, which was allied with Azai Nagamasa.
Asakura Yoshikage, head of the Asakura clan was the regent of Ashikaga Yoshiaki, refused to come to Kyôto and attend a certain banquet, an act Nobunaga declared Asakura clan disloyal to both the shogun and the emperor. Nobunaga raised an army and marched on Echizen.[1]
Kinoshita Tokichiro, one of Nobunaga's chief generals, led the attack on the fortress of Kanegasaki held by Maeba Yoshitsugu. Azai Nagamasa, who had been Asakura's longtime ally, led an army to relief the Kanagasaki castle with the help of the Rokkaku clan and Ikkō-ikki. Nobunaga found himself surrounded by Azai-Asakura, Rokkaku, and Ikkō-ikki forces. When defeat looked certain, Nobunaga successfully retreated from Kanagasaki castle. This act was the first mark of Nagamasa's betrayal of the Oda clan.
The fighting retreat at Kanegasaki enabled Nobunaga to once more cheat death, and to amass an army which would be victorious against the Azai-Asakura army at the Battle of Anegawa. Ikeda Katsumasa led 3,000 soldier and helped Nobunaga escape. Akechi Mitsuhide joined Hideyoshi to serve as the rear-guard for the departing forces. Hideyoshi's rear defense for his lord's escape is one of his fabled accomplishments under Nobunaga.