Battle of Anegawa

Blue:Azai (east) and Asakura (west). Red:Oda (east), Tokugawa (west) and Inaba (southeast)

Date	30 July 1570
Location	Ane River, near Lake Biwa in Ōmi Province
Result	Oda-Tokugawa victory.

Belligerents

forces of Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu

forces of Azai Nagamasa and Asakura Yoshikage

Commanders and leaders

Oda Nobunaga
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Inaba Ittetsu

Azai Nagamasa
Asakura Yoshikage

Strength

28,000

10,000

The Sengoku period Battle of Anegawa (姉川の戦い, Anegawa no Tatakai^?) (30 July 1570) occurred near Lake Biwa in Ōmi Province, Japan, between the allied forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu, against the combined forces of the Azai and Asakura clans. It is notable as the first battle that involved the alliance between Nobunaga and Ieyasu, liberated the Oda clan from its unbalanced alliance with the Azai, and saw Nobunaga's prodigious use of firearms. Nobunaga's loyal retainer, Toyotomi Hideyoshi was assigned to lead troops into open battle for the first time.

The battle came as a reaction to Oda Nobunaga's sieges of the castles of Odani and Yokoyama, which belonged to the Azai and Asakura clans. It was also referred to as the Battle of Nomura (野村合戦 Nomura Kassen) by the Oda and Azai clans and the Battle of Mitamura (三田村合戦 Mitamura Kassen) by the Asakura clan.

There is a battlefield memorial marker in Nomura-cho, Nagahama city, in Shiga Prefecture.

As warriors sallied forth from the castles, the battle turned into a melee fought in the middle of the shallow Ane River. For a time, Nobunaga's forces fought the Azai upstream, while the Tokugawa warriors fought the Asakura downstream.

Ieyasu unleashed his second division under Honda Tadakatsu and Sakakibara Yasumasa onto Asakura's left flank, surrounding Asakura Kagetake.

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Wikipedia