Battle of Kumegawa

Site of Kumegawa Battlefield (2008) which is now a suburb of Tokyo. Nitta Yoshisada had this vantage point during the battle some 675 years prior.

Date	May 12, 1333
Location	Kumegawa, present-day Higashimurayama, Tokyo Japan 35°46′23.15″N 139°28′03″E / 35.7730972°N 139.46750°E / 35.7730972; 139.46750
Result	Victory for the Imperial Forces

Belligerents

Forces loyal to the Kamakura Shogunate

Forces loyal to the Emperor Go-Daigo

Commanders and leaders

Sakurada Sadakuni

Nitta Yoshisada

The Battle of Kumegawa (久米川の戦い, Kumegawa no tatakai^?) was part of the decisive Kōzuke-Musashi Campaign during the Genkō War in Japan that ultimately ended the Kamakura Shogunate. Fought in present-day Higashimurayama, Tokyo at the foot of the Hachikokuyama ridge on May 12, 1333, it pitted the anti-shogunate imperial forces led by Nitta Yoshisada against the forces of the pro-Shogunate Hōjō Regency led by Sakurada Sadakuni. The battle was an immediate follow on from the previous day's nearby Battle of Kotesashi.

The region from the east side of the Sayama Hills through the Yanagase River was the field of several battles during Japan's Sengoku period. The battlefield was regarded as strategically important because it was on the old road linking the provincial capital of Musashi Province with the capital of Kōzuke Province and it was also the halfway point between the Iruma and Tama rivers.

At dawn on May 12, the Imperial forces advanced upon the Shogunate forces' position at the Kume River (久米川, Kumegawa^?) via the Kamakura Kaidō highway. Since the previous day's battle at Kotesashi was indecisive, both sides had expected the battle to continue. The chosen battlefield was a plain crisscrossed by small rivers and bordered by low-lying ridges. The geography gave the mounted warriors room to maneuver with their commanders overlooking the battle from the surrounding ridges such as where Nitta Yoshisada raised his banner at Hachikokuyama.

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