Battle of Yamazaki

Battle of Yamazaki
Date July 2, 1582 Location Yamazaki, Yamashiro province, Japan Result Toyotomi Hideyoshi victorious; begins his consolidation of power
Belligerents
Forces of Akechi Mitsuhide	Forces of Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Commanders and leaders
Akechi Mitsuhide Akechi Shigetomo Abe Sadamasa Shibata Katsusada Saito Toshimitsu Tsuda Nobuharu Murakami Kiyokuni Matsuda Masachika Nabika Kamon Toda Yukimasa Mimaki Kaneaki Suwa Morinao Ise Sadaoki Horio Shobei	Toyotomi Hideyoshi Oda Nobutaka Niwa Nagahide Nakamura Kazuuji Horio Yoshiharu Ikeda Tsuneoki Kato Mitsuyasu Kimura Shigeori Takayama Shigetama Nakagawa Kiyohide Mikoda Masaharu Hashiba Hidenaga Kuroda Yoshitaka Hori Hidemasa
Strength
10,000～16,000	20,000～40,000
Casualties and losses
3,000 killed	3,300 killed

The Battle of Yamazaki (山崎の戦い, Yamazaki no tatakai^?) was fought in 1582 in Yamazaki, Japan, located in current day Kyoto Prefecture. This battle is sometimes referred to as the Battle of Mt. Tennō (天王山の戦い Tennō-zan no tatakai).

In the Honnō-ji Incident Akechi Mitsuhide, a retainer of Oda Nobunaga, attacked Nobunaga as he rested in Honnō-ji, and forced him to commit seppuku. Mitsuhide then took over Nobunaga's power and authority around the Kyoto area. Thirteen days later, Toyotomi Hideyoshi met Mitsuhide at Yamazaki and defeated him, avenging his lord (Nobunaga) and taking Nobunaga's authority and power for himself.

When Nobunaga died, Hideyoshi was busy fighting the Mōri clan. After betraying and defeating Nobunaga at Honnō-ji, Mitsuhide sent a letter to the Mōri. The letter contained a request for an alliance to crush Hideyoshi, but the letter's messenger was captured by Hideyoshi's forces and the plot was revealed.

Upon hearing news that Nobunaga had been killed, and that Akechi Mitsuhide had taken command of his possessions, Toyotomi Hideyoshi immediately negotiated a peace treaty with the Mōri, remaining careful to keep Nobunaga's death a secret. Once the treaty was secured, he then led his troops on a forced march towards Kyoto, averaging 30 to 40 km a day.

Akechi Mitsuhide controlled two castles (Shōryūji and Yodo) in the Yamazaki region. Due to his lack of men for the impending battle with Hideyoshi, he attempted to win the hearts of the people in that region in order to gain more troops. However, his appeals to Hosokawa Fujitaka were fruitless, and so he was unable to add significant strength to his forces.

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Wikipedia