Battle of Nagashino
1575 CE · Nagashino, Japan
The Battle of Nagashino was fought in 1575 CE in Nagashino, Japan between Oda and Tokugawa clans vs the Takeda clan; decisive Oda-Tokugawa victory; massed arquebus volleys broke the famed Takeda cavalry.
Battle of Nagashino: quick facts
- Date
- 1575 CE
- Location
- Nagashino, Japan
- Belligerents
- Oda and Tokugawa clans vs the Takeda clan
- Commanders
- Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu vs Takeda Katsuyori
- Result
- decisive Oda-Tokugawa victory; massed arquebus volleys broke the famed Takeda cavalry.
- Era
- ⛩️ East Asia
- Quiz difficulty
- hard
What happened at the Battle of Nagashino?
The Battle of Nagashino marked a revolution in Japanese warfare when Oda Nobunaga deployed approximately 3,000 matchlock-armed ashigaru behind wooden palisades to devastate the legendary Takeda cavalry. Using rotating volley fire, Nobunaga's forces shattered charge after charge of Takeda horsemen. The battle demonstrated that firearms had fundamentally changed warfare in Japan and severely weakened the once-mighty Takeda clan.
Did you know?
Oda Nobunaga's use of rotating volley fire at Nagashino in 1575 predated the European adoption of the same technique, making Japanese warfare temporarily more advanced than contemporary European methods.
Sources and further reading
- Battle of Nagashino on Wikipedia for the full account, historiography and primary sources.
- How BattleGuess compiles and checks battle facts: see the About page.
Entry last reviewed 26 September 2026.