The columns wound their way northward. Spring was now easing its way into summer, and Tokugawa Hirotada had decided that it was time to press the final attack on the Kanbe. Matsudaira Moriakiri had arrived with some 15oo men to bolster their forces, and an idea.
He proposed that Hirotada try to persuade Yoshimoto to break his alliance with the Takeda, assuming that this would either spur Yoshimoto into action or cause him to attack the Takeda directly - or even be attacked. Anything was better than the current situation.
It was an intriguing idea.
Now, however, the focus was on the Kanbe, a clan who had been hostile to the Tokugawa for almost as long as the Oda had. With Imagawa Yoshimoto and his son Ujitane relaxing in Kaito, Mikawa and Gamagori, the Tokugawa had taken it upon themselves to invade the Kanbe.
Matsudaira Moriakiri was again in charge of the vanguard, a few yaru-shu and a yumi-shu, while Sadayoshi and Okubo Moritoki marched with 35oo more men. Another 3ooo men were following them more slowly through the forests to conceal their approach under Hirotada himself and Matsudaira Hidenaga. Sadayoshi had been honored with the advance force, the difficult job of being bait.
The Kansai was politically unstable. In the south the Saika and Negoro-gumi were at war, but the Saika were gaining the upper hand. Towards the west the Rokkaku, Ikko Ikki, and Ishida were embroiled in a chaotic conflict, and no one could say who the Rokkaku would choose between the Tokugawa and Kanbe or even the distant Saika to support, and the ambitious Asano were to the north. As such a protracted siege would not favor the Tokugawa, yet a single battle was not advantageous to the Kanbe. Unless the Tokugawa forces could be destroyed piecemeal.
Matsudaira Moriakiri had been spotted by the enemy, who had persued his men to a small hill and a forest. He rode back to Sadayoshi, gasping as he made his report. "The... Kanbe have followed us.... we are on a hill.... there is a forest for our lord to advance through... I recommend having the battle... here." Sadayoshi acknowledged his man's assessment and sent him to the rear to recover, then gave the order for a quick advance.
They were just in time, As Sadayoshi deployed men, the Kanbe were advancing confidently forward. He arranged his yari-shu in a single line to match the length of the Kanbe line with his yumi-shu just in front of them. His men just had to hold until Hirotada arrived with the rest of the Tokugawa forces. Fate would decree what would happen this day, he thought.
He did not have long to wait. Seeing that the Tokugawa had brought more archers than he had, Kanbe Tomomori ordered his men into an all-out assault. Thousands of men hurled themselves at the Tokugawa yari, throught a hail of arrows. If a man was impaled during the charge, well, at least he saved some of his comrades by blocking a few of the Tokugawa spears.
On the Tokugawa right flank the fighting was fierce. Several detatchments of mounted samurai had attacked, one leading his samurai retinue against Okubo Moritoki, the other leading his men against the yari-wall formed on the hill. When the yari-shu broke formation to aid Moritoki's men, more Kanbe soldiers joined the assault, wrapping around the end of the thinning Tokugawa line.
Meanwhile, in the center the weight of the Kanbe assault was wearing down the Tokugawa spearmen. Even the samurai were finding themselves hard-pressed. It was at this moment that Moriakiri arrived, bearing news that Hirotada had almost arrived. Hearing this, and seeing his soldiers struggling to maintain their formation, Sadoayoshi forced his horse into the press of men, knowing that his guard would follow him. It was just enough to hold back the now frenzied attacks of the Kanbe, who could see the Tokugawa reinforcements arriving through the forest, and with them the death of the Kanbe.
Kanbe Tomomori charged as well, determined to die in battle rather than in a castle. He fell at the hands of Ii Noguchi, an older man in Sadayoshi's retinue. The Kanbe lines could not hold after the arrival of Hirotada's reinforcing army. Those who were not surrounded broke away, desperately trying to escape to the safety of Kanbe-jo. Few made it. The mounted Tokugawa men made short work of hundreds of the routing Kanbe soldiers. Of those who were surrounded, over half surrendered in a disgusting display of cowardice and disloyalty.
The Kanbe flee; Kanbe-jo can be seen in the background
Sadayoshi went on to take the castle; barely 200 men were defending it. So ended the brief rise of the Kanbe.