Renaissance · East Asia · War

1560

Okehazama: Nobunaga's Breakthrough

June 5, 1560

At the narrow gorge of Okehazama, the young Oda Nobunaga launched a sudden storm-cover attack on an army ten times his size under Imagawa Yoshimoto. Yoshimoto was decapitated in his traveling headquarters within minutes. Japan's political landscape tilted sharply, and Nobunaga's name spread through the provinces. The attack, launched during a thunderstorm against a feasting enemy, demonstrated Nobunaga's willingness to gamble everything on audacious strokes.