Narrow Road To The Deep North 17

With the Asai and Asakura gone, and the Takeda quiet for the moment, Nobunaga sought final vengeance on the Ikkō-ikki bitter enemies of Nagashima. In 1574, Nobunaga undertook another Siege of Nagashima, third time lucky. Blockaded and bombarded by a fleet of ships led by Kûki Yoshitaka, using cannon and flaming arrows against the Ikkō-ikki's wooden watchtowers, Nobunaga captured Nagashima’s outer forts of Nakae and Yanagashima in a three-pronged attack, imprisoning the defenders within the walls of their main fortified monasteries of Ganshōji and Nagashima. Over 20,000 men, women, and children were completely cut off from outside sources of food, water, and other supplies. In July and August, Nobunaga's men built a large wooden palisade from one temple to the other, and Nobunaga set it aflame. No one escaped or survived. Another Nobunaga bloodbath, this one had been, in many ways, the most shocking. 
The death of Shingen in 1573 had only slowed the Takeda war machine. The following year Katsuyori, Shingen's heir, pulled off a strategic coup with the capture of Taketenjin Castle in Totomi. While not the ruler his father had been, Katsuyori's bravery, combined with the skilled Takeda army and the late Shingen's experienced cadre of captains, made him a formidable foe. While in the longer term, his aggressive impetuousness, would be his undoing, Tokugawa Ieyasu, in the there and then of the new indomitable spirit’s blazing ascendency, had his hands full. Katsuyori had devised a plot to take Hamamatsu Castle, arranging for one of Ieyasu’s retainers to open the gates. He was halfway there, when he learned the planned betrayal had been discovered, and Ieyasu alerted.
As a consolation prize, Katsuyori turned his attentions to a direct attack Nagashino Castle. When this failed to reduce the garrison, he settled in for a siege and attempted to mine the walls. A brave defender, Torii Sune'emon, slipped through the Takeda lines and told Ieyasu of the castle's predicament. Ieyasu sent him back to let Nagashino know that he had no intention of abandoning them, but Torii was captured and crucified by the Takeda in his attempted return. Tokugawa, although determined to rescue Nagashino, lacked the manpower to do it alone. Nobunaga was again hesitant to help, reluctant to take so many of his men and leaders so far from Kyôto. In frustration, Ieyasu once again played the same trump card he had used when Katsuyori’s father had been a menace, threatening to join the Takeda and attack Oda. Nobunaga gave in and threw his full weight into the effort. Moving quickly, he added an army of some 30,000 men, commanded by some of his best commanders, to Tokugawa’s 8,000 soldiers. Most importantly, Nobunaga brought a contingent of 3,000 riflemen.
By the time the Oda and Tokugawa forces converged on Nagashino in late June of 1575, Katsuyori was already in a difficult spot. Nagashino Castle was holding firm, leaving the weary Takeda army outnumbered and without a base from which to conduct operations. Older and wiser Takeda retainers urged Katsuyori to either retreat or make one last push to take the castle, but he chose to do neither. Instead Katsuyori ordered an all-out attack on the Oda and Tokugawa army amassed on his western flank. It was the last mistake of an impetuous commander.
Even had Nobunaga left most of his guns at home the attack was bound to fail. The Takeda were tired from weeks in the field in poor weather, outnumbered almost three to one, and faced with attacking over ground broken by foliage, dips, and a stream. 
The night before the actual battle, a Nobunaga ally led a raid into the Takeda camp and killed one of Shingen's surviving brothers, Takeda Nobuzane. 
When day broke, Katsuyori’s gamble on rain was lost in the rays of a bright morning sun. Nonetheless, he gave the order to attack, sending 10,000 troops across the Shidarahara plain against 38,000 troops established on superior ground and entrenched with wooden palisades. It was a Gekokujō Gettysburg. Matchlock fire produced the first casualties. Nobunaga compensated for the arquebus’ slow reloading time by arranging the arquebusiers in three lines. After each line fired, it would duck and reload as the next line fired. The bullets pierced the Takeda cavalry armor. Some of the Takeda vanguard managed to reach enemy lines and even cut into their ranks, before being thrown back and killed by incoming fire from counterattacks led by fresh, eager troops.
With the Takeda wavering, Nobunaga ordered a general pile-on, sending his ashigaru pouring out from behind the palisades. The battle devolved into butchery, and Katsuyori added to the fiasco by sending in his reserves, which did little but add to the casualty list and encourage the Nagashino garrison to mount a sally. Finally, after hours of bitter struggle, Katsuyori retreated, leaving as many as 10,000 of his men dead on the battleground. 
Nagashino was Nobunaga's greatest achievement, a victory as tactically decisive as Okehazama, and ultimately of great strategic significance, as it secured his eastern flank. Katsuyori was beaten but not vanquished, and would continue to harass, but as a regional power the Takeda were broken.
This brought Nobunaga's dream of conquering Japan within grasp. In May of 1574, he resigned his titles, pleading unfinished work in the provinces, and campaigned to force Emperor Ogimachi into retirement. His lack of success demonstrated the remaining limit to his power, but he was, in every other way, shogun in the vast lands under his control.