Battle of Ichi-no-Tani

The Template:Nihongo was fought between the attacking Minamoto clan and the defending Taira clan at Suma, to the west of present-day Kobe, Japan, on 20 March 1184. It sat on a very narrow strip of shore, between mountains on the north, and the sea to the south. This made it quite defensible, but also made it difficult to maneuver troops inside the fortress. The Taira suffered a crucial defeat to the forces of Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Minamoto no Noriyori.<ref name=Sansom>Template:Cite book</ref>

Battle

Tactical maps of the battle.

Minamoto no Yoshitsune split his forces in two. Minamoto no Noriyori's forces attacked the Taira clan at Ikuta Shrine, in the woods a short distance to the east. A second detachment, no more than a hundred horsemen under Yoshitsune himself, attacked the Taira at Ichi-no-Tani from the mountain ridge to the north. At the chosen hour, the Minamoto forces attacked causing confusion among the Taira who neither deployed nor retreated. Only about 3,000 Taira escaped to Yashima, while Tadanori was killed and Shigehira captured.<ref name=Sansom/> Also killed from the Taira clan were Lord Michimori, Tsunemasa, Atsumori, Moromori, Tomoakira, Tsunetoshi, and Moritoshi.<ref name=Sato/>Template:Rp

Ichi-no-Tani is one of the most famous battles of the Genpei War, in large part due to the individual combats that occurred here.<ref name=Turnbull2>Template:Cite book</ref> Benkei, probably the most famous of all warrior monks, fought alongside his lord Minamoto no Yoshitsune here, and many of the Taira's most important and powerful warriors were present as well.<ref name=Turnbull3>Template:Cite book</ref>

Ichi-no-Tani is the last recorded instance in which crossbows were used in a Japanese siege.

Legacy

The death of Taira no Atsumori at the hand of Kumagai no Naozane during the battle is a particularly famous passage in the Heike Monogatari.<ref name=Sato>Template:Cite book</ref> It has been dramatized in noh and kabuki, and in popular fiction, Oda Nobunaga is often portrayed as performing the noh at his own death (ningen goju nen geten no uchi wo kurabureba, yumemaboroshi no gotoku nari) in Honnō-ji Incident. The death of Atsumori is arguably among the most celebrated acts of single combat in all of Japanese history.

Gallery

• 
  Scene from the battle, detail from screen painting
• 
  The encounter between Kumagai Naozane and Taira no Atsumori, woodblock print, circa 1820
• 
  Attack down the slope on the Taira camp
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  Encounter between Naozane (right) and Atsumori (left), screen painting
• 
  View today of the narrow coastal strip where the battle took place
• 
  Monument at the site of the battle

See also

• The Tale of Heike