The Battle of Nagashino (Nagashino Gassen), one of a pair with F1975.25

On June 29, 1575, a decisive battle was fought at Nagashino in Mikawa province (today eastern Aichi prefecture). The combined forces of Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582) and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616), who eventually became shogun, defeated an army led by Takeda Katsuyori (1546–1582). Especially poignant is the detailed depiction of the destruction of Katsuyori’s equestrian force by the opposition’s skillful use of firearms. Nobunaga obtained these modern European weapons through Portuguese traders who first landed in Japan in 1543. Handscrolls, which can be unrolled a section at a time for easy viewing from right to left, offer a continuous format for painting sequences of action and for recreating the passage of time and space.