Turning Point - Sekigahara: Toyotomi's Global Expansion and its Consequences

Phase 03 - Battle of Sekigahara (2)

Around 11:00 on September 16, the battle situation was favoring the Western Army.

The battle, which had started at 07:00, had already been ongoing for four hours, and both the Eastern and Western armies were experiencing significant fatigue. However, neither side had deployed all of their forces from the beginning, as they had a considerable number of reserve troops when the battle commenced.

The first to utilize these reserves were the Western Army, who had their enemies under siege. Through clever tactics and making the most of their advantageous terrain, they managed to significantly shift the tide of the battle in their favor.

However, the Eastern Army still had an untouched force of around 20.000 troops on the main battlefield, and because of this, the balance of power between the two sides remained nearly equal. Consequently, the Western Army lacked a decisive blow.

Continuing the battle in this manner would eventually lead both sides to exhaustion, and it was becoming evident that they would have no choice but to withdraw from their positions.

There were only about three to four hours left for the battle to continue. Beyond that point, there was a risk that the physical and mental limits of both sides would make it impossible to engage in any meaningful combat.

However, the battlefield of Sekigahara was not just one.

. . .

Around 11:00 on September 16, the Western Army, deployed near Mount Nangū, upon confirming the signal fires raised by Mitsunari Ishida, quickly attacked the rear units of the Eastern Army. At the summit of Mount Nangū, there were fortifications and watchtowers that could be described as makeshift mountain castles, surpassing mere field fortifications. Therefore, the signal fires rising from Sekigahara were quickly spotted.

The first to assault the rear guard of the Eastern Army, led by Terumasa Ikeda, was an army of 15.600 troops commanded by Hidekane Kobayakawa. Four other generals, including Suketada Ogawa, who were positioned nearby, and key figures of the Western Army like Ekei Ankokuji and Masaie Natsuka, followed suit. In total, they were a large force of over 23.000, and attacked Yoshinaga Asano's forces, except for the Kobayakawa forces.

Subsequently, witnessing the Western forces join the battle one after another, Morichika Chōsokabe also decided to participate in the combat. However, since the battlefield was already filled with the Western Army, he considered an alternative plan.

In his estimation, the Western Army's advantage in the Tōkaidō region remained unaltered, and the Eastern Army that had entered Sekigahara would have their retreat path blocked. However, the Saigoku Highway (Ise Highway) used by the Western Army to advance toward Sekigahara was sometimes empty, and it had the potential to become the retreat route for the soon-to-be-retreating Eastern Army.

Therefore, Morichika ordered his forces of 6.600 troops to move to the Saigoku Highway and dispatched messengers to various Western generals, initiating a strategy of encircling the enemy in a sort of double envelopment.

However, it should be noted that the battles near Mount Nangū were not decisive.

The Eastern Army had 10.000 reinforcements dispatched by Ieyasu Tokugawa's main force positioned in the narrow confines of the road, and the Western Army still had not seen movements from Hideaki Mōri and Hiroie Kikkawa.

In the Western Army, Hiroie Kikkawa remained motionless, waiting for an opportunity to collaborate with the Eastern Army, and even when the Western Army near Mount Nangū started to move, he refrained from doing so, citing that he was still eating. Ironically, this had the unintended effect of preventing the easy movement of the 10.000 reinforcements from the Tokugawa main force, which was positioned in the rear of the Eastern Army. Consequently, the two Eastern rearguard generals found themselves overwhelmed with nearly double the enemy forces within a short period of time and received no reinforcements.