Shingen's death was interpreted and is still interpreted in more ways than just one. There are some accounts, that he died because of assassination by a Tokugawa ninja while the battle of Mikatagahara was going on. There are also some people that say that Shingen died because of a late and great battle wound, that was not treated well. Some also said the he died because of a sniper bullet that pierced straight through his body, while visiting the castle of Hamamatsu during night. Some people, or scholars claim that he died in some sort of illness or even pneumonia.
In any possible way Shingen controlled his army to the capital. Only a handful of Shingen's most trusted men knew of this catastrophe. As always, he took advantage of this lack of knowledge. He ordered his handful to bury him quickly, before sunrise so that no one will ever know. And he also ordered his son, Katsuyori Takeda, to dress very alike to Shingen's clothes, along with a mask to avoid panic and continue on with the march to the capital. Even in Shingen's death, he kindly controls his one and only army to possibly victory.
While Katsuyori was epically marching towards the capital of Japan, Kyoto; meanwhile the Tokugawa made their move to take a neutral castle, named Nagashino Castle. At this time, the word of Shingen's death has already spread throughout the entire army, Katsuyori could no longer hide it, so he decides to remove his mask. This action caused the Takeda army some units, and some soldiers rebelled against the army, causing it to have 12,000 remaining. The Takeda decided to make use of the recent occupation of the Nagashino Castle, Katsuyori swiftly engaged his 12,000 to the current general housing the castle named Sadamasa Okudaira.
The Nagashino castle was slowly being turned into a pool of blood by the raining of metal arrows delivered by Katsuyori. However, Katsuyori did not inherit the tactical patience of his father, he instead saw ultimate victory just by the force delivered by the might of the Takeda clan, specifically the mighty cavalry. Katsuyori attacked the castle as often as he wanted, but to no specific success. He finally made a decision to barricade the surrounding of the castle to starve them to death. This tactic, was one he should have done in the beginning, it will take at least three to five days to starve out the people in it, by that time a very dangerous threat looms right beyond the distance.
Nobunaga Oda with his army of 30,000 emerge from the dark woods nearby. Katsuyori did not expect this to happen, for he did send some scouts to the woods nearby. He suspected that those scouts were already killed, and so they were killed. Nobunaga's beginning intentions was to relieve the castle of Nagashino from the daring siege and defend his remaining lands until the seat of the shogun was his, but upon hearing the very shocking news of the death of Shingen, Nobunaga quickly changed his plans of holing out, to complete annihilation. The Takeda and the Oda now face each other, in the battle that would prove to predict the future of the Japanese culture.
Katsuyori's eyes of fear went from the castle on to the massive army of the Oda. Nobunaga was cunning, quick, forceful, and tempting. He, Nobunaga, have two things the Takeda does not have, and those are, one, the Takeda do not have a great strategist such as Nobunaga Oda, and two, they do not have the awesome firepower of the matchlock ashigaru, or gunmen . Guns were relatively new to the country of Japan at that time, causing some or even most of the soldiers to not even know a thing about it.
Nobunaga Oda went closer and closer to the Takeda main force by the minute. Katsuyori knew he had to do something, in order to prevent ultimate and utmost destruction . Katsuyori then left the siege of the castle to an amount of 3,000 infantry, and faced the Oda main force, only to find out that they are now supported by the ranks of the Tokugawa. The lines of the Oda-Tokugawa force is visually impenetrable, it looks so dense and powerful that some Takeda warriors leave the battlefield.
Nobunaga placed his 3,000 gunmen about 50 feet away from the river nearby. He then used some wood from the forest to make some stockades, this act will prove to stop the horses from rampaging any further. Then, Nobunaga positioned his long spear men by the gunmen, to kill all that get through the palisades. While the Takeda clan used their cavalry in the front line, led by some of the great 24 of Shingen Takeda including Nobufusa Baba and Masakage Yamagata, and positioned some relief officers at the back in case of in need for reinforcements led by Masatoyo Naito.
The battlefield was on a quiet standstill between the two legendary forces. While there is nothing happening on the battlefield, the Oda-Tokugawa alliance launch a dispatch part to relieve the castle from the siege quietly through the woods. After several days, the sky cries, it rains, and finally an army makes it's move. Katsuyori thinks that the rain has now severed the gunpowder of the Oda-Tokugawa guns. Nobunaga then uses this thought to an advantage, he then positions gunmen outside of the palisades very near to the river. So he sends Nobufusa and Masakage to charge their units directly to the Oda army attempting to break their lines, he took the bait. The Takeda cavalry charged directly at the pallisades, the river slowed the horses down as well as the muddy terrain caused by the previous days rain. At the very moment that the cavalry reached the gunmen, they fled back to the wooden palisades, making the cavalry sitting ducks for the fire of the matchlock. Nobufusa's unit still somehow managed to fall back, although, Masakage's unit along with Masakage himself, died in the rapid volleys of the gunfire.
The tide of battle was now being turned rapidly against the Takeda army. Seeing that now, the cavalry is very much useless, both armies dismount their horses and stands on their feet. Katsuyori did not give in to the losses he took in that first attack, so therefore, he presses on. Nobufusa'a unit charge forward once again in another attempt to break their ranks. He breaks through the palisade and several lines of foot soldiers. Nobufusa fought bravely, but once again, he is forced to withdraw.
Now, all units except for the ones besieging the castle gets ready for one last charge in a final attempt to win the battle. Masatoyo goes to Katsuyori and resents his idea of this charge, he thought that the charge is a suicide for the Takeda clan, although Katsuyori still demanded him to charge. So, Masatoyo sets of in the field of battle, alonside his fellow Takeda warriors. Masatoyo led the final charge, straight to the face of certain death. Masatoyo managed to get to the palisades, unforunately, Masatoyo eats a dozen arrows, a moment later, he gets stabbed by an Oda soldier.
While all of this is happening at the main forces, something else lurks behind the scenes. The dispatch party sent out by the Oda-Tokugawa alliance several days ago now is in perfect position to defeat the besiegers. They surround them behind the woods so they can keep the element of surprise. Then at the moment in between your breaths, they launch their strike. The ambush caused panic throughout the Takeda besiegers, making them route in due time. And Katsuyori, upon seeing the death of his back line panics in a very un-orderly manner.
At this time Nobufusa shows the characteristics of he devil itself, the Oda-Tokugawa lines fall one by one at the sight of Nobufusa's skill and power. Nobufusa makes it through the deep lines of enemy territory. The Oda-Tokugawa army retreat for they thought that they would only have a lot of casualties in the fight. Although, the Takeda army orders a retreat first. Katsuyori and some of his remaining men ride their horses to go back to Kai. The Oda-Tokugawa army pursue the fleeing Takeda army out of Nagashino. The one and only way that the Takeda army was saved from complete destruction was by the heroics of Nobufusa Baba. Baba stood his ground to the very end until most of the army was free from harm. Before he died a very honorable death.
The battle could have been won by the Takeda clan if only they captured the castle a lot quicker and took advantage of it's structure. They also could have used the woodpecker strategy, as falsly done by Shingen in the battle of Kawanakajima. The cavalry was not the right answer for this fight, not sheer strength, but patience.
The Takeda clan survived for almost a decade after being bulldozed by the Oda-Tokugawa alliance. The legendary cavalry charge fell down with the fall of Shingen Takeda. The Takeda clan and their home province, Kai, has no more place in the changing world as Nobunaga said. The era of gun power started with the fall of the honorable sword, that took place in the Battle of Nagashino.
The Oda clan had the seat of Shogun was metaphorically and literally in their grasps. Nobunaga had no other person that challenged his authority, except for the great rival of Shingen, the Dragon of Echigo, Kenshin Uesugi. Nobunaga's only intention is to unite the land under his martial rule. Many admired Nobunaga Oda, but even more hate and resent him.
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