Anegawa

Anegawa 1st appeared in Samurai Warriors.

Samura Warriors
Samurai Warriors has the battle used for various parties and at various times. It also doubles as the map for the Echizen conflicts with the Ikko Rebels and the escape at Kanegasaki in the Xtreme Legends expansion. In Oichi's story, she sides with her husband and faces her brother in the conflict. Determined to see if there is an alternate way to solve their differences, she only partakes in defending Yoshikage from being routed. When she sees Noh in the Oda ranks, she wonders if her sister-in-law could help her dilemma. Depending on the player's actions, she will keep searching for her own future or she will give up and decide to kill her brother. Noh's version of the battle is set during the same time frame. She helps her husband's troops to scatter the Asakura forces and defends Ieyasu. When faced with routing the Azai army, Nobunaga gives his wife the choice to kill either Nagamasa or Oichi to bring an end to the conflict. Choosing either one will end the battle and decide which path the player will take in her story. Ranmaru's version of the stage takes place after saving his lord from Honnoji. Mitsuhide flees from death and rallies several anti-Nobunaga forces to join him, including Ieyasu, Masamune and Keiji. To counter, Nobunaga joins forces with the Yoshikage and Nagamasa, thanks to Oichi helping him escape. After stopping the initial attacks from enemy generals, Magoichi appears and threatens to snipe Nobunaga. Ranmaru may choose to prevent the sniping and is one of the steps needed to decide which path his story shall take. As he rushes into Mitsuhide's camp, he struggles to overcome his feelings for his mentor whilst staying true to his duty. In their duel, Ranmaru slays Mitsuhide. During the lower path for Kenshin's story, he faces Shingen and his army here. As Kenshin is determined to put an end to his nemesis, he rushes for the main camp. If he defeats Shingen there, he learns that he defeated an impostor and the real Shingen appears in a different part of the map. With his enemy's move, he has to deal with Yukimura's invigorated charge and Kunoichi's trickery. Keiji will also arrive to help Kenshin's army. The battle in Samurai Warriors 2 includes an intricate river system and mainly limits the battle to the main parties involved. In the Oda-Tokugawa version of the stage, The Oda take on the stronger yet smaller Azai army while the Tokugawa face the larger Asakura army. While Ieyasu holds a strong defense, a spirited Nagamasa charges through the Oda army to break through to Nobunaga. Although the player can face Nagamasa as many times as they would like, it's best to wear down his allies and then surround him to put an end to the battle. In order to do so, the Oda army suggests routing the Asakura, Nagamasa's generals, and Oichi first. Meanwhile, Ieyasu and his general's order an attack to the Asakura's main camp, using the side road to break through the Asakura numbers. Players may also head to the north-eastern section of the map to take Yokoyama Castle, triggering Ittetsu Inaba's reinforcements and raising morale. If Nagamasa is defeated before Yoshikage, the Asakura leader will fortify a strong defense and continue fighting. Defeating the Asakura first greatly lowers Nagamasa's morale, but the Oda forces will likely suffer more damage from his charge due to the time it took to rout Yoshikage. The Azai-Asakura side has both armies heavily surrounded by the Oda and Tokugawa troops. If players desire, they can defend Yokoyama Castle from Nagahide Niwa, but their main objective is to drive back the enemy on both fronts. Hideyoshi and Magoichi spring a surprise attack on Oichi and Ieyasu orders Hanzō to take her life to stop Nagamasa. Protecting her raises ally morale and prevents the battle from ending prematurely. Breaching through the Oda main camp can be done by defeating Katsuie in the northern gate and Mitsuhide at the west. If ally morale swings in their favor, Yoshikage is unimpressed with the Oda army and retreats. Tadakatsu then orders a charge to the Azai main camp. Players can choose to either wait for Tadakatsu to pass to defeat Ieyasu or beat both of them at once while they're in the camp. Both options rout the Tokugawa troops, only leaving Nobunaga at his camp.

History
The 1570 Battle of Anegawa (姉川の戦い, Anegawa no Tatakai?) came as a reaction to Oda Nobunaga's sieges of the castles of Odani and Yokoyama, which belonged to the Azai and Asakura clans. It was also referred to as the Battle of Nomura (野村合戦 Nomura Kassen) by the Oda and Azai clans and the Battle of Mitamura (三田村合戦 Mitamura Kassen) by the Asakura clan.

As warriors sallied forth from the castles, the battle turned into a melee fought in the middle of the shallow river. For a time, Nobunaga's forces fought the Azai, while the Tokugawa warriors fought the Asakura a short distance upstream.

After the Tokugawa forces finished off the Asakura, they turned and hit the Azai right flank. Inaba Ittetsu, who had been held in reserve, then came forward and hit the Azai left flank. Many of the besiegers of Yokoyama even left their task to aid in the battle. The Azai and Asakura forces were soon defeated.

It is perhaps interesting to note that Nobunaga used 500 arquebusiers in this battle. He was famous for his strategic use of firearms but would find himself on the opposite end of skilled arquebus tactics in his siege of Ishiyama Honganji that year.

Meanwhile, no reliable source exists to reconstruct the battle. The battle of Anegawa is vividly presented in the books compiled in the middle or the end of the Edo period. Many of the stories are pure fiction. The only valuable source is the Shinchokoki, describing it very briefly without any notes concerning tactics or details of the battle.

The exact number of the casualties in this battle is unknown. However, the Shinchokoki mentions 1,100 Samurai from Asakura clan being killed in battle. An army of this period had at least several times more non-samurai Ashigarus than the samurai, so it would be reasonable to assume at least several thousand men were killed.

According to A.L. Sadler in The Life of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu there were 3,170 heads collected by the Oda camp. A good portion were taken by Mikawa men, the Tokugawa force. The Mikawa Fudoki gives a very real picture of the battle: The retainers fighting in groups and the decapitation of soldiers in the confused mingling of armies among the clouds of smoke and dust.