Naval battle, Coast of Izumi, 1554

The Mori naval samurai have long been looked down upon by their land based counterparts. Shooting arrows from boats never seemed quite as honourable as close combat in siege and land battles.

So, this time the Mori sea samurai were eager to demonstrate their fighting qualities and win a resounding naval victory.

The Imagawa fleet takes the initiative and goes on the offensive. They close in fast on the Mori combined fleet. The Mori form a line of battle of medium bunes with bow kobayas in support slightly behind at the flanks. A Mori fire ship lays a screen of mines in front of their battle line.

In the background, a Mori fireship drops a screen of mines.

However, the Imagawa see the mines and manouver to avoid them, splitting their fleet into two groups.

However, in the confusion of battle, and the inability of the Imagawa to break the Mori line of battle, some Imagawa ships stray into mines.



An unfortunate Imagawa bune rows into a mine

 The qualitative superiority of the Mori at sea, as well as quantative superiority in bunes, begin to tell on the Imagawa. They begin to rout.

A few Imagawa ships escape. But the Mori manage to capture some ships. However, maintaining so many ships would be too much of a drain on the treasury. So the Mori seamen are forced, reluctantly, to scuttle their prizes.

In this battle, the Mori did not lose a single ship. This was not considered to be a great battle as the Imagawa have shown themselves to be too inferior to the Mori at sea.

Maybe, next time the Mori navy will encounter a worthier opponent...