Second Battle of Imabari, Spring 1568

"What do you mean he's gone!" Mori Takamoto yelled when told that Mori Motoharu had taken his army to intercept Chosokabe reinforcements coming up the Imabari-Kochi road. "What reinforcements? My metsuke tell me nothing of reinforcements. The Chosokabe reserve army is still in Kochi!"

But yelling will not bring back Motoharu. Already the Chosokabe field army was forming up for the attack. The Chosokabe had sallied out of Imabari the previous night and taken up positions on the plains. Mori Takamoto had accepted battle thinking that Motoharu was behind him. It is now too late to retreat.

It is a magnificent morning. The rays of Ameratsu ignites the morning mist and fills the air with golden brilliance.



Chosokabe forces advance



Mori position in the woods


The Mori army is inferior in quality to the Chosokabe who have more samurai. Takamoto worries about the ashigeru in the center and the light cavalry on the right. He concentrates his heavy cavalry on the left hoping to break the enemy on the left and roll up the flank. But the Chosokabe have more than enough resources to answer him.

The flat plains offers little by way of natural defensive positions. Sparse woods offer some protection from arrows.

The Chosokabe cavalry advance from the flanks and Takamoto orders his calvary to intercept. The shock of the Mori charge appears to shake the Chosokabe at first. Then the deadly Chosokabe arrows begin to fall and take their toll on the Mori ranks. The Chosokabe melee troops charge the Mori center, they sense the weakness in the center. Takamoto commits a company of wako raider reserves to support the center.

Above the clash of steel, Takamoto sees the Chosokabe commander's pennant drifting towards his left. That's where they are concentrating their force, he thought. Immediately, he rides to the left to strengthen that flank.

He notes with frustration that the Mori cavalry were not making any progress on the left against the Chosokabe cavalry so he charges with his bodyguard into the fray to tip the scales. It was at this point that the Mori center and right, like the hull of a ship battered repeatedly by the waves, begin to crack at various points. Before long the cracks become a complete rout and the entire Mori army dissolves into haphazard flight.

For the first time in his life, the Tiger of Kyushu turns his back on the enemy and flees.