Sengoku 3D

Sengoku Battle Archive

The battles that shaped history, in 3D.

Sekigahara, Okehazama, Red Cliffs. The battles that shaped Japan and China, recreated as documentary-style 3D overviews. The mist lifts, the armies appear, arrows sweep across the field and the lines collide. Pick a battle and a three-minute animated retelling begins automatically. Works on your phone.

Watch the latest: Battle of Ishigakibaru

31 battles · Free to watch · New battles added regularly

Battle Chronicle

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  1. 7th day of the 2nd month, Juei 3 Late Heian period Battle of Ichi-no-Tani Ichi-no-Tani, Settsu Province Yoshitsune's cavalry plunge down the cliff at Hiyodorigoe. Struck from behind, the Taira crumble toward the sea, and the young Atsumori dies. Watch this battle
  2. 19th day of the 2nd month, Genryaku 2 Late Heian period Battle of Yashima Yashima, Sanuki Province Crossing to Yashima through a storm, Yoshitsune drives the Taira out to sea with fire. The famous scene of Nasu no Yoichi shooting the fan from the masthead. Watch this battle
  3. 24th day of the 3rd month, Genryaku 2 Late Heian period Battle of Dan-no-ura Kanmon Strait, Nagato Province Red and white fleets collide in the Kanmon Strait in the last battle of the Genpei War. The tide turns, a defection follows, and the Taira sink beneath the waves with the child emperor. Watch this battle
  4. Tenbun 15 Sengoku period Night Battle of Kawagoe Kawagoe Castle, Musashi Province An allied army of 80,000 under Uesugi Norimasa, Uesugi Tomosada and the Koga kubō Ashikaga Haruuji besieges Hōjō Tsunashige in Kawagoe Castle. Hōjō Ujiyasu comes to the rescue with only 8,000, feigns peace talks and retreat to lull the enemy, then launches a surprise attack in the dead of night. The allies collapse, the Ōgigayatsu Uesugi are destroyed, and the battle is counted with Okehazama and Itsukushima among the "three great surprise attacks of Japan." Watch this battle
  5. 1st day of the 10th month, Kōji 1 Sengoku period (Chūgoku region) Battle of Itsukushima (Miyajima) Itsukushima, Aki Province On a night of storm and rain, Mōri Motonari crosses the sea with 4,000 men and surprises the 20,000-strong Sue army on the sacred island. One day of cunning overturns the mastery of western Japan. Watch this battle
  6. 19th day of the 5th month, Eiroku 3 Sengoku period Battle of Okehazama Okehazama, Owari Province A mere 2,000 Oda troops, hidden by a torrential downpour, storm the headquarters of Imagawa Yoshimoto: one of the greatest upsets in Japanese history. Watch this battle
  7. 10th day of the 9th month, Eiroku 4 Sengoku period Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima Kawanakajima, Shinano Province Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen, destined rivals, collide on the misty plain of Hachimanbara: the bloodiest fight of the Sengoku age and the source of the legendary single combat. Watch this battle
  8. 28th day of the 6th month, Genki 1 Sengoku / Azuchi–Momoyama Battle of Anegawa Anegawa River, Ōmi Province A melee that dyed the shallows of the Anegawa red. The Oda nearly break under the Azai onslaught, but the Tokugawa beat the Asakura and strike the flank, turning the battle. Watch this battle
  9. 22nd day of the 12th month, Genki 3 Sengoku period Battle of Mikatagahara Mikatagahara, Tōtōmi Province On a snowy evening Takeda Shingen hands Tokugawa Ieyasu the worst defeat of his life. A winter death-struggle that ends with the empty-castle ruse and a night raid at Saigagake. Watch this battle
  10. 21st day of the 5th month, Tenshō 3 Azuchi–Momoyama period Battle of Nagashino Nagashino–Shitaragahara, Mikawa Province Palisades and three thousand arquebuses shattered the Takeda cavalry: the decisive battle that changed how the Sengoku wars were fought. Watch this battle
  11. 23rd day of the 9th month, Tenshō 5 Sengoku / Azuchi–Momoyama Battle of Tedorigawa Tedori River, Kaga Province A night on the Tedori River, swollen by heavy rain. Uesugi Kenshin falls on the retreating Oda army. "Meet the Uesugi and even the Oda are taken at the Tedori." Watch this battle
  12. 12th day of the 11th month, Tenshō 6 Sengoku period Battle of Mimigawa Takajō River plain, Hyūga Province The Shimazu speciality, the feigned-retreat ambush, swallows the great Ōtomo army in the decisive battle for Kyushu. At the end of the rout, tragedy waits at the Mimi River. Watch this battle
  13. Tenshō 6 to 8 Azuchi–Momoyama period Siege of Miki Miki Castle, Harima Province The "starvation siege of Miki." Hashiba Hideyoshi ringed Bessho Nagaharu's Miki Castle with more than forty siege forts and starved it for a year and ten months. The strategist Takenaka Hanbei died in the siege camp. Watch this battle
  14. Tenshō 9 Azuchi–Momoyama period Siege of Tottori Tottori Castle, Inaba Province The "starvation siege of Tottori." Hashiba Hideyoshi ringed Kikkawa Tsuneie's Tottori Castle with siege forts and bought up all the rice in Inaba to cut off its food. After four months of famine, Tsuneie took his own life in exchange for the lives of his garrison. Watch this battle
  15. 13th day of the 6th month, Tenshō 10 Azuchi–Momoyama period Battle of Yamazaki Yamazaki, Yamashiro Province Eleven days after Honnō-ji. Hideyoshi, back from the west in the Great Return, ends Akechi Mitsuhide's "three-day reign" on rain-soaked Mount Tennō. Watch this battle
  16. 2nd day of the 6th month, Tenshō 10 Sengoku / Azuchi–Momoyama Honnō-ji Incident Honnō-ji, Kyoto, Yamashiro Province "The enemy is at Honnō-ji." Thirteen thousand men surround the temple in the Kyoto dawn. On the brink of unifying Japan, Oda Nobunaga vanishes into the flames. Watch this battle
  17. Tenshō 10 Azuchi–Momoyama period Siege of Takamatsu Takamatsu Castle, Bitchū Province On Kuroda Kanbei's advice, Hashiba Hideyoshi walled in Takamatsu Castle with a dyke and drowned it in an unprecedented flooding siege. Amid the news of Honnō-ji, Shimizu Muneharu's suicide on the lake sealed a truce, and Hideyoshi turned to the Great Return from Chūgoku. Watch this battle
  18. 21st day of the 4th month, Tenshō 11 Azuchi–Momoyama period Battle of Shizugatake Shizugatake, Ōmi Province An all-night forced march from Mino, the pursuit by the Seven Spears, and Maeda Toshiie's withdrawal. The decisive battle north of Lake Biwa that chose Nobunaga's successor. Watch this battle
  19. 24th day of the 3rd month, Tenshō 12 Sengoku / Azuchi–Momoyama Battle of Okitanawate Shimabara, Hizen Province The Shimazu feigned retreat lures a great army onto a narrow causeway. The day Ryūzōji Takanobu, lord of five provinces and two islands, sank into a trap of muddy paddies. Watch this battle
  20. 9th day of the 4th month, Tenshō 12 Sengoku / Azuchi–Momoyama Battle of Komaki and Nagakute Nagakute, Owari Province Ieyasu pursues Hideyoshi's detached force through the night as it heads for Mikawa, and destroys it at Nagakute. The only battle in which Ieyasu ever took on Hideyoshi. Watch this battle
  21. Tenshō 13 Azuchi–Momoyama period Invasion of Shikoku Ichinomiya Castle, Awa Province Under Hashiba Hidenaga as commander-in-chief, the great Toyotomi army crosses to Shikoku from three directions. With Ichinomiya Castle in Awa lost, Chōsokabe Motochika can resist no longer and surrenders, and Shikoku is pacified. Watch this battle
  22. 17th day of the 11th month, Tenshō 13 Azuchi–Momoyama period Battle of Hitotoribashi Hitotoribashi, Adachi District, Mutsu Province In the midst of his attack on Nihonmatsu, Date Masamune's 7,000 are surrounded by 30,000 of the Satake–Ashina alliance. The heroic death of the old retainer Oniniwa Sagetsusai in the rearguard and the allies' withdrawal save Masamune: the greatest crisis of his youth. Watch this battle
  23. 17th day of the 4th month, Tenshō 15 Azuchi–Momoyama period Battle of Nejirozaka Nejirozaka, Koyu District, Hyūga Province In the final stage of the Kyushu campaign, Toyotomi Hidenaga's great army repels a night attack by Shimazu Yoshihiro and others at Nejirozaka. The battle that sealed the Shimazu surrender and completed Hideyoshi's pacification of Kyushu. Watch this battle
  24. 5th day of the 6th month, Tenshō 17 Azuchi–Momoyama period Battle of Suriagehara Suriagehara, Aizu, Mutsu Province The day the wind changed. Date Masamune beats Ashina Yoshihiro at the foot of Mount Bandai, destroys the great Ashina house and becomes master of southern Ōshū in the decisive battle for Aizu. Watch this battle
  25. October 21, Keichō 5 Azuchi–Momoyama period Battle of Sekigahara Sekigahara, Mino Province The decisive clash between the Eastern and Western Armies that settled the fate of Japan, and one of the largest battles in Japanese history. Watch this battle
  26. 9th month, Keichō 5 Azuchi–Momoyama period Second Battle of Ueda Ueda, Shinano Province Sanada Masayuki and Nobushige, with barely 2,000 men, run rings around the 38,000 of Tokugawa Hidetada on his way to Sekigahara. The battle that made Hidetada late for the decisive clash, and the Sanada at their finest. Watch this battle
  27. 13th day of the 9th month, Keichō 5 Azuchi–Momoyama period Battle of Ishigakibaru Ishigakibaru (Beppu), Bungo Province The "Sekigahara of Kyushu," fought in step with the main battle. Kuroda Yoshitaka (Josui) defeats Ōtomo Yoshimune, who had risen to recover Bungo, at Ishigakibaru near Beppu, taking his first step toward sweeping Kyushu. Remembered for the heroic death of Yoshihiro Muneyuki. Watch this battle
  28. 7th day of the 5th month, Keichō 20 Early Edo period Siege of Osaka (Summer Campaign) Tennōji–Okayama, Settsu Province Sanada Yukimura charges Ieyasu's headquarters three times. The death of "the finest warrior in Japan" and the burning of Osaka Castle bring the Sengoku age to its end. Watch this battle
  29. 5th year of Jian'an (Later Han) Late Han (Three Kingdoms) Battle of Guandu Guandu, Yan Province Cao Cao challenges Yuan Shao's 100,000 with a fraction of their number. An all-or-nothing night raid that burns the grain depot at Wuchao decides the master of northern China. Watch this battle
  30. Winter, 13th year of Jian'an (Later Han) Late Han (Three Kingdoms) Battle of Red Cliffs Red Cliffs on the Yangtze, Jing Province A south-east wind blows across the winter Yangtze, and Huang Gai's fire ships burn the chained armada. The night of fire that decided the division of China into three kingdoms. Watch this battle
  31. Autumn, 12th year of Jianxing (Shu) Three Kingdoms period Battle of Wuzhang Plains Wuzhang Plains, Yong Province A stand-off of more than a hundred days across the Wei River. Zhuge Liang, who had staked everything on the northern expedition, fell like a star in his camp, and even in death sent Sima Yi running. Watch this battle