| Siege of Inabayama Castle | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Sengoku period | |||||||
 Gifu Castle tenshu, 2012 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Oda clan | Saitō clan | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 13,000+ | Castle garrison | ||||||
The siege of Inabayama Castle (稲葉山城の戦い, Inabayama-jō no Tatakai) of 1567 was the final battle in Oda Nobunaga's campaign to defeat the Saitō clan in their mountaintop castle and conquer Mino Province, Japan.
It was a short, two-week siege, fought between 13 and 27 September 1567, or in the Japanese calendar: from the 1st to 15th day of the eighth month, in the 10th year of the Eiroku era, according to the Nobunaga Chronicle.[1] The siege ended in a decisive battle and victory for Nobunaga's combined forces, resulting in the subjugation of the Saitō clan, their vassals, and their allies. This victory was the culmination of Nobunaga's Mino campaign, waged intermittently over the previous six years. It brought an end to the rivalry between the Oda clan of Owari Province and the Saitō clan of Mino, which began over twenty years earlier between Nobunaga's father, Oda Nobuhide and Saitō Dōsan.
Due to the weak leadership of the Saitō, many samurai leaders defected to Nobunaga before the battle, while others willingly submitted afterward. With this victory, Nobunaga took control of the expansive and fertile Mino Province and gained numerous supporters and resources. Nobunaga had Inabayama Castle repaired and renamed it Gifu Castle, a firm base from which to expand north into the Hokuriku region and to make his drive toward Kyoto. Gifu Castle functioned as his primary residence and military headquarters until he moved to the partially completed Azuchi Castle in 1575.
Nobunaga's young retainer Kinoshita Tōkichirō (later known as Toyotomi Hideyoshi) played an important role in attaining the victory at Inabayama. In the years leading to the battle, he negotiated for the support of local warlords, which ensured a ready-made army by the time of the attack, and he built a castle on the edge of the enemy's territory to serve as a staging point for the attack. In addition to these preparations, Tōkichirō devised and led a bold plan, something of a commando raid, to break into the castle and open the gates for the attacking army. As a result of his efforts and the victory, his standing with Nobunaga rose considerably. Thus, in addition to the battle's immediate importance to Nobunaga's plans, it was also an important step in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's rise to power.