Siege of Dōhora

What Happened

On 22 September 1565, Oda Nobunaga's army attacked Dōhora Castle in Mino Province. The castle was held by the Kishi clan, whose head, Kishi Nobuchika, had sided with Saitō Tatsuoki, the embattled lord of Mino. The fighting took place in the eighth year of the Eiroku era, deep in the Sengoku period, the century of civil war that tore Japan apart between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Nobunaga first sent Kanamori Nagachika to the castle to demand surrender. Kishi Nobuchika's son, Nobufusa, refused outright. To make the refusal unmistakable, Nobufusa beheaded his own eldest son in front of the envoy, showing that he would rather destroy his own house than submit.

The defenders had already absorbed the survivors of two nearby castles, Unuma and Sarutaku, which had fallen to the Oda. When Sarutaku's commander, Tajimi Shuri-no-Jō, fled toward Kai Province, his defeated troops entered Dōhora and joined the Kishi forces. Before the assault, a hostage held by the defenders — Yaeryoku, daughter of Satō Tadayoshi and adopted daughter of Nobuchika — was crucified at Nagao-Maruyama, facing the castle. That night, a vassal of the Satō named Nishimura Jirōbei slipped in, recovered her body, and buried it at Ryūfukuji Temple in Kajita.

Nobunaga set up his headquarters at Takahatayama, positioned between the Dōhora and Sekima districts. He drove back reinforcements from Seki Castle under Nagai Michitoshi as they crossed the Tsubo River into the Takahata woods. He then moved his command post to Chausuyama, directly facing the castle's main keep, and rode forward in person to direct the assault.

The Oda troops attacking from the west were slowed by rough ground and by ambushes laid by the Kishi. The northern attackers, led by Satō Tadayoshi and his son, climbed mountain paths they knew well. Nobufusa beat back repeated attacks, but the battle dragged on and his garrison was cut down. Wounded in three places, he took his own life by seppuku. Ōta Gyūichi, the author of the Shinchō Kōki, a chronicle of Nobunaga's career, recorded that he served in this battle as an archer in Nobunaga's army.

Background

Mino Province had been the seat of the Saitō clan, but by the 1560s Saitō Tatsuoki's hold on it was collapsing. Nobunaga, based in neighbouring Owari, had been chipping away at Mino for years. The defection of local lords was the mechanism by which he did it, and in July 1565 Satō Tadayoshi, lord of Kajita Castle, opened contact with Nobunaga through Niwa Nagahide. Nobunaga was pleased and sent Tadayoshi fifty gold coins.

Tatsuoki saw Tadayoshi's move as betrayal of the Saitō. The Kishi clan, who held Dōhora, stayed loyal to him. The fall of Unuma and Sarutaku pushed the remaining Saitō loyalists into Dōhora, concentrating the defence in one place and setting up the siege.

Why It Mattered

Dōhora was one of the stepping stones by which Nobunaga took Mino, the province that gave him the manpower and geography to march on Kyoto three years later. Each castle that fell, and each local lord who switched sides, narrowed Tatsuoki's base.

The siege also shows how Nobunaga fought in this period: envoys and bribery first, then a personal appearance at the front when the talking stopped. Kanamori Nagachika, the envoy sent to demand Dōhora's surrender, became one of Nobunaga's trusted commanders. The Kishi refusal, sealed by Nobufusa killing his own son, was the kind of gesture that made these small mountain sieges so bloody.

The Name in Japanese

The Japanese name is 堂洞合戦, read in kana as どうほらがっせん, romanised as Dōhora Gassen.

Breaking it down character by character:

• 堂 — read どう (dō) here. It means a hall or temple building, a large roofed structure.
• 洞 — read ほら (hora) here. It means a cave, hollow, or ravine. In place names it often describes a valley or a hollow in the hills, which fits a mountain castle site.
• 合 — read がっ (ga') here, a shortened form of gatsu. It means to join, meet, or combine.
• 戦 — read せん (sen) here. It means war, battle, or combat.

The compound 合戦 (kassen, becoming gassen in this combination) is the standard Japanese word for a battle or engagement. So the whole name means "the battle of Dōhora." Note that the castle is written 堂洞城 (Dōhora-jō), using the same first two characters plus 城 (jō), "castle."

Key Figures

Oda Nobunaga — the Owari warlord who besieged Dōhora. He directed the attack in person from Chausuyama after moving his headquarters forward.

Kishi Nobuchika — head of the Kishi clan and commander of Dōhora Castle. He sided with Saitō Tatsuoki and was asked by Nobunaga's envoy to surrender.

Kishi Nobufusa — Nobuchika's son, who refused the surrender demand and killed his own eldest son in front of the envoy to show his resolve. He led the defence, was wounded three times, and took his own life by seppuku.

Satō Tadayoshi — lord of Kajita Castle, who contacted Nobunaga through Niwa Nagahide in July 1565 and received fifty gold coins from him. He and his son led the northern attackers up the mountain paths.

Yaeryoku — daughter of Satō Tadayoshi and adopted daughter of Kishi Nobuchika. Held hostage by the defenders, she was crucified at Nagao-Maruyama facing the castle.

Nishimura Jirōbei — a vassal of the Satō who recovered Yaeryoku's body that night and buried it at Ryūfukuji Temple in Kajita.

Kanamori Nagachika — the envoy Nobunaga sent to Dōhora to demand the Kishi surrender.

Nagai Michitoshi — commander of the reinforcements from Seki Castle, who crossed the Tsubo River and were driven back by Nobunaga.

Tajimi Shuri-no-Jō — commander of Sarutaku Castle, who fled toward Kai Province after it fell, his troops joining the Dōhora garrison.

Ōta Gyūichi — author of the Shinchō Kōki, who recorded that he served in this battle as an archer in Nobunaga's army.