The lay of the land was complicated. In the distance, an approach to one section of the open plain of Higashi Kasugai wound and bent its way along, now scissored between the mountains, now embracing smaller plains. The Mikawa road that connected with Okazaki could be seen in the distant south.
But mountains covered more than half of the field of vision. There were no steep precipices or high crags but only undulating waves of hills. As spring departed, the trees were covered with faintly red buds.
Messengers were exchanged in rapid succession, but the thoughts of Nagayoshi and Shonyu were communicated without words. Shonyu's six thousand troops were immediately divided into two units. About four thousand men headed toward the north, and then made their formation to the southeast on high ground. The commander's standard and banners clearly announced that the generals here were Shonyu's eldest son, Yukisuke, and his second son, Terumasa.
That was the right wing. The left wing was made up of Nagayoshi's three thousand soldiers on Gifugadake. Leading the remaining two thousand soldiers, Shonyu stayed with them as a reserve corps. Shonyu set up his commander's standard at the very center of this crane-wing formation.
"I wonder how Ieyasu is going to attack," he said.
Looking up at the sun, the men could see that it was still only the second half of the Hour of the Dragon. Had the hours been long or short? It was not a day for measuring time in the ordinary way. Their throats were dry, but they did not want water.
The uncanny silence made their flesh crawl. A bird cried wildly as it flew across the valley. But that was all. The birds had all flown to some other more peaceful mountain leaving the place to men.
Ieyasu appeared to be too stoop-shouldered. After passing forty he had become somewhat fleshy, and even when he put on his armor, his back was rounded, his shoulers plump; his head seemed to be almost stuffed into his shoulders by his heavy decorated helmet. His right hand, which held the baton of command, and his left were both on his knees. Seated on the edge of his camp stool with his thighs apart, he slouched forward in a way that affected his dignity.
And yes, that was his ordinary posture, even when seated before a guest or walking around. He was not one to stick out his chest. His senior retainers had once advised him to correct his posture, and Ieyasu had nodded vaguely in assent. But as he was talking with his retainers one night, he told them a little about his past.
"I was brought up in poverty. More than that, I was a hostage in another clan from the time I was six, and everyone I saw around me had more rights than I did. So I naturally got into the habit of not going around with my chest stuck out, even when I was with other children. Another reason for my bad posture is that when I studied in the cold room at the Rinzai Temple, I read my books at a desk so low I had to hold on to them like a hunchback. I became almost obsessed by the thought that someday I would be released as a hostage from the Imagawa clan and my body would become my own again. I couldn't play like a child."
It seemed that Ieyasu could never forget the time he had spent with the Imagawa clan. There was no one among his attendant retainers who had not heard the stories of his days as a hostage.
"But you know," he continued, "according to what I was told by Sessai, priests have more respect for what a man's shoulders say about him than what his face does. It seems that he could tell if a man had reached enlightenment just by looking at his shoulders. So, when I looked to see what the abbot's shoulders were like, I found that they were always as round and soft as a halo. If a man wanted to put the entire universe in his breast, he couldn’t do it with his chest stuck out. So I started to think that my own posture was not so bad."
Having set up his headquarters in Fujigane, Ieyasu looked around calmly.
"Is that Gifugadake? The men there must be Nagayoshi's. Well, I suppose Shonyu's forces will very soon be getting themselves ready at some mountain or another. One of you scouts hurry and take a look."
The scouts quickly returned and made their reports to Ieyasu. Of course, the information about the enemy positions came in piecemeal. As Ieyasu listened to the reports, he formulated his strategy.
By that time it was already the Hour of the Serpent. Nearly two hours had passed since the enemy's banners had appeared on the mountain before them.
But Ieyasu was composed. "Shiroza. Hanjuro. Come over here." Still seated, he looked around with a serene expression.
"Yes, my lord?" The two samurai approached him, their armor clattering.
Ieyasu asked for the two men's opinions as he compared the map in front of him with the immediate scene.
"When I think about it, it seems that Shonyu's forces at Kobehazama must consist of the real veterans. Depending on how they move, we may be at a real disadvantage here at Fujigane."
One of the men pointed to the peaks in the southeast and answered, "If you're resolved to a decisive battle of close fighting, I think that the foothills over there could be much better places to plant your banners."
"Good! Let's move."
His decision was that quick. The change in the army's position was made immediately. From the foothills, the elevated land held by the enemy was close enough to touch.
Separated only by a marsh and the low area of Karasuhazama, the soldiers could see their enemies' faces and even hear their voices carried on the wind.
Ieyasu ordered the placement of each unit, while he himself had his camp stool set up in a place with an unobstructed view.
"Well, I see that Ii is leading the vanguard today," Ieyasu said.
"The Red Guard has come out to the front!"
"They look good, but I wonder how well they'll fight."
Ii Hyobu was twenty-three years old. Everyone knew that the young man was highly regarded by Ieyasu, and until that morning he had been among the retainers at Ieyasu's side. For his part, Ieyasu viewed Ii as a man that could be put to good use, and he had given him the command of three thousand men and the responsibility for leading the vanguard. That position held the possibility of yielding both the greatest fame and the bitterest hardship.
"Show your spirit just as you please today," Ieyasu counseled.
Ii was so young, however, that Ieyasu took the precaution of attaching two of his experienced retainers to his unit. He added, "Listen to the words of these veterans."
The brothers Yukisuke and Terumasa looked out at the Red Guard from their elevated position at Tanojiri, to the south.
"Strike at that ostentatious Red Corps that's making such a show!" Yukisuke ordered.
With that, the brothers sent a unit of two or three hundred men out from the side of a ravine and a attack corps of one thousand men from the front lines, first opening up with their firearms. At the same time, the foothills erupted in thunderous gunfire, and white smoke spread out like a cloud. As the smoke turned into a light haze and drifted toward the marsh, Ii's red-clad warriors quickly ran toward the low ground. A group of black-armored warriors and foot soldiers ran out to meet them. The distance between the two groups was quickly breached, and the two spear corps engaged in hand-to-hand fighting.
The real heroics of a warrior's battle were usually seen in the fight of spear against spear. More than that, the outcome of battle was often decided by the actions of the spearmen.
It was here that the Ii corps killed several hundred of the enemy. The Red Guard, however, did not escape without casualties, and a good number of Ii’s retainers met their deaths.
Ikeda Shonyu had been thinking about the plan of battle for some time. He saw that the troops under his sons were engaged in hand-to-hand fighting with the Red Guards, and that the battle was gradually becoming intensified. "Now's your chance!" he yelled behind him.