The Battle of Matsusaka was a major battle of the Boshin War which was fought in April 1867 between the armies of the pro-Imperial Choshu Domain and the pro-Shogunate Wakayama Domain. The Choshu army of Takasugi Shinsaku inflicted a decisive defeat on a large pro-Shogunate army on the coast of Ise Bay, killing the Wakayama daimyo Kishu Munehide in the process.
Background[]
The pro-Shogunate Wakayama Domain of Kii Province was a force to be reckoned with early in the Boshin War. Despite the domain's relatively small size, it could count on the combined might of two large armies to defend and expand its boundaries. In the autumn of 1866, the Wakayama Domain made peace with the pro-Imperial Choshu Domain as the Choshu Domain's daimyo Mori Takachika swept through southern Kansai and into Chubu, seemingly securing Choshu's southern flank as Takachika destroyed the remnants of the Nagoya Domain and took on new foes in the Nagaoka Domain and the Kanazawa Domain. At the start of 1867, after Emperor Meiji proclaimed Choshu the vanguard of the Imperial cause, the Shogunate vanguard, Nagaoka, declared war on Choshu and called on its fellow pro-Shogunate clans, including the Wakayama Domain, to declare war on Choshu. Wakayama daimyo Kishu Munehide and his general Asai Mitsutsune each led massive armies into Yamato Province and crushed Choshu's vassal, the Takatori Domain, in February 1867. However, the Wakayama armies decided to advance into Chubu rather than march on Osaka and drive a wedge between Choshu's conquests in Kansai and Chubu. This enabled Takasugi Shinsaku to march south from Kyoto to Osaka, where he took on the sizable garrison of the city before sweeping through Yamato, recapturing Nara, and following the tracks of the Wakayama armies. While Asai Mitsutsune's army advanced far ahead of Kishu Munehide's army and threatened the city of Tsu in Ise Province, Kishu Munehide's army stalled in southern Ise Province, enabling Shinsaku to attack his army separately. Munehide withdrew to the coast of Ise Bay at Matsusaka, where Shinsaku engaged him in battle in late April.
Battle[]
The Wakayama troops in battle at Matsusaka
Shinsaku ordered his army to advance after finding that the Wakayama army had taken up defensive positions and intended to hold them. Shinsaku had his army stretch its formation to allow for his flanks to fire on the Wakayama army from additional directions, and his left flank included yari-wielding warriors and samurai cavalry, reminders of Choshu's feudal past. The battle opened when the Wakayama Domain's right-flank spearmen charged the Choshu cavalry, only to retreat after the Choshu spearmen charged them. At the same time, the Choshu line infantry opened fire on the Wakayama samurai, provoking Munehide into ordering a general assault.
The flanking maneuver at Matsusaka
The Wakayama army attacked across the front, but Choshu's line infantry riddled their advance units with bullets as they marched into battle, immediately gaining the upper hand. Believing that his soldiers' warrior prowess would carry the day, Munehide ordered several of his regiments to draw their katana swords and charge the Choshu center and left flank, and his spearmen massacred the Choshu samurai horsemen. However, the Choshu soldiers used their modern weaponry and bayonets to slaughter the samurai, and the Choshu right flank gradually closed in on the Wakayama center after breaking the Wakayama left flank. The Wakayama army found itself being attacked by a hammer-and-anvil maneuver and suffered heavy losses, and the Choshu sabre cavalry gave chase to the fleeing Shogunate soldiers and massacred them. Only 449 Wakayama soldiers survived the disaster of Matsusaka, and Ota Shigetsune - the sole survivor of his unit of hatamoto bodyguards - led the remnants north to join forces with Asai Mitsutsune's army, Wakayama's last hope.
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