Background
In October 1572, after having concluded alliances with his rivals to the east (the Late Hōjō clan of Odawara and the Satomi clan of Awa), and after waiting for the snow to close off the northern mountain passes against his northern rival, Uesugi Kenshin, Takeda Shingen led an army of 20,000 men south from his capital of Kofu into Tōtōmi Province, while one of his generals led a second force of 5,000 men into eastern Mikawa Province. Shingen was opposed by Tokugawa Ieyasu, based at Hamamatsu Castle with 8,000 men, plus an additional 3,000 reinforcements received from his ally, Oda Nobunaga. However, Takeda’s intent was not to attack Ieyasu nor to seize Hamamatsu; rather, he wished to avoid conflict if possible to save his forces to destroy Nobunaga and to march on Kyoto.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Mikatagahara
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