Kawanakajima Tessen
The short story that won the 2011 Org Writing Contest.
An interpretation of the Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima and the legendary duel between Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin through the perspective of Takeda Shingen.
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Kawanakajima Tessen
Dawn crept up at a small pace, the orange ball of the sun rising overthe mountains with considerable shyness as if afraid to let the raysbless the fields beside Chikumagawa. The flatlands were eerilysilent, a faint wind brushing over the rice paddies drenched in waterin the valley nestled between the high peaks. By now it was thefourth battle and there was still no decisive result. Shingen guessedthat Kenshin was marching down on his own army from Echigo and hopedthat it was the case just as it had been before.
From his protected position at the fortress in Kaizu Shingen couldnot see much of the Kawanakajima plains because of the morning mist,but he guessed and hoped Kenshin would stick to his plans. He decidedit was time.
The tessen of the Tiger of Kai signalled the advance of the army.
Shingen mounted his horse, barking out orders in the meantime andsignalling the small group of henchmen to follow him. The Takedadaimyo led his black steed down the gentle slope of the green hilland towards the bridge over the Chikuma where his army alreadymarched at a slow trot towards the expansive plains.
With the first morning rays shining through the mist, Shingenguessed it would be somewhat around the time of the Hare, so he stillhad considerable time left to position his troops in an orderlymanner. Just the way he liked it. The daimyo galloped his horse overthe bridge and into the fog covered flatland that concealed both hisown army and possibly Kenshin's.
He fretted nervously as he stopped for a moment and scanned theflatland. There were no sounds apart from the sandals and hooves ofhis own men, none from the far distance of the Echigo mountains, noteven horse's hooves. Shingen turned towards his henchmen, his ownexpression darker than the lacquer on his helmet.
“Yozo, send word to Kosaka and Yamamoto to commence the attack ifthey can. The rest, follow me to the camp.”
In the middle of the Kawanakjima plains the black banner inscribedwith Sun Tzu's words was the gather point of the Takeda army underShingen's command. Gradually, the ashigaru arrived at the outpost,followed by the samurai and the Takeda cavalry on the left flank ledby Shingen's brother Nobushige. Shingen came out of his outpost andwatched with satisfaction as the troops deployed themselves in akakuyoku formation, with Yamamoto Kansuke on the far right more thaneager to drop in on the unsuspecting Uesugi lines. But he still didnot like it. Something was amiss.
Shingen frowned and watched his troops sit idle and prepare theirdefensive positions, some of the ashigaru digging small trenchesahead of their positions to impend any cavalry charges. The mistlifted with each second that passed by but it was still considerablythick so all the daimyo could see were the red Takeda sashimono flagswaving in the wind. Behind him some of the henchmen kept talking buthe ignored them.
To his dismay all he could do now was wait.
They say the eagle strikes when he is in the most opportune ofsituations. As the clock ticked by, Shingen could hear the secondspass from the time of the Hare and drift in a slow advance to thetime of the Dragon. As the time advanced, so did the sun as it rosein earnest behind him, faster and faster with each minute flying by.He inspected his troops once more, lined up in a defensive perfectformation. And yet his gut feeling was not where he wanted it to be.Shingen opened the strap of the kabuto helmet, allowing the coolmountain air to seep inside.
Blown away, the mist lifted.
A sudden, powerful gust of wind swept through the whole Kawanakajimaplain. In the distance, the black-on-white Uesugi flags rosemajestically as they descended from the base of the hill right in thepath of the horrified Takeda army. Shingen's dark eyes widened inhorror, his jaw flexing at the sudden disparaging sight. With onlyhalf of the army under Shingen's command, Kenshin would waste no timein attacking his position and the Takeda daimyo knew that too well.
A sudden flurry of arrows whooshed towards the Takeda lines, barelymissing Shingen as he rushed back into the protected command outpost.Shingen sighed for a moment. He barked at his henchmen to order astand to the Takeda commanders. As they left the commander alone inthe command tent, he collapsed on a makeshift tatami and ate his ricein silence, as if anticipating the storm after the quiet moments ofhis meal. The rage of the battle echoed inside his mind.
Shingen stood up nervously a moment later and took the tessen,exiting the post to mount his horse and lead his army.
But it was too late. The Takeda daimyo watched in unconcealed horroras the Uesugi forces smashed through the left flank of the army andwere about to break behind the Takeda lines. There was no doubt inShingen's mind why the break occured. His brother Nobushige was dead.
With his palms sweating and his hands shaking uncontrollably,Shingen turned towards his tent and was about to enter when amessenger stopped his charging horse only a couple of feet away fromthe Takeda daimyo, shouting and waving his hands in mid air.
“My lord, Kosaka is being held by the Uesugi, he cannot come tohelp us in due time.”
Shingen swallowed nervously. “Is Uesugi Kenshin himself in therearguard?”
“No my lord.”
Shingen's face turned to a deathly pallor, unable to come to termswith the grave situation. Another arrow swooshed a second later overhis head and struck the messenger right in the arm, the young aidecollapsing on the muddy field in complete agony. Shingen rushed backinto the tent to retrieve the indications for his generals but afeeling of dread rose up inside him as raging sounds outside the tentgrew louder and louder until he realised the grim reality.
The Dragon of Echigo was in the Takeda camp.
Shingen rushed outside the tent when he saw the first group ofdefenders collapse under the blows of Uesugi Kenshin's own hatamotoguards. A second wave of defenders rushed to protect their commanderbut by now the flood of attackers was impossible to stave off.
“Shingen!”
The voice did not startle him the least. He knew the odd voice, andquite well. Shingen only smiled as he watched Kenshin rush throughthe group of Takeda retainers struggling to defend the commandoutpost. Only a couple of paces away from the man he wanted, Kenshincould not do anything.
For many precious seconds the Takeda samurai pinned down the Uesugidaimyo in the fighting and prevented him to advance but Shingen madeno gesture of leaving. Ignoring the pleas of his henchmen andcommanders, he watched from the distance with some satisfaction thathis toughest opponent was kept in check by his men.
And yet Shingen's smile suddenly evaporated and turned to unabridgedfear as he realised he was unarmed. The dead samurai were too faraway from him and no one could spare any arms. Not even a wakizashihung from his belt.
He only had the tessen.
Kenshin screamed once more at him and then broke free of the Takedadefenders. With his blood rushing and his face redder with fury thanthe banners of his army, Shingen took up the tessen and swished it inthe air, opening the fan completely. Kenshin's horse charged towardshim, the Dragon slicing the air in half with his katana as he aimedfor Shingen's head. With a quick parry, Shingen rebounded from theblow and took a defensive position on a nearby stool, deflecting twomore of Kenshin's blows. The Dragon of Echigo raged with every singlestrike of the katana from horseback but there was nothing he could domore as Shingen blocked every avenue of attack.
Shingen was more than a match for him, even with something as smallas the iron signalling fan. Kenshin continued his relentless attack,striking left and right in order to deal the decisive blow to hisopponent. But nothing seemed to come to fruition, even after fivesuccessive blows that left visible marks on the iron ribs. Shingenused the iron outer guard to block another set of blows and evenmanaged to counter attack, aiming with the sharp iron ribs towardsKenshin's unprotected legs.
As the commanders kept fighting, Kenshin's hatamoto finally brokethe last wave of defenders.
But by now it was too late. The centre and right flanks collapsed onthe Uesugi army, routing most of the soldiers in a cascade ofcasualties and flowing blood staining the whole battlefield in agrizzly scene. With the Uesugi hatamoto regrouping to deflect theattacks, a large group of Takeda samurai flooded the command outpust,cutting off the Uesugi guards and leaving Kenshin alone to deal withShingen and the rest of the Takeda army.
But Kenshin did not even flinch, he kept his attack on Shingen whocontinued to deflect the blows with his war fan. But Shingen saw whatKenshin with his back turned did not.
“Hara!”
The commander of the defending samurai watched in horror as thedeadly duel unfolded underneath his eyes. Desperate, Hara leapt instrides towards Shingen's spear propped idly against the tent andcharged towards Kenshin with the polearm grabbed tightly in hisfists. Much too absorbed in the fight, the Dragon of Echigo did notnotice Hara race towards him from behind and when he finally caught aglimpse of the red warrior, the horse rocked under his the reins,nearly throwing him head first into the muddy soil.
Dismayed and with no sight of the Uesugi hatamoto, Kenshin aimed onelast blow towards Shingen and raced around the command outpost, awayfrom the victorious Takeda army in a flurry of arrows unleashed bythe vengeful red archers.
Gasping for air, Hara approached Shingen who mounted his own horse.
“My lord, Kosaka has struck from behind, the Uesugi areretreating.”
Shingen did not even reply even if the news gladdened him to aconsiderable extent. He did not care. Shingen galloped away from theheadquarters and guided his horse close to the front lines, watchingthe sweet scene of the full Uesugi retreat back into Kosaka's hands.Most of the white banners were either burning or taken by the Takedaforces, the light cavalry units giving pursuit to the nearestrouters. But even they were tired and not too interested in pursuingthe Uesugi.
Shingen sighed in relief. And yet a weight hung from his neck.
The Takeda daimyo turned his horse and watched the whole bloodiedbattlefield in ominous contempt, red liquid flowing in rivers overthe fields were rice used to grow. Shingen frowned and looked at hiswar fan. Kawanakajima was the result of the tessen, but the sametessen won the battle.
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Originally Posted by Prince Cobra
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