Siege of Edo

Fushimi tower of Edo castle (now the Imperial Palace)

Date	January 1524
Location	Edo castle, modern-day Tokyo
Result	Hōjō victory

Belligerents

Hōjō Clan

Uesugi Clan

Commanders and leaders

Hōjō Ujitsuna

Uesugi Tomooki

Campaigns of the Hōjō

Arai Edo Nashinokidaira Kamakura Ozawahara Musashi-Matsuyama 1537 Kawagoe (1537) Kōnodai 1538 Kawagoe (1545) Odawara 1561 Musashi-Matsuyama 1563 Kōnodai 1564 Hachigata 1568 Odawara 1569 Mimasetoge Kanbara Nirayama Fukazawa Omosu Kanagawa Hachigata 1590 Odawara 1590 Shimoda Oshi

In the 1524 Siege of Edo, also known as the Battle of Takanawahara, the Hōjō, led by Hōjō Ujitsuna, besieged Edo castle, which was held by Uesugi Tomooki. Though Edo has since become the Japanese metropolis of Tokyo, it was then a more or less insignificant fishing village in the Kantō region.

Eager to repel the attackers, Uesugi Tomooki led his warriors out of the castle to meet the Hōjō in battle at the Takanawa river crossing. However, Ujitsuna led his men around the Uesugi force and attacked them from the rear. Retreating back to his castle, Tomooki found that the commander of his garrison, Ōta Suketaka, had betrayed him and opened the gates to the Hōjō.

This battle would mark the beginning of a seventeen-year struggle between the Hōjō and Uesugi clans for dominance of the Kantō.

References

Turnbull, Stephen (2002). 'War in Japan: 1467-1615'. Oxford: Osprey Publishing.