New Arrivals — Browse our catalog for the latest authentic Japanese sword arrivals. Browse →
The 2nd day of the intercalary 7th month of Engen 3 / Ryakuo 1 (August 17, 1338)
Tomyoji Nawate, Fujishima, Echizen Province (near present-day Fujishima-chō and Nitta Tsuka-chō, Fukui City, Fukui Prefecture)
Forces
The Nitta forces (Southern Court)
The Shiba forces (Northern Court / Ashikaga side)
About 6 min read
In the 3rd month of Engen 2 / Kenmu 4 (1337), Kanegasaki Castle in Echizen Province fell to an assault by the Northern Court's Ashikaga forces, and Nitta Yoshisada's son, Nitta Yoshiaki, took his own life, dealing a major blow to the Southern Court. Yoshisada himself sought to stage a comeback within Echizen Province, rallying temple and shrine forces and others as he worked to rebuild his strength.
The following year, Engen 3 / Ryakuo 1 (1338), Yoshisada's younger brother, Wakiya Yoshisuke, retook the provincial capital of Echizen, and the Southern Court was regaining its momentum. Yoshisada's forces began an assault on Kuromaru Castle (present-day Fukui City), the stronghold of Shiba Takatsune, the Ashikaga-side shugo (military governor) of Echizen.
The fighting is said to have initially favored Yoshisada's side, but after Shiba Takatsune won over the monks of Heisen-ji, one of Echizen's leading temples, and drew them into his own camp, the tide of war turned sharply. In response, Yoshisada gathered a force said to number more than 30,000 horsemen at Tomyoji (present-day Fukui City) and began an assault on Fujishima Castle.
On the evening of the 2nd day of the intercalary 7th month of Engen 3 / Ryakuo 1 (August 17, 1338), as Yoshisada made his way to urge on his troops attacking Fujishima Castle, he encountered at Tomyoji Nawate (near present-day Nitta Tsuka, Fukui City) a force sent from Kuromaru Castle to relieve Fujishima Castle, led by Hosokawa Dewa no Kami and others, and a fierce melee ensued. According to the Taiheiki, Yoshisada was thrown from his horse under a barrage of arrows, and as he rose, an arrow struck him in the forehead, inflicting a mortal wound, and he is said to have taken his own life and died on the spot. He died at the age of 38.
With the loss of their supreme commander, Yoshisada, the Nitta forces quickly collapsed, and the Southern Court's strength in Echizen fell back sharply. Through this battle, the superiority of the Northern Court and the Ashikaga side became decisive, and not long after Yoshisada's death, on the 11th day of the 8th month of Ryakuo 1, Ashikaga Takauji was appointed Sei-i Taishogun, firmly laying the foundations of the Muromachi shogunate in both name and substance.
The exact site of Yoshisada's death long remained unclear, but in Meireki 2 (1656), a helmet was unearthed by chance from a paddy field at Tomyoji Nawate, and as a result this place came to be widely known as the legendary site of Yoshisada's death in battle. Today this area is designated a historic site under the name "Tomyoji Nawate — Traditional Site of Nitta Yoshisada's Death in Battle," and together with Nitta Tsuka, it continues to be preserved as a historic site conveying the final moments of Yoshisada, a key figure in the overthrow of the Kamakura shogunate.