which provided an excellent defensive position. On the night of 1 July, Hideyoshi's generals Nakamura Kazuuji and Horio Yoshiharu sent a number of ninja into the Mitsuhide camp, setting fire to buildings and generally causing fear and confusion, and therefore robbing the enemy of their sleep for most of the night. The Battle On the following morning, the main fighting began as Hideyoshi's men began to form up along the opposite shore of the Enmyōji-gawa from the enemy, and a portion of Mitsuhide's samurai, led by Matsuda Masachika and Nabika Kamon, crossed the river, seeking to make their way up the wooded Tennōzan hill. They were driven back by arquebus fire, and so Hideyoshi felt confident enough to launch the right wing of his forces, under the command of Kato Mitsuyasu and Ikeda Tsuneoki, across the river, and into Mitsuhide's front lines. They made some progress, and were soon joined by the left wing, with support from atop Mount Tennōzan. The majority of Mitsuhide's men fled, with the exception of the 200 men under Mimaki Kaneaki, who charged and were destroyed by Hideyoshi's larger force. Soon, panic set in among the Akechi army, and Hideyoshi's army chased them back to Shōryūji, where the garrison collapsed. Mitsuhide himself fled much further, to the town of Ogurusu, where he was killed by a gang of bandits. Mitsuhide is thought to have been killed by a bandit known as Nakamura about two weeks after the battle. In popular culture The Battle of Yamazaki is the final stage of Akechi Mitsuhide in Samurai Warriors and the first stage of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Samurai Warriors 2. It also features as a campaign map in The Conquerors expansion of the real-time strategy game Age of Empires II. The battle is also the basis for the Sonny Chiba martial arts film Shogun's Ninja. References Further reading De Lange, William. Samurai Battles: The Long Road to Unification. Toyp Press (2020) 1582 in Japan Yamazaki 1582 Conflicts in 1582