In 1567, Tanezane, has manage to recapture the castle of Mount Kosho from the Ōtomo clan and made his intention clear to fight against them.
In response, Sorin sent Tachibana Dōsetsu, Usuki Akisumi, and Yoshihiro Akimasa with 20,000 soldiers on August 14 to punish Tanezane.
Subsequently, rumors circulated that a huge Mōri clan army in Chugoku region planned to invade Ojo, which prompted the Ōtomo forces to withdraw from the siege of Mount Kosho.
[3][2] During this attack, at first the assault forces of Tanezane manage to inflict losses as they killed one of Dōsetsu's most trusted generals, Koretada Totoki.
However, the rearguard detachment of Dōsetsu managed to reverse the situation and inflicted heavy losses upon Tanezane troops, forcing them to retreat.
[8][9][10][11][12] In March, Dōsetsu besieged the Iwaya castle for the third time subsequently with some clashes against the forces of Akizuki Tanezane.
First, Dōsetsu fought against Tanezane and Ujisada in the battle of Koganebara,[22] which was recorded in history as the largest military engagement ever happened in Kurate until at that time.
300 of Muneshige's troops launched a surprise attack from the side with guns, while the remaining 200 soldiers were led by Komono Masutoki, who set up a false flag to make it look like reinforcements from the Otomo clan were coming, and finally managed to lift the siege.
Muneshige then led 1,000 cavalry including Komono Masutoki, Korenobu Yufu, and Shigeyuki Ono, eliminating 300 of the Harada general's troops, Kasa Okinaga, who had built a fort at Iwatosho Kubeno, killing 150 of them, and pursuing them west to Sawara County, where he burned down Harada Chikahide's Sawara Castle.
[40][41] The Ōtomo forces led by Tachibana Dōsetsu and Takahashi Shigetane manage to score a series of victories over the numerically superior allied focers with a combination of brilliant maneuvers and tactics in three separate battles:[40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] in the end, the alliance siege against the town failed.