Learning of the size of Hideyoshi's army and not wanting to be caught inside a castle with his force divided, Mitsuhide resolved to prepare for battle somewhere to the south.

Due to its position between a river and a mountain, Yamazaki provided Mitsuhide with choke points that could ease the number of enemies his forces would have to face at any one time.

[1]: 27 Meanwhile, Hideyoshi decided that a wooded area called Mount Tennōzan, just outside the town of Yamazaki, was key to strategic control of the road to Kyoto.

[1]: 27, 29 On the following morning, 2 July, 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.

It also features as a campaign map in The Conquerors expansion of the real-time strategy game Age of Empires II.