Oda clan victory The Battle of Okehazama (桶狭間の戦い, Okehazama-no-tatakai) took place on 12 June 1560 in Owari Province, in today's Aichi Prefecture.

The army followed the route of the Tōkaidō highway, and crossed from Mikawa into Owari province, which had recently been united by the local warlord Oda Nobunaga.

Nobunaga led his men in person from Kiyosu via Atsuta Shrine to a fortified temple called Zenshō-ji, a short distance away from Okehazama, on the other side of the Tōkaidō road.

[4] To bluff any Imagawa scouts, Nobunaga ordered his men to set up numerous flags and banners around the Zenshō-ji to give the appearance of a much larger force.

[6] However, familiarity of the Oda forces with the terrain and Nobunaga's propensity for aggressive tactics make many modern historians theorize that the attack was actually a frontal assault on Yoshimoto's camp, either by design or by accident.

Using a thunderstorm to mask their movements, the Oda troops struck hard at the heart of the Imagawa camp, which was in a narrow valley.

[4] Imagawa Yoshimoto, unaware of what was transpiring, heard the noise and emerged from his tent shouting at his men to quit their drunken revelry and return to their posts.

Oda Nobunaga gained greatly in prestige, and many samurai and minor warlords (including Imagawa's former retainer, Matsudaira Motoyasu, the future Tokugawa Ieyasu) pledged fealty.