For ten days, Nitta had been leading the imperial loyalists on a rapid cross country campaign before reaching the outskirts of Kamakura.
After the Battle of Bubaigawara ended two days prior, the Hōjō forces rushed back to Kamakura to consolidate defenses.
Nitta aggressively pursued and divided his forces into three prongs, thus completely surrounding the landward sides of the city.
"It is said that the lord of Japan from the beginning, Amaterasu Ōmikami, enshrined at Ise Jingū, hid herself within a Vairocana and appeared as Ryūjin of the vast blue seas.
I Yoshisada, in an attempt to serve as a worthy subject, will pick up my axes and face the enemy line.