The Siege of Akasaka Fort

Kusunoki Masashige, hero of the Genko Rebellion (1331–1333), was a talented commander and inventive strategist. The two sieges of castles where he acted as defender are inscribed in gold letters in the history of Japanese military art.

After the start of Emperor Godaigo's rebellion, Masashige hastily prepared Akasaka Fort on one of the peaks of Mount Kongo for defense. The fortress was a square with sides measuring approximately 110–200 meters, surrounded by a clay-covered palisade. Inside, there were 20-30 simple watchtowers. A shallow dry moat was dug around the fort. Masashige placed 200 soldiers in the fort itself and hid 300 horsemen in the forest on the nearest hill.

The first assault

The Taiheiki estimates the shogunate's troops approaching the fort at 300,000 men, but this figure is clearly exaggerated several times over. Seeing that the fort was poorly fortified, the besiegers decided to storm it immediately. They dismounted, approached the moat, and prepared to climb the slope and wall. At that moment, a hail of arrows rained down on the samurai, killing and wounding many of the attackers.

Hastily retreating, the besiegers settled down to rest at a distance from the fort. The commanders of the royalist ambush chose this moment to attack. Dividing into two groups of 150 horsemen each, they attacked the enemy from two sides. The thick fog played into the attackers' hands — the besiegers did not immediately realize that they were under attack. At that moment, the fort gates opened, and Masashige, leading 200 horsemen, also counterattacked the shogunate troops, putting them to flight. However, given the enemy's overwhelming numerical superiority, it was impossible to completely defeat them, and Masashige ordered a retreat to the fortress.

Second attempt

The next day, at a meeting of the besiegers, it was proposed to proceed with a prolonged siege, cut down the forest around the fort to prevent ambushes, and prepare more thoroughly for the assault. However, some of the fighters from the provinces, who had suffered the greatest losses during the first assault, were eager for revenge and decided to launch a new attack. The army was divided: one third went to the nearby peaks to block a possible ambush, and two thirds approached the castle from four sides.

At first, it seemed that the second attempt at storming would be successful — encountering no resistance, the samurai overcame the slope and managed to climb the fort's wall. And then Masashige's next cunning plan came into play. The wall turned out to be double: the outer part was fake, consisting of a clay-coated palisade, but not driven into the ground, but tied to the main inner wall. When the attackers climbed onto the outer wall, the defenders cut the ropes, and it collapsed, crushing many samurai. Stones and logs were thrown after them, killing and maiming many warriors.

New tricks

The attackers prepared more thoroughly for the next assault. Wooden shields were made to protect against arrows, which were covered with several layers of leather for strength. The false wall was to be knocked down in advance with the help of “bear paws” — hooks on ropes.

When the besiegers got close to the wall and hooked their hooks, the defenders of the fortress began to pour boiling water on them from buckets with long handles, aiming at the openings at the top of the helmets and the joints in the armor. The scalded shogunate warriors threw down their shields and “bear paws” and fled.

From that moment on, the besiegers ceased hostilities and moved on to a blockade. They built towers out of logs, under the cover of which they occasionally fired at the fort from a distance.

Masashige's retreat

Since the fort had been built in a hurry, it was not prepared for a long siege, and after three weeks, there were only a few days' worth of provisions left in the fortress. Masashige decided that there was no need to die senselessly and that he could still serve the emperor's cause. An original plan of retreat was devised.

A huge pit was dug in the courtyard and a funeral pyre was built, where the bodies of the fallen defenders were placed. One man was left in the fort with the task of lighting the pyre when the others left. The besieged, having removed their armor, slipped through the ranks of the besieging army in small groups under the cover of darkness.

When the pyre was lit, the shogunate's soldiers stormed the empty castle and found many charred corpses and a single defender who, with tears in his eyes, told them about the suicide of Kusunoki Masashige and his loyal comrades. They believed him, and Masashige was long considered dead.

The Return

However, the following year, Masashige made a comeback, recapturing the captured Akasaka Fort. This time, he also resorted to another trick. Masashige's warriors disguised themselves as food carriers and, once inside the fortress, took out their weapons and opened the gates.