Battle of Fubeyama (Mt. Fube) (布部山の戦い)
The Battle of Fubeyama (Mt. Fube) was a war between an army of the Amago clan which was directed by Yukimori YAMANAKA to reconstruct the Amago clan and the Mori clan who was attempting to prevent it.
Events leading up to the Battle
After the Amago clan surrendered Gassantoda-jo Castle to the Mori clan November 28, 1566 and the Amago family fell, in order to reconstruct the Amago family, Yukimori YAMANAKA and Hisatsuna TACHIHARA, the past vassals of the family worked to let Katsuhisa AMAGO who was a son of Sanehisa AMAGO and a member of Shingu-to (party) returned to secular life from Tofuku-ji Temple in Kyoto backing him up in 1568.
After they reached Izumo through Tajima and Oki the next year, they dispatched a messenger concerning the intention of the reconstruction of the Amago family, and in five days three thousand troops consisting of former vassals of the Amago family gathered for Katsuhisa AMAGO.
First they took control of most of their former territories in Izumo Province by destroying Shinyama-jo Castle and advanced unresisted to attack Gassantoda-jo Castle, but the castle was so tightly guarded by Takashige AMANO, making it inaccessible and impregnable, that they had problems destroying the castle, despite the castle only being guarded by three hundred warriors. They faced even more difficulties with the rebellion of Tamekiyo OKI, the main force of the Mori family returned from battles in Iyo Province and northern part of Kyushu, while a large army of 13,000 including Terumoto MORI, Motoharu KIKKAWA and Takakage KOBAYAKAWA left Iwami Province for Izumo Province. As the Amago army became aware of their movements, they decided to have Katsuhisa AMAGO stay at Suetsugu-jo Castle and stop Mori in Fubeyama, while they would go through and reach Gassantoda-jo Castle from Iwamiji Road.
Battle of Fubeyama (Mt. Fube)
The Amago army sent a total of 68,000 soldiers who were directed by Yukimori YAMANAKA to only two gateways (Mizutani (水谷) gateway and Nakayama (中山) gateway) to Fubeyama and waited for the Mori troops, taking all possible measures. While the Amago army was initially dominant due to the advantageous location, Motoharu KIKKAWA found it difficult to defeat the Amago army and obtained information about a by-path from local residents and went up to the top of Fubeyama from the rear side of the mountain, leading a separate battalion of troops. They stormed the troop headquarters of the Amago army from the top of Fubeyama, and the Amago army broke down and ran away.