Nagashino – A Motion Comic
In 2022 as part of my studies at university for the Advanced Diploma of Professional Screenwriting (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), I was tasked with writing a first-person narrative, set in a critical moment in history – a fictional prose story through the eyes of a witnessing character. I chose a section from my feature film screenplay “Under One Sky” to transform into a style of writing I haven’t done much of since many years ago.
The red Takeda clan flags in the distance waved with furious slaps of the growing wind and rain. Riflemen lined our own heavy wooden pillars plunged deep into the earth where we stood.
In my twenty-two years of existence, I had not thought my fate would lead me here. We had cut the supply lines of the castle here at Nagashino, and for the last several weeks had been building these blockades which were now complete for this day.
This day. This day where the afternoon’s storm blackened the sky, occasionally illuminated from the lightning bolts that danced and mocked us from above. There were thirty-eight thousand of us soaking wet soldiers and samurai.
The rifle factory we had taken a couple of months earlier further East had increased production exponentially, supplying more to our armies and allies equally. I hoped these new weapons would end this war. I just wanted to go home. I was more scared than I had ever been. I felt nauseous.
I peeked through the blockade, the thick morning fog had begun to clear and I could see more of our objective ahead of the muddy stream. A castle that was tenanted by their leader and our adversary Takeda Katsuyori with fifteen thousand samurai, mounted and readied outside.
He looked nervous. Not as nervous as me, but still nervous. Since his late father’s greatness had come to an end, Katsuyori had big shoes to fill.
My ears froze in fear with the blood-curdling shrill of war and pounding of hooves racing toward us. I found that I had urinated myself and hoped the downpour of weather would hide that shame. My hands rattled with my spear uncontrollably, it was my first battle and I felt that no amount of training could have prepared me. Only a year earlier I had come to be with this company, my homeland having been absorbed into the territories of Nobunaga who sat atop his steed not fifty metres from me. I trusted him as much as any peasant could. He had treated us much better than any other Lord before, seeing the class system as corrupt, though his rule was swift. I dared not, nor had any intention of defiance.
I felt a hard slap on my shoulder startling me. “Your death will not be here, brother Yori. Shine through the darkness.” Nakamura assured me. I looked deep into this man’s war-hardened eyes with a nod. I looked down to see that my hands were no longer shaking. I looked up to see behind us Nobunaga himself riding our way.
“My humble servants! You are my finest and I consider you family! Today we fight in a what will be a historic battle, under Heaven itself!” he cried. I looked passed the pillars, the Takeda rode their stallions with a great and furious charge. My eyes did not water.
“This day we will dent the greedy armour of bureaucrats who have stolen from our people too long! We outnumber the enemy more than 2 to 1. We cannot, we will not lose. A worthy defeat in battle is an honourable one, but that defeat will not be ours this day. Make me proud, brothers!”
The others let out a huge collective yell and readied themselves as the earth rumbled for the
approaching onslaught. Before we could blink, battle had greeted us.
“Fire!!” Nobunaga commanded. I was deafened briefly as smoke exited the rifle mouths. I saw a
collection of Takeda fall and more horses came at us. “Second line!!” More rifles thunderously
cracked throughout the air and more soldiers fell. But they kept coming.
A could see close enough, the shining eyes of a snarling horse as several more crashed through the stream, kicking up a brown wall of water. They bottlenecked into the blockades where they were met with
Oda spears and steel, misted crimson sprays quickly brought back down with the rain.
One Takeda did manage to break through until he was thrown from his mount and onto four of our
spears. His blood washed down my face as more of his kin raced forward, spreading out into tighter
groups. I looked to Katsuyori who had begun his own charge, bullets shredding through bodies
around him. We continued to mince his soldiers at close quarters.
“Third line! Fireee!!!”
As explosions of rifles rang throughout, I looked to Nobunaga upon his steed.
A lightning strike behind him illuminated his soul like a god of war. It was frightening and beautiful
and mesmerising. He smiled in smug defiance to Katsuyori. I saw that after yet another wave of rifle
fire that Katsuyori had finally slowed whilst more of his men would fall at our hands. He seemed to
be paralysed, I guess he had never seen what the full force of these new weapons could do. Then
again, no one had. He could only realise the complete annihilation of his dwindling clan and shame
that this battle had gifted him. His horse reared up and he turned back with his entourage, yelling
and galloping away in defeat.
A howling wind pierced ours ears as General Tokugawa screamed “This castle is ours! Drive out
these Takeda dogs!”.
The men cheered and pushed through the enemy with a swift and divine gust of violence, issuing humiliation to an army with so many casualties, they had no business being there.
As the others charged ahead, I took a moment. My hands had begun to tremble again. I wiped the
blood from my face with my dirty paw and reluctantly accepted the odour of death and gunpowder
and blood and filth. I inhaled a mighty breath and wept uncontrollably for several seconds before
composing myself.
In my twenty-two years of existence, I never thought that I would have been standing in a sea of
bodies such as this and what it signified for our feudal past and future. Lord Oda was now one step
closer to uniting the tumultuous lands, under one sky, under one government. I wondered, if my
family was still alive, what would they have thought of me now. I couldn’t even begin to fathom
what I thought of myself. But so long as the heavens rained down on us, maybe it would wash away
the past and rebirth us toward a unifying and peaceful land.
I was more scared than I had ever been before, with hopeful yet uncertain thoughts for what the future would hold.
I felt sick.
The Historical Event
The Battle of Nagashino took place in 1575 near Nagashino Castle on the plain of Shitarabara in the Mikawa Province of Japan. It was brought upon by the Takeda clan leader Katsuyori previously attacking the castle and taking control after a former ally had joined the Tokugawa. Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa were victorious, the battle being recognized as a turning point for Japanese warfare because of Oda’s effective use of guns. It was the first battle for which firearms played a major role in victory. Nobunaga would go on to unify feudal Japan until his assassination in 1582.
