Qualla: Kawagoe Castle: Three Thousand Against Eighty Thousand

Kawagoe Castle: Three Thousand Against Eighty Thousand: Introduction

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ocdp, CC BY-SA 3.0. In the spring of 1546, three thousand men inside Kawagoe Castle looked out at an army of eighty thousand surrounding their walls. The Uesugi clan had come to take back what the Hojo had seized nine years earlier, and the math was impossible -- nearly twenty-seven attackers for every defender. What followed became one of the most celebrated night raids in Japanese military history. The Hojo garrison held until a relief force arrived, then launched a coordinated assault in darkness that shattered the siege and effectively ended Uesugi dominance in the Kanto region. That single battle, fought over a flatland fortress in what is now suburban Saitama Prefecture, redrew the political map of eastern Japan. Today, of the sprawling castle complex that anchored these events, only one building remains standing.

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Image: Ocdp | CC BY-SA 3.0

Kawagoe Castle: Three Thousand Against Eighty Thousand: A Father-Son Fortress

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Alexrk2, CC BY-SA 3.0. Kawagoe Castle was built in 1457 by Ota Doshin and his son Ota Dokan, under orders from the Uesugi lord Mochitomo. Dokan would go on to build Edo Castle the same year -- the fortress that would eventually become the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. But Kawagoe came first. Positioned on ...

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Image: Alexrk2 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Kawagoe Castle: Three Thousand Against Eighty Thousand: The Siege That Changed Everything

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mocchy, Public domain. The Hojo clan seized Kawagoe in 1537 after Hojo Ujitsuna had taken Edo Castle in 1524. The Uesugi were not willing to accept the loss. In 1545, Uesugi Tomosada assembled a massive coalition -- estimates put the combined force at eighty thousand troops -- and laid siege to the cas...

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Image: Mocchy | Public domain

Kawagoe Castle: Three Thousand Against Eighty Thousand: Centuries as a Castle Town

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. After the Hojo consolidated control, Kawagoe served for forty-five years as a satellite fortress protecting Edo and the clan's central stronghold at Odawara. When the Hojo fell to Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1590, Tokugawa Ieyasu took control of the Kanto and Kawagoe became the seat of...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Kawagoe Castle: Three Thousand Against Eighty Thousand: What Remains on the Mound

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Dismantlement began in 1870 as the Meiji government abolished feudal domains. Buildings were relocated around Kawagoe and to nearby cities. Today, only the Honmaru Goten -- the main palace of the innermost enclosure -- survives on the original site, though not quite in its origin...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain