10 Amazing Rarely Mentioned Battles Of Japan's Civil War Era

In 1542 Saito Dosan overthrew his old master, the Toki clan, and took control of the province of Mino. Dosan had married a Toki woman and she had given birth to a son named Yoshitatsu – though his lineage was in question because she had given birth less than nine months after Dosan had married her.

When Dosan's wife gave birth to a new son, Nagatatsu, the idea to disinherit Yoshitatsu became popular – if for no other reason than the fact that Yoshitatsu suffered from leprosy and was unpopular among the clan retainers.

In 1555, Dosan made good on disinheriting his questionable son and in response Yoshitatsu murdered the rest of Dosan's children – save for his sister, who had married the patriarch of the clan to the south – a young Oda Nobunaga.

Now faced with Yoshitatsu's full-fledged rebellion the aging Dosan is said to have written to Nobunaga for aid – offering to name him as the official heir and giving up the entire province of Mino to the Oda clan.

It was all for nought though, because Dosan and Yoshitatsu came to blows before Nobunaga could field reinforcements. On opposite banks of the Nagara river the two Saito factions came to blows. Yoshitatsu sent his vanguard across the river and they fought with surprising vigor, cutting a path almost to Dosan's own unit. However Dosan managed to thwart their advance with a brutal counter attack. Yoshitatsu advanced with his main force and in the fighting his father was killed and the young leper, Yoshitatsu, took control of the Saito lands.