When: Mid November Dates: 12 November - 13 November 2016 City: Between Oita and Bungo-ono, according to the official website 30 minutes drive south of Oita Website: Festival Official Website (Japanese), Oita Events (English) Description: This yearly battle festival is based on the historic Battle of Hetsugigawa (the former name of Onogawa - Ono River), in which the coalition troops of the famous feudal lord Hideyoshi Toyotomi (one of the 3 "Great Unifiers of Japan" along with Nobunaga Oda and Ieyasu Tokugawa) went into battle on behalf of Sorin Otomo, the lord of the then Bungo Province (present day Oita prefecture) against the Shimazu clan of Satsuma (present day Kagoshima prefecture), led by Iehisa Shimazu.
Hideyoshi, who had been asked for help by Sorin Otomo himself, had initially ordered a cease-fire using the authority of the imperial court, where he was a chancellor, but the Shimazu clan ignored the order, leading Hideyoshi to send his two vanguard divisions, led by Motochika Chosokabe and Hidehisa Sengoku, to land on Kyushu. Initially, their orders were to go on the defensive until the other troops could join them, but they ignored their orders in favour of trying to rescue the castle of Toshimitsu. However, the Shimazu noticed the approaching troops and redoubled their efforts to capture it, eventually managing to do so with a rapid and ferocious attack. By the time Hideyoshi's troops arrived at Hetsugigawa, they could already see the Shimazu flags flying from the towers of the castle.
One of the commanders of Hideyoshi's troops - Motochika Chosokabe - suggested that they withdraw their troops, but the others insisted on going through with the battle, and subsequently were led into a trap by the Shimazu, who pretended to retreat to draw in their enemy's troops, before confronting them with guns (arquebus), archers, and the Shimazu troops. It was a fierce battle that pushed Hideyoshi's troops to withdraw back across the river, confusing some of its own troops in the process. Motochika Chosokabe then had to signal the retreat that he had suggested from the beginning, but his son and heir Nobuchika Chosokabe, as well as one of the other generals, Masayasu Sogo, was killed in the process.
Encouraged by their victory, the Shimazu clan went on to capture Funai Castle, which had been abandoned by Sorin Otomo.
The festival for this battle features samurai processions, a cavalry unit, an artillery unit, and an archery unit (including archers on horseback).