Battle of Ichi-no-Tani
The Battle of Ichi-no-Tani was fought between the attacking Minamoto clan and the defending Taira clan at Suma, to the west of present-day Kobe, Japan, on 20 March 1184. It sat on a very narrow strip of shore, between mountains on the north, and the sea to the south. This made it quite defensible, but also made it difficult to maneuver troops inside the fortress. The Taira suffered a crucial defeat to the forces of Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Minamoto no Noriyori.
Battle
[Image:Battle of Ichi-no-Tani.png|right|thumb|300px|Tactical maps of the battle.]Minamoto no Yoshitsune split his forces in two. Minamoto no Noriyori's forces attacked the Taira clan at Ikuta Shrine, in the woods a short distance to the east. A second detachment, no more than a hundred horsemen under Yoshitsune himself, attacked the Taira at Ichi-no-Tani from the mountain ridge to the north. At the chosen hour, the Minamoto forces attacked causing confusion among the Taira who neither deployed nor retreated. Only about 3,000 Taira escaped to Yashima, while Tadanori was killed and Shigehira captured. Also killed from the Taira clan were Lord Michimori, Tsunemasa, Atsumori, Moromori, Tomoakira, Tsunetoshi, and Moritoshi.
Ichi-no-Tani is one of the most famous battles of the Genpei War, in large part due to the individual combats that occurred here. Benkei, probably the most famous of all warrior monks, fought alongside his lord Minamoto no Yoshitsune here, and many of the Taira's most important and powerful warriors were present as well.
Ichi-no-Tani is the last recorded instance in which crossbows were used in a Japanese siege.