The battle of Kanagawa took place during the Sengoku period (16th century) of Japanese history. Following the sudden death of Oda Nobunaga, the Hōjō family soon took the advantage of the situation to launch a certain attack against Nobunaga's senior retainer, Takigawa Kazumasu, who had received territories after the defeat of Takeda Katsuyori the same year in 1582. On the border between the Kozuke and Musashi provinces, Kazumasu faced off against the Hōjō at Kanegawa. Kazumasu had 18,000 troops, while the Hōjō wielded 55,000. After Kazumasu's defeat, he retreated to Nagashima.