A standard theory is that Takeda's cavalry which was regarded as the most powerful at that time was overwhelmingly defeated by the Oda forces which were equipped with 3,000 then state-of-art teppo (matchlock guns), and which employed a new tactics of "sandan-uchi" (in which the gunners were arranged in three lines).
通説では、当時最新兵器であった鉄砲を3000丁も用意、さらに新戦法の三段撃ちを実行した織田軍を前に、当時最強と呼ばれた武田の騎馬隊は成すすべも無く殲滅させられたとされる。