Although the Battle of Kuah Island was not as hot as the battle between China and Russia in the Ural Mountains, it was more brutal, at least for the Japanese army, which was short of food and ammunition. From August 29 to September 4, several Japanese light cruisers, destroyers, and patrol boats transported about 5,000 troops, including most of the 35th Infantry Brigade, most of the Aoba (4th) Regiment, and the rest of the Ichiki Detachment, to land at Taiwu Point. General Kawaguchi, who landed on August 31 aboard the Tokyo Express at Taiwu Point, commanded all Japanese forces on Guadalcanal. The barge flotilla transported another 1,000 soldiers of the Kawaguchi Infantry Brigade under the command of Colonel Akinosuke Oka to land at Kamimbo Bay, west of the Lunga defensive ring.

On September 7, Kawaguchi announced his plan of attack, "to crush and annihilate the enemy in the vicinity of the Guadalcanal airport." Kawaguchi's attack plan required his troops, divided into three groups, to approach the interior around Lunga, and eventually carry out a surprise attack at night. Oka's troops were to attack the defensive circle from the west, while Oak's 2nd echelon, now renamed the Ball Mill Battalion, was to attack from the east. The main attack came from the jungle south of the Lunga defensive circle, the "central echelon" at Kawaguchi, which included 3 battalions with a total of 3,000 men. By 7 September, most of Kawaguchi's troops had left Taiwujiao and began to advance along the coastline toward Lunga. About 250 Japanese troops were left behind to guard the brigade's supply base at Taiwu Point.

At the same time, according to reports from local indigenous coastal observers, Martin?? Clemens and the director of the British district on Guadalcanal brought a report to the U.S. Marines that the Japanese were in the village of Tahimpoco near the noon corner. Edson planned a surprise attack on the Japanese units concentrated at the Meridian Point. On 8 September, after disembarking near Taiwu Point, Edson's soldiers captured Tahimpoko while the Japanese defenders retreated into the jungle. At Tahimpoko, Edson's forces discovered Kawaguchi's main supply depot, including a large stockpile of food, ammunition, medical supplies, and a powerful shortwave radio. Having destroyed everything that was visible, in addition to taking some documents and equipment, the marines returned to the Lunga defensive circle. The mountain of supplies, combined with intelligence documents from capture, let the Marines know that at least 3,000 Japanese troops were on the island, apparently planning an attack.

Edson vs. Vandergrift's executive officer Gerard?? Colonel Thomas was correct in his belief that the Japanese attack was likely to come from a narrow, meadowy, 1,000-yard (910 m) long coral ridge running parallel to the Lunga River and south of Henderson Airport. Coral ridge, known as the Lunga Ridge, provided a natural way to control the surrounding area through the airfield, and at the time, was virtually unfortified. On 11 September, Edson's battalion of 840 men was deployed to the area around the ridge.

On the night of 12 September, Kawaguchi's 1st Battalion attacked the assault force between the Lunga River and the ridge, forcing a company of Marines to withdraw to the ridge before the Japanese could have stopped their attacks that night. On the night of the second day, Kawaguchi's brigade of 3,000 soldiers, plus a variety of light artillery, faced Edson's 830 commandos. The Japanese began their offensive just after nightfall, attacking Edson's right flank west of the ridge with Kawaguchi's 1st Battalion. After breaking through the line of defense of the marines, the battalion's attack was eventually stopped by the marines guarding the northern part of the ridge.

Kawaguchi's 2nd Brigade 2 Squadron was responsible for the attack on the southern edge of the ridge, pushing Edson's forces back to Ridge 123 in the middle of the ridge. Throughout the night, the marines in this position, supported by artillery, repelled waves of frontal attacks from the Japanese, some of which led to hand-to-hand combat. Some of the Japanese units that had crossed the ridge to the edge of the airfield were also repulsed. Units of Kumar and Oka battalions, which were attacking at other positions in the Lunga defensive circle, were also defeated. On 14 September, Kawaguchi led the survivors of his routed brigade to join Oka's unit after a five-day march west of the Matanikau Valley. As a result, 850 of Kawaguchi's troops and 104 Marines were killed.

On 15 September, Lieutenant General Haruyoshi Hyakutake learned of Kawaguchi's defeat in Rabaul and forwarded it to his base camp in Japan. At an emergency meeting, the Japanese army and navy command concluded that "Guadalcanal could develop into a decisive battle of the war." "The outcome of the battle now begins to have strategic implications for Japan in other areas of the Pacific. Hyakutake realized that in order to transport enough troops and supplies to defeat the Allied forces at Guadalcanal, he could not support the Japanese forces on the Kokoda trail in New Guinea at the same time. Hyakutake, with the consent of his base camp, ordered his forces in New Guinea, including those within 30 miles (48 km) of Port Moresby, which had reached their target, to withdraw until the "question of Guadalcanal" was resolved. Hyakutake was ready to send more troops to Guadalcanal in an attempt to retake Henderson Field.

On 1 October and 17 October, the Japanese transported 15,000 troops to Guadalcanal, giving Lieutenant General Hyakutake a total of 20,000 troops to participate in his planned offensive. Having lost their positions on the east side of the Matanicau River, the Japanese believed that an attack on the American coastal defenses would be difficult to succeed. Therefore, Hyakutake decided that his main offensive plan would be to attack Henderson Field from the south. His 2nd Division (reinforced by the 38th Division), 3 battalions of 3 infantry regiments consisting of Lieutenant General Maruyama Masao and 7,000 soldiers, was ordered to advance through the jungle and attack the American line in the south near the east bank of the Lunga River. The date for the attack was set for 22 October, which was then changed to 23 October. In order to divert the attention of the American forces and avoid knowing the plan to attack from the south, Lieutenant General Hyakutake's heavy artillery plus 5 battalions of infantry (about 2,900 men) attacked the American line of defense along the West Coast Corridor on the orders of Major General Sumiyoshi. Japan estimates that 10,000 U.S. troops are on the island, while in fact, there are about 23,000.

On October 12, the 1st Company of Japanese sappers began to open a road, known as the "Maruyama Road", from the Matanicao River to the southern part of the U.S. Army's Lunga defensive circle. The 15-mile (24 km) road passes through some of Guadalcanal's most difficult terrain, including numerous rivers and streams, deep and muddy ravines, steep ridges, and dense jungle – greatly limiting the size of the equipment the attacking Japanese could carry and draining their physical strength. From October 16 to October 18, the 2nd Division began to march along the Maruyama Road.

By 23 October, Maruyama's forces were still struggling through the jungle to reach the American lines. That night, after learning that none of his troops had yet reached their attack positions, Hyakutake postponed the attack until 7 p.m. on 24 October. The U.S. military was still completely unaware that Maruyama's forces were massing in that direction.

Sumiyoshi learned from Hyakutake's staff that the offensive had been postponed until 24 October, but failed to inform his troops of the postponement of the offensive. So, on the evening of October 23, 2 battalions of the 4th Infantry Regiment and 9 tanks of the 1st Separate Tank Company launched the 1st round of the attack on the American coastal line at the mouth of the Matanicau River. U.S. coastal artillery, artillery, and light weapons fire repelled the attack, destroying all tanks and killing many Japanese soldiers with only minor casualties.

Finally, Maruyama's troops reached the American Lunga defensive circle on the evening of October 24. After 2 consecutive nights Maruyama's troops against Chester?? The 1st Battalion of the 7th Marine Regiment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Pooler and Robert Frank Browner. The positions of the 3rd Battalion of the 164th Infantry Regiment commanded by Hall were subjected to a number of unsuccessful frontal assaults. Direct shotgun fire from rifles, machine guns, mortars, artillery, and 37-mm anti-tank guns from the U.S. Marine Corps and Army "brought a terrible massacre" to the Japanese army. Small Japanese forces broke through American lines, but were cleared in the days that followed. More than 1,580 of Maruyama's troops were killed in the attack, while U.S. losses were about 60 dead. Also on these 2 days, American planes that took off from Henderson Field resisted the attacks of Japanese planes and ships, destroying 14 Japanese planes and sinking 1 light cruiser.

Further Japanese attacks near the Matanicau River on 26 October were also repulsed, and the Japanese suffered heavy losses. Therefore, at 8 a.m. on October 26, Hyakutake called off the follow-up attack and ordered his troops to retreat. About half of Maruyama's surviving forces were ordered to retreat to the upper Matanicau River valley, while the 230th Infantry Regiment, commanded by Tokai Hayashi Toshinari Daisa], headed for Koli Point, east of the Lunga Defensive Circle. The 2nd Division's lead reached the west of the Matanikau River on 4 November, in the area of the headquarters of the 17th Army in Kocompona. On the same day, Donghailin's unit arrived at Koli Point and set up camp. Due to combat deaths, battle injuries, malnutrition and tropical diseases, the 2nd Division was unable to carry out further offensive operations and could only serve as a defensive force on the coast for the remainder of the campaign. The Japanese lost a total of 2,200–3,000 soldiers in the battle, while the Americans lost about 80 of them.

Later, although the Japanese army won the naval battle of Tassafarunge, but the Japanese army on Kuah Island was in an increasingly difficult situation due to lack of supplies, on December 3, the commander of the 8th Fleet, Mikawa, sent 10 destroyers loaded with 1,500 iron barrels to carry out the transportation mission, this destroyer formation only suffered two air raids on the way, and there was no loss, and all the iron barrels were dropped into the waters near Tasa Falonga late that night, but the Japanese troops on Kuah Island only got 310, and most of the rest were sunk by US planes the next day. On December 7, the Japanese army sent another 11 destroyers to transport iron barrels, but they were blocked by US planes and torpedo boats on the way, and they were forced to return before reaching Kuah Island. On December 11, Tanaka, the victor of the Battle of Tasa Falonga, once again led 10 destroyers to transport iron barrels, and after putting 1,200 iron barrels, he was attacked by American torpedo boats on the way back, and the flagship "Terutsuki" was hit by a torpedo, the ammunition compartment exploded and sank, Tanaka was wounded and fell into the water, and 17 officers and 139 sailors including the captain swam to Kuah Island. The Japanese army on Kuah Island only fished up 220 iron barrels. As a result of these efforts, the Japanese Navy felt that it was no longer able to support the Kuah Army, and the Army was still unwilling to face up to the reality and tried every effort to redeem the defeat. Imamura decided to throw the 6th and 51st Divisions into Kuah Island in January 22, and launched a general attack in mid-February to recapture Kuah Island in one fell swoop. Needless to say, this decision to command the head of the ass made the Japanese Army more than 10,000 main forces in vain.