Siege of Osaka
|
|
The siege of Osaka lasted from 1614 to 1615.
Toyotomi Hideyori, the son and successor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was in Osaka Castle with 113,000 men. His opponent was Tokugawa Ieyasu, de facto ruler of all Japan after his victory in the Battle of Sekigahara, with an army about 194,000 men. They fought several battles, starting with one in 1614 at the mouth of the Kizugawa (the Summer Siege), and ending when Hideyori's forces attacked those of the Tokugawa at the Battle of Tennoji (the Winter Siege), in 1615.
When Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his son Hideyori rebuilt the Osaka Castle, and a nearby shrine, their renovations included a bell, with an inscription that read "May the state be peaceful and prosperous; In the East it greets the pale moon, and in the West bids farewell to the setting sun." Tokugawa interpreted this as an insult, and tensions began to grow between his newly established shogunate and the Toyotomi clan. The tension was only increased when Toyotomi Hideyori began to gather a force of ronin and enemies of Tokugawa's in Osaka. By November of 1614, Tokugawa decided not to let this force grow any larger, and led 194,000 men to Osaka.
The siege was begun on November 19, when Tokugawa led three thousand men across the Kizu River, destroying the fort there. A week later, Tokugawa attacked the village of Imafuku with 1,500 men, against a defending force of 600. With the aid of a squad wielding arquebuses, Tokugawa claimed another victory. Several more small forts and villages were attacked before the siege on Osaka Castle itself began on December 4. The Sanada-maru (or Sanada Ravelin) was an earthwork barbican defended by Sanada Yukimura and 7,000 men. The Shogun's armies were repelled, time and again. Sanada and his men launched a number of attacks against the siege lines, and broke through for three times. Tokugawa then resorted to artillery, bringing in 300 cannon, as well as men to dig under the walls. On January 22, the Winter Siege was ended, with Toyotomi Hideyori pledging to not rise in rebellion, and allowing his moat to be filled in.
In April, the Shogun got word that Toyotomi was gathering even more troops than in the previous November, and that he was trying to stop the filling of the moat. Toyotomi's forces (the Western Army) began to attack contingents of the Shogun's Eastern Army near Osaka. On April 29, they raided Wakayama Castle, a coastal fortress belonging to Asano Nagaakira, an ally of the Shogun. Asano's men left the castle, attacking the invaders, and driving them off. By early June, the Shogun's army had arrived, before Toyotomi managed to secure any land to use against them. At Domyoji, on June 6, 2,600 of his men ran into 23,000 of the Eastern Army. Hideyori's commander at the battle, Goto Mototsugu, attempted to retreat into the fog, but the battle was lost and he was killed.
After another series of battles, and Shogunate victories, on the outskirts of Osaka, the Summer Campaign came to a head at the Battle of Tennoji. Hideyori planned a hammer-and-anvil operation, in which 55,000 men would attack the center of the Eastern Army, while a second force, of 16,500 men would flank them from the rear. Another contingent waited in reserve. Tokugawa's army was led by his son Tokugawa Hidetada, and numbered around 155,000. They moved in four parallel lines, prepared to make flanking maneuvers of their own. Mistakes on both sides nearly ruined the battle, as Hideyori's ronin split off from the main group, and Tokugawa's reserve force moved up without orders from the main force. In the end, however, Hideyori's commander, Sanada Yukimura was killed, destroying the morale of the Western Army. The smaller force led directly by Hideyori sallied forth from Osaka Castle too late, and was chased right back into the castle by the advancing enemies; there was no time to set up a proper defense of the castle, and it was soon ablaze, and being pummeled by artillery fire. Hideyori committed seppuku, and the final major uprising against Tokugawa rule for another 250 or so years was repressed.
References
- Davis, Paul K. (2001). "Besieged: 100 Great Sieges from Jericho to Sarajevo." Oxford: Oxford University Press.
See Also
- Winter Campaign