Siege of Osaka
The siege of Osaka was a series of battles undertaken by the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan, ending in that clan's destruction. Divided into two stages, the winter campaign and the summer campaign, it lasted from 1614 to 1615. The siege put an end to the last major armed opposition to the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate. The end of the conflict is sometimes called the Genna Armistice , because the era name was changed from Keichō to Genna immediately following the siege.
When Toyotomi Hideyoshi died in 1598, Japan came to be governed by the Council of Five Elders, among whom Tokugawa Ieyasu possessed the most authority. After defeating Ishida Mitsunari in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Ieyasu essentially seized control of Japan for himself and abolished the council. In 1603, the Tokugawa shogunate was established with its capital at Edo. Hideyoshi's son Toyotomi Hideyori and his mother Yodo-dono were allowed to stay at Osaka Castle, a fortress that had served as Hideyoshi's residence. Hideyori remained confined to the castle for several years. In addition, as a mechanism of control, it was agreed that in the year 1603 he would marry the daughter of Tokugawa Hidetada, Senhime, who was related to both clans. Ieyasu sought to establish a powerful and stable regime under the rule of his own clan. Only the Toyotomi clan, led by Hideyori under the influence of Yodo-dono, remained an obstacle to that goal.
Preparations
As preparations, Hideyori sent many letters to most of the daimyo lords in Japan who he predicted would sympathize with the Toyotomi clan. However, his efforts were largely fruitless as his letters delivered by his couriers were rejected by many of the recipients. Hachisuka Iemasa at first was hesitant, until his son convinced him not to accept Hideyori’s invitation to rebel against the Shogunate. Meanwhile, Shimazu Tadatsune directly rejected his invitation as Tadatsune stated the Shimazu clan was still recovering from the Sekigahara war and had no intention to stand up against Ieyasu. Tadatsune also returned a sword gift from Hideyori. An envoy of the Toyotomi clan dispatched to convince Ikeda Tadakatsu, lord of Sumoto in Awaji Island and son of Ikeda Terumasa, also failed, as the Ikeda clan instead arrested the envoys. Furthermore, the Toyotomi clan also failed to convince the Mōri clan under the lead of Mōri Terumoto to join their side, Terumoto instead supported the Tokugawa shogunate, as on November 3, Terumoto ordered his vassals Mōri Motochikazu and Motoyuki Sugimori, who were in charge in Mori Hidemoto's absence, to send half of the troops east if Hidemoto asked them to march out to aid the shogunate in fighting the Toyotomi, while the remaining half, including Sugimori, Motoyoshi Nishi, and Shichirobei Misawa, were to stay in Chofu as caretakers, and to retreat to Hagi if something happened that would make it impossible to maintain Chofu.
In November of 1614, Tokugawa Ieyasu decided not to let this force grow any larger, and led 164,000 men to Osaka. The count does not include the troops of Shimazu Tadatsune, an ally of the Toyotomi cause who nevertheless did not send troops to Osaka. The siege began on 19 November, when Ieyasu led 3,000 men across the Kizu River, destroying the fort there. A week later, he attacked the village of Imafuku with 1,500 men, against a defending force of 600. With the aid of a squad wielding arquebuses (a weapon widely used by Japanese forces at this time), the shogunate forces claimed another victory. Several more small forts and villages were attacked before the siege of Osaka Castle itself began on 4 December. The Sanada-maru was an earthwork barbican defended by Sanada Yukimura and 7,000 men, on behalf of the Toyotomi. The Shōgun's armies were repeatedly repelled, and Sanada and his men launched a number of attacks against the siege lines, breaking through three times. Ieyasu then resorted to artillery (including 17 imported European cannons and 300 domestic wrought iron cannons) and men digging under the walls.
Bombing of Osaka Castle
Ieyasu, realizing that the castle would not fall easily and after consulting with his top advisers, ordered a limited bombing which began on January 8, 1615. For three consecutive days, his forces bombarded the fortress at 10 o'clock at night and at dawn. Meanwhile, miners were making tunnels under the walls and arrows were thrown inwards with messages requesting the surrender of the occupants. By January 15, with no response from the besieged, Ieyasu began an incessant bombardment that had a mainly psychological effect to diminish the morale of the defenders. The stone bases of Japanese castles were invulnerable to the artillery of the era and the structure of the castle remained virtually undamaged.
On January 17, Ieyasu sent Honda Masazumi, accompanied by Lady Acha, to meet with Kyōgoku Tadataka, son of Ohatsu, younger sister of Yodo-dono. During the meeting, Lady Acha assured Ohatsu that Ieyasu had no ill will to Hideyori and that he wished to forgive him, but Hidetada was stubborn about taking the castle, so he had thousands of miners working in tunnels under the pits. On the other hand Honda assured that Ieyasu would allow Hideyori to keep Osaka as his fief, but in case he wanted to leave he would give him another one with higher income, besides that all his captains and soldiers would be given free transit when leaving or they could stay inside if they wanted to, but he would need some hostages as a sign of goodwill. Ohatsu conveyed the terms to Yodo-dono who, in terror, asked Ōno Harunaga, Oda Nobukatsu, and Hideyori's top seven advisers to accept the terms of the surrender. Lady Acha and Honda met again with Ohatsu, Lady Aeba and Ōkurakyō no Tsubone (Yodo-dono's former wet nurse and one of the most influential figures in Osaka castle), and they told him that the outer pit should be filled by Ieyasu's men. On January 21, the Oda delivered their children as hostages and Hideyori sent Kimura to Chausayama to close the agreement. Ieyasu issued a document, sealed with blood from his finger and signed also by Hidetada, which said:
End of the peace treaty
Ieyasu left Osaka for Kyoto on January 24, meeting with Emperor Go-Mizunoo at a formal hearing on the 28th, where he informed the emperor that the war had come to an end. Hidetada remained in place to supervise the work of destruction of the defenses, arriving in Edo on March 13. By then, news reached the capital that the Toyotomi camp was once again seeking to enlist rōnin into its service. This information led Ieyasu to order Hideyori to relinquish and abandon the Osaka fief. Even from the moment when peace was being signed, the Toyotomi command proposed to launch a night attack on the Tokugawa camp, although it was finally decided not to do so. Shortly after Hideyori began to receive reports of the true intentions of Ieyasu, so they began the work of digging out the moats and recruiting troops. Hideyori and his main generals agreed that unlike the first campaign, this time it would be appropriate to take the offensive. Also, it was arranged to secure the areas surrounding Osaka and take Kyoto to control the emperor, so that he would declare Ieyasu to be a rebel against the Imperial throne. Following the rumors of what the Toyotomi army planned, the population of Kyoto began to flee from the city, and even a commander of the shogunate, Furuta Shigenari, was sentenced to death, suspected of being part of a plot to burn down Kyoto and apprehend the emperor.
In April 1615, Ieyasu received word that Toyotomi Hideyori was gathering even more troops than in the previous November, and that he was trying to stop the filling of the moat. Toyotomi forces began to attack contingents of the Tokugawa forces near Osaka. On 26 May (Keichō 20, 29th day of 4th month) at the Battle of Kashii, Toyotomi forces under the command of Ono Harufusa and Ban Danemon engaged with forces of Asano Nagaakira, an ally of the Shōgun. Tachibana Muneshige now served as military advisor of the second shogun, Tokugawa Hidetada, as his military strategist and in charge of guarding the area. Muneshige correctly predicted the movements of the general of Toyotomi, Ono Harufusa's troops and guided Hidetada's troops. Toyotomi forces sustained heavy losses and Ban Danemon was killed. On 2 June (Keichō 20, 6th day of 5th month), the Battle of Dōmyōji took place. Toyotomi forces tried to stop the enemy approaching from Yamato Province along the Yamato-gawa river. According to "Hyuga no kami memorandum" record, Katsunari disregarded Ieyasu's order to not engage the enemy first and charging his forces towards Mototsugu position, practically eliminating Mototsugu's entire army. After Mototsugu was killed, Katsunari then advanced further with his troops to Honda Village, where he clashed against another Toyotomi general named Watanabe Tadasu, and where he fatally injured Tadasu. Another prominent Toyotomi general named Susukida Kanesuke was also defeated by Katsunari's troops. Another Toyotomi general, Susukida Kanesuke, was killed in the fighting. Toyotomi commander Sanada Yukimura engaged in a battle with Date Masamune forces, but soon retreated towards Osaka Castle. Tokugawa forces did not pursue Sanada. The same day Chōsokabe Morichika and Tōdō Takatora battled at Yao. Another battle took place at Wakae around the same time, between Kimura Shigenari and Ii Naotaka. Chōsokabe's forces achieved victory, but Kimura Shigenari was deflected by the left wing of Ii Naotaka's army. The main Tokugawa forces moved to assist Todo Takatora after Shigenari's death, and Chōsokabe withdrew for the time being.
Fall of Osaka Castle
After another series of Tokugawa victories on the outskirts of Osaka, the summer campaign came to a head at the Battle of Tennōji. Hideyori planned a hammer-and-anvil operation in which 55,000 men would attack the center of the Tokugawa army while a second force, 16,500 men led by Kyōgoku Tadataka, Ishikawa Tadafusa, and Kyōgoku Takatomo, would attack them from the rear. Meanwhile, Ii Naotaka sent his Red Demon ninja unit under the lead of Miura Yo'emon, Shimotani Sanzo, Okuda Kasa'emon, and Saga Kita'emon to aid the Tokugawa's regular soldiers in storming the southern gate of Osaka castle. Another contingent waited in reserve. Ieyasu's army was led by his son, the Shōgun 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 almost altered the outcome of the battle, as Hideyori's rōnin split off from the main group, and Hidetada's reserve force moved up without orders from the main force. In the end, Hideyori's commander Sanada Yukimura was killed by Nishio Munetsugu,[a] destroying the morale of the Toyotomi 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 pummeled by artillery fire.
In July of the same year, the Edo Shogunate ordered the Imperial Court to change the era name from Keicho to Genwa, apparently to signify the end of civil war in Japan which started since Onin War. Furuta Oribe, a daimyo of a fief of 10,000 koku in Minamiyamashiro and Higashiyamato, was ordered to commit seppuku at his home in Fushimi (Fushimi Ward, Kyoto City) on June 11. Although Oribe sided with the Tokugawa side on the outside, but at the same time, Oribe was in league with the Toyotomi side. During the Summer Siege in April, Oribe supported Hideyori and hatched a plan to set fire to Kyoto. Taking advantage of the unrest, he called on the Toyotomi side to march in and kill Ieyasu and Hidetada. Oribe's vassal, Kimura Muneyoshi, conspired with gamblers in Kyoto and Osaka to carry out arson attacks. Oribe's son-in-law, Suzuki Samanosuke, tried to gather ronin to support him. The renga poet Nyogen, ordered by Hideyori to carry Oribe's secret letters and communicate with the Shimazu clan and other feudal lords However, Onjuku Echizen no Kami, a Toyotomi clan member, rushed to Itakura Katsushige and exposed Oribe and his men's plan (there are various theories about who made the report). Katsushige increased his vigilance and threatened to offer a reward to anyone who could provide information on this matter. Shortly afterwards, a suspicious man was caught on a tip-off and revealed that Muneyoshi was the ringleader. Muneyoshi was captured and tortured, but never mentioned Oribe's name. Meanwhile, one of the ringleaders, Samanosuke, was killed by Toda Hachiroemon. At that time, Samanosuke's servant dropped the box. When the box was delivered to Katsushige, a secret letter detailing the plot and a palindrome encouraging the uprising were discovered inside. Katsushige immediately reported the matter to Ieyasu and Hidetada, and Oribe was taken into custody. After his death, Oribe's children who were also implicated also committed suicide.
The siege is the subject of Hiroshi Inagaki's historical drama "Ōsaka-jō monogatari" (engl. The Tale of Osaka Castle, UK; some other English titles: "Daredevil in the Castle", "Devil in the Castle", "Osaka Castle Story") (1961) with Toshiro Mifune in the leading role. It is also the backdrop for Tai Kato's musical film Brave Records of the Sanada Clan (1963). The fall of Osaka is (for most of the characters) the final level in the Samurai Warriors series, also serving as the climax of Hattori Hanzō's, Ieyasu's and Yukimura's stories. Called the "Osaka Campaign", it compiles all the battles of the Winter and Summer Campaigns. In the computer game Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, the siege of Osaka castle is the setting of the first (and demo) mission. The siege of Osaka also is the main setting for the tv show, Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles. The protagonist, Tsugumo Hanshirō, of the film Harakiri, mentions his status as a veteran of the siege of Osaka Castle.
