The Osaka Campaign (1614-1615) was the last action of the Sengoku Jidai, occurring when the last 120,000 loyalists of the Toyotomi clan under Hideyori Toyotomi (the son of the late unifier Hideyoshi Hashiba) rose in rebellion against the Tokugawa Shogunate. The Toyotomi army fought to the death after some successes against the Tokugawa, and Hideyori and his mother committed suicide while most of the retainers were killed or executed. The fall of Osaka Castle allowed for the Tokugawa to consolidate their control over Japan, and Ieyasu Tokugawa and his descendants ruled Japan for 250 years to come.
Background[]
While victorious at Numata Castle, Mitsunari Ishida was dealt a fatal blow at Sekigahara. Yukimura Sanada thus found himself on the losing side, in exile once again. Ieyasu Tokugawa united the land and assumed the title of Shogun. His authority was absolute, with the exception of the Toyotomi clan. Hostilities rose and they finally reached the breaking point. The Toyotomi courted other rulers asking for support, but to no avail. Desperate, they turned to vagrant warriors to man their army. With no other place to go, Yukimura answered their call.
The Toyotomi clan loyalists were led by extremely loyal daimyo who had fought under Hideyoshi Hashiba, or more recently, Mitsunari Ishida. Osaka had wards for the Sanada and other warriors, and was defended by some cannon. Meanwhile, the Tokugawa clan army was equipped with bombards, rifles, and experienced officers leading much more troops. The final battle for Japan raged on in winter 1614.
Siege[]
The plan was for Yukimura Sanada to prevent enemy troops from infiltrating the Sanada Ward, and he would go to defeat Lady Ina, whose troops were breaching the western defenses. Next, he was to defeat Kanetsugu Naoe's forces that had reached the innermost wall, near the main keep. After that, the Toyotomi army would charge out and defeat Ieyasu.
Katsunari Mizuno, Tadatomo Honda, and Takatora Todo were dispatched to capture the Sanada Ward from Yukimura and the Shinano-no-Sanada Toyotomi loyalists, but Yukimura and his ninja Kunoichi vanquished them and their units. Ieyasu was impressed to see a man fighting with true conviction, and he sent Ina to attack the ward. Yukimura would not allow himself to be shown up, and charged at the remaining Tokugawa units in the vicinity of the ward. He wounded Nagaakira Asano with a spear slash in a duel, but at the same time, Tokugawa daimyo Tadaoki Hosokawa and his soldiers killed Toyotomi general Kanesuke Susukida. Yukimura avenged his loss by routing Ina and Katsushige Nabeshima, and Ina, unable to hold the Toyotomi back, withdrew.
Ieyasu Tokugawa dispatched his riflemen under Date retainer Magoichi Saika and Nagamasa Kuroda to whittle down the Toyotomi army in the Secondary Ward, under the command of Lord Teruzumi Akashi, and Yukimura arrived as backup for Lord Akashi, and his defeat of Ietsugu Sakai temporarily stopped the cannon fire from the Tokugawa camp. With the defeat of the Saika army and the death of Magoichi at the hands of Yukimura, Kanetsugu Naoe advanced from the Secondary Ward Eastern Garrison to attack Hideyori Toyotomi himself.
At that point, Yukimura recognized that if he killed Ieyasu, he would return the land into the grip of chaos. But his conscience was clear and he had no regrets, and he set out to fight Kanetsugu. As he did so, he received news of the death of Kai, the former concubine of the late Hideyoshi Hashiba, who was struck down in battle fighting for her son. At the same time, Hanzo Hattori appeared in the Main Keep and badly wounded Hideyori. Yukimura managed to defeat Kanetsugu and move on to defeat Tadaoki Hosokawa and kill many Tokugawa infantry, but was surprised to see Osaka Castle burst into flames. The Sanada Ward was no longer functional and Tokugawa army reinforcements under Masamune Date, Tadanao Matsudaira, Tadateru Matsudaira, Hidemasa Ogasawara, Yoshinobu Satake, Tadaoki Naito, Tadayoshi Yamauchi, and Shigemasa Matsukura arrived. Hidetada's main gates opened and Tokugawa reinforcements poured into the burning castle. Hideyori died of his wounds soon after, saying that the "Toyotomi name is destined to disappear into the mist". Yukimura knew that Osaka Castle was beyond salvation and that all that was left was for him to die an honorable warrior's death. He vowed to impale Ieyasu's head on his spear.
Yukimura fought especially bravely in this time of trouble, defeating Masanobu Honda and Naotaka Ii. Masamune Date felt that Yukimura was being arrogant in facing most of the Tokugawa army and advanced on the Sanada force's positions, poised to strike at Yukimura. At the same time, Teruzumi Akashi was defeated, mainly due to the fire. Also, Kunoichi died in the Sanada Ward, by a mix of the fire attack and attacking footsoldiers of a roving attack. Shigenari Kimura fell shortly after to Takatomo Kyogoku, and Harunaga Ono to infantry. Yukimura was undaunted and hacked away at innumerable masses of Tokugawa infantry under Masamune, Tadayoshi Yamauchi, and Tadateru Matsudaira. Matabei Goto fell while he fought, also to random infantrymen. Yukimura avenged Kimura by defeating Takatomo Kyogoku, followed by Toshitsune Maeda, and he moved on to Masamune and his subordinates. As he fought them, Morichika Chosokabe fell to Hanzo Hattori. When he cut down the generals and Shigenari Katakura, he learned that Dan'emon Ban had also fallen, and that he was the last officer on the field.
He moved forwards, telling the Tokugawa that if they wanted to live, they had to step aside. Tadanao Matsudaira said that he had gone mad and was a demon, and the Tokugawa infantry were hacked and slashed dead at Yukimura's spear. Tadanao was wounded from a scratch inflicted by Yukimura's spear, and he quickly defeated most of the remaining Tokugawa troops and generals by himself. Soon, his kills reached over the 1,000-mark. Yukimura defeated Kanbei Kuroda and the other generals, opening the gates to Ieyasu's main camp, and after killing 1,152 Tokugawa troops, he wounded Ieyasu.
Ieyasu fled before Yukimura could finish him, and he fought with Ina, who used her bow as a melee weapon. Yukimura defeated Ina and had the chance to kill her, but noticed Ieyasu and the whole Tokugawa army lining up to face him. Rather than kill his sister-in-law, he decided to charge alone at the Tokugawa army. He was overwhelmed and killed, and the land was united under the Tokugawa. The age of war was at an end.
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