The Battle of Shigino, fought in the final months of 1614, was one battle during the

Siege of Osaka The was a series of battles undertaken by the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan, and ending in that clan's destruction. Divided into two stages (winter campaign and summer campaign), and lasting from 1614 to 1615, the siege ...

, a campaign by the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

to destroy or subjugate the last resistance to its power, the

Toyotomi The was a Japanese clan that ruled over the Japanese people, Japanese before the Edo period. Unity and conflict The most influential figure within the Toyotomi was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the three "unifiers of Japan". Oda Nobunaga was a ...

clan.

History

Five thousand Tokugawa troops, led by

Uesugi Kagekatsu was a Japanese samurai ''daimyō'' during the Sengoku and Edo periods. He was the adopted son of Uesugi Kenshin and Uesugi Kagetora’s brother in law. Early life and rise Kagekatsu was the son of Nagao Masakage, the head of the Ueda Nagao ...

, engaged 2000 troops loyal to the Toyotomi at a place called Shigino, across the Yamato River (now called the

Neyagawa 270px, Neyagawa Green City is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 228,802 in 111,545 households and a population density of 9,300 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Neyagaw ...

) from the site of the

Battle of Imafuku The was fought in late November 1614 between the forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Toyotomi clan. This battle was one of the first of the series of battles fought near Osaka over the course of two years. The village of Imafuku stood on the nort ...

, which took place several weeks earlier. The Tokugawa troops received reinforcements from

Niwa Nagashige was a Japanese ''daimyō'' who served the Oda clan. Nagashige was the eldest son of Niwa Nagahide and married the 5th daughter of Oda Nobunaga. He took part in his first campaign in 1583, assisting his father in the Battle of Shizugatake agains ...

and

Horio Tadaharu Horio Tadaharu (堀尾忠晴; 1596 – 26 October 1633) was a tozama ''daimyō'' in Japan during the Edo period. His father was Horio Tadauji and his grandfather was Horio Yoshiharu. He was the third leader of the Matsue clan. He married ...

, whose forces included a number of

arquebus An arquebus ( ) is a form of long gun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier. Although the term ''arquebus'', derived from the Dutch word ''Haakbus ...

iers. They brought orders from the Tokugawa commander,

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

, that Uesugi Kagekatsu should withdraw from the battle and take a rest; Kagekatsu insisted that this was an affront to his honor, as the Uesugi traditionally would not retire from a battle in progress.

References

{{Reflist *Turnbull, Stephen (1998). ''The Samurai Sourcebook''. London: Cassell & Co. Shigeno 1614 in Japan Shigino