The took place during the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

between

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

(then Hashiba Hideyoshi) and Shibata Katsuie in Shizugatake,

Ōmi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō Circuit (subnational entity), circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, ...

over a period of two days beginning on the 20th day of the fourth month of Tenshō 11 (equivalent to 10-11 June 1583 on the Gregorian calendar). Katsuie supported Oda Nobutaka's claim as successor of

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...

in a succession dispute within the

Oda clan The is a Japanese samurai family who were daimyo and an important political force in the unification of Japan in the mid-16th century. Though they reached the peak of their power under Oda Nobunaga and fell soon after, several branches of the ...

that benefitted Hideyoshi. Katsuie and Sakuma Morimasa attacked fortifications loyal to Hideyoshi at Shizugatake, defeating Nakagawa Kiyohide, but the other

siege A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

s by Toshiie and Kazumasu stalled. Katsuie ordered Sakuma to retreat but was ignored, and Hideyoshi launched a surprise counterattack that routed Sakuma and forced him to retreat. Hideyoshi pursued Sakuma and successfully besieged Kitanosho Castle which led to the

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

of Katsuie and

Oichi was a female historical figure in the late Sengoku period. She is known primarily as the mother of three daughters who became prominent figures in their own right – Yodo-dono, Ohatsu

. The Battle of Shizugatake allowed Hideyoshi to consolidate his position as Oda Nobunaga's successor, and was one of the last challenges to his rule along with the

Battle of Komaki and Nagakute The , also known as the Komaki Campaign (小牧の役 ''Komaki no Eki''), was a series of battles in 1584 between the forces of Hashiba Hideyoshi (who would become Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1586) and the forces of Oda Nobukatsu and Tokugawa Ieyasu ...

in 1584. George Sansom states the Battle of Shizugatake "must be regarded as one of the decisive battles in Japanese history."

Background

Kiyosu conference

In June 1582,

, the most powerful ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' in Japan, and his eldest son and heir Oda Nobutada were killed at the Honno-ji Incident after being betrayed by

Akechi Mitsuhide , first called Jūbei from his clan and later from his title, was a Japanese ''samurai'' general of the Sengoku period. Mitsuhide was originally a bodyguard of the last Ashikaga shogunate, Ashikaga ''shōgun'' Ashikaga Yoshiaki and later, one of ...

. Their surprise deaths created a

power vacuum In political science and political history, the term power vacuum, also known as a power void, is an analogy between a physical vacuum to the political condition "when someone in a place of power, has lost control of something and no one has replac ...

and a

succession crisis A succession crisis is a crisis that arises when an order of succession fails, for example when a monarch dies without an indisputable heir. It may result in a war of succession. Examples include (see List of wars of succession): * The Wars of Th ...

within the

. Nobunaga's second and third eldest sons, Oda Nobukatsu and Oda Nobutaka, respectively, began to quarrel over who would succeed him. Nobunaga's retainer and general Hashiba Hideyoshi (later known as Toyotomi Hideyoshi) summoned a council to Kiyosu Castle to settle the succession issue. However, the council declared that Nobutada's 3-year-old son Oda Hidenobu was the rightful heir. Hideyoshi, having defeated Akechi Mitsuhide at the Battle of Yamazaki and with Nobunaga's heir being an infant, was in a very strong position to unofficially succeed Nobunaga himself. Shibata Katsuie, one of Nobunaga's trusted generals, challenged Hideyoshi by changing his initial support for Hidenobu to supporting Nobutaka's claim to the lordship.

Battle

In May 1583, Katsuie coordinated a number of simultaneous attacks on Shizugatake, a series of forts in northern

, located in present-day Nagahama,

Shiga Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,398,972 as of 1 February 2025 and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to th ...

. These forts, Iwasaki-yama, Tagami, and Shizugatake, were held by Hideyoshi's generals including Nakagawa Kiyohide and Takayama Ukon. Katsuie's nephew Sakuma Morimasa attacked these forts on his orders, taking Iwasaki-yama and killing Nakagawa, but Shizugatake's defenses held. On hearing that Hideyoshi had made camp at Ōgaki with a large mounted force of 20,000 men, Katsuie ordered Sakuma Morimasa to withdraw his troops to Ōiwa. Sakuma did not heed Katsuie's orders, calculating the castle would fall before Hideyoshi's army, assumed to be at least three days away, could arrive to relieve them. However, in midst of this fighting, the army led by Maeda Toshiie on the Shibata side, deployed on Mt. Shige, abruptly left the front lines. Later, Hideyoshi led his men on a forced march through the night, covering nearly 50 miles in 6 hours, and linked up with the defenders of Tagami. Sakuma ordered his men to break the siege lines and prepare to defend themselves, but Hideyoshi's army pushed Sakuma's forces into a

rout A rout is a Panic, panicked, disorderly and Military discipline, undisciplined withdrawal (military), retreat of troops from a battlefield, following a collapse in a given unit's discipline, command authority, unit cohesion and combat morale ...

. After the armies of Fuwa Naomitsu and Kanamori Nagachika on the Shibata side began to retreat as well, Hideyoshi pursued Sakuma and his forces back to Katsuie's fortress at Kitanosho Castle in

Echizen Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area that is today the northern portion of Fukui Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Echizen bordered on Kaga Province, Kaga, Wakasa Province, Wakasa, Hida Province, Hida, and Ōmi Provin ...

, located within present-day Fukui. Hideyoshi's men seized the castle after three days, but not before Katsuie killed members of his household including his wife, Oda Nobunaga's sister

Oichi was a female historical figure in the late Sengoku period. She is known primarily as the mother of three daughters who became prominent figures in their own right – Yodo-dono, Ohatsu

, then setting the castle

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

on fire and committing ''

seppuku , also known as , is a form of Japanese ritualistic suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honor, but was also practiced by other Japanese people during the Shōwa era (particularly officers near ...

''. Sakuma was captured by Hideyoshi's forces and beheaded.

Aftermath

Yoshitoshi - 100 Aspects of the Moon - 66

As a result of the battle, Oichi's young daughters with

Azai Nagamasa was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period known as the brother-in-law and enemy of Oda Nobunaga. Nagamasa was head of the Azai clan seated at Odani Castle in northern Ōmi Province and married Nobunaga's sister Oichi in 1564, fathering ...

(Katsuie's step-daughters) were allowed to leave Kitanosho Castle unscathed and became Hideyoshi's adoptive daughters. In June 1583, Oda Nobutaka was soon pressured by both Hideyoshi and Nobukatsu into committing suicide, eliminating him from the competition. Nobutaka wrote a

death poem The death poem is a genre of poetry that developed in the literary traditions of the Sinosphere—most prominently in Culture of Japan, Japan as well as certain periods of Chinese history, Joseon Korea, and Vietnam. They tend to offer a reflectio ...

cursing Hideyoshi and implying that he had been involved in his father Oda Nobunaga's death. Hideyoshi had now consolidated his position and most of his influence over the Oda clan, but would continue to face competition from Nobukatsu, who had allied himself with

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

, until the

in 1584.

Seven Spears of Shizugatake

Hideyoshi's chief seven generals in the battle at Shizugatake earned a great degree of fame and honor, and came to be known as the ''shichi-hon yari'' or "Seven Spears of Shizugatake". Among these generals were men who would later become some of Hideyoshi's closest retainers, such as

Katō Kiyomasa was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Azuchi–Momoyama period, Azuchi–Momoyama and Edo periods. His court title was . His name as a child was ''Yashamaru'', and first name was ''Toranosuke''. He was one of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Hideyoshi's Seven ...

. The Seven Spears of Shizugatake were the following Samurai: * Wakizaka Yasuharu (1554–1626) *

Katagiri Katsumoto was a Japanese warlord (''daimyō'') of Ibaraki, in the Azuchi–Momoyama period through early Edo period. In his youth he was famed as one of the Seven Spears of Shizugatake, during the Battle of Shizugatake in May 1583. Biography Katsumoto ...

(1556–1615) * Hirano Nagayasu (1559–1628) * Fukushima Masanori (1561–1624) * Kasuya Takenori (1562–1607) *

(1562–1611) *

Katō Yoshiaki was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the late Sengoku period to early Edo period; he served as lord of the Aizu Domain. As a retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Katō fought in the battle of Shizugatake in 1583 and soon became known as one of the ''shich ...

(1563–1631)

Notable warriors

* Menjō Katsuteru (? –1583), swordsman killed in the Battle of ShizugatakeMenju Sosuke Iyeteru, Menju Katsusuke.
/ref> *

Ishida Mitsunari was a Japanese samurai and military commander of the late Sengoku period of Japan. He is probably best remembered as the commander of the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the Azuchi–Momoyama period of the 16th century. He ...

(1559–1600) According to the "Hitotsuyanagi Kaki," Ishida Mitsunari was in charge of a mission to spy on Shibata Katsuie's army and also performed a great feat of Ichiban-yari, being the first to thrust a spear at an enemy soldier, as one of the warriors on the front line. * Otani Yoshitsugu (1558–1600) Yoshitsugu was said to have taken part within the Toyotomi ranks. One account states that Otani Yoshitsugu was the one who used his wits to convince Shibata Katsutoyo to surrender prior to the battle.

References

* Black, Jeremy (2008). ''Great Military Leaders and their Campaigns'' Thamsen & Hudson Ltd, London *De Lange, William. ''Samurai Battles: The Long Road to Unification''. Toyp Press (2020) {{DEFAULTSORT:Shizugatake 1583 Sieges of the Sengoku period 1583 in Japan Conflicts in 1583 Ōmi Province Nagahama, Shiga Military history of Shiga Prefecture Attacks on castles in Japan Fukui (city) Military history of Fukui Prefecture Residential building arson attacks in Japan