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The , taking place in 1571, 1573, and 1574, were part of
Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...
's campaigns against the
Ikkō-ikki were rebellious or autonomous groups of people that were formed in several regions of Japan in the 15th-16th centuries; backed up by the power of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism, they opposed the rule of governors or ''daimyō''. Mainly con ...
, arguably among his greatest enemies.
Nagashima was a series of fortresses and fortifications controlled by the Ikkō-ikki, a sect of warrior monks in Japan's Sengoku period who opposed samurai rule. It was attacked and destroyed by Oda Nobunaga in the 1570s. This, combined with the surrende ...
, in
Owari Province was a province of Japan in the area that today forms the western half of Aichi Prefecture, including the modern city of Nagoya. The province was created in 646. Owari bordered on Mikawa, Mino, and Ise Provinces. Owari and Mino provinces were ...
along
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
's
Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
coast, was the location of a string of river island fortresses and defensive works controlled by the Ikkō-ikki, which surrounded their Ganshō-ji monastery and which included Nagashima Castle, which they had captured previously.
Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...
attacked three times over the course of four years, before finally destroying the entire Nagashima complex. These sieges were executed concurrently with Nobunaga's eleven-year siege against the Ikki's primary fortress of
Ishiyama Hongan-ji The was the primary fortress of the Ikkō-ikki, leagues of warrior priests and commoners who opposed samurai rule during the Sengoku period. It was established in 1496, at the mouth of the Yodo River, on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea. At the t ...
.


First Siege of Nagashima (1571)

Nobunaga's troops made camp at Tsushima, to the northeast of Nagashima, on 16 May 1571. Separated from the Ikki's fortresses by a shallow but broad river. Nobunaga's commanders,
Sakuma Nobumori was a retainer for the Oda clan. He was thus treated as Nobunaga's most important retainer and would come to fight in every important battle under Nobunaga's command such as the 1567 Siege of Inabayama Castle, the 1571 and 1573 Siege of Nagashim ...
and
Shibata Katsuie or was a Japanese samurai and military commander during the Sengoku period. He served Oda Nobunaga as one of his trusted generals, was severely wounded in the 1571 first siege of Nagashima, but then fought in the 1575 Battle of Nagashino an ...
, planned their attack upon the nearby ''wajū'', small island communities from which attacks on Ganshōji could be launched. These islands were defended from flooding by a complex series of dikes. Nobunaga's forces attacked across the river, but their horses became stuck in the soft mud of the river bottom. The samurai that managed to drag themselves to shore while being fired on were further slowed by ropes stretched across stakes, which tripped up their horses further. Many were then drowned when the defenders opened a dike and flooded the area. Katsuie was injured, Ujiie Naotomo killed and many samurai were lost; this first attempt was a definite failure for Nobunaga. His men did manage to set a few villages aflame, however, as they withdrew.


Second Siege of Nagashima (1573)

Nobunaga returned to the matter of Nagashima in July 1573 with a sizable force, largely recruited from
Ise Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today includes most of modern Mie Prefecture. Ise bordered on Iga, Kii, Mino, Ōmi, Owari, Shima, and Yamato Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History The name of Ise appears ...
and containing a good 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. His fervor had been renewed by a successful campaign against the warrior monks of
Mount Hiei is a mountain to the northeast of Kyoto, lying on the border between the Kyoto and Shiga Prefectures, Japan. The temple of Enryaku-ji, the first outpost of the Japanese Tendai (Chin. Tiantai) sect of Buddhism, was founded atop Mount Hiei by S ...
. His commanders
Sakuma Nobumori was a retainer for the Oda clan. He was thus treated as Nobunaga's most important retainer and would come to fight in every important battle under Nobunaga's command such as the 1567 Siege of Inabayama Castle, the 1571 and 1573 Siege of Nagashim ...
and
Hashiba Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' ( feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Co ...
(later to be known as Toyotomi Hideyoshi) led a diversionary force attacking from the west, while Nobunaga hoped for his own force to charge forward behind the gunners. Unfortunately, despite the fame Nobunaga would later receive for his expert firearms tactics, this battle would turn out to be one of his more famous failures in that field. A rainstorm hit just as he was about to open the battle. The rain rendered 90% of the arquebuses useless and left his men in a terribly weak defensive position. The Ikkō-ikki troops immediately counter-attacked. They too are now known for their expertise with firearms, and their arquebuses were covered during the storm. The Ikki began firing as soon as the rain let up, and even came quite close to killing Nobunaga. Nobunaga fell back, attempting to bring his own gunners to bear once more, but was forced to retreat. The another diversionary forces, meanwhile,
Takigawa Kazumasu , also known as Sakonshōgen (左近将監), was a samurai retainer and military commander of Oda Nobunaga, and later Toyotomi Hideyoshi, during Japan's Sengoku period. His biological son, Toshimasu, was adopted by Toshihisa and later Kazumasu ...
captured Yata castle, at the southern tip of the Nagashima complex, but they too were forced to withdraw after a successful Ikki counterattack.


Third Siege of Nagashima (1574)

In 1574, Oda Nobunaga finally succeeded in destroying Nagashima, one of the primary fortresses of the Ikkō-ikki, who numbered among his most bitter enemies. A fleet of ships led by
Kuki Yoshitaka (1542 – November 17, 1600) was a naval commander during Japan's Sengoku Period, under Oda Nobunaga, and later, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He was also the ninth headmaster of the Kuki family's school of martial arts, Kukishin-ryū and thus a very sk ...
blockaded and bombarded the area, using cannon and fire arrows against the Ikki's wooden watchtowers. This blockade and naval support allowed Nobunaga to seize the outer forts of Nakae and Yanagashima, which in turn allowed him to control access to the west of the complex for the first time. Eventually, the defenders were forced back by a three-pronged attack, into the fortified monasteries of Ganshōji and Nagashima. The Ikkō-ikki present numbered around 20,000 and they were now completely cut off from outside sources of food, water, and other supplies. As their situation worsened in July and August 1574, the Ikki's allies saw the prospects of relieving the siege worsen as well. Nobunaga's men built a wooden wall from one outer fort to another, cutting the Ikkō-ikki off from the outside completely. A large wooden palisade was constructed and then set aflame, resulting in the complete destruction of the entire fortress complex; no one escaped or survived.


See also

*
Siege of Ishiyama Hongan-ji The , taking place from 1570 to 1580 in Sengoku period Japan, was a ten-year campaign by lord Oda Nobunaga against a network of fortifications, temples, and communities belonging to the Ikkō-ikki, a powerful faction of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist mo ...
*
Siege of Mount Hiei The siege of Mount Hiei was a battle of the Sengoku period of Japan fought between Oda Nobunaga and the ''sōhei'' ( warrior monks) of the monasteries of Mount Hiei near Kyoto on September 30, 1571. It is said that Oda Nobunaga killed all the m ...


References

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Nagashima was a series of fortresses and fortifications controlled by the Ikkō-ikki, a sect of warrior monks in Japan's Sengoku period who opposed samurai rule. It was attacked and destroyed by Oda Nobunaga in the 1570s. This, combined with the surrende ...
Nagashima was a series of fortresses and fortifications controlled by the Ikkō-ikki, a sect of warrior monks in Japan's Sengoku period who opposed samurai rule. It was attacked and destroyed by Oda Nobunaga in the 1570s. This, combined with the surrende ...
1571 in Japan 1573 in Japan 1574 in Japan Conflicts in 1571 Conflicts in 1573 Conflicts in 1574 Ikkō-ikki Incidents in the history of Buddhism in Japan Ishiyama Hongan-ji War Buddhism in the Azuchi–Momoyama period