The 1590 was one of many battles in

Toyotomi 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 Cour ...

's campaigns against the Hōjō clan during Japan's

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

Background

Oshi Castle 270px, Surviving gate of Oshi Castle is a Japanese castle located in Gyōda, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. During the Edo period, Oshi Castle was the center of the 100,000 ''koku'' Oshi Domain, but the castle is far better known for its associatio ...

was a stronghold of the Narita clan in north-central Musashi Province. The Narita were originally vassals of the Ogigayatsu Uesugi clan and under the leadership of Narita Akiyasu completed Oshi Castle around 1479. The castle was built on a small elevation near the

Tone River The is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It is in length (the second longest in Japan after the Shinano) and has a drainage area of (the largest in Japan). It is nicknamed Bandō Tarō (); ''Bandō'' is an obsolete alias of the Kantō ...

and used surrounding marshes and swamplands as part of its outer defenses. It was regarded as one of the seven most important strongholds of the Kantō region. The Narita clan changed their allegiance to the Odawara Hōjō clan following the defeat of the

Uesugi clan The is a Japanese samurai clan which was at its peak one of the most powerful during the Muromachi and Sengoku periods (14th to 17th centuries). Appert, Georges. (1888) ''Ancien Japon,'' p. 79./ref> At its height, the clan had three main branch ...

at the

Siege of Kawagoe Castle The 1545–1546 was part of a failed attempt by the Uesugi clan to regain Kawagoe Castle from the Later Hōjō clan in the Sengoku period of Japan. Uesugi Tomosada of the Ogigayatsu branch of the Uesugi clan attacking Kawagoe castle, he was ...

in 1546. Fourteen years later

Uesugi Kenshin , later known as was a Japanese ''daimyō''. He was born in Nagao clan, and after adoption into the Uesugi clan, ruled Echigo Province in the Sengoku period of Japan. He was one of the most powerful ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period. Known a ...

, the ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominal ...

'' of the Uesugi clan, invaded the area in support of

Uesugi Norimasa was a ''daimyō'' of feudal Japan from Yamanouchi branch Uesugi clan and held the post of Kantō Kanrei, the ''shōgun''s deputy in the Kantō region. He was the adoptive father of Uesugi Kenshin, one of the most famous warlords in Japanese his ...

(the ''

Shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamak ...

s deputy or Kanto kanrei). This forced Narita Nagayasu, the Castellan of Oshi Castle to sever his ties to the Odawara Hōjō. However, after a quarrel with Uesugi Kenshin, the enraged Narita switched back to the Odawara Hōjō clan. In reprisal, Uesugi Kenshin burned down the town around the castle in 1574.

Siege

During the Siege of Odawara in 1590, the daimyō

dispatched one of his senior retainers, Ishida Mitsunari, on an expedition to reduce the outlying castles still loyal to the Odawara Hōjō clan throughout Musashi Province. Three days after capturing Tatebayashi Castle, Ishida's forces of 23,000 troops arrived at Oshi. On arrival they discovered that the Narita clan leader,

Narita Ujinaga Narita may refer to: Places * Narita, Chiba, a city in Japan ** Narita International Airport, main international airport serving the Greater Tokyo Area ** Narita-san, temple in the city ** Narita Line *** Narita Station * Narita, Illinois, an uni ...

, was at

Odawara is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 188,482 and a population density of 1,700 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Odawara lies in the Ashigara Plains, in the far western por ...

with the bulk of his forces. He had left his home castle defended by only 619

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

and 2000 local conscripts led by his daughter

Kaihime ("hime" means lady, princess, woman of noble family), speculated to have been born in 1572, was a Japanese female warrior, onna-musha from the Sengoku Period. She was the daughter of and granddaughter of Akai Teruko, retainers of the Later Hōjō ...

and younger brother Narita Nagachika. After the castle refused to surrender, the castle held off numerous attacks from Ishida's forces. This included a copy-cat effort to flood the defenders using the same method that Hideyoshi used at his famous

Siege of Takamatsu In the 1582 , Toyotomi Hideyoshi laid siege to Takamatsu Castle, which was controlled by the Mōri clan. He diverted a nearby river with dikes to surround and flood the castle. He also constructed towers on barges from which his gunmen could ...

. Despite Ishida's impressive construction of 28 kilometers of dikes and torrential rains, the castle still held for over a month. Eventually the defenders only surrendered after hearing word that their lord, Narita Ujinaga had been defeated at Odawara.

Legacy

Oshi Castle gained fame from the siege as the “floating castle”. But it also ruined the career of Ishida, who emerged with a sullied image and the reputation of a poor commander. It subsequently affected his ability to gain the loyalty and support of Japan's other powerful daimyo after the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. This lack of support eventually contributed to his defeat at the 1600 Battle of Sekigahara.

In popular culture

* ''

The Floating Castle is a 2012 Japanese historical-drama film directed by Shinji Higuchi and Isshin Inudo, starring Mansai Nomura, and adapts Ryō Wada's novel (2007) of the same name. Set in feudal Japan, the film is based on the Siege of Oshi and depicts the stru ...

'' (2012) by

Shinji Higuchi is a Japanese filmmaker and storyboard artist. He is one of the most successful Japanese filmmakers and the top ''tokusatsu'' film director. Higuchi became known for his work on '' Gamera: Guardian of the Universe'', for which he won the Specia ...

and

Isshin Inudo is a Japanese film director. Career Inudo began making films on his own in high school, with one of his works being selected for the 1979 Pia Film Festival. After attending Tokyo Zokei University, he found work at Asahi Promotions where he bega ...

is a comedy-drama film which relates the events of the Siege of Oshi.

References

Oshi ''Oshi'' (Kanji: 押) is a strategy board game published by WizKids and designed by Tyler Bielman. ''Oshi'' is played on a 9×9 board and each player controls a set of 8 pieces (colored oxblood or ivory). Story of the game According to the ins ...

1590 in Japan Conflicts in 1590 {{Japan-battle-stub

Background

Siege

Legacy

In popular culture

See also

References