Battle of Shizugatake
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| Campaigns of Toyotomi Hideyoshi |
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| Kozuki - Itami - Miki - Tottori - Takamatsu - Yamazaki - Uchide-hama - Shizugatake - Komaki - Nagakute - Kaganoi - Takehana - Kanie - Toyama - Ōta Castle - Shikoku & Ichinomiya - Negoroji - Takajō - Ganjaku - Akizuki - Sendaigawa - Kagoshima - Hachigata 1590 - Odawara 1590 - Shimoda |
The was one of the more important victories for Toyotomi Hideyoshi in his campaign to seize the lands claimed by the late Oda Nobunaga. He built a series of forts on the shores of Lake Biwa to defend his holdings from Nobunaga's former retainers; Shizugatake was the site of one such fortress.
In May, 1583, a former general of Nobunaga's named Shibata Katsuie coordinated a number of simultaneous attacks on these fortresses, believing that Hideyoshi could not defend all his forts at once. To that end, Oda Nobutaka attacked the castle at Ōgaki, distracting Hideyoshi while Sakuma Morimasa launched his attack on Shizugatake. However, after meeting Oda Nobutaka at Ōgaki, Hideyoshi turned and led his men to Shizugatake, covering 80 kilometers in just five hours.
Shizugatake was held by Hideyoshi's general Nakagawa Kiyohide. Sakuma Morimasa attacked on orders from Shibata Katsuie, and Nakagawa was killed, but the fortress' defenses held. Hearing that Hideyoshi was coming with reinforcements, Sakuma ordered his men to break the siege lines and prepare to defend themselves.
Hideyoshi's army quickly pushed Sakuma's forces into a rout, and pursued them back to Shibata Katsuie's fortress at Kita-no-shō (Fukui) in Echizen province. They seized the castle, but not before Shibata lit the keep on fire, killed his family, and committed seppuku.
Hideyoshi's chief seven generals in this battle earned a great degree of fame and honor, and came to be known as the shichi-hon yari or 'Seven Spears' of Shizugatake.
References
- Sansom, George (1961). "A History of Japan: 1334-1615." Stanford: Stanford University Press.
- Turnbull, Stephen (1998). 'The Samurai Sourcebook'. London: Cassell & Co.
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