The last floor of the castle in Osaka ...
After the publication of the material on the Battle of Sekigahara and the current state of the castle in Osaka, many would like to know what was the end of the matter? Well, yes, three years after the battle of Tokugawa, Ieyasu became a shogun, that is, he received the highest post in the state after the emperor, who had been vacant since the commander Oda Nabunaga thirty years before all these events ended with the shogunate Ashikaga Yoshiaki. Kobayakawa Hideaki, the main Japanese traitor in storiesI also got everything I wanted, but after two years it is not clear why (and maybe just understandable ?!) I lost my mind and ... died.
Ishida Mitsunari, the leader of the “Westerners,” sawed the neck with a bamboo saw, but Toyotomi Hideyori, Hideyoshi’s son, still continued to be considered the heir of his father, and his family remained the richest and most influential in Japan. Moreover, many princes believed that the new shogun was nothing more than a temporary phenomenon. In addition, Hideyori was on his side his youth, and against Tokugawa - his old age. True, Ieyasu had sons and, above all, the eldest son of Hidedead. He could leave him a shogun title. But in this case, Hideyori became Kwampaku - Chancellor, and the situation of confrontation between the "West" and the "East" could happen again! And if anyone understood this better than others, it was Tokugawa Ieyasu himself. Understood, but did not try to force things. The other, having received power, would immediately fill his pockets, execute his enemies and pardon his friends, and that would be clear to everyone. That's just exactly Ieyasu was not like that!
“Slowness is the devil's quality,” says an old Spanish proverb, and it should be noted that Ieyasu, above all others, was able to “hurry slowly.” And he began by trying to put out the watchfulness of Toyotomi, for which he married Hideyori, a man whom he hated and dreamed of destroying, on his own granddaughter, and through this he intermarried with him! After that, he decided to destroy it and did it in a very original way: by offering each daimye to build himself a new castle! They bought everything, including Toyotomi, but, even having completely rebuilt the castle in Osaka, their clan did not become poorer from this, although the other daimyos in this vanity race went bankrupt almost completely ...
Then Ieyasu remembered that in 1588, Hideyoshi introduced the “Sword Hunt” law, according to which weapon they were taken away from commoners, and everything was melted down into metal, from which they made nails and bolts for a huge statue of Buddha. So Ieyasu offered Toyotomi to finish it in memory of his father, especially since the unfinished statue in 1596 was destroyed by an earthquake. Everyone knew that Hideyoshi, until his death, was thinking about how to restore it. Both Hideyori and his mother, the Doggists, with whom he consulted about all matters, decided that they certainly should do that, that it was a “good thought” to pacify in this way the spirit of their father and husband. But when in 1602, it was restored to the level of the neck, it is unclear how the scaffolding caught fire and the statue died again. However, in 1608, work began again, but 100 000 people participated in it, and you can imagine how much money one feeding required, not to mention the cost of materials. The treasure Hideyori was dealt a huge damage!
In 1611, Ieyasu decided to meet Hideyori at Fushimi Castle in person. He met and saw that the boy had grown up, became a man and is fully capable of dominating. Talking with him, Ieyasu was smiling. But this smile is nothing good Hideyori foreshadowed!
And then it started, for the sake of which all this was started, but the reason, as always, was the most trivial: in 1614, Ieyasu decided that on a huge bell, which was cast for the temple of the mysteriously dead statue of the Buddha and which weighed 72 tons, in a made on it the inscription contains a curse to him - Ieyasu! In fact, the phrase there, in general, was completely innocent content: "May the state be peaceful and prosperous." But the hieroglyphs of Ie and Yasu were written in Chinese, and it turned out that the name Tokugawa Ieyasu in it turned out torn into two parts, and this supposedly promises a terrible misfortune for its bearer! They fumbled with another phrase about the Sun and the Moon, which was constructed in such a way that it turned out that Hideyori in Osaka is higher than Ieyasu in Edo. From somewhere, rumors suddenly arose that Hideyori began collecting ronin, so it all seemed to indicate that he wanted war and called for a curse on Ieyasu’s head.
Hideyori, like all rustic people, at first did not attach any importance to this, so he did not even buy the powder offered to him by the Dutch, which was instantly bought by Ieyasu. He then bought four 18-pound British guns and an 5-pound gun, and then between June and October, the price of English powder in Japan increased by as much as 60%, and the price of low-grade Japanese powder was four times higher than the price of English powder, which was given in March !
Only now Hideyori decided to turn to the great daimyos for help, but they were so used to obeying the shogunate Ieyasu that no one answered him. True, among those who participated in the battle of Sekihagara, there were many dissatisfied people who were punished with confiscation of land, and they held a grudge against the Tokugawa clan. These were, for example, Ono Harunaga and his brother Harafus, Kimura Sigenari, the brother of Oda Nabunaga - Oda Yuraku, Tosocabe Morisige and Sanada Yukimura. It was because of him that Tokugawa Hidedeada’s son was late to the battle site of Sekigahara, and his father scolded him for being late. He was a talented military leader, and Hideyuri made him commander in chief of all his loyal troops.
There were many Christians among the defenders of the Osaka castle, and this gave the war against Tokugawa the character of a kind of “war for faith”. But why this is so: it is clear: everyone knew that Hidetada hates Christians and only that one is waiting to apply the laws on the expulsion of Christians from Japan, adopted by the father Hideyori!
Well, about the castle in Osaka, we can say that it was one of the most powerful fortresses, if not the most powerful, in medieval Japan. The sea was then much closer to the castle than it is now, and covered it from the west in a semi-ring. Temma, Yodo and Yamato - the rivers that flowed there turned the lands around the castle into a real network of islets, and between them there were only rice fields flooded with water. Around the castle there were two moats and two walls in 40 meters high! They survived today, but the citadel was restored after the Second World War.
The main feature of the Japanese castles was that they could not be destroyed by artillery fire. After all, the walls were made of huge stones, laid with a slope, so that they could withstand any earthquake. Shooting at them was like shooting at mountain slopes. But it was not difficult to climb a similar wall, since the gaps between the stones provided good support for both hands and feet!
Anticipating that the castle would need to be defended, Hideyuri reinforced it with two additional ditches 80 meters wide and 12 deep, which were flooded with water to the depths 4-8 meters! Behind the moats a wall was built in 3 meters tall with a roof, platforms and embrasures for archers and arquebusiers. At the main castle gate, Hatome Sanada Yukimura built a bastion, which was called the Sanada bastion, also with a moat, but dry, and in addition with three rows of a paling fence: one row was in front of the moat, one behind, and another row was already at the bottom of the moat! The samurai who defended the castle had good artillery purchased from the Dutch, and flamethrower ballista were located on the walls every hundred meters. The total number of the garrison reached 90 000 people.
And on November 2 of 1614, Ieyasu ordered Hidetad to gather troops around the castle in Edo, and the same order was given to all the daimos there. The fifth son of Tokugawa Yoshinao was expecting a father with a 15 000 soldier at the new castle in Nagoya. Hidadata had 50 000 people, Date Masamune had 10 000, Usesugi Kagekatsu had 5000 and Satake had 1500. Soon, the Eastern Army in 180 000 people, that is, twice as much as the garrison in Osaka, was ready to move to the assault on Osaka Castle.
Many believe that the samurai troops, being knightly at their core, looked like knightly troops in Europe. But it is not. Ieiasu Tokugawa orders issued by him in 1590 have reached us, and hardly anything has changed in 1615 ...
In them, under penalty of punishment, it was forbidden to go on reconnaissance without an order, without an order to rush forward even for the accomplishment of the feat, and not only the culprit himself, but also his family had to be punished! Anyone who was in a strange detachment on the march and did not have a valid reason for doing so had to lose his horse and weapons. The end of the order was: “Yes, all the gods of Japan, big and small, will be watching us! Yes, they will amaze without pity anyone who violates these orders! Let it be so. Ieyasu. That is, his discipline was downright iron, not allowing any liberties!
The troops surrounded the castle, and 3 on January 1615, before dawn, began its assault from the south. Soon the samurai Maeda Tositsune reached the Sanada bastion, began to climb the wall, but the defenders beat them off with rifle fire. The "Red Demons" under the command of Ii Naotaka nevertheless climbed the wall. But when they went inside, they were met with such fierce fire that they withdrew, suffering huge losses.
Failure did not discourage Ieyasu. He immediately gave the order to surround the castle with a shaft, put a palisade on it and begin a systematic siege. Then, for three whole days, he was bombarded from the guns day and night while the sappers dug undermines. A ship with an armored dungeon, from which they also fired at the castle, sailed along the unfrozen Yodo River, but this did not give positive results. Well, the blockade was just meaningless, since 200 000 Koku rice was in the barns of the castle, and this was only the part obtained before the siege! So, theoretically, Hideyori moth would be under siege for several years, and in the meantime most of the Tokugawa allies would have fallen away from him. And hold out for Hideyori longer, the Tokugawa clan could well have been defeated due to the massive desertion associated with the harsh conditions of the winter siege.
Ieyasu himself understood this well and, after unsuccessful attacks, decided to bribe Sanada Yukimura. But the bribe did not succeed. Moreover, Sanada spoke of this as evidence of Ieyasu's weakness - they say, his strength is running out! Then Ieyasu decided to work on Hideyori’s mother. A lady named Ata Tsubone was sent to her as an associate, who was to convince her to start peace negotiations. And in order for the Dogogim to become more docile, Tokugawa’s gunners were ordered to bombard her women's quarters, and it was necessary for such a thing to happen that one core landed in her room to hold a tea ceremony and killed two of her maids. A couple of days later, the same gunners got into the sanctuary, arranged in memory of Hideyoshi, where Hideyori prayed just at that time, so much so that he almost blew his head off with his core!
Companions urged Hideyori that I could not believe Ieyasu, since he had once conducted such negotiations to surrender one of several temples that militant monks defended, and it was decided that the temples should return their original appearance. And what did Tokugawa do instead of simply lifting the siege? He burned them, motivating it with the fact that the “original view” implies the absence of any temples. So he can do something like this this time too ...
As a result, Hideyri obeyed his mother and those who spoke "for peace." Ieyasu's proposals were discussed, accepted and signed. At the same time, he himself signed them with blood from a finger. All the ronin were given complete forgiveness, and Hideyri received the freedom to choose the place of residence in exchange for the oath he had given him not to rebel against Ieyasu. One of the conditions that was mentioned three times was the backfilling of the outer, deepest moat, which seemed to have become unnecessary. But, although Ieyasu talked about this, for some reason this clause was not included in the final version of the text of the contract, although it was recognized in Osaka.
Interestingly, admittedly special accomplishments samurai Ieyasu in this campaign did not commit. Bravely fought just the Ronin Hideyoshi, and the soldiers of the regular army who were fighting on the shogun’s side simply performed their duty.
However, exceptions are well known. For example, Ieyasu was served by the samurai Furuta Sigenari, a famous tea ceremony master, distinguished by his bravery. Bypassing the palisade around the castle, he saw a graceful bamboo trunk, decided to make an elegant teaspoon of it and began to cut it. While he was doing this, the shooter from the castle took aim and hit him on the back of the helmet, but Furuta didn’t even pay attention to it! He just pulled a purple whip out of his armor and wiped blood from his cheek, as if it were a simple scratch!
Well, the very next day after a peace treaty was signed on 22 in January of 1615, Ieyasu disbanded his army. But only a part of its troops was disbanded, and then to the nearest port, and the bulk began to fill the outer moat and destroy the fortifications of the front line. And all this was done in one week, so you can imagine how many soldiers there worked, and then they began to fall asleep and the second ditch. Hideyori’s comrades expressed their protest to them, but the commander of the soldiers involved in this case replied that the officers simply “wrong” understood his orders! The dog complained to Ieyasu himself, but while the complainants visited him at headquarters, the shogun's soldiers, who worked continuously, already covered the second moat. And about how to dig it again, the contract did not say anything! So in just 26 days, the castle has already lost its second pit, and without shooting and bloodshed. Now all the fortifications of Osaka Castle consisted of one moat and one - just one! - walls.
"Summer Campaign"
And then, Ieyasu again found himself under its walls in just three months! The pretext was found in the rumors that the Osaka ronin had returned and want to attack the capital. And Hideyori really attracted a lot more ronin to his banner than six months ago, and now the number of his troops has reached 120 thousand - by as much as 60 thousand more than in winter. And again there were many Christians among them! Six large banners on the wall of the castle, for example, decorated the image of the cross, and even inside were several foreign priests. True, Tokugawa managed to mobilize almost a quarter of a million people!
True, there is still no consensus on the number of troops near Osaka Castle among historians. Well-known English Japanist Stephen Turnbull calls this number, but the Japanese historian Mitsuo Kure gives numbers of 120 thousands for Ieyasu, and 55 for Hideyori. The main thing is that Tokugawa had more soldiers, that's all.
The first blow struck the garrison of Osaka Castle. On May 28, Ono Harifua sent 2000 soldiers to Yamato Province, hoping to smash the Tokugawa units, which were marching to the castle, in pieces. But the numerical superiority of the enemy did not allow him to do this.
But then, the people of Hideyri managed to dig out a part of the outer moat again, so it was at least some kind of barrier. 2 June 1615, the military council was held at the castle, during which it was decided to meet the Tokugawa troops in the open field and give it a decisive battle. It was this battle, which is also called the Battle of Tennoji, because the field where it took place was called, and it was destined to be the last battle of so many samurai. According to the plan that Sanada, Ono and other warlords from the castle developed, they should attack the Tokugawa on all fronts, then Akashi Morisige had to go around it from the flank and strike from the rear. In the meantime, Hideyoshi was to deliver a final blow in the center. On the morning of June 3, the troops of the “Western” came out of the castle onto the plain, where the Tokugawa forces stood on it from the Hirano River to the sea shore.
This time, Ieyasu acted under a white flag without any emblems, and the commander in chief was his eldest son, Hidetada.
There was no fog, as in Sekigahara, and it was a clear summer day. The smoke from the burning wicks of the arquebuse curled towards the sky, and the warring parties could not decide to start the battle. But here Ronin Mori Katsunaga, who were closest to the enemy, began to shoot at him. Sanada did not want them to hurry, and ordered the fire to cease, but instead they redoubled their efforts, as if they did not understand the order at all. Mori discussed the situation with Sanada and they decided that once the battle had begun, let them continue, and that they should use the fighting enthusiasm of their people to launch an attack along the entire front. Soon, Mori’s troops broke through the front lines of the Tokugawa army, and Sanada led his troops against the recruits of Echizen province and achieved complete success. In part, it was helped by the fact that samurai Asano Nagaakira, who were coming to his aid, appeared on the left flank of Tokugawa. They were allies, but their appearance seemed to many similar to the betrayal of Kobayakawa, who was remembered by everyone, and the cries of “Betrayal! Treachery! ”Was heard here again, as under Sekigahara!
A stupid melee fight, more like a dump, began, and it was not clear who was winning in it. Ieyasu Tokugawa, by his own example, decided to encourage his soldiers and started to fight, like a simple samurai. It is believed that at that time he was wounded by a spear that passed near the kidney. The fact that such a patient and cold-blooded person did so, best of all, speaks of the seriousness of the situation, which in fact was critical.
But the situation was saved by his young warlord Honda Todato, who was also wounded by a spear, but managed to cheer his warriors and, along with the samurai from Echizen province, gradually pushed aside Sanada. Sanada himself in battle was so exhausted that he could not fight and sat down to rest on a camping stool. Here he saw a samurai "Oriental" named Nishio Nidzemon and called for a duel. But Sanada was so tired that he could not take it. All that was in his power was to introduce himself and take off his helmet, after which Nishio immediately cut it off!
The news of Sanada’s death spread among the “Western” troops and they began to gradually retreat. Now the Eastern Army began to move forward: the troops of Yi Taotaka and Maeda Tositsuke, and on the left flank - a reliable Date Masamune.
Hideyori was sent a letter to speak immediately, but he did not receive it and appeared at the gate of the castle when it was too late: the superior forces of the "east" pushed the Osaka garrison to its very walls!
A fierce clash followed the walls of the fortress, and parts of the “eastern” poured inside, and the civilian personnel and the servants of the castle fled in fear wherever. Hideyori locked himself in the citadel, but she was fired from cannons, and there was a fire started, arranged, according to Stephen Turnbull, by chef Hideyori. The last hope left Hideyori, and by morning both he and his mother, as well as many of those close to them, committed suicide by making seppuku, and the castle itself burned to the ground. Hideyori’s son, who was only eight years old, was also beheaded, as he was the last of Toyotomi, and Tokugawa simply had no right to spare him in front of his children. Then all the ronin (!) Who fought on the side of his father were executed, and their heads were put on pins and put along the road from Kyoto to Fushimi, which more than vividly showed to everyone who was dissatisfied with the strength of the shogunate.
Hideyoshi’s widow shaved her head, became a nun and went to the monastery.
Thus, having lived to seventy-four years, taking part in countless battles and fights, after the struggle for power the length of a lifetime Tokugawa Ieyasu finally became the real ruler of all of Japan. He died the following year, in the spring, transferring all power to his eldest son, Hidetada, and the Tokugawa clan after that ruled Japan for 265 years up to 1868 of the year! Well, Osaka Castle, having survived the greatest siege in the history of Japan, was then restored by Shogun Tokugawa Hidedad’s personal order, and its wall doubled the old one, but then at the end of the 19th century it was again destroyed by an earthquake. Tourists come here and in groups, and one by one, by all means climb the last tier of the main tower of the castle. There, each in his own way imagines what the young Hideyori saw and felt, who stood here also high, in the same place and looked at the camp of his enemy. It may well be that he had to think about why fate is so unfair to one and gives everything to others, and how to make sure that luck also smiles on you. The most interesting thing is that this mystery of earthly existence has not been revealed until now!
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