AZ II Buildings Series: Azuchi Castle Copyright © William Stong 2021
❷ During construction: 1576 up to June 5, 1579
I. The History
By late March, early spring, enough of Azuchi had been constructed to allow Oda Nobunaga to move in and more directly provide input on what he wanted to have built. For the rest of the construction time, he ran his goals of unifying Japan from Azuchi.
Even though Oda had scored several victories by the end of the (arbitrary) “Pre-construction” period, incessant fighting on all fronts continued throughout the “Construction” period with defeats and victories. In both periods, it seemed that whenever Oda was succeeding too well, his enemies would realign their alliances and attack him. Similarly, when Oda appeared weaker, areas already under his control did not hesitate to revolt.
During this period, Oda’s dominion had grown enough that he would order his commanders and allied daimyō onto campaigns to eliminate enemies (like the Ishiyama-Honganji Buddhists just to the south) or to invade surrounding fiefdoms (like the Uesugi clan to the north). In several cases, initial assaults directed by others were defeated and Oda would march in behind with more troops.
Even so, the Ishiyama-Honganji was so strong that Oda had to begin a siege of their massive stronghold (in what is today Osaka). To prevent Oda from winning, the Uesugi to the north and the Mōri to the west supported the Ishiyama-Honganji. That support included the Mōri navy which reprovisioned the besieged stronghold. In the north, the Uesugi invaded the lands Oda had taken when he crushed the Asakura family.
Luck still ran with Oda. On April 29, 1578 the formidable leader Uesugi Kenshin suddenly died. As with the powerful Takeda clan five years earlier, internal jockeying for the succession gave Oda the opportunity to not only recapture his lost lands in the Echizen and Kaga provinces in the northwest, but to also begin planning an invasion of Etchu province.
With a ceremony for the main keep, Azuchi castle was officially “opened” on June 5, 1579.
II. The Campaigns
NB: Font color legend.
❶ Green = Favorable to Oda
❷ Black = Neutral
❸ Red = Adverse to Oda
1576 Oda Nobunaga gives Echizen province to Shibata Katsuie who moves the capital from Fuchu to the new Kitanosho castle. Shibata has a nephew drive deeper into Kaga province capturing Miyukizuka. During these campaigns, 30,000 to 40,000 prisoners are executed.
February 1576: To the west, Tamba province revolts against the rule of Oda. Concurrently, Ishiyama-Honganji raises another army.
May 1576: Oda orders Akechi Mitsuhide, Hosokawa Fujitaka, and others south with an army of 3,000. This force is defeated and seeks refuge in Tennoji which is besieged by Ishiyama-Honganji forces.
June 1576: Oda Nobunaga leaves Azuchi castle to personally lead the fighting. He enters Wakae castle on June 11th but is only able to mobilize about 3,000 soldiers. Early in the morning of June 13, Oda leads this small force and attacks the 15,000-strong Ishiyama-Honganji army that is besieging Tennoji. It is a hard-fought battle, and Oda is wounded, but he defeats the enemy.
Oda initiates an encircling siege of the Ishiyama-Honganji main stronghold.
August 7, 1576: A Mōri fleet consisting of 800 ships sails in from the Inland Sea. At the mouth of the Kizu river, this flotilla blows through the Oda ships blockading Ishiyama-Honganji. The Mōri replenishes the besieged with provisions and materiel.
The Uesugi in Echigo Province drop their alliance with Oda and begin to support Ishiyama-Honganji. In other provinces, Ikkō-Ikki groups resist Oda.
December 1576: Oda Nobunaga and his son Nobukatsu (who had been adopted by the Kitabatake clan) assassinate most of the remaining leaders of the Kitabatake, thus solidifying control of Ise province.
1577: Oda sends his best general, Hideyoshi, west, into the lands dominated by the Mōri. Hideyoshi enters Harima province and is allowed to use Himeji castle as a base of operations. He invests Kozuki castle and it falls after seven days.
1577: The invasions launched by Oda’s commander Shibata causes Uesugi Kenshin, the daimyō of Echigo to the north on the Sea of Japan, to mobilize 30,000 men to move against the Noto province.
February 1577: Oda leaves with a large army to suppress Ikkō-Ikki adherents in Kishu.
April 1577: In a mutual compromise, Saika Magoichi, the Ikkō-Ikki leader, surrenders and Oda, concerned about the Mōri navy in the rear and the Uesugi invasion of Noto province, withdraws from Kii province.
September/October 1577: Matsunaga Hisahide in Yamato province revolts and raises an army.
October 1577: Oda Nobunaga dispatches a large military force to Yamato province, commanded by his eldest son, Nobutada, who besieges Shigisan castle.
An interesting side note is that Matsunaga owned a famous tea bowl that Oda wanted for his collection. Oda offered more lenient surrender terms if Matsunaga turned over the tea bowl.
November 13, 1577: In Kaga province, Oda and Shibata are defeated by the Uesugi at the battle of Tedorigawa. Oda returns to Azuchi in Omi province.
November 19, 1577: Matsunaga Hisahide commits seppuku at Shigisan castle in Yamato province.
To deny Oda, Matsunaga instructs that the coveted tea bowl be tied to his head, along with a bag of gunpowder—thus ensuring that neither his head nor the artifact fall into Oda’s hands.
November 1577: A samurai who is resisting Oda, Naito Sadamasa, dies of disease at Kameyama castle in Tamba province. Oda takes advantage of this and captures various castles in Tanba Province: Kameyama, Momi, and Sasayama.
March 1578: Kai Shimoyama, a former minor Kitabatake vassal from Iga, visits Oda Nobukatsu (Nobunaga’s second eldest son) in Ise province and urges him to invade Iga. Nobukatsu dispatches Takigawa Kazumasu to build a castle at Maruyama in Iga to serve as a staging point for the campaign.
April 29, 1578: The famous Uesugi leader, Uesugi Kenshin, suddenly dies, without a child and with no designated successor. A succession fight among the clan begins, the Otate War.
1578: Oda takes advantage of this internal strife and recaptures Noto and Kaga provinces.
Oda prepares to invade Etchu province.
April 1578: Bessho Nagaharu in Harima province revolts. Oda sends Hideyoshi who besieges Miki castle (which lasts until 1580).
1578: As a defense against the Mōri navy and their fire-projectiles, Oda has his shipwright, Kuki, build iron-clad ships.
August 8, 1578: The Mōri army enters Harima province and captures Kozuki castle.
August 1578: While supporting Oda’s key general Hideyoshi, Araki Murashige from Settsu province, abruptly disengages and returns to his own castle where he resists Oda and helps the Ishiyama-Honganji. Oda has Arioka castle besieged.
October 1578: After working on building a castle inside Iga for six months, Takigawa is nearing the completion of Maruyama castle for Oda Nobukatsu.
November 1578: The Araki revolt splits families. Takayama Ukon, unlike his father, decides to support Oda.
November 17, 1578: Arioka castle falls to Oda, ending the Araki revolt.
November 24, 1578: Alerted of Nobukatsu’s intentions by the construction of the castle, warriors from Iga attack Maruyama castle in broad daylight. Caught off guard, Takigawa is forced from the castle, which the Iga burn. When Takigawa reassembles the remnants of his forces at nearby Tsuzumigamine, he is again defeated and retreats back to Ise.
December 1578: In an attempt to break the Oda blockade, a large Mōri fleet attacks but is defeated by the steel-clad ships built by Kuki for Oda. Lord Abbot Kosa agrees to a truce in which Oda offers generous terms: surrender the Ishiyama-Honganji complex, leave, and be resettled in Kii province.
June 5, 1579: With a ceremony for the completion of the main tenshu (keep), Azuchi Castle is officially opened.
III. At the End
On June 6, 1579, Oda Nobunaga’s situation was:
► To the northwest, the former Asakura lands had been retaken
► To the north, the Uesugi clan had been weakened
► To the northeast, the Takeda clan was weakened
► The eastern border was along loyal ally Tokugawa lands
► To the south, Oda—using novel armored ships—had defeated the powerful Mōri navy, preventing them from reprovisioning Ishiyama-Honganji
► Directly south, the Ishiyama-Honganji siege was in place and stronger with the defeats suffered by the Uesugi and Mōri. A truce to discuss surrender terms was in place.
► To the west, Oda had captured Tamba province, part of Harima province, and several castles. His forces were poised to press further into the lands of Mōri allies along the length and breadth of Honshu.
► Close by, to the southeast, Oda’s son’s invasion of Ise was resoundingly defeated.
Overall, by the end of this period, Oda had largely consolidated his control of the center of Japan, including the imperial capital of Kyōto. The military strength of the Buddhists was bottled up in the siege of Ishiyama-Honganji. Three powerful daimyō, the Takeda, Uesugi, and Mōri had been weakened and/or pushed back.
Sources:
► “Azuchi Castle: Architectural Innovations and Political Legitimacy in Sixteenth-Century Japan” ; A dissertation presented by Mark Karl Erdmann to The Department of History of Art and Architecture…Harvard University; Cambridge, Massachusetts; April 2016; © Mark Karl Erdmann.Architectural ; © p. 79
► A History of Japan, 1334–1615; © 1961; Sansom, George
► Sengoku Jidai. Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu: Three Unifiers of Japan; © 2018; Chaplin, Danny
► Ninja: The True Story of Japan’s Secret Warrior Cult; © 1991; Turnball, Stephen
► African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan; © 2019; Lockley, Thomas (and Girard, Geoffrey)
► Shinsengumi Archives
► Wikipedia
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