On October 21, 1600, Ieyasu Tokugawa led the army and Mitsunari Ishida fought a battle in the Sekihara area of Mino country, which was called the Battle of Sekihara.
So, what impact did the war have on Japan?
After the Battle of Sekihara, Tokugawa Ieyasu killed Ishida Mitsunari and others, exiled the famous names who opposed him, such as Ukita Hideka, and became the overlord. As for the Fukushima Masanori, Kato Kiyomasa and others who betrayed the Toyotomi clan, they did not end well, and were secretly cut off by Ieyasu one after another. In 1603, Ieyasu founded the Tokugawa Shogunate and assumed the post of General Seiyi. He established the Tokugawa Shogunate three years later, and Japan gradually moved towards unification. This battle is also known as "the war that determines the world" and is the most influential battle in the Warring States Period in Japan.
The Battle of Sekihara also marked the transfer of the political center of Japan from Kyoto in the past to Edo, the country of Musashi, where the Tokugawa Shogunate was located. In the end, Edo became the predecessor of what is now Tokyo. This also led to the opposition and comparison between the two cultural circles of Kanto and Kansai in Japanese culture, which has continued to this day.
What is the background of the outbreak of the Battle of Sekihara?
After the warlord Gen Yoshito was appointed as the "general general" to establish the Kamakura Shogunate at the end of the 12th century, Japan entered the late period of the second generation of the Shogunate-Muromachi Shogunate in the mid-15th century. In 1467, the "Onin Rebellion" occurred in Japan. From then on, local daimyo (ie feudal lords) became independent warlords and entered the Warring States Period.
In the late period of the Warring States Period in Japan, the warlord Oda Nobunaga gradually unified the central part of Japan and began to seek to rule the whole of Japan, but was killed by his subordinate Mitsuhide Akehide's sudden launch of the "Innoji Change". After Nobunaga’s death, another of his confidants defeated Hashiba Hideyoshi and other warlords, and eventually unified Japan. He was given the surname "Toyotomi" by the emperor, renamed Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and served as Guanshi (equivalent to Prime Minister). Although Hideyoshi unified Japan, the unification method was not all conquest. Among them, the more powerful Tokugawa Ieyasu, Hideyoshi used marriage to seduce Hideyoshi, which also caused Tokugawa Ieyasu not sincerely surrendered to Hideyoshi, and buried the hidden danger of future division.
Because Toyotomi Hideyoshi's power is mainly in Kansai, which is now Osaka and Kyoto, the control over Edo (now Tokyo, commonly known as the Kanto region) is very insufficient. So Toyotomi Hideyoshi moved Ieyasu to Kanto, which was still barren at the time, in an attempt to limit Ieyasu's economic and political power. I don’t want Ieyasu to find that the Kandong Plain is fertile, but it has not been cultivated. Under the governance of Jiakang, the economy of the Kanto region has gradually developed and its strength has gradually grown.
From 1592 to 1598, Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched the battles of Munrok and Kyungcho to conquer Korea (ie the Korean Imjin Japanese Rebellion and the Wanli War of Aid Korea), which resulted in a joint counterattack between the Ming Dynasty and Korea Failed. The war of aggression against Korea severely weakened the military power and funds of the main daimyo at that time. Toyotomi Hideyoshi died of illness in 1598, and the Japanese invaders immediately withdrew to the country.
But Ieyasu Tokugawa found an excuse for not sending troops during the war, so his strength gradually increased. After the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the heir was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was only six years old. Tokugawa Ieyasu immediately began to dominate power, showing his ambition to consolidate his power.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi's close minister Ishida Sansei is very loyal to the Toyotomi family. He sees Ieyasu's ambitions and summons other lords who are loyal to the Toyotomi family to fight against Ieyasu. And Ieyasu also launched activities, falsely claiming that Ishida Mitsunari was an anti-thief, and that he was the guardian of the Toyotomi clan, and he lobbied various daimyos. Several powerful names, such as Masanori Fukushima and Kiyomasa Kato, who had relatives with Toyotomi Hideyoshi, had conflicts with Mitsunari Ishida. They were soon deceived by Ieyasu's rhetoric and joined Ieyasu's camp.
At this time, the Aizu local warlord Keitsu Uesugi, who was accomplices with Ishida Mitsunari, began to prepare for the war first, which aroused Ieyasu's vigilance and asked Keitsu to explain his actions. Uesugi Kenkatsu Naojiang responded to the letter, refuting all the allegations one by one, and clarified Ieyasu's ambitions. This letter is called "Naoe-like", which is equivalent to a declaration of war by the anti-Ieyasu camp. Tokugawa Ieyasu immediately prepared to conquer Aizu, and the battle of Sekigahara finally broke out.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi portrait
德川家康写真
Next, let’s take a look at the specific process of the Battle of Sekihara.
The battle of Guanyuan can be divided into two parts: "preface" and "decisive battle". Among them, the decisive battle is decided within a day. The anti-Ieyasu camp has Kansai-Osaka as its base camp, so it is called the Western Army; the base camp of the Ieyasu camp is Kanto’s Edo, so it is called the Eastern Army.
The first stage: the preface, the two sides declare war, and gather forces to march towards Guanyuan.
On June 2, 1600, Ieyasu Tokugawa ordered all the daimyo in the Kanto region to prepare to travel to Aizu. However, on July 17, the Western Army issued a declaration of troops in Osaka, formally declaring war on Tokugawa Ieyasu, with a total force of about 95,000. The Western Army General Mori Terumoto and others stayed behind in Osaka to assist Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The next day, the main force led by Ishidazou began to encircle the Fushimi Castle controlled by Ieyasu.
On July 18, when the Western Army arrived at Fushimi Castle, they demanded Fushimi Castle Guard General Torii Mototada to surrender, but Torii Mototada refused. So the Western army began to attack the city, and it took 15 days to take down the city. At the same time, as for the Eastern Army, the pioneers led by Masanori Fukushima successively captured the two western military cities of Takena Castle and Gifu Castle, and marched towards Sekihara.
The second stage: a decisive battle, Hideaki Kobayakawa rebelled, and the Western Army collapsed.
The Unbreakable Pass in the Sekihara area was one of the three major passes in ancient Japan. It was an important pass in the early legal system and a battleground for military strategists. In the early morning of September 15 (October 21st in the Gregorian calendar), the Western Army completed its deployment at Guanyuan; the Eastern Army completed its deployment at Guanyuan at 6 a.m. on the 14th, and the decisive battle was about to start.
After confirming the formation of the western army, Ieyasu Tokugawa moved forward slowly, allowing the frontline troops to march under pressure. At 7 o'clock in the morning, there was heavy fog and continuous drizzle, and the two armies faced off for about an hour until the fog gradually dissipated. At about 8 o'clock in the morning, the forward Fukushima team fired on the Western Army's Ukita Hide family team, and the Ukita team responded. The battle officially began when the two sides opened fire to each other.
The battle situation has always been favorable to the Western Army. At about 11 am, the Western Army's Ishida, Xiaoxi, Otani, and Ukida teams lit up wolf smoke and notified all the Western troops to launch a general attack and surround Ieyasu's troops. However, Hiroshi Yoshikawa, who had promised Ieyasu in order to preserve the Maori territory, blocked Mori Hidemoto's advance at the foot of the mountain and blocked the Western army's envoy who urged him to promote the army on the ground that Hidemoto was eating. On the other hand, at the time Toyotomi Hideyoshi's nephew Kobayakawa Hideaki belonged to the Western Army in name, but he was still hesitating-although he had colluded with the Eastern Army, the battle situation was favorable to the Western Army. Therefore, the Kobayakawa team, which has as many as 15,000 people, is not moving.
On the other side, Ieyasu, who hopes for a quick fight, looks very anxious. Ieyasu urged Kobayakawa Hideaki to dispatch troops as soon as possible, but there was still no movement from Kobayakawa Hideaki. Ieyasu was furious and ordered the Iron Cannon Team to fire and threaten Kobayakawa Hideaki's position. When Kobayakawa heard the sound of the iron cannon, the Eastern Army sent to the Kobayakawa team began to intimidate Xiuqiu, asking him to defect immediately. At that time, Xiuqiu had no other choice, so he ordered the whole army to attack Otani Yoshiji's position. This is a turning point in the battle of Sekihara.
The Kobayakawa team attacked the Otani team. Otani Yoshiki predicted earlier that Hideaki Kobayakawa would rebel, so 600 soldiers had been deployed to stop the Kobayakawa team on the way, but they could not stop the crowded Kobayakawa team. . The remaining four western army generals saw Kobayakawa Hideaki’s betrayal, and at the same time led his troops to attack Otani Yoshiji’s main line; and the Eastern Army Fujido Takatori, which had been defeated, also attacked Otani again after reorganizing its troops. As a result, Yoshiji Otani was caught in a siege and committed suicide.
About one o’clock in the afternoon, the news that Yoshitani Otani was defeated and killed himself and the entire army was annihilated reached the western army, which severely affected the morale of the western army; President Konishi’s troops immediately fell into chaos, collapsed and fled; After the news, he lost control of his emotions, and tried to lead his troops to attack the Kobayakawa team's main line, and finally retreated under the advice of Akashi Quanto. The Ishida team fled to Hokuriku and was captured by Ieyasu's troops. Only Yoshihiro Shimazu from the Satsuma region was quite brave. He just broke through the siege of the Eastern Army and successfully withdrew to the Kyushu lair. The retreat of the Western Army marked the end of the Battle of Sekihara.
The Battle of Sekihara screen drawn in the Edo period
(Source: https://www.allhistory.com/article/5ebbbba7d47fa20001793015; infringement must be deleted. )
