Siege of Takamatsu
In the 1582 Siege of Takamatsu (備中高松城の戦い, Bitchū Takamatsu-jō no tatakai), 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 keep up a constant rate of fire and be unhindered themselves by the flooding.[1][2]
| Siege of Takamatsu | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Sengoku period | |||||||||
 Edo period portrait of Takamatsu submerged in water | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Forces of Oda Nobunaga | Forces of Mōri Terumoto | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Hashiba Hideyoshi Ukita Tadaie Kuroda Yoshitaka Horio Yoshiharu Ishida Mitsunari |
Shimizu Muneharu † Kikkawa Motoharu Kobayakawa Takakage | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 30,000 | 5,000 | ||||||||
As the battle grew more intense, the Takamatsu garrison received reinforcements from Mōri Terumoto, who brought an army six times larger than Hideyoshi's. Hideyoshi then requested aid from Oda Nobunaga. In response, Nobunaga mobilized six of his commanders, which he planned to lead the resultant army.[3]
Hideyoshi soon learned of the Incident at Honnōji and the death of Nobunaga, which encouraged him to end the siege. Shimizu Muneharu, the castle's commander, was forced to commit suicide in a boat on the artificial lake created by the flooding, in full view of both sides.[4]
Cultural references
The siege is described and dramatized in the novel Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan, written by Eiji Yoshikawa and translated to English by William Scott Wilson.
References
- Sansom, George (1961). A History of Japan, 1334–1615. Stanford University Press. p. 306-307. ISBN 0804705259.
- Turnbull, S.R. (1977). The Samurai. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. p. 162-163. ISBN 9780026205405.
- Sato, Hiroaki (1995). Legends of the Samurai. New York: Overlook Duckworth. p. 241. ISBN 9780715643631.
- Turnbull, Stephen (2000). The Samurai Sourcebook. London: Cassell & C0. p. 231-232. ISBN 1854095234.
- Turnbull, Stephen (2010). Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Command). Osprey Publishing.