| Siege of Ishiyama Hongan-ji | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theSengoku period | |||||||
 The battle of Ishiyama Hongan-ji by Utagawa Yoshifuji (1828-1887) | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| forces ofOda Nobunaga | Ikkō-ikki monks forces ofAshikaga Yoshiaki[1] Mōri clan | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Oda Nobunaga Sakuma Nobumori Niwa Nagahide Akechi Mitsuhide Harada Naomasa † Araki Murashige Takayama Ukon Hosokawa Fujitaka Inaba Yoshimichi Andō Morinari Ikoma Chikamasa | Kōsa Shimozuma Nakayuki Shimozuma Rairyū Saika Magoichi Ashikaga Yoshiaki Rokkaku Yoshikata Mori Terumoto | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| At least 30,000 | At least 15,000 | ||||||
TheIshiyama Hongan-ji War (石山合戦,Ishiyama Kassen) was a ten-yearmilitary campaign that took place from 1570 to 1580 inSengoku periodJapan, carried out by lordOda Nobunaga against a network of fortifications, temples, and communities belonging to theIkkō-ikki, a powerful faction ofJōdo ShinshūBuddhist monks andpeasants opposed to the rule of thesamurai class.
It centered on attempts to take down the Ikki's central base, the cathedral fortress ofIshiyama Hongan-ji, in what is today the city ofOsaka. While Nobunaga and his allies led attacks on Ikki communities and fortifications in the nearby provinces, weakening the Hongan-ji's support structure, elements of his army remained camped outside the Hongan-ji, blocking supplies to the fortress and serving as scouts.
The Ikkō-ikki leagues of warrior monks and commoners were among the last to stand in the way ofOda Nobunaga's bid to conquer all of Japan. Oda and Tokugawa had fought the Ikki before, crushing their armies ofMikawa Province and other areas, and by 1570, their twin fortresses of Ishiyama Hongan-ji andNagashima were their last bastions of strength. He besieged both fortresses simultaneously, attacking Ishiyama in August 1570 andNagashima in 1571.
In August 1570, Oda Nobunaga leftGifu Castle inGifu with 30,000 troops, and ordered his generals to build fortresses around Ishiyama, while Nobunaga himself focused on theSieges of Nagashima fortress and other campaigns. On September 12, theIkkō-ikki launched a midnight stealth attack against Nobunaga's forces at Kawaguchi and Takadono. The Ikko were reinforced bywarrior monks fromNegoro-ji inKii Province and 3,000musketeers, pushing Oda's army back.[2][3][4] Nobunaga's armies remained camped out, assigned to monitor the Ikki's fortress, and take it if they could.
In 1574, after destroying the Nagashima complex and reducing the threat from the Ikki's supporters, Oda attempted to starve out the fortress. This was no easy task, however, because the Ishiyama fortress sat on the coast, which was guarded by the fleet of theMōri clan, masters of naval combat and Oda's enemies.
By early 1575, however, the fortress was already in urgent need of supplies, and the AbbotKōsa was ready to begin peaceful overtures with Nobunaga to end the siege. But the oustedshōgunAshikaga Yoshiaki sent a letter toMōri Terumoto asking for his aid in supplying the cathedral fortress.[4]: 288–289 Yoshiaki eventually raised some troops himself to aid the besieged.[1]
In April 1576, Oda's army attacked the Hongan-ji fortress, led byHarada Naomasa,Akechi Mitsuhide,Hosokawa Fujitaka,Tsutsui Junkei,Nakagawa Kiyohide,Takayama Ukon,Araki Murashige, andSakuma Nobuhide, but Oda forces were quickly repelled by 15,000 Ikkō-ikki defenders.[3] Mitsuhide and Nobuhide made a request for reinforcements to Nobunaga who was staying in Kyōto.
Later in May 1576, Nobunaga himself personally came. Nobunaga took part in an attack on the fortress. He led a number of ashigaru (peasants) army of only 3,000 men to attack as many as 15,000 enemy forces, along withNiwa Nagahide,Hashiba Hideyoshi,Takigawa Kazumasu,Hachiya Yoritaka andInaba Yoshimichi. Nobunagaattacked Mitsuji fortress, pushing back the Ikki garrison to their inner gates and Nobunaga suffered a bullet wound to his leg.[3] However, Harada Naomasa lost his life during the battle.
Later in 1577,Sakuma Nobumori was chosen as Harada's replacement as commander of the Siege of Ishiyama Hongan-ji and given troops from seven provinces placing him in command of the largest Oda-clan army among the Oda retainers. By then, 51 outposts had been built around the central fortress, many equipped witharquebus squads.But Nobumori made no progress against the Hongan-ji forces and in the meantimeKuki Yoshitaka failed to blockade Mōri supply lines in the firstBattle of Kizugawaguchi.
Oda Nobunaga was forced to revise his tactics and began to attack the outposts, and the supporters of the Ikko-ikki.[4]: 289 Nobunaga orderedShibata Katsuie to conquer theHokuriku region, sentTakigawa Kazumasu to suppress ikko-ikki rebels atKii province,Hashiba Hideyoshi to conquer theChūgoku region from theMori clan, andAkechi Mitsuhide to pacifyTanba Province in 1577, and Nobunaga eventually blocked the Mōri's supply lines.[3]
In 1578, Nobunaga accusedAraki Murashige of sympathies to the Mōri clan, and enlistedKuki Yoshitaka to set up a blockade and disrupt the fortress' supply lines from the Mōri navy with massive new battleships. Later, in the SecondBattle of Kizugawaguchi, Kuki Yoshitaka broke the Mōri supply lines for good.[3] Nobunaga also gave orders to Hideyoshi to besiege Mōri'sMiki castle atHarima province.
However in 1579, the Mori clan lost their strategic castle atMiki andItami Castle.
By then in 1580, the siege was beginning to swing in Nobunaga's favor. The majority of the Ikko-ikki's allies were already inside the fortress with them, so they had no one to call on for aid. The Ikko-ikki under the leadership ofShimozuma Nakayuki continued to fight, eventually the defenders almost ran out of ammunition and food. Themonshu at the time,Kennyo, held a conference with his comrades, after receiving a letter of advice from the imperial court via imperial envoys in April 1580. Kennyo and his son surrendered a few weeks later. The fighting finally ended in August 1580.[3]: 229 [4]: 290
With respect to Imperial order, Nobunaga spared the lives of many of the defenders, includingShimozuma Nakayuki, but burned the fortress to the ground.
In the same year, following the fall of the Honganji, Nobunaga accusedSakuma Nobumori and dismissedAndo Morinari from Nobunaga's service.
Three years later in 1583, Toyotomi Hideyoshi would begin construction on the same site, buildingOsaka Castle, a replica of which was constructed in the 20th century.
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