Siege of Odani Castle

Siege of Odani

Date	1573
Location	Odani Castle, Omi Province
Result	Oda Nobunaga victory; Azai clan destroyed

Belligerents

forces of Oda Nobunaga

forces of Azai Nagamasa

Commanders and leaders

Oda Nobunaga

Azai Nagamasa

Strength

10,000

6,000

Campaigns of Oda Nobunaga

Inō Terabe Marune Okehazama Inabayama Castle Chōkō-ji Kanegasaki Anegawa Ishiyama Hongan-ji Mount Hiei Nagashima Mikatagahara Hikida Castle Odani Castle Ichijōdani Castle Itami Nagashino Mitsuji Kizugawaguchi Shigisan Tedorigawa Takatenjin Tottori Hijiyama Tenmokuzan Takatō Uozu Honnō-ji

Campaigns of Azai Nagamasa

Norada Kanegasaki Anegawa Mount Hiei Hikida Castle Ichijōdani Castle Odani Castle

Campaigns of Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Anegawa Kanegasaki Odani Castle Kōzuki Castle Tedorigawa Itami Miki Tottori Takamatsu Yamazaki Uchidehama Shizugatake Komaki and Nagakute Kaganoi Takehana Kanie Toyama Negoro-ji Ōta Castle Shikoku & Ichinomiya Kyūshū Hachigata Odawara Shimoda Oshi Korea

The 1573 Siege of Odani Castle (小谷城の戦い, Odani-jō no Tatakai) was the last stand of the Azai clan, one of Oda Nobunaga's chief opponents.

Nobunaga took Odani Castle from Azai Nagamasa, who, left with no other option, committed suicide along with his son. His wife and three daughters were entrusted to Nobunaga, considering they were his sister and nieces. Two of Nagamasa's daughters would later marry into powerful families. Their escape from the besieged castle became a fairly common sentimental scene in traditional Japanese art.

Before Azai Nagamasa committed seppuku he decided to make one last siege on Nobunaga's main camp; in the end, however, he failed and was instead captured.

Azai also knew from the beginning he would lose this battle, so before he died he gave Nobunaga's sister Oichi back, saving her and their three daughters from death.^[1]

In popular culture

The battle has been featured in the game Samurai Warriors 2. It is worth noting however that in the game, both the Azai and Asakura clans are destroyed during the Odani siege when historically, the Asakura clan was destroyed in the following year.

References

↑ Turnbull, Stephen (1987). Battles of the Samurai. Arms and Armour Press. p. 65. ISBN 0853688265.

Turnbull, Stephen (1998). The Samurai Sourcebook. London: Cassell & Co.

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.