Siege of Odani Castle
{{Short description|1573 siege in Japan}}
{{Infobox Military Conflict
|conflict=Siege of Odani
|partof=the Sengoku period
|image=
|caption=
|date=October, 1573
|place= Odani Castle, Ōmi Province
|casus=
|territory=
|result=*Oda Nobunaga victory
- Azai clan destroyed
|combatant1= forces of Oda Nobunaga
|combatant2= forces of Azai Nagamasa
|commander1=Oda Nobunaga
Oda Nobutada
Gamō Ujisato
Isono Kazumasa
Miyabe Keijun
|commander2=Azai Nagamasa{{KIA}}
Akao Kiyotsuna{{executed}}
Kaihō Tsunachika{{KIA}}
Amenomori Kiyosada
Atsuji Sadayuki
|strength1=
|strength2=
|casualties1=
|casualties2=
}}
{{Campaignbox Campaigns of Oda Nobunaga}}
{{Campaignbox Campaigns of Azai Nagamasa}}
{{Campaignbox Campaigns of Toyotomi Hideyoshi}}
The 1573 {{nihongo|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.{{cite book|last1=Turnbull|first1=Stephen|title=The Samurai Sourcebook|date=2000|publisher=Cassell & C0|location=London|isbn=1854095234|pages=224}} and the first battle of Oda Nobutada.
Prelude
In September, 1573, Oda Nobunaga defeated the Asakura clan at the siege of Ichijodani Castle. Later, the Oda forces returned to northern Ōmi, he defeated Isono Kazumasa, took Sawayama Castle and on October, 1573, Nobunaga began attacking Odani Castle, devastating the Azai clan.
Siege
Nobunaga took Odani Castle from Azai Nagamasa, who, left with no other option, committed seppuku along with his father. Azai knew from the beginning that he would lose the battle, so he gave his wife Oichi (Nobunaga's sister), and their three daughters back to Nobunaga, saving them from death.{{Cite book |last=Turnbull |first=Stephen |title=Battles of the Samurai |publisher=Arms and Armour Press |year=1987 |ISBN=0853688265 |page=65}} 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.
Aftermath
Nagamasa suffered much the same fate as his comrade-in-arms Asakura Yoshikage, whose castle at Oda Nobunaga's siege of Ichijodani Castle was set aflame and destroyed.{{cite book|last1=Turnbull|first1=Stephen|title=The Samurai Sourcebook|date=2000|publisher=Cassell & C0|location=London|isbn=1854095234|pages=224}}
In popular culture
The siege of the castle and the late surrender is shown in the movie Sword for Hire, directed by Hiroshi Inagaki in 1952.
The battle has been featured in the game Samurai Warriors 2. In the game, however, both the Azai and Asakura clans are destroyed during the Odani siege. Historically, the Asakura clan was destroyed before the Azai at the Battle of Ichijodani.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
{{coord missing|Shiga Prefecture}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odani 1573}}
Category:Sieges of the Sengoku period
Category:16th-century military history of Japan