Paleolithic Age 35,000–14,000 BC

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Kenbu New Deal 1333–1336

Muromachi Period 1336–1573

Southern and Northern Dynasties Period 1336–1392

Warring States Period

Azuchi Momoyama Period 1568–1603

Edo Period 1603–1868

Meiji Period 1868–1912

Taisho Period 1912–1926

Showa era 1926–1989

Heisei 1989–present day

Introducing you to the Warring States Period

Japanese Warring States Period The word comes from Article 20 of the "Koshu Laws and Regulations" enacted by Takeda Shingen (1521-1573), the daimyo of the Kingdom of Kai (today's Yamanashi Prefecture); it begins with the words "The top of the world and the Warring States Period." In other words, people who lived in what later generations called the Warring States Period already knew that "this is the Warring States Period."

Strictly speaking, the Warring States Period in Japan is not an official historical term. It is generally used to refer to the period between the Onin Rebellion that broke out in the Muromachi period and the Azuchi-Momoyama period (there is also a saying that the early Edo period is included). The history of Japan has been marked by years of political turmoil and divided factions.

In this era, the prestige of the guardianship of the shogun and the shogunate in various places declined. The guardians who originally assisted the guardians, local tyrants in various places, and even commoners rose to become daimyo. It became possible for the famous names from various places to dominate one area or even become "people of the world" who controlled the world.

In addition, trade exchanges between Japan and Europeans officially began at this time, and the introduction of Christianity and muskets changed society and war patterns. In the middle and late Warring States Period, the relationship between serfs and landlords under the feudal system in the past was gradually destroyed.

After more than a hundred years of chaos, six famous military generals emerged who were able to conquer the war and influence the evolution of the overall situation. They are: the "First Three Heroes" Imagawa Yoshimoto, Uesugi Kenshin, and Takeda Shingen (who adopted Sun Tzu's Art of War in their military use). "Fuulin Volcano"); the "Last Three Heroes": Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The daimyo of various countries, headed by Oda Nobunaga, gradually broke away from the previous system of integrating soldiers and farmers, and instead hired professional soldiers in cash to fight for them. At the same time, the early alliance system of the common people and local tyrants among the princes gradually transformed into a centralized and authoritarian military regime. As a result, large-scale battles became the norm, and a unified new shogunate was born from the experience of the war.

Although the Muromachi shogunate has been in turmoil since the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu: politically, in addition to the confrontation between Lord Furukawa in Kanto and the shogunate, there have been endless political murders and resistance or private wars between princes in various places. Destroyed the political ecology everywhere.

In society, riots that break out in various places are like time bombs, causing varying degrees of damage to the entire social order. However, the Muromachi shogunate never gave up its determination to stabilize the situation across the country until all these efforts were wiped out by a nationwide melee caused by an accident in 1441.

The beginning of the Warring States Period is generally the Onin Rebellion in 1467, but the ending time is generally said to be as follows:

In 1568, Oda Nobunaga went to Luo ( Entering Kyoto) successfully.

In 1573, Oda Nobunaga captured the Nijo Imperial Palace and the Muromachi shogunate fell.

In 1590, Toyotomi Hideyoshi eliminated the Go-Hojo clan in the Kanto region, subdued the major names in the Tohoku region, and completed the general unification of Japan.

In 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu founded the Edo Shogunate (Tokugawa Shogunate).

In 1615, Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated Toyotomi Hideyori at the Battle of Osaka, and the Toyotomi clan was destroyed.

The last statement is adopted here to fully express this history.

Onin Rebellion, the Warring States Period

See Onin Rebellion for details

One of the four positions and the guardian of the Three Kingdoms, Akamatsu Mitsuyo, was in Kyoto because of his own He assassinated the shogun Ashikaga Yoshitsune (Kagichi Rebellion) at home, but was defeated and pacified by troops led by Yamana Sozen, one of the four positions and the guardian of the five kingdoms. After the war, the shogunate granted the Yamana clan the title of Guardian of the Three Kingdoms to which the Akamatsu clan belonged due to their contribution to quelling the rebellion. The power of the Yamana clan grew to protect the Eight Kingdoms and became a major force in the Western Kingdom.

At this time, the Hosokawa clan, one of the three governors and the guardian of the Eight Kingdoms and the ruler of the Izumi half country, faced the rise of the Yamana clan and decided to join forces with the Yamana clan to fight against the Tayama clan, who was also the third steward. policy. However, with the decline of the Tayama clan, conflicts between the two families also emerged. Especially after the succession issues between the Shiba clan and the Tayama clan among the three leaders, the conflict became more serious.

Until the birth of Ashikaga Yoshinaga, the eldest son of Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, triggered a succession turmoil, on January 17, the first year of Onito (1467), the Onito Rebellion broke out, and each guardian chose sides to support, forming a A great melee between the Hosokawa Allied Forces of the Eastern Army and the Yamana Allied Forces of the Western Army.

At the beginning of the war, because the Eastern Army won the support of the Emperor and the Shogun and gathered a relatively superior force, it can be said that it had an advantage in the first few months of the war. However, in July of the same year, the entire war situation suddenly changed after the Chinese local Shikoku guardian Ouchi Masahiro led more than 10,000 people to assist the Western army. In addition, the Western Army decided to support the general Ashikaga Yoshimasa's brother Ashikaga Yoshiki to compete with the Kyoto authorities, which plunged the entire war into a stalemate, which later expanded into a great melee across Japan.

As the leaders of the two armies died one after another and the dispute over the succession of the shogun was resolved, the two parties decided to reconcile, and the Onin Rebellion officially came to an end. Although the prestige of the shogunate was severely damaged after the Onin Rebellion, several subsequent generals still tried to restore the prestige of the shogunate until the moment before the Meiyo Rebellion broke out.

The Meiying Incident, the Kanto Rebellion

See the Meiying Incident for details

Although the influence of the shogunate was greatly lost after the Onin Rebellion, the successive shoguns Still trying to change the whole situation. Not only did they repeatedly attack the neighboring daimyo such as the Hosokawa clan and the Rokkaku clan, but they also repeatedly issued conquest orders to make the daimyo of various countries fight against the local lords who had influence on the Kyoto authorities. After all, this is no longer the era of strong shoguns: except as a tool for daimyo to seize power, almost no one is willing to obey the shogun's edicts.

In 1493, the general Ashikaga Yoshisai personally attacked the Hosokawa clan, but the Hosokawa clan instigated the Kyoto authorities to remove him from the general position. This incident is known as the Ming Ying Change in history. Since then, the prestige of the Muromachi shogunate has been completely lost, and what is left is just a puppet for the daimyo to control the political situation after taking control of Joro.

In addition to the unrest in Kinki, the situation in Kanto is also not very stable. When Ashikaga Takauji founded the shogunate, he had to set up the shogunate in Kyoto in order to fight against the Southern Dynasties. In Kanto, the center of the samurai family, Takauji entrusted his son to Kamakura, which was the Kamakura Duke's office. And assisted by the Guandong governor. Because the Kamakura Kōfufu and the Muromachi Shogunate have very similar systems, they are known as the Little Shogunate. The power of the Kamakura Duke was able to confront the shogunate, but in the middle of the Muromachi period, under the sixth shogun Yoshitsune, the Ekyo Rebellion broke out and was put down by the shogunate. Ashikaga Mochi, Duke of Kamakura, committed suicide. Later, Mochi's son Seiji was once again supported by the shogunate as the Kamakura Duke.

Later, Kamakura Duke Ashikaga Shigei became dissatisfied with Uesugi Kentada, the Kanto governor, and assassinated him. This move triggered a long-term confrontation between the Kanto governor and the Kōkō, which led to the shogunate sending Suruga to protect the Imagawa clan to crusade and forcing the Ashikaga Sari clan to move to Shimoso Furukawa and become the first Kogawa Kōkō.

After the Kotoku Rebellion, Lord Horikoshi, Ashikaga Masatomo, who was supported by the Uesugi clan, the leader of Kantō, and Furukawa Lord, who was supported by the wealthy families of Northern Kanto, appeared in Kanto. They fought against each other for nearly thirty years. Later, due to the rebellion of Nagao Keiharu, an important minister of the Yamauchi Uesugi clan, the Ogidani Uesugi clan took the opportunity to expand their power, prompting the Yamauchi Uesugi clan to choose to reconcile with Koga Koga to fight against the Ogidani Uesugi clan.

In order to fight against the Yamauchi Uesugi clan, the Ogigiya Uesugi clan formed an alliance with the Ise Naga clan, causing the two parties to fall into a tug-of-war again. In 1491, due to civil strife in the Horikoshi family, they were eliminated by the Ise Cho clan, and the Go-Hojo clan of the Ise Cho clan (ie Hojo Soun) greatly increased their strength. Soon after, the sudden death of Uesugi Sadamasa led to the decline of the Ogidani Uesugi clan. The Go-Hojo clan turned to attack the Ogidani Uesugi clan, eliminated the Sagami Miura clan and occupied Odawara Castle, which led to a new situation in which the two Uesugi jointly fought against the Go-Hojo clan.

Later, Uji Tsusara, the second-generation governor of the Hojo clan, invaded Musashi Country and replaced the old Ashikaga and Ryougesugi clans, becoming the strongest daimyo in the Kanto region.

The following defeated the superior, and the general was killed

In addition to the Ise Naga clan rising in the Kanto region and becoming the representative of the daimyo of the new era, the following began to appear in various parts of Japan to defeat the superior, and even became the hero of one party. new power. In China, the Izumo guardian Dai Nizi usurped the real power of the guardian Kyogoku clan. In the future, his daimyo Nizi replaced the Kyogoku clan and became the guardian of Izumo. During Nizi's lifetime, Nizi's family expanded into a Chinese duo that kept pace with Ouchi's family governor and Ouchi Yoshihiro, who prospered due to overseas trade, and reached eleven countries.

During the two heroes' struggle for hegemony, Mourimoto, a native of Aki, adopted a passive attitude and gradually absorbed the power of Nizi and Ouchi. Later, he took advantage of the Ouchi clan's internal strife and defeated Ouchi in the Battle of Itsukushima. Tao Qingxian, a powerful official of the Nei family, became the new overlord.

In addition, the guardian Toki clan of Mino was also expelled by the important minister Nagai Norihide and declined. Nagai Norihide later succeeded the Saito clan and changed his name to Saito Hideryu, with the monastic name "Dosan" , that is, Oda Nobunaga's father-in-law, Saito Dozo.

In the East China Sea, the Owari guardian Shiba clan also lost power, and was replaced by the guardians Dai Iwakura and the Kiyosu Oda clan. The important ministers of the Kiyosu Oda clan, Oda Nobusada and Nobuhide, father and son, later gained real power. After Oda Nobunaga inherited the family business, he completely replaced the Shiba clan, the Iwakura Oda clan and the Kiyosu Oda clan and became the leader of the Owari country.

During the Warring States Period in Japan, the conflict between the emerging forces that rose above the enemy and the old wealthy families never ceased, but the most tragic event was the murder of the general Ashikaga Yoshiteru.

In the Meiying Incident, Ashikaga Yoshisai was deposed as general by the Hosokawa clan. He later received the support of Chinese daimyo Ouchi Yoshiki. After successfully overthrowing the general Ashikaga Yoshiumi, he changed his name to Ashikaga Yoshiki. He was reinstated as a general. Since Ashikaga Yoshimi had no children, he adopted Ashikaga Yoshivi, the second son of former shogun Yosumi, as his adopted son.

In 1518, Ouchi Yoshihiro returned to his territory. Ashikaga Yoshihiro, who lost his protection, lost to the Hosokawa clan and resigned from the post of shogun. Ashikaga Yoshiharu, the eldest son of former general Yoshinori, took over. Due to a long-term rift with the governor, Hosokawa Harumoto, Yoshiharu resigned as shogun in 1546, and his eldest son Ashikaga Yoshiteru took over as the 13th shogun. Ashikaga Yoshiteru was determined to restore the prestige of the shogunate. Not only did he actively mediate disputes among the daimyo many times, he also invited daimyo such as Uesugi Kenshin and Oda Nobunaga to visit the shogun.

At this time, the leader of the Hosokawa clan was seized of power by the powerful minister Miyoshi Nagakei, who used the shogunate as a puppet to gain real power and became one of the powerful daimyo at that time. After Miyoshi Nagakei's death, his important ministers Matsunagahide and Miyoshi's trio decided to depose the general Ashikaga Yoshiteru. In 1565, the Miyoshi's trio and Matsunagahide's rebels surrounded the Nijo Imperial Palace where Yoshiteru was located. Although Ashikaga Yoshiteru received Famous swordsmen Ueizumi Nobutsuna, Tsukahara Fuden and others taught swordsmanship, and he had a reputation as a swordsman general, but he was still outnumbered and was killed. They elected Yoshie, the son of Ashikaga Yoshimi, as the 14th shogun. After Ashikaga Yoshiteru's death, the Muromachi shogunate completely lost its real power and the opportunity for revival until the shogunate's demise.

The rise of the overlord and the fall of the shogunate

For details, see Oda Nobunaga, the Battle of Okehazama, and the Battle of Mikadohara

Oda Nobunaga was the leader of the Owari Kingdom ( The daimyo of the northern part of present-day Aichi Prefecture). With the combat power of the Owari Kingdom, he defeated the famous general Imagawa Yoshimoto (Battle of Okehazama) who controlled the three countries of Suruga, Toe, and Mikawa and led about 25,000 troops with an army of 3,000 people at Okehazama. After the war, he chose to form an alliance with Tokugawa Ieyasu of neighboring Mikawa, and set his goal of territorial expansion on the Mino Kingdom ruled by the daimyo Saito Ryuuki.

In the early days, Oda Nobunaga's progress in conquering Mino was quite slow. It was not until Oda Nobunaga successfully promoted the defection of three of the Saito clan's most important ministers in Mino that the situation began to change. In September 1567, Nobunaga captured Mino Inabayama Castle, renamed Inabayama Castle Gifu Castle, and created the Tenkabubu Seal to start the road to unifying Japan. The following year, he successfully supported the 15th generation general Ashikaga Yoshiaki. With the help of his ally Nagamasa Asai, he completed the goal of going to Luo.

In 1570, the general Ashikaga Yoshiaki was dissatisfied with Oda Nobunaga's attitude of ignoring the shogunate, and secretly cooperated with Honganji Hiroyo, Takeda Shingen, Uesugi Kenshin, Motonari Mori, Asai Nagamasa and Miyoshi. Alliance with Asakura Yoshikage and other daimyo to form the so-called "Nobunaga Encirclement Network", intending to jointly confront and eliminate Nobunaga.

In 1571, Oda Nobunaga used Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei to protect his two rivals, Asai and Asakura, and stormed into the mountains to burn the Enryaku-ji Temple on Mount Hiei. This criticism was one of the events that caused great controversy during Nobunaga's lifetime.

In 1572, Takeda Shingen launched an army to attack Tokugawa Ieyasu's base areas, Toe Country and Mikawa Country, in an attempt to enter Beijing, and defeated the Tokugawa and Oda coalition forces at Mikatahara (Battle of Mikatahara). In May of the following year, Takeda Shingen died of illness in Shinano Kuniba. Before his death, it was decided that his grandson Takeda Nobukatsu would be the successor, and Nobukatsu's father Takeda Katsuyori would serve as the Jindai.

In 1573, Oda Nobunaga formally broke with Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the shogunate. Nobunaga stormed the Nijo Imperial Palace where the shogunate was located, arrested Yoshiaki, and exiled him to Wakae Castle in Kawachi. The Muromachi shogunate was declared dead. The Muromachi period, one hundred years before Japan's Warring States Period, came to an end here, and Japan entered the Azuchi-Momoyama period.

Azuchi Momoyama, the second attack on Korea

For details, see the Azuchi Momoyama era, the Battle of Nagashino, the Incident of Honnoji Temple, and the Battle of Bunroku Keicho

Shogunate After the demise, Nobunaga eliminated the Asai and Asakura families, forced Ise Kuni Secretary Kitada Tomato to hand over the family governor to Nobunaga's son Kitahata Tomato, and pacified Miyoshi, Matsunaga and other southern Kinki forces. Soon after, Oda Nobunaga built Azuchi Castle in Omi as a symbol of Oda's regime.

In 1575, Takeda Katsuyori led his army to attack Mikawa Nagashino Castle, and fought with the Oda and Tokugawa coalition forces at Mikawa Shitarahara (Battle of Nagashino). The defeated Takeda clan lost many important officials. , declined in 1582.

After the decline of the Takeda clan, Nobunaga used Kinki as the core and rapidly expanded to the surrounding areas. However, on June 2, 1582, he encountered the Incident of Honnoji Temple, that is, the betrayal of the army led by the important minister Akechi Mitsuhide, and his eldest son Oda Nobutada died in battle one after another.

Hashiba Hideyoshi, Nobunaga's chief minister, immediately returned to Kinki after learning of Mitsuhide's rebellion. He united with other ministers to defeat Akechi Mitsuhide (Battle of Yamazaki Tennoyama), and supported Nobutada's son Ori at the Kiyosu Conference to decide the successor of the Oda clan. Tian Xiuxin succeeded to the throne. Later, Hideyoshi defeated Oda's old ministers who opposed him. From then on, the foundation established by Oda Nobunaga was completely accepted by Hashiba Hideyoshi.

Afterwards, Hideyoshi negotiated peace with Tokugawa Ieyasu after the Komaki Nagasute War, and built Osaka Castle on the site of Ishiyama Honganji Temple. Later, he was appointed Guanbai in 1585. In 1586, he was given the surname Toyotomi and became the Minister of Taizheng, establishing the Toyotomi regime.

After conquering Kyushu, Shikoku and Kyushu, the Nagasogabe family and the Shimazu family surrendered, and in 1590, they surrounded Odawara Castle and defeated the Hojo family, making the Tohoku daimyo surrender and completing the unification of Japan. feat. The following year, Hideyoshi gave up the post of Sekihaku to his adopted son Toyotomi Hidetsu, and called himself Taihe, declaring the stability of Toyotomi's regime in a hereditary manner.

In 1592, Taihe Hideyoshi decided to send troops to attack the Ming Dynasty in order to quell the problem of insufficient land in the country. Therefore, Hideyoshi made a request to Korea to "falsely enter the Ming Dynasty", but was rejected by the king of Korea, so Hideyoshi decided to annex Korea first and then the Ming Dynasty.

In April 1592, Hideyoshi sent 160,000 soldiers to Korea, and the Battle of Munrok began. The Japanese army had an advantage at the beginning of the war, and it took only one month to capture the capital of North Korea (now Seoul) and expel North Korea's King Ri Ho.

In order to repel the Japanese army, Li Huo sent an envoy to ask for help from the Ming Dynasty, the suzerain country, and the Ming Dynasty court soon sent a large army to rescue. During this period, rebels appeared in various parts of Korea to resist the war. Among them, Guo Zaiyou and Gao Jing The war of resistance against Japan inspired the morale of the Korean army.

In January 1593, the Ming and Korean allied forces, led by Admiral Li Rusong, defeated the Japanese general Konishi Yukinacho and regained Pyongyang. Although they were defeated by the famous Japanese generals Tachibana Munesege and Kobayakawa Takakage at Byotokwan, they were later defeated by the Japanese army. Led by Ukita Hideie, they attacked Xingzhou Mountain Castle and were defeated by the counterattack of the famous North Korean army general Kwon Li. They were also short of food due to Li Rusong's sneak attack, forcing the Japanese army to retreat to Busan. In addition, Yi Sun-shin, the famous Korean navy general, also led the Korean navy to repel the Japanese navy. The Japanese army was forced to negotiate a peace with the Ming Dynasty due to setbacks on land and sea. In 1595, the Battle of Munroc ended with the peace negotiation between the two parties.

In 1597, Hideyoshi once again sent troops to attack North Korea, and the Battle of Keicho began. In order to reduce the combat effectiveness of the North Korean navy, the Japanese army used counter-insurgency tactics to frame Yi Sun-shin, who was dismissed from his post by Lee Ho. In February of the same year, the Ming Dynasty once again sent troops to support North Korea. The first was Magui, a famous general in the late Ming Dynasty, who fought with the Japanese Kato Kiyomasa and others in Ulsan. The North Korean navy was defeated by the Japanese army in the early stages of the war, forcing North Korea to recruit Yi Sun-shin to resist the Japanese army again.

In the Battle of Myeongryang, Yi Sun-shin defeated the Japanese commander Laishima Tongzong, and the situation began to turn around.

At the time of the confrontation between the two armies, Taihe Hideyoshi died of illness in Fushimi Castle, Kyoto, in July 1598. The Japanese army began to retreat under the order of the five elders. In November of the same year, the Ming and Korean coalition forces fought in the Luliang Sea Battle. The interception defeated the Japanese army, but Yi Sun-shin was killed in the attack by the famous Japanese generals Shimazu Yoshihiro, Tachibana Muneshige and others. The Japanese army successfully retreated back to the country, and the Battle of Keicho ended. After the Battle of Bunroku Keicho, the Toyotomi clan consumed too much financial resources, which became one of the main reasons why Tokugawa Ieyasu replaced him in the future.

Sekihara joined the war, Yuan and Yanwu

In 1598, Toyotomi Hideyoshi died of illness, and the Toyotomi clan appointed his youngest son Toyotomi Hideyori as the family governor, and the whole of Japan suddenly fell into chaos. The generals of the Toyotomi clan who had returned from the Korean Peninsula expressed dissatisfaction with the five generals headed by Ishida Mitsunari, and even tried to raise an army to assassinate them; on the other hand, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the leader of the five elders, secretly formed a secret alliance with the princes and divided the territory at will, which aroused The remaining four elders were dissatisfied.

In 1599, Maeda Toshiie, the most powerful of the four elders, died of illness, and the relationship between Toyotomi retainers and Tokugawa Ieyasu deteriorated rapidly. In 1600, two years after Hideyoshi's death, Tokugawa Ieyasu launched an army to conquer Uesugi Kagekatsu due to a complaint filed by Naoe Kanetsugu, an important minister of the Uesugi clan.

Ishida Mitsunari, an important minister of the Toyotomi clan, took this as Tokugawa Ieyasu's violation of the ban on private war. He summoned daimyo from all over the country to gather at Osaka Castle to declare "the inner government violated the regulations", and then launched an army to attack the Tokugawa clan; Tokugawa Ieyasu Then he handed over the Uesugi war to his second son and personally led the army to fight against the Toyotomi generals who supported him. The main forces of the two armies finally fought in the Omi area (known as the Sekigahara Battle in history).

At the beginning of the war, the Western Army under the de facto leadership of Ishida Mitsunari (the nominal commander was Mori Terumoto) launched a fierce offensive, which overwhelmed the Eastern Army (the commander was Tokugawa Ieyasu) on the front line; however, At about noon, Ieyasu used his musketeers to intimidate Kobayakawa Hideaki, the general of the Western Army whom he had bribed in advance, and forced him, Hiroie Yoshikawa and other Western Army generals to defect in front of the formation, approaching the main line of the Western Army.

As a result, the situation of the battle took a turn for the worse, and the Western Army went from a slight advantage to a complete collapse of the battle line. Before sunset, the battle ended with a great victory for the Eastern Army. A few days later, Ishida Mitsunari was arrested, and the three of them, Konishi Yukinagabu and Ankokuji Keijun, were executed as major war criminals. Tokugawa Ieyasu essentially replaced the Toyotomi clan's power.

In 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu was granted the post of general to conquer the barbarians by the emperor, and formally established the Edo shogunate; however, as Toyotomi Hideyori grew older, the Toyotomi clan became dissatisfied with Tokugawa Ieyasu. The sound is getting louder and louder. Also on the Tokugawa side, given that the Toyotomi family was getting rich and had great potential to regain its strength, Tokugawa Ieyasu ignored the close marriage relationship between the two families and was determined to eradicate it.

In 1614, Tokugawa Ieyasu's "Hokoji Temple Buddhist Bell Inscription" rebuilt by the Toyotomi family appeared "the country is well and the monarch and his subjects are happy", which means that he made a big fuss about this matter and accused Toyotomi. The Tomi family was suspected of cursing themselves (the word Ieyasu on the inscription was split, and Ieyasu said that Toyotomi cursed his own head), so he forced Hideyori to hand over Yododen (Hideyori's mother) to Edo Castle as a hostage and withdraw from Osaka Castle.

The Toyotomi family flatly refused, and actively gathered ronin and exiled daimyo to fight against about 110,000 people, and stored food to prepare for a long-term struggle. Tokugawa immediately issued a mobilization order to attack the Toyotomi family, and easily summoned more than 200,000 troops to surround Osaka Castle. However, due to the active resistance of the Toyotomi side, especially the command of the famous generals Sanada Yukimura, Goto Motoji and others, coupled with the advantage of Osaka Castle, the Tokugawa side made slow progress.

So Tokugawa Ieyasu used cannons to bombard the Osaka Castle castle tower, shocking the Toyotomi clan living there, and then pretended to sue for peace, asking Osaka Castle to fill in the outer moat as a condition for peace talks. However, while the peace talks were ongoing, Tokugawa Ieyasu suddenly dispatched tens of thousands of people to not only fill in the outer moat overnight, but also destroy the second and third cities and the inner moat one by one.

The Osaka Winter Formation ended when the Osaka Castle defense fortress was completely lifted. In May of the following year (1615), Tokugawa Ieyasu once again sent out troops to attack Osaka Castle. This battle, known as the Osaka Summer Formation in history, ended with Osaka Castle being captured and Hideyori's mother and son committing suicide. Tokugawa Ieyasu eliminated the Toyotomi clan and ended the chaotic Warring States period since the Onin Rebellion.

Understand Japan’s history, but don’t forget our own history: The following commemorates the Nanjing Massacre:

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