Chapter 56: Furuwatari War Part I - The Great Uprising and the End of Keizan
The news of Ujinobu’s capture of Kamakura and killing of the Kamakura Tandai and his designated heir would trigger a wave of lords and samurai declaring themselves against Azuchi in the Kanto and Oshu regions, including Onodera Yoshimichi of Dewa Province, Shiba Akikuni and Ashina Morinori of Mutsu Province, and Oda Toshiharu (小田利治) of Hitachi Province. Takeda Nobumichi in Kai Province also rose up in arms, as did Matsudaira Mitsutada and Tadayuki from Okazaki Castle in Mikawa Province. Many others who had been contacted and held some sympathy, however, waited out, and ultimately the news from Gifu dissuaded many from joining the rebellion. Among these lords were Sakuma Moritora who supposedly ordered all letters from Keizan and Ujinobu to be burned and any evidence of his dissatisfaction towards Azuchi to be completely covered up, opting instead to raise an army against the rebels. In one specific case, Tsugaru Nobuyoshi (津軽信義), who had just risen up in arms, reversed course immediately upon hearing of Furuwatari Nobuhira’s defeat in Gifu and switched back to the Oda fold. Ultimately, this sudden reverse of betrayal would not save him as he would eventually be pressured to commit seppuku and allow his younger brother Nobuhide (津軽信英) to succeed as head of the Tsugaru clan. The betrayal would also deprive the rebels of a powerful ally in the Oshu region.
Salmon=Loyalists, Maroon=Rebel lands, Orange=Tsugaru clan
As news of the spreading rebellion poured into Gifu, Nobutomo was preparing to lead an army directly into Owari towards Furuwatari Castle, where Keizan and Nobuhira had fled, composed of his army from Azuchi and reinforcements from across Mino province. He also made preparations to crush the larger rebellion to the east, ordering daimyo from the Hokuriku and Chubu regions to raise men and gather at Gifu. As his youngest brother Tomoaki was overseas as the head of an embassy to Paris [1], he would assign Oda Kanetada (織田包忠) of Iga Province [2] to Gifu to guard Nobutomo’s young heir and oversee the gathering of forces in Gifu. Meanwhile, Miyoshi Yasutaka would oversee the gathering of men from across western and central Japan at Azuchi for an army to assist Nobutomo’s efforts.
With those plans in place, Nobutomo left Gifu at the head of an army of 13,000 in early January 1638. Despite January being outside the traditional campaigning season, the daijo-daijin was eager to crush Saito Yoshioki’s son and the usurper he backed as soon as possible. The latter two had retreated near the castle and were desperately attempting to recruit peasants as ashigaru and attract disgruntled ronin and local lords, as they had lost 3,000 out of the original 5,000 to desertion, disease, and combat. However, nearly all the other samurai in Owari Province remained loyal to Nobutomo. Only Nobuhira’s son Nobunao (古渡信直), who had stayed behind to head the 500-strong garrison of Furuwatari Castle, provided any meaningful support to the ailing field army through supplies and shelter. This didn’t prevent Nobutomo from intercepting the rebels on January 20th at the Battle of Chigusa (千種の戦い), where the Oda army easily overwhelmed Keizan and Nobuhira’s men. Nobuhira died in the fighting, with Keizan and the survivors fleeing back to the castle. The castle held out a week before the garrison turned on Keizan and killed him, surrendering to Nobutomo with the instigator’s head as an offering. Although Nobunao would be forced to commit seppuku, his retainers would be spared.
Site of the now-demolished Furuwatari Castle
From there, Nobutomo would leave matters at Furuwatari to Murai Sadamasa, who was left with 5,000 men from the Oda army and instructed to strike at Matsudaira Mitsutada and Tadayuki, who had begun to march eastwards towards Suruga Province, from behind and assist the Tokugawa Tadayasu in his efforts to crush his rebellious cousin. Back in Gifu, although heavy snowfall delayed the arrival of contingents from the Hokuriku region, an army of 40,000 had gathered by mid-March. The army planned on charting a course through Mino and Shinano provinces before reaching Kozuke province and reinforcing the forces of Mori Noriyoshi and Takigawa Kazutoshi, who were mobilizing rapidly in anticipation of an invasion from Hojo Ujinobu. Kozuke was also an ideal location for the daijo-daijin to send orders to the daimyo in the northern Kanto region and Echigo province. In Azuchi, Yasutaka and Takanaga would also raise a similarly sized army and depart in the early spring as well. Among those participating was the Imperial Regent and Nobutomo’s younger brother, Konoe Tomoshige, who would be accompanied by many younger sons of imperial nobility in service as cavalry. The army in Azuchi would depart shortly after Nobutomo did so from Gifu, with Kitabatake Takanaga [3] in charge of the defenses of Azuchi and Kyoto in the absence of both the daijo-daijin and the imperial regent.
Nobutomo would need all the men he could deploy against the rebellious daimyo for the latter were no pushovers. As the de facto hegemon of the Kanto region, Hojo Ujinobu could mobilize tens of thousands of men on his own with relative ease and did so throughout the winter months of late 1637 and early 1638. Not even news of the deaths of Keizan and Furuwatari Nobuhira slowed his efforts, as he was confident that his numerical strength, distance from Azuchi, and various allies in the Kanto and Oshu regions could win and gain some sort of independence from the Oda clan. Additionally, he had little to worry about on his western flank for the time being, for his allies in Mikawa and Kai provinces would largely preoccupy the energies of the Tokugawa clan, although his cousin Oota Nobufusa (太田信房) would hold down Odawara Castle for him with a sizeable garrison in case of an unexpected attack from Sunpu. By late February, the Hojo had gathered an army of 50,000 and prepared to make their move. 35,000, led by Ujinobu himself and his eldest son Ujitoshi (北条氏利) planned a march directly upon Kozuke province to drive out their traditional rivals, the Takigawa clan. A second division, led by Oota Sukemune, would be directed towards Shimoda, a heavily fortified port home to a squadron of the Azuchi navy headquartered there. The remaining 5,000 would assist efforts by pro-Hojo daimyo in fighting pro-Oda daimyo in Shimotsuke province as well as conquering Oda territories in Shimousa province. To the north, allied daimyo would also raise tens of thousands of men combined, resulting in the total strength of the rebel daimyo surpassing 100,000 men. Without the presence of armies from Azuchi and Gifu, pro-Azuchi daimyo and armies were largely on their own.
However, the loyalists in Oshu would quickly prove their might early on in the war. The Ashina and Nihonmatsu clans coordinated their raising of arms and planned a swift campaign meant to catch their historical rivals and one of the pro-Azuchi daimyo in the region, the Date now under the leadership of Date Norimune (伊達則宗) [4], by surprise with a combined army of 15,000. Unfortunately for them, fierce snowstorms slowed their incursion into Date territory, allowing Norimune to mobilize a sizable force quickly. In late January 1638, he attacked the Ashina-Nihonmatsu camp at the bottom of Sumomoyama (李山), a short distance away from the main Date castle of Yonezawa Castle (米沢城), with a numerically inferior force of 10,000. Despite stiff resistance and freezing conditions, Norimune successfully drove his foes out of the camp and a lack of supplies amidst the punishing weather forced the Ashina-Nihonmatsu out of Date territory completely. Their plan had been foiled and they would have to wait out the winter before they could attempt another campaign north. The Date victory meanwhile bought more time to prepare against the rebels before a more favorable outcome came about. Seasonal changes in general would commence a bloody period of campaigns and battles between two diverging visions of Japan: one more feudal and inward-looking, and another more centralized and cosmopolitan.
Portrait of Date Norimune
[1]: We will definitely get to this in a future chapter.
[2]: ITTL’s Oda Naomasa (織田直政), grandson of Oda Nobukane and head of the Nobukane cadet branch of the Oda clan
[3]: ITTL’s Oda Takanaga (織田高長), Kitabatake Norioki’s third son
[4]: ITTL’s Date Tadamune (伊達忠宗)
