The was a small fortification attached to

Osaka castle is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan. The castle is one of Japan's most famous landmarks and played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi–Momoyama period. Layout Th ...

. It is famous for being impregnable and playing a key role in defending the castle in the winter of 1615. Later, it was forcefully destroyed despite being exempt from the reconciliation condition.

Background

was built on the

Uemachi plateau The Uemachi plateau (上町台地, うえまちだいち, Uemachi Daichi) is a plateau in Osaka City, Japan, that extends from the Osaka Castle and Tenmabashi area to Tennōji in the south. History and formation Based on post-war university st ...

enclosed by the

Yodo River The , also called the Seta River (瀬田川 ''Seta-gawa'') and the Uji River (宇治川 ''Uji-gawa'') at portions of its route, is the principal river in Osaka Prefecture on Honshu, Japan. The source of the river is Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefectur ...

and the

Yamato River The is a river that flows through Nara Prefecture and Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It is designated Classification of rivers in Japan, Class A by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). The river flows via towns: *Nara ...

. It was well fortified to the north but weakly guarded to the southern Tennōji plateau.

Sanada Yukimura , also known as , was a Japanese samurai warrior of the Sengoku period. He was especially known as the leading general on the defending side of the Siege of Osaka. Yukimura was called "A Hero who may appear once in a hundred years", "Crimson D ...

built the fortification in front of the outer

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

, at the Kuruwa port, at the southeastern Hirano-guchi (平野口) gate and beside the Kuromon-guchi (黒門口) gate. Due to its position, Sanada Maru became an obstacle to the main Tokugawa force during the

Siege of Osaka A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...

. By 1615, after its destruction, the tower keep era had reached its peak and construction declined with the establishment of the ''

Pax Tokugawa Tokugawa ( , ) may refer to: *Tokugawa era, an alternative term for the Edo period, 1603 to 1868 *Tokugawa shogunate, a feudal regime of Japan during the Edo period **Tokugawa clan, a powerful family of Japan ***Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616), most ...

'', which lasted until the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

in the late 19th century.

History

In 1614, Osaka castle, the stronghold of the

Toyotomi clan The was a Japanese clan that ruled over the Japanese before the Edo period. Unity and conflict The most influential figure within the Toyotomi was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the three "unifiers of Japan". Oda Nobunaga was another primary ...

, represented the last obstacle to Japan's unification under the Tokugawa hegemony.

Toyotomi Hideyori was the son and designated successor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the general who united all of Japan toward the end of the Sengoku period. His mother, Yodo-dono, was the niece of Oda Nobunaga. Early life Born in 1593, he was Hideyoshi's sec ...

appointed Sanada Yukimura as the garrison commander due to his experience opposing

Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

's army in his castle at

Ueda Ueda may refer to: Places *Ueda, Nagano, a city in Japan * Ueda Castle in Japan * Ueda Domain of Japan * Ueda Glacier in Antarctica Other uses * Ueda (surname) *Siege of Ueda Sekigahara campaign Sieges of the Sengoku period Attacks on castles ...

during the

Sekigahara campaign The Sekigahara Campaign was a series of battles in Japan fought between the Eastern Army aligned with Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Western Army loyal to Ishida Mitsunari, culminating in the decisive Battle of Sekigahara. The conflict was sparked by a ...

. At that time the castle had two moats, which still exist, and Hideyori's

engineers Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while consider ...

created an outer moat by cutting a channel between the canal that existed to the west and the Nekoma stream which flowed from south to north on the eastern side. The following campaign and battle is often referred to as the last stand of the

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

before the Tokugawa shogunate reformed the ways of the samurai including prohibiting practices like

headhunting Headhunting is the practice of hunting a human and collecting the severed head after killing the victim. More portable body parts (such as ear, nose, or scalp) can be taken as trophies, instead. Headhunting was practiced in historic times ...

. ''Samurai: Japan's Way of the Warrior''
Tom O'Neill, National Geographic Magazine, December, 2003 The attack on Sanada Maru began on December 4. Yukimura and about 6-7,000 men defending Sanada Maru against Tokugawa forces of approximately 10-30,000 men. The Tokugawa forces were repeatedly repelled, and Sanada's troops launched a number of counterattacks, even breaking through the siege lines. By December 18, all the outlying forts and waterways had fallen but the Sanada Maru proved impregnable. As a stockade had been built, Ieyasu began to starve out the huge castle. However, supplies were sufficient to feed everyone for several years. Ieyasu then resorted to

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

bombardment. Sakers fired from the north, no less than 300

culverin A culverin was initially an ancestor of the hand-held arquebus, but the term was later used to describe a type of medieval and Renaissance cannon. The word is derived from the antiquated "culuering" and the French (from " grass snake", follo ...

s blasted from the south, and more culverins firing from the north and the east were able to do considerable damage. While long-range culverins kept up a bombardment, miners began digging in an attempt to weaken the walls. As there were still uncommitted clans who might be tempted to attack the Tokugawa from the rear, time was on the side of Hideyori. Ieyasu used the steadily improving bombardment to pressure for peace negotiation. Hideyori accepted a peace formula whereby the Tokugawa army would withdraw and Osaka castle would remain in Hideyori's hand under the provision of no further "rebellion" against the Tokugawa Shōgun. Many Tokugawa troops did not leave but instead worked to fill in the outer moat. Hideyori protested but by the time, a week later, Ieyasu agreed that these had indeed not been included in the peace agreement the outer moat had ceased to exist, and his men were turning to the second moat.

Location

The place where Sanada Maru was located is north of the Sanadayama Park. It was originally a little hill which was recessed in the center. Today it is a small underdeveloped plot of land in an urbanized area. A partial moat and bridge are present. Just south of it is Sanada High School.

Structure

Sanada Maru was an earthwork

barbican A barbican (from ) is a fortified outpost or fortified gateway, such as at an outer defense perimeter of a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes. Europe Medieval Europeans typically b ...

with a simple two-storey wooden wall on top with firing platforms augmented with other simple means of defense like

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...

s. A dry

offered additional defence. Cannons were placed along the walls, together with firebomb-projecting

mangonels The mangonel, also called the traction trebuchet, was a type of trebuchet used in Ancient China starting from the Warring States period, and later across Eurasia by the 6th century AD. Unlike the later counterweight trebuchet, the mangonel was ...

. Defended by the Sanada samurai clan it may be classified as a yagura, although only in the spirit rather than technical accuracy. As essentially a temporary structure it was not copied elsewhere.

Film, television, and theatrical adaptations

''Sanada Maru'' has appeared in part or in full for different media including stage, screen and radio. These adaptations include: * A 2016 Japanese drama, ''

Sanada Maru The was a small fortification attached to Osaka castle. It is famous for being impregnable and playing a key role in defending the castle in the winter of 1615. Later, it was forcefully destroyed despite being exempt from the reconciliation con ...

'' for

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

, starring

Masato Sakai あ is a Japanese actor. Since the success of '' Naoki Hanzawa'' (2013), he has become one of the most famous actors in Japan. Career Sakai aspired to become a bureaucrat until high school, but when he entered university, he decided to pursue a ...

References

External links

{{Coord, 34, 40, 23, N, 135, 31, 44, E, region:JP_type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Osaka Special Historic Sites Osaka Castle Sanada clan Castles in Osaka Prefecture