The 1585 was one of a series of assaults made by

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

against the

Ikkō-ikki were armed military leagues that formed in several regions of Japan in the 15th-16th centuries, composed entirely of members of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism. In the early phases, these ''ikki'' leagues opposed the rule of local Shugo, go ...

religious zealots towards the end of Japan's

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

. This battle followed the

siege of Negoro-ji The was commanded by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a former vassal of Oda Nobunaga, who came to inherit his armies, his land, and his rivalry with the warrior monks of Japan when Nobunaga was killed in 1582. Thus, in a way this was the next in a series of ...

, in which Hideyoshi's forces burnt a temple complex to the ground; a number of the

Saiga Ikki The , based in Ōta in the Kii Province (now part of Wakayama Prefecture) of Honshū, were one of many ''ikkō-ikki'' mercenary groups in feudal Japan. Those in Ōta, led by Suzuki Magoichi, were better known as Saika Magoichi. Saika-ikki was forme ...

zealots escaped to nearby Ōta Castle, which was held by Ōta Munemasa. Due to the topography of the area, Hideyoshi determined that he could not easily burn this fortress as he had the

Negoro-ji is a Buddhist temple located in the city of Iwade, Wakayama Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. Surrounded by the sacred peaks of the Katsuragi Mountains, the temple grounds were designated as a National Historic Site and a National Pla ...

; he decided to instead use flood tactics, as he had three years earlier in the

siege of Takamatsu In the 1582 , Toyotomi Hideyoshi laid siege to Takamatsu Castle (Bitchu), Takamatsu Castle, which was controlled by the Mōri clan. He diverted a nearby river with dikes to surround and flood the castle. He also constructed towers on barges f ...

. The presence of the Ikki zealots was already straining Ōta's supplies of food and other resources even before the siege began. With the construction of a palisade and series of dikes roughly 300 meters from the castle, Hideyoshi began the process of isolating the castle from supplies, and flooding it, a process bolstered by heavy rains. At one point, part of the dike gave out, resulting in the drowning deaths of several of Hideyoshi's men. However, by the 22nd day of the fourth lunar month, the garrison could hold out no longer and surrendered; fifty samurai committed

seppuku , also known as , is a form of Japanese ritualistic suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honor, but was also practiced by other Japanese people during the Shōwa era (particularly officers near ...

. As Hideyoshi took over the castle, he ordered all those from samurai families killed, while peasants were simply disarmed of all weapons, and sent back to their lords' fields.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ōta Castle 1585 1585 in Japan Sieges of the Sengoku period Conflicts in 1585 Attacks on castles in Japan Kii Province Military history of Wakayama Prefecture 16th-century military history of Japan