Tokugawa Ieyasu
Episode 47: The Winter Battle of Osaka Castle
On November 26th, 1614,
the winter battle of Osaka Castle began.
Despite Ieyasu's strict orders to refrain from fighting,
Kato from Ito-Matsuyama province and
the Ikeda brothers from Himeji competed for the front lines,
and the other lords joined the fight.
Peace which lasted for 14 years after the Sekigahara battle,
was suddenly broken by violent flames.
The lords of the Eastern provinces fought bitterly
to impress Ieyasu and his son.
As a result, Hideyori's army outside the castle,
was driven back inside.
The residents of Osaka castle
had no choice but to hide in the castle.
The great cannon which was set up on a tower
changed the atmosphere within the castle.
We overdid it.
If both sides could have been stopped at a standstill,
then we could've found a solution without hatred.
But stealing the march on the enemy
is not considered out of line.
Masazumi!
You don't seem to understand.
We oppose the will of the gods
when we waste lives on a war we could win without killing.
What do you think, Shogun?
The enemy seems to be prepared to stay in the castle, so
I'd like to summon ditch diggers from Koshu.
We set up a cannon on the tower,
and make them dig from the moat to the castle.
We can spread rumors around
that we intend to pour explosives into the ditch
to blow up the entire castle.
That may make them change their strategy.
That's a good idea.
If possible, I don't want to use the cannon.
Don't push them.
Negotiate.
I'll make the arrangements.
Give me some tea.
Lady Acha...
She was a widow of one of the former Imagawa clansmen.
She was a talented woman who Ieyasu took as his concubine.
But nobody knew why Ieyasu brought her along to war.
When rumors of ditch diggers spread in the castle,
the will to fight quickly waned.
This is a problem, my lord.
Though we'd like to go out and fight,
it's useless if neither the Shogun or Ieyasu comes out.
Those who were initially excited about the war
have quieted and the only one who is outraged now
is our heir, Lord Hideyoshi, who was first opposed to war.
Isn't this strange...
On December 1st, Yukimura became impatient
and visited Ono Shuri at his camp.
...I got a messenger from our heir.
Oh? Heir?
He is frustrated at staying in this castle.
He says we should launch an all-out attack at midnight.
At midnight?
And? Did you agree to it?
We've already agreed to settle peacefully
before the end of the year.
But our heir is unaware of that.
He's young, and wants to go out and fight.
Lord Shuri?
Who decided to settle peacefully
when our lord wants to fight?
The Lady Mother did.
And the Elder Lords and Ladies, and Lord Yuraku have all agreed.
So, the Lady Mother is the commander of this war?
Don't be sarcastic.
She is thinking of our heir's benefit.
We must secretly spy on our enemy's intentions
if we want to settle peacefully.
I can't be asking everybody.
Once peace is established,
the samurai who have gathered here would become useless.
What are you going to do with them?
They won't be punished. They may leave or stay.
One of the conditions of peace is that we handle them.
Do you think that's sufficient for
the samurai who came dreaming of a victory and glory?
I'll distribute as much money as I can to them.
I have a favor to ask.
Can you agree to convince our lord?
Unfortunately...
I'm the type who cannot lie.
Are you opposed to negotiating peace?
It's too late for that.
We'll be destroyed whether we settle or fight.
Lord Sanada!
Brother!
Doken, our heir's brother, has set fire on the Sakai homes!
Stop him! If we anger the Sakai residents,
we'll lose our source of provisions.
But the fire has spread because of the winds.
You go, too!
I, Sanada, have come to see our lord!
Interpreting the burning of Sakai as
an abolishment of the peace settlement,
the Tokugawa army began attacking with the cannon.
Reporting!
Have you reported to our men that they must not fight back?
Why?
Who said we shouldn't fight back?
I said we must not let Doken die.
But, you opposed me, Mother.
My Lord!
Though I relayed your order to our men,
they are just stunned by the sound of the cannons.
What?
See? According to Jokoin,
the Retired Shogun wants to settle peacefully, but
the Shogun wanted to launch an underground attack!
Now the burning in Sakai has given him an excuse to do so!
Shut up! Are you the commander here?
I, Hideyori, will give the orders on this war!
Tell everyone to open the gates, go out, and fight!
Before the fires from the cannons subside!
This is the commander's order!
You may not! The enemy numbers 300,000!
How can we fight if we're afraid to die?
Go!
We intend to make my father's castle our deathbed.
I will not allow even you to interfere, Mother.
This is funny, so now you're in the position to scold me?
Hit me!
Hit your Mother!
Those cannon shots were just for openers, but
we don't hear the usual cries from the castle,
and the entire castle is completely quiet.
I'm sure the mixed bunch of warriors in the castle
have just been overwhelmed by the sound.
It's your turn, Acha. I've contacted Jokoin.
You and Jokoin may go to see Lady Yodo.
Yes, sire.
Are you ready, Munenori?
It's all set.
Late that night, a conference was held secretly between
Lady Yodo, Jokoin, and Lady Acha.
Ieyasu thought women should talk amongst themselves.
Early the next morning,
the men of Osaka Castle were gathered in the main hall.
Well done, everyone.
I shall speak on behalf of our lord.
Thank you for fighting hard.
But we have decided to settle for now.
Please keep that in mind.
I'm mortified! The Retired Shogun is old.
We shall disband our army and make plans for the future.
I'm mortified!
Is this all right, Mother?
Is this the peace that you want?
This frustration... This humiliation...
Sire!
Shut up, Shuri! I wanted to die with everyone.
But even that wasn't possible.
Did you all hear?
Our heir intended to die with everyone.
But that will be a betrayal on his part.
You came to fight for him
because you wanted him to live as our Late Regent's son.
I decided to settle peacefully
so that we may prevent him from dying uselessly.
Some say Lord Ieyasu's men have no compassion.
But I disagree.
They have agreed not to take me as their hostage,
not to decrease our fiefs, and not to punish you.
I will not allow you to oppose this.
If this settlement turns out to be disadvantageous to us,
you may kill me first!
That's enough, Lady Mother!
Please leave, Sire.
We have understood your orders.
I'd like to discuss the method of disbanding.
One of the conditions for peace was
to bury the moat of Osaka Castle, and decrease the castle's defenses.
I believe this was quite difficult to negotiate.
Who, in fact, did this negotiating?
I asked our Lady Mother's sister, Jokoin
to discuss matters with Lady Acha from our enemy's forces.
There were this many men,
yet not one of them was useful?
Stay calm!
Though we have reached a peace settlement,
the enemy forces are many.
Some of them may still penetrate into the castle.
Therefore, I ask that you exercise extreme caution.
Date Masamune.
Though he was an ally of the Tokugawa army,
he was ready to change sides
as soon as the Shogun or Ieyasu began to lose the war.
Now the war was settled peacefully,
he had to show loyalty toward Ieyasu.
Let me ask you directly.
When will the next all-out attack be?
The next all-out attack?
You have ordered your allies to disband.
I believe that's your strategy to throw the enemy off guard.
You have the opportunity to destroy their defensive moat.
That will cause the warriors to riot within the castle.
That's what you're waiting for.
Wait, Lord Date...
I'm afraid that you haven't solved
the problem of the warriors in the castle.
No matter how generous you may be,
you cannot reward them for having rebelled against you.
All you're doing is postponing the problem.
I'd like your permission for me and my Oshu men
to stay and crush them as soon as they begin to riot.
You are absolutely wrong!
The gods will punish the disloyal retainers!
This is unexpected.
I'd like you to explain the situation to me
for I might have misunderstood.
I have settled peacefully because of my friendship with the Late Regent!
This is my indication to the gods
that I will fulfill my obligation to him.
It's easy for me to destroy the Toyotomi clan now.
I have settled to give Lord Hideyori another chance.
If he doesn't understand that
and ignores his obligations to me,
he'll be the cause of the clan's destruction.
This is the way of the gods!
He provoked Ieyasu's anger,
and it seems as if he proved his loyalty to him, but...
Lord Date!
Lord Yagyu?
Has your great ship reached Spain yet?
Your envoys must have met King Phillip by now,
and are now probably being treated well by him.
Exactly, the Late Regent only thought of conquering China.
My dream is to conquer Europe.
Such dreams help me get through the cold weather.
Excuse me.
Masamune still dreamt of enlisting the Spaniards help
to let Tadateru gain control of Japan.
He was made aware that the
Tokugawa men were keeping a close watch on him.
That evening, a peace treaty
was exchanged between the two sides.
It seems this was an urgent matter, so I left secretly.
There's something I must discuss with you.
Tonight, the fate of the Toyotomi clan will be decided.
This is our only chance to win.
What?
The Retired Shogun has ordered the Kyushu army to pull out.
I'm sure they'll be drinking tonight.
Then...?
A surprise attack!
We'll split 10,000 men into two armies
and head straight for the Shogun's main army.
We'll capture the Retired Shogun and the Shogun.
This is our only way out.
What was the treaty today for?
What?
The trick lies in leaving our fiefs as is.
Since the Sekigahara war,
our retainers have slowly eaten away at our fiefs.
Now, we have newly hired warriors.
If we settle, we don't have enough fiefs to distribute.
We can say that this peace treaty
takes into account that our men will revolt against us.
I'm afraid of riots erupting between
our old-timers and the newly hired warriors over fiefs.
And, I'm also afraid our heir, the Lady Mother,
and Princess Sen will become involved, and may be killed.
If we capture the Shogun, we can bargain for more fiefs.
Then, we can settle to our advantage,
and release our warriors easily.
You are our lord's deeply trusted aide.
Can you ask him for permission to do this?
Otherwise, riots will ensue.
Then we will be unable to negotiate to our advantage.
All right.
Do you understand?
We cannot afford to let the enemy know of this,
so we must speak directly to our heir.
I appreciate that.
Hurry!
Don't let our men relax or they may be swept with exhaustion.
Yes, lord!
Hideyori tried to drown his mortification in sake.
...you're giving up on the attack?
We, the Sanada regiment can bravely surprise the enemy.
It's too late, we lost.
We haven't lost! How could we when we're not afraid to die?
We haven't lost to our enemy, but we lost to women.
I didn't know who my enemies were.
The wars on this earth were always between men and women.
The women want to give birth, multiply, and bear fruit.
Yet the men want to kill, hunt, and take.
I risked a man's pride on this war.
But... I lost to the women who pray for peace.
I realize that I lost to Ieyasu
who relied on the emotions of those mothers.
I lost..
After the peace settlement, money was distributed.
The warriors left the castle in search of sake and women.
Thus, while they were off guard in Osaka Castle,
the Tokugawa men quickly buried the moats.
By the time the men had spent their money,
Osaka Castle was completely defenseless.
Lord Itakura, you have buried the moat too quickly.
Our promise was to bury only the outer moat,
but you buried the inner moat as well.
Many warriors are excitable, and riots may occur.
You're saying you must surround the castle again?
I hope you know when the warriors are going to leave.
It is stated in the conditions for peace that you Tokugawa men
will not interfere in our treatment of our warriors!
The Shogun was showing compassion
by letting you handle matters concerning your men.
If you're prepared to talk to the Retired Shogun,
you'd better first thank him.
He kept the Shogun and the various lords in check and postponed this war until winter.
Had he not done so,
you would not have had one grain of rice to eat!
If you can't even figure this out, you're not fit to negotiate.
New Years, 1620.
Ieyasu welcomed his 74th New Year at Nijo Castle.
His 10th son, Chofukumaru, and his 11th son, Tsuruchiyo,
were allowed to keep him company.
...our Tokugawa clan cherishes family customs and traditions.
We serve rabbit soup for New Years because
it is said that one of our ancestors
was wandering about the country with his son,
when someone took them in and fed them this soup.
It helped revive their strength.
It represents poverty and obligation.
Right?
Reporting!
A messenger from Toyotomi Hideyori
has arrived with his New Year greeting.
From Lord Hideyori?
Gather my men! Bring him into the grand hall!
You may come, too as my sword bearer!
Ieyasu was most concerned about Hideyori, and
now a messenger had come from him...
I, Lord Kimora Shigenari of Nagato have come
with New year greetings from Minister Hideyori.
Thank you for coming.
There is a special message for the Retired Shogun.
I'll listen.
'I, Hideyori, will regret it if you return to Sumpu.
We exercised poor judgment
and didn't realize your love for us.
We were wrong,
please forgive me.'
What did he say?
He says he must say this to you, to relieve his burden.
'I will welcome a good year with Princess Sen.'
'This is all due to your love for us.
I, Hideyori, will willing be transferred
to the end of the earth for you!'
I see...
Is that what he said...
Tell them that I'd like news of the birth of an heir
while I'm alive.
I'm waiting for that.
Lord Hideyori chose the fabric, and
his wife sewed this jacket for you
to keep you warm so you won't catch a cold.
Osen made this herself?
Itakura Katsushige, the representative in Kyoto was summoned.
I have summoned you here
to gather your men to investigate Yamato Koriyama immediately!
What does that mean?
We made them bury the moat for the sake of our country.
Now that he's understood, we must think of Hideyori's good.
We'll build a fine castle befitting the noble Toyotomi clan.
Yamamoto Koriyama would be ideal.
That's great!
Keep a close watch over the warriors in the castle.
There's nothing that I regret.
I shall begin work.
On January 3rd, Ieyasu and his party left Nijo Castle.
He thought that this would probably be his last trip,
and held tightly onto the jacket.
The Shogun, Hidetada, and his aides
were unaware of the changes in Hideyori's attitude,
and were frustrated at Ieyasu's laxness.
If Hideyori truly understands our Retired Shogun's love,
he would not have started this war in the first place.
It's necessary to punish him strictly
so that he'll never plot a rebellion again.
Right!
Has the Toyotomi clan done anything for us Tokugawa's?
From our father's generation, they have caused us problems,
but not once have they protected us.
If left as is, the citizens of our country
will think that we are their retainers,
and trouble will arise again.
Our Retired Shogun's lax treatment of this matter
may lie in the fact that his beloved grand-daughter, Sen,
is presently in that castle.
It may be so.
But we must not let personal feelings
influence our country's justice.
Reporting!
Lord Itakura Katsushige wishes to see you urgently!
Bring him in.
What is it?
There's trouble in Osaka Castle again.
The warriors within the castle have not left.
They are opposing the burying of the moat,
and some are even digging new moats
If left as is, conflicts will definitely arise.
What useless men!
Lady Yodo and Princess Sen, who wanted to settle peacefully,
may be taken hostage by those warriors.
My lord!
We must not let Sen ruin my father's last moments.
If Sen remains in the castle, we cannot attack full force.
We must drive the scums out of Osaka Castle
or peace will be disturbed once again.
Osen must die.
Forgive me, Osen.
Princess Sen in Osaka Castle
received secret orders from her father to die.
My Lady!
...Osen? Suicide?
All she says is she just wanted to die.
Ridiculous! She is getting along well with our heir.
Why should she want to die alone?
I'm sure she was ordered to kill you or our heir.
What?
But our heir is her only husband,
and you're her kind mother-in-law.
So, she chose to take her own life instead.
Wait, how do you know the Shogun ordered that?
It must be from a rebellious retainer like yourself.
'Like yourself?'
Right!
You take me and my son lightly and plan things in secret.
Some Tokugawa men probably do that, too.
I must defend myself.
There's a rumor that they'll attack again.
From Edo?
They intend to destroy our clan,
and buried our moat, and left our castle defenseless.
I'll prove it!
Send a messenger to test Ieyasu out.
Spy on him?
What's going on with Osen...?
News of that incident reached Ieyasu.
That fool!
My lord!
Shut up!
Has the Shogun gone mad?!
How's Osen?
An elder found her just in time and she's all right.
What's going on?
Hideyori finally understood my intentions,
and now the Shogun doesn't.
We must not let Osen die.
I must make the Shogun understand.
Masazumi, hurry up!
But another messenger arrived
who pressed Ieyasu into making a new decision.
This was Itakura Katsushige's son, Shigemasa.
Not only are they trying to burn Nijo and Fushimi Castles,
but they are surrounding the Imperial Court
to enlist them as their ally.
They're involving the Imperial Court?
So...there was that possibility...
Various armies have returned.
The warriors in Osaka Castle, despite Hideyori's wishes,
are ready to cause a violent revolt.
The gods probably intend to give me a final test in life.
At this point, Ieyasu decided to set out to war again.