Chapter 64: Furuwatari War Part VII -The Flames of Defiance Extinguished
As the seasons changed from summer to fall in 1638, Azuchi was closing in on the Hojo. On the western front, Tokugawa Tadayasu was mobilizing an army in Sunpu set to march directly towards Odawara Castle while Kawajiri Shigenori was making similar preparations in Kai province after both fighting Takeda Nobumichi directly and contributing to Nobutomo’s armies. To the north, northern Musashi had been conquered by Oda-Azuchi forces, and to the east the Hojo had been completely ousted out of Shimousa province. Furthermore, just before the Battle of Fukaya, Satomi Toshiteru switched sides and would help defeat the Hojo in Kazusa province. Back in Hachioji Castle, Ujinobu hatched a final plan to somehow topple the Oda-Azuchi regime. Leaving 10,000 in and around Hachioji Castle with Hojo Ujinaga, he left for Odawara Castle with the rest of his remaining army in the hopes of punching through the Kawajiri and Tokugawa armies eyeing the Hojo home castle before marching along the Tokaido straight towards Gifu. The goal was to cause enough chaos to gather ex-rebels in Mikawa province, cut off Nobutomo from Azuchi, and force him to leave the Kanto region. By the time he arrived in the vicinity of Odawara Castle in September 1638, Ujinobu had an army of 22,000. However, many of his men were exhausted from the unrelenting marches. Nevertheless, the Hojo army remained committed to their lord and Ujinobu continued on, entering Suruga province and encamping in Gotemba (御殿場). There, he would rest and awaited intelligence on the movements of the nearby Tokugawa and Kawajiri armies. However, the seemingly inevitable battle would never come even as Tadayasu and Shigenori prepared to assault the Hojo army from the north and west with a total of 17,000 men. News came to Ujinobu of the collapse of Hojo presence in Musashi province as Nobutomo’s armies overwhelmed the rest of the province, including the army of 10,000 left to hold out near Hachioji Castle. Additionally, Ujinobu’s final gamble was viewed by many of his men in Musashi as the abandonment of the province, causing many to desert or defect and shaking the loyalties of the remainder of the Hojo military. The Hojo lord, disheartened by the situation in Musashi and realizing his end as inevitable, would commit seppuku in shame after reaching out to the Tokugawa, asking that his men be spared. His final wish was granted, although some of his men would choose instead to split off and continue to fight rather than surrender. These would be the exceptions, for Odawara would also unconditionally surrender and the rest of the Hojo would soon follow.
After the Hojo surrender, only the Ashina, Nihonmatsu, and Kasai clans in Mutsu province remained in arms against Azuchi. After the Battle of Esashi, Sakuma Noritora and Nanbu Shigenao received even more reinforcements from other clans as Kasai Kiyonobu retreated completely. Possessing too few men, the Kasai clan was limited to defending its remaining castles. By the end of October, the main castle of Teraike Castle (寺池城) had fallen as well, and Kiyonobu, who by now was on the run, was captured a few weeks later. With the final fall of the Kasai, the last hurrah of the war would take place in the lands of the Ashina clan. The latter had retreated together with the surviving elements of the Nihonmatsu clan, whose castle had fallen to the Date earlier, back to Aizu. By then, rumors of invasions by other clans had been confirmed, with a 15,000 strong army of the Echigo lords led by Irobe Mitsunaga having crossed into Ashina territory and Utsunomiya Yoshitsuna mobilizing an army himself in Shimotsuke province. Although Mitsunaga’s army theoretically outnumbered the Ashina-Nihonmatsu field army, the former faced local resistance and could not move decisively towards Kurokawa Castle (黒川城) [1], allowing Ashina Morinori to strengthen his numbers and eastern defenses. Finally, at the beginning of September, Nihonmatsu Yoshitada left the castle at the head of the 11,000-strong main army, and faced off against Mitsunaga a week later at Aizubange (会津坂下). Yoshitada placed his own retinue numbering 2,500 at the front end of the army jutting out somewhat, with the Ashina men in the reserves and wings, while the Echigo army was more uniform in its formation. The Nihonmatsu lord would lead his personal vanguard, significantly raising the morale of his men. The battle commenced at the crack of light, the Nihonmatsu contingent sprinting ahead of the rest of the army and crashing straight into the unsuspecting enemy. Although this charge came close to breaking through and overrunning Mitsunaga’s personal position, the rest of Yoshitada’s army had not caught up with his vanguard and parts of the Echigo army’s wings surrounded the front contingent. Before the wings could wholly arrive and aid the Nihonmatsu vanguard, Yoshitada was killed while rallying his men to form a more defensive formation. News of his death quickly spread throughout the Ashina-Nihonmatsu ranks and the Ashina majority of the army quickly retreated, leaving the vanguard to fight to the last man over their lord’s body. The Nihonmatsu clan had ceased to exist.
Battle of Aizubange (Salmon=Echigo, Brown=Nihonmatsu, Blue=Ashina)
The remnants of the army retreated back to Kurokawa Castle where they entrenched themselves on the western side of the castle in anticipation of the Echigo army’s advance. They engaged with Mitsunaga in various engagements throughout the fall, with the Ashina’s number slowly being whittled down. Eventually, the armies of Utsunomiya Yoshitsuna and Date Norimune arrived in the vicinity of the castle and surrounded it. Nevertheless, the Ashina men held on through the relentless attacks by 3 different armies until December, until the cold finally compromised their provisions and exposed their battered position. Morinori, offering his head in return for his remaining men to be spared, finally surrendered. Although scattered forces throughout the Oshu, Kanto, and Chubu regions would intermittently resist into the early spring of 1639, the war was officially over.
The Furuwatari War, although a victory for the Oda Chancellorate, took a heavy toll on the realm. Large tracts of the east, particularly Musashi, Mikawa, and Mutsu provinces, were left devastated and depopulated and would not fully recover for a few decades. Some of this was attributable to the unprecedented usage of gunpowder weapons, particularly cannons, Im battles, skirmishes, and sieges. The downfall of so many clans and lords also chaotically ended existing social orders and hierarchies. The biggest example of this was the Hojo clan, who as one of the biggest landholders in Japan were nearly wiped out in the conflict. Notably, the Furuwatari War was the last large scale feudal war to take place in Japan, where often old rivalries between different clans superseded the greater objectives of the war in influencing loyalties and conduct.
The victory of Nobutomo and the Oda government in Azuchi, however, would decisively move Japan towards greater centralization. This trend would begin with Nobutomo’s postwar actions in regards to the affected areas. Although as before, land belonging to rebel clans would be redistributed to feudal lords who had remained loyal to Azuchi as well as Nobutomo’s own relatives, the Kamakura-fu was abolished. Henceforth, the Kanto region would be directly governed from Azuchi like the rest of the home islands. Oda Toshinao, however, would be compensated by being given the entirety of Musashi province, which while devastated was geographically still key in controlling the entire Kanto region, although his landholdings would be redistributed to native Kanto lords who had fought for Azuchi in the war. Nobutomo stayed in Kamakura until February 1639 to oversee the aftermath of the war and assigned Takigawa Kazutoshi and Toshinao's uncle Tamemasa (織田為昌) to finish the work, for he received word of the arrival in Sakai of someone he had eagerly waited for.
His youngest brother, Oda Tomoaki, had come home from Europe together with the rest of the embassy that had left 4 years earlier, and the chief representative had much to share with Nobutomo, from stories to gifts.
Redistribution of lands:
Kanto region
Salmon= Oda Toshinao (織田利直) 1618-
Orange= Satake Yoshitaka (佐竹義隆) 1609-
Light orange= Takigawa Kazutoshi (滝川一利) 1583-
Forest green= Utsunomiya Yoshitsuna (宇都宮義綱) 1598-
Lime green= Sano Hisatsuna (佐野久綱) 1600-
Emerald green= Oyama Toshiyasu (小山利泰) 1595-
Dark grey= Minagawa Takatsune (皆川隆庸) 1581-
Light grey=Hasegawa Hidemasa (長谷川秀昌) 1600-
Purple= Murai Sadamasa (村井貞昌) 1586-
[2]
Cobalt= Uesugi Noritoshi (上杉憲俊) 1579-
Brown=Ikoma Takatoshi (生駒高俊) 1611-
Maroon=Date Norimune (伊達則宗) [3] 1600-
Pink= Satomi Toshiteru (里見利輝) 1614-
Beige=minor castle lords
(Izu Province not shown)
[4]
Oshu region
Purple= Nanbu Shigenao (南部重直) 1606-
Light purple= Kyogoku Takahiro (京極高広) 1599-
Maroon= Endou Yoshitoshi (遠藤慶利) 1609-
Yellow= Mōri Tadakatsu (毛利忠勝) 1594-
Orange= Tooyama Noritomo (遠山則友) 1609-
Light orange= Satake Yoshitaka (佐竹義隆) 1609-
Light grey= Mogami Yoshitoshi (最上義智) 1631-
Dark grey= Date Tadamune (伊達忠宗) 1591-
Red= Souma Tomotane (相馬朝胤) 1619-
Green= Sakuma Moritora (佐久間盛虎) 1619-
Lime green= Tsugaru Nobuhide (津軽信英) 1620-
Emerald green= Tozawa Masamori (戸沢政盛) 1585-
Pink= Akita Sanesue (秋田実季) 1576-
Brown= Shirakawa Yoshitsuna (白川義綱) 1592-
Beige=Minor castle lords
[1]: Old name of Aizu Castle (会津城) which doesn’t change in 1592 ITTL like it did IOTL.
[2]: Murai Sadamasa was relocated and given more land from the province of Izumi.
[3]: ITTL’s Date Hidemune
[5]
[4]: Oota Nobufusa (太田信房) allotted Izu province, preserving the Hojo bloodline.
[5]: Yes, the Date Tadamunes of OTL and TTL are brothers but due to naming conventions have different names.