Siege of Tanabe

Siege of Tanabe
	Part of the Sengoku period
Date	1600
Location	Tanabe castle, Tango Province, Japan
Result	inconclusive
Belligerents
Eastern army; Hosokawa clan garrison	Western army; Ikoma Chikamasa forces
Commanders and leaders
Hosokawa Fujitaka; Numata Jakō
Strength
500	15,000

The 1600 Siege of Tanabe was one of a number of battles which took place in parallel to the more influential series of battles known as the Sekigahara Campaign which led to the unification of Japan under Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The command of Tanabe Castle was held by Hosokawa Tadaoki. However, Tadaoki accompanied Ieyasu to Sekigahara, as part of the Tokugawa vanguard. Tadaoki's father Hosokawa Fujitaka and his mother Numata Jakō defended the castle walls against Ikoma Chikamasa's western forces under . It is believed that, due to the respect they held for Hosokawa, the besieging army was somewhat slower and less effective than they might have been otherwise, and in the end the battle served to tie up these Western Army (anti-Tokugawa) contingents, preventing them from participating in the battle at Sekigahara.

References[]

Turnbull, Stephen (1998). 'The Samurai Sourcebook'. London: Cassell & Co. p252.
Bryant, Anthony J (1995). 'Sekigahara 1600 - The final struggle for power', London: Osprey Publishing.

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