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The siege of Hasedō was one of a series of battles fought in the far north of Japan's main island of Honshū (the Tōhoku region) contemporaneous with the famous and decisive campaigns between Tokugawa Ieyasu and Ishida Mitsunari further south. Over the course of the year 1600, Naoe Kanetsugu, a general loyal to Ishida Mitsunari, would lead a campaign in Tōhoku, which included the siege of Hasedō castle, near Yamagata, which was his ultimate goal. Hasedō was held by Shimura Takaharu, and backed by a Tokugawa-loyal army of the Date clan.
Three thousand of Naoe's men moved towards Yamagata from the north while Naoe began his siege on Hasedō. Having received reinforcements of 100 horsemen and 200 arquebusiers, he laid siege to Hasedō for fourteen days before an army under Date Masakage arrived to relieve the castle. Upon the arrival of the Date forces, Naoe stepped up his siege, and the vanguard under Kasuga Mototada actually reached the walls of the castle before they retreated before arquebus fire. The garrison then sallied forth and attacked the retreating vanguard in the rear, leading to the near-complete retreat of Naoe's forces.
A small besieging force remained, and fighting continued, in which Naoe's general Kamiizumi Yasutsuna was killed. Shortly afterwards, however, news arrived of Tokugawa Ieyasu's victory at Sekigahara, and so Naoe called a full withdrawal of all his forces back to Yonezawa, putting an end to his campaigns in the north.
[edit] References
- Turnbull, Stephen (1998). 'The Samurai Sourcebook'. London: Cassell & Co.
