Battle of Sekigahara

The Battle of Sekigahara was a decisive battle on September 15, 1600 (on the ancient Chinese calendar, October 21 on the modern calendar) that cleared the path to the Shogunate for Tokugawa Ieyasu. Though it would take three more years for Tokugawa to consolidate his position of power over the Toyotomi clan and the daimyo, Sekigahara is widely considered to be the unofficial beginning of the Tokugawa bakufu, the last shogunate to control Japan.

Aftermath

Tokugawa Ieyasu redistributed the lands and fiefs of the participants, generally rewarding those who assisted him and displacing, punishing, or exiling those who fought against him. In doing so, Tokugawa gained control of many former Toyotomi territories. Ishida Mitsunori, Konishi Yukinaga, and Ankokuji Ekei were publicly executed. The influence and reputation of the Toyotomi clan and its remaining loyalists drastically decreased, although from the Toyotomi clan's point of view, the battle was technically only an internal conflict between Toyotomi vassals; however, in fact, Tokugawa Ieyasu was later made Seii Taishōgun, a position that had been left vacant since the fall of the Ashikaga shogunate. This change in official ranks also reversed the subordinate position of the Tokugawa clan. In any case, Tokugawa did not gain any casus belli to take action against the frail Toyotomi clan; rather, it would take more political manoeuvres for Tokugawa to destroy Toyotomi once and for all.

Related Topics:
Seii Taishōgun - Ashikaga shogunate - Casus belli

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

See also the Siege of Osaka.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Even though the battle demonstrated Tokugawa's authority, many clans, especially those on the western side, became bitter about their displacement or what they saw as a dishonorable defeat or punishment. For example, the Mori clan, which was displaced from its home provinces to Chōshū-han, remained angry toward the Tokugawa shogunate, because the clan never actually took part in the battle.

Related Topics:
Han - Tokugawa shogunate

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Shimazu clan blamed the defeat on its poor intelligence-gathering. Whilst they were not displaced from their home province, Satsuma, they did not become completely loyal to the Tokugawa shogunate either. Taking advantage of its distance from the capital as well as its improved espionage, Satsuma-han, near the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, demonstrated that it was virtually an autonomous kingdom independent from the Tokugawa shogunate.

Related Topics:
Shimazu - Intelligence-gathering - Satsuma

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tosa's ruling clan, the Chosokabe clan, was stripped of its title and domain and sent into exile. Former Chosokabe retainers never quite came to terms with the new ruling family, the Yamausa clan. In fact, the Yamausa clan made a distinction between its own retainers and former Chosokabe retainers, giving them lesser status as well as discriminating treatment. This class distinction continued even generations after the fall of the Chosokabe clan.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The three of these disgruntled groups would in two centuries collaborate to bring down the Tokugawa shogunate.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~