Siege of Odani Castle
Template:Short description Template:Infobox Military Conflict Template:Campaignbox Campaigns of Oda Nobunaga Template:Campaignbox Campaigns of Azai Nagamasa Template:Campaignbox Campaigns of Toyotomi Hideyoshi
The 1573 Template:Nihongo was the last stand of the Azai clan, one of Oda Nobunaga's chief opponents.<ref name="Cassell">Template:Cite book</ref> and the first battle of Oda Nobutada.
PreludeEdit
In September, 1573, Oda Nobunaga defeated the Asakura clan at the siege of Ichijodani Castle. Later, the Oda forces returned to northern Ōmi, he defeated Isono Kazumasa, took Sawayama Castle and on October, 1573, Nobunaga began attacking Odani Castle, devastating the Azai clan.
SiegeEdit
Nobunaga took Odani Castle from Azai Nagamasa, who, left with no other option, committed seppuku along with his father. Azai knew from the beginning that he would lose the battle, so he gave his wife Oichi (Nobunaga's sister), and their three daughters back to Nobunaga, saving them from death.<ref name=Turnbull>Template:Cite book</ref> Two of Nagamasa's daughters would later marry into powerful families. Their escape from the besieged castle became a fairly common sentimental scene in traditional Japanese art.
AftermathEdit
Nagamasa suffered much the same fate as his comrade-in-arms Asakura Yoshikage, whose castle at Oda Nobunaga's siege of Ichijodani Castle was set aflame and destroyed.<ref name="Cassell">Template:Cite book</ref>
In popular cultureEdit
The siege of the castle and the late surrender is shown in the movie Sword for Hire, directed by Hiroshi Inagaki in 1952.
The battle has been featured in the game Samurai Warriors 2. In the game, however, both the Azai and Asakura clans are destroyed during the Odani siege. Historically, the Asakura clan was destroyed before the Azai at the Battle of Ichijodani.