Siege of Odani Castle

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Siege of Odani
partof=the Sengoku period


caption=
date=1573
place=Odani Castle, Owari Province
casus=
territory=
result=Oda Nobunaga victory; Azai clan destroyed
combatant1=Forces of Oda Nobunaga
combatant2=Azai clan
commander1=Oda Nobunaga
commander2=Azai Nagamasa
strength1=10000
strength2=8000
casualties1=
casualties2=

The 1573 nihongo|Siege of Odani Castle|小谷城の戦い|Odani-jō no Tatakai was the last stand of the Azai clan, one of Oda Nobunaga's chief opponents.

Nobunaga took Odani Castle from Azai Nagamasa, who, left with no other option, committed suicide along with his son. His wife and three daughters were entrusted to Nobunaga, considering they were his sister and nieces. 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.

Before Azai Nagamasa committed "seppuku" he decided to make one last siege on Nobunaga's main camp; in the end, however, he failed and was instead captured. Azai also knew from the beginning he would lose this battle, so before he died he gave Nobunaga's sister Oichi back, saving her from death.Fact|date=June 2007

In popular culture

The battle has been featured in the game Samurai Warriors 2. It is worth noting however that in the game, both the Azai and Asakura clans are destroyed during the Odani siege when historically, the Asakura clan was destroyed in the following year.

References

*Turnbull, Stephen (1998). 'The Samurai Sourcebook'. London: Cassell & Co.