Battle of Tennōji

The Battle of Tennōji (天王寺・岡山の戦い, Tennōji Okayama no tatakai) was fought in 1615 between the forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu and the forces of Toyotomi Hideyori. Tokugawa was laying siege to Osaka, and Hideyori had planned a counterattack. Both sides were plagued by mistakes until Hideyori's side finally fell. He presumably committed suicide. The Toyotomi army suffered nearly 50% casualties in this battle, with more than 15,000 dead. This was also the final battle of Sanada Yukimura.

Battle of Tennōji
Part of the early Edo period
Date June 3, 1615 Location Osaka Castle, Osaka, Japan and surrounding areas Result Tokugawa victory; last resistance to Tokugawa Shogunate eliminated. End of the siege of Osaka
Belligerents
Tokugawa shogunate	Toyotomi clan
Commanders and leaders
Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Hidetada Matsudaira Tadanao	Toyotomi Hideyori † Yodo-dono † Sanada Yukimura † Mōri Katsunaga † Akashi Takenori
Strength
150,000	50,000
Casualties and losses
8,000 dead	15,000-18,600 dead

Setup of Battle of Tennōji. June 3, 1615

Battle

The last resistance of the Osaka Garrison was at Tennoji, outside of the castle. Hideyori, son of the legendary Toyotomi Hideyoshi, made up a plan to try and turn the tide of the siege. Akashi Morishige was to attack the Tokugawa in conjunction with Sanada Yukimura. But the Tokugawa were led by Ieyasu himself, and even though Ieyasu was wounded by a spear thrust, Yukimura was killed in action. Thus, Morishige's attack failed as well. This left only Hideyori to defend the castle. The Tokugawa cannon began pounding the keep, and hopeless, Hideyori and his mother Yodo-dono committed seppuku.