Siege of Kōzuki Castle

Part of the Sengoku period

Date	1578
Location	Kōzuki Castle, Harima Province
Result	Siege succeeds; Mōri victory

Belligerents

Mōri clan

Oda forces loyal to Hashiba Hideyoshi

Commanders and leaders

Kobayakawa Takakage
Kikkawa Motoharu

Amago Katsuhisa †
Yamanaka Yukimori †

Campaigns of Oda Nobunaga

Inō Ukino Terabe Marune Okehazama Inabayama Castle Chōkō-ji Kanegasaki Anegawa Ishiyama Hongan-ji Mount Hiei Nagashima Mikatagahara Hikida Castle Odani Castle Ichijōdani Castle Itami Akechi Nagashino Mitsuji Kizugawaguchi Shigisan Tedorigawa Takatenjin Tottori Hijiyama Temmokuzan Takatō Uozu Honnō-ji

Campaigns of Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Anegawa Kanegasaki Odani Castle Kōzuki Castle Tedorigawa Itami Miki Tottori Takamatsu Yamazaki Uchidehama Shizugatake Komaki and Nagakute Kaganoi Takehana Kanie Toyama Negoro-ji Ōta Castle Shikoku & Ichinomiya Kyūshū Hachigata Odawara Shimoda Oshi Korea

Campaigns of the Mōri clan

Arita-Nakaide Koriyama Toda Oshikibata Miyajima Shiraga Gassan-Toda Moji Torisaka Tachibana Tatarahama Nunobeyama Kizugawaguchi Kōzuki Tottori Takamatsu Shikoku & Ichinomiya Kyūshū Odawara Shimoda Korea Sekigahara Osaka

The Siege of Kōzuki Castle (上月城の戦い, Kōzuki-jō no Tatakai) occurred in 1578, when the army of Mōri Terumoto attacked and captured the castle of Kōzuki in Harima Province. Kōzuki had been taken by Toyotomi Hideyoshi the previous year and entrusted to Amago Katsuhisa. When it fell to the Mōri, Amago committed hara-kiri. Amago's loyal and heroic general Yamanaka Yukimori was captured and killed in the battle.

It is popularly believed in Japan that Yamanaka Shikanosuke, Amago's general, "sold" Amago's life, for the safety of his own men.

The Oda forces were so vastly outnumbered and surrounded in the castle that victory was impossible. Yamanaka Shikanosuke sent a message to the Mōri general offering to surrender, and offering the ritual suicide of his master (Amago). The offer was accepted, Amago committed suicide, and his forces surrendered.

What precisely happened to Yamanaka Shikanosuke after the battle is unclear. Though some sources say he died in the battle, others state that he became a vassal of the enemy lord, Mōri Terumoto, but was assassinated on Mōri's order (along with his new wife).

It should also be noted that Amago Katsuhisa, the Oda vassal lord of Kōzuki Castle, though a member of the samurai class, was not especially experienced or trained as a warrior. Oda Nobunaga was running out of qualified battle-hardened lords to hold his territories, so Katsuhisa was called to Kōzuki from Kyoto, where he was studying to be a Buddhist monk. Katsuhisa was very young, in his early twenties, when he died. A memorial stone stands with his name engraved, along with Buddhist inscriptions, where he took his own life.

References

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

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