| Rising tensions between the fledgling Tokugawa bakufu and Toyotomi Hideyori, the heir of the late Hideyoshi, led to the 1st Siege of Hideyori's Osaka fortress, [[Osaka castle]]. Prior to the start of hostilities, Hideyori had gathered as many as 100,000 ronin within his castle walls, many of whom had been dispossessed by the Tokugawa after [[Battle of Sekigahara|Sekigahara]]. The campaign began in November and opened with a series of hard-fought actions that continued for about a month at a considerable cost to the Tokugawa. Knowing that a direct assault on the castle was unlikely to succeed, Tokugawa first resorted to a bombardment of the walls, then to peace talks. Hideyori unwisely agreed to negotiate, allowing Ieyasu to prepare for his next effort to bring the last bastion of the Toyotomi down. | | Rising tensions between the fledgling Tokugawa bakufu and Toyotomi Hideyori, the heir of the late Hideyoshi, led to the 1st Siege of Hideyori's Osaka fortress, [[Osaka castle]]. Prior to the start of hostilities, Hideyori had gathered as many as 100,000 ronin within his castle walls, many of whom had been dispossessed by the Tokugawa after [[Battle of Sekigahara|Sekigahara]]. The campaign began in November and opened with a series of hard-fought actions that continued for about a month at a considerable cost to the Tokugawa. Knowing that a direct assault on the castle was unlikely to succeed, Tokugawa first resorted to a bombardment of the walls, then to peace talks. Hideyori unwisely agreed to negotiate, allowing Ieyasu to prepare for his next effort to bring the last bastion of the Toyotomi down. |