Siege of Tottori
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changes Tottori Castle falls to Oda clan
| Siege of Tottori | |||||||||
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| Part of the Sengoku period | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Forces of Oda Nobunaga | Forces of Mōri clan | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Hashiba Hideyoshi Hachisuka Koroku Kuroda Kanbei Kato Kiyomasa Ishida Mitsunari |
Yamana Toyokuni  Kikkawa Tsuneie † | ||||||||
The siege of Tottori Castle occurred in 1581 and was part of Oda Nobunaga's campaign to consolidate his power in western Honshu in an effort to unite Japan during the late 16th century. The siege was fought between Hashiba Hideyoshi, an Oda clan general, against a garrison under an ally of the Mōri clan.
It is a case in which starvation tactics were successfully used in a Sengoku Period siege. The siege lasted up to 200 days, when Kikkawa Tsuneie committed suicide to save his men from cannibalism.[1]
Tottori Castle (鳥取城, Tottori-jō) was key to the Mōri clan's defense of their inner provinces against the encroachment of Oda Nobunaga.
In late 1580, as part of his campaign to extend Nobunaga's domain to the west, Hashiba Hideyoshi moved north from his new base in Harima and by 1581 entered Inaba province on the Sea of Japan wherein his forces encountered Tottori castle. The yamashiro (mountain) castle, built into the mountain itself, was owned by the Yamana clan under Yamana Toyokuni, but had passed to the Mori and was guarded by their retainer, Kikkawa Tsuneie. Hideyoshi made efforts to negotiate with Tsuneie, but the Mori retainer was resolved to hold onto the castle and keep it from falling into Oda hands.