June 4, 1615

Siege of Osaka

Tokugawa forces defeat the Toyotomi army and take Osaka Castle

The losing army carried crosses and Christian insignia on its banners, in a state that had already outlawed Christianity.

4 June 1615: the summer campaign ends

On 4 June 1615 — Keichō 20, fifth month, eighth day — the Osaka Summer Campaign closed in Tokugawa victory. Osaka Castle fell, Toyotomi Hideyori died, and Hideyoshi's political inheritance ended with him.

The decisive fighting was at Tennōji and Okayamaguchi. Toyotomi troops were driven back into a castle whose defences had been dismantled or filled in under the previous winter's armistice; it was overrun and burned.

Who died inside

Hideyori and his mother, Yodo-dono, died as the stronghold was destroyed. Sanada Nobushige, who commanded in the final battle near Tennōji, was killed there.

Accounts differ in reconstructing their last hours. The fall and the deaths are secure, but dramatic dialogue and exact suicide scenes often come from later narratives.

Crosses on the losing banners

Kirishitan converts and rōnin fought for the Toyotomi. One scholarly study records crosses and Christian insignia on their banners and counts three Franciscans, two Jesuits and two Japanese clergy with the Osaka force.

Command on the winning side was split between father and son: Tokugawa Ieyasu remained the dominant strategist but had relinquished the shogunal title in 1605, and Hidetada was the reigning shogun. The castle tourists see at Osaka today stands above the buried, fire-damaged walls of the Toyotomi fortress destroyed in 1615.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 2 audit passes, 1 issue open

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

What the sources leave uncertain

The date is securely mapped in a published chronology as Keichō 20/5/8 = June 4, 1615. Some popular accounts give June 3 or 5 because they divide the final battles, castle fire, and deaths differently or convert the Japanese lunisolar date inconsistently.
Accounts differ in their reconstruction of Hideyori's and Yodo-dono's final hours; the fall and deaths are secure, but dramatic dialogue and exact suicide scenes often come from later narratives.