Siege of Osaka - Aftermath

Aftermath

Hideyori's son Toyotomi Kunimatsu (age 8) was captured by the shogunate and beheaded in Kyoto. According to legend, before his beheading, little Kunimatsu bravely blamed Ieyasu for his betrayal and brutality against Toyotomi clan. Naahime, daughter of Hideyori, was not sentenced to death. She later became a nun at Kamakura's Tōkei-ji. Hideyoshi's grave was destroyed by the shogunate, along with Kyoto's Toyokuni Shrine. Chōsokabe Morichika was beheaded on May 11 while his gang member Ono Harunaga, who was wanted for over 10 years, was killed on June 27. There are also records of pillaging and mass rapes by Tokugawa forces at the closing of the siege.

The bakufu obtained 650,000 koku at Osaka and started rebuilding Osaka Castle. Osaka was then made a han (feudal domain), and given to Matsudaira Tadayoshi. In 1619, however, the shogunate replaced Osaka Domain with Osaka Jodai, placed under the command of a bugyō who served the shogunate directly; like many of Japan's other major cities, Osaka was for the remainder of the Edo period not part of a han under the control of a daimyō. A few daimyō including Naitō Nobumasa (Takatsuki Castle, Settsu Province 20,000 koku) and Mizuno Katsushige (Yamato Koriyama, Yamato Province 60,000 koku) moved to Osaka.

The Toyotomi clan was then disbanded. Tadanao was the first to arrive at Osaka Castle. He turned down the land reward, but instead received chaki. The lords of the castle over time thus were Ashikaga Yoshimasa, followed by Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Ukita Hideie, and finally Hatsuhana Katatsuki.

After the fall of the castle, the shogunate announced laws including ikkoku ichijō (一国一城?) (one province can contain only one castle) and Bukeshohatto (or called Law of Buke, which limits each daimyō to own only one castle and obey the castle restrictions). The shogunate's permission had to be obtained prior to any castle construction or repair from then on. Many castles were also forced to be destroyed as a result of compliance with this law.

Despite finally uniting Japan, Ieyasu's health was failing. During the one year campaign against the Toyotomi clan and its allies, he received wounds that significantly shortened his life. Roughly one year later on June 1, 1616, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the third and last of the great unifiers, died at the age of 75, leaving the shogunate to his descendants.