What kind of person was Senhime, the daughter of Hidetada Tokugawa? Historical critic Toshi Kahara says, “One year after her birth, she was engaged to Hideyori, and after Hideyori’s death, she was married off to a senior vassal of Ieyasu. She was swayed by power, and her life could hardly be called a happy one.” –.
The suffering of Princess Sen, who was Ieyasu’s grandson and Hideyori’s husband.
The NHK taiga drama “What to do with Ieyasu” focuses on the circumstances of Senhime (Hara Nanoka), the eldest daughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu’s (Matsumoto Jun) eldest son, Hidetada (Morisaki Win), who marries Toyotomi Hideyori (Sakuma Ryuto). Sympathy is pouring in. In particular, the 46th episode of “Osaka no Jin” (broadcast on December 3rd) was full of scenes where she felt sorry for her girlfriend.
Actress Nanoka Hara plays a thousand roles in “Dosuru Ieyasu.” She served as a special narration for the FIVB Paris Olympic qualifying round and World Cup Volleyball 2023 (September 20, 2023, Tokyo National Yoyogi Stadium)
Sen’s husband, Hideyori, conveys his will to Sen, who continues to look anxious, saying, “I must take back the country from the Tokugawa.” Sen asks, “Do you really want to go to war? Do you really feel like it?”, but her husband replies, “I’m Hideyori Toyotomi.” Although she understands this, she also worries about her family, Tokugawa.
In front of the defeated generals of the Western Army in the Battle of Sekigahara and other war veterans gathered at Osaka Castle, her mother-in-law (and also her aunt by blood) Chacha (Kitagawa Keiko) says, “Osenya, Sona. As Toyotomi’s wife, please encourage everyone.” With mixed feelings, she exclaimed, “Please do your best for Toyotomi!” However, while everyone was enthusiastic, only Sen Anguish has an expression that suppresses sadness.
It was a series of scenes that naturally earned the sympathy of viewers. In fact, in real life, Sen was in a very pitiful position and experienced some horrific scenes. I would like to describe this in detail, but before doing so, I would like to point out that Ieyasu’s depiction of the situation surrounding the Sen is different from historical reality.
The most effective weapon during the siege of Osaka Castle
During the Osaka Winter Siege, the Tokugawa side suffered severe damage in the battle that took place around Osaka Castle. Osaka Castle, which is spacious and strong, and has a magnificent structure (outer wall) surrounding the castle town, is now able to demonstrate how impregnable it is.
Therefore, Ieyasu used a large tube. Ieyasu had prepared a large number of cannons, anticipating that it would be difficult to attack Osaka Castle.
Cannons at the time only fired iron bullets, so they were not very effective in field battles, but they could be expected to be effective in sieges, where large, stationary targets were targeted. Although Osaka Castle was vast, the distance from the outer moat (the Yodogawa River was considered to be the outer moat) to the main enclosure was short in the northwest direction, so Ieyasu had a large cannon deployed on Bizen Island in the middle of the Yodogawa River. It is said that 300 guns were prepared for this battle, but there were only 5 of the so-called “Shibi-ya”, which had a long range and were very powerful.
By intimidating them by bombarding them day and night, they tried to negotiate peace. It is said that at this time, a cannonball hit a pillar of the castle tower, causing it to tilt, destroying Chacha’s living room, and killing several of Chacha’s maids instantly.
