Sanada Nobushige , also known as Sanada Yukimura , was a Japanese samurai warrior of the Sengoku period. He was especially known as the leading general on the defending side of the Siege of Osaka.
Yukimura was called "A Hero who may appear once in a hundred years", "Crimson Demon of War" and "The Last Sengoku Hero". The famed veteran of the invasion of Korea, Shimazu Tadatsune, called him the "Number one warrior in Japan" (日本一の兵).
An Edo period painting of Sanada Nobushige.
A Meiji period woodprint showing Sanada Yukimura (真田幸村) with his arquebusiers at the Osaka Castle(大阪城).
Restructured Model of Sanadamaru
The siege of Osaka was a series of battles undertaken by the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan, and ending in that clan's destruction. Divided into two stages, and lasting from 1614 to 1615, the siege put an end to the last major armed opposition to the shogunate's establishment. The end of the conflict is sometimes called the Genna Armistice , because the era name was changed from Keichō to Genna immediately following the siege.
Illustration from François Caron's book: "The Burning of Osaka Castle"
A full-sized reproduction of a Portuguese furanki (breech-loading cannon) at the castle of Usuki. These weapons were the mainstay of Hideyori's defensive artillery, and were no match for Tokugawa Ieyasu's muzzle-loading culverins and sakers.
Toyotomi Hideyori
Yodo-dono, Hideyori's mother played a crucial role throughout the siege.