The siege of Shiroishi, in 1600, was one of several feudal Japanese battles leading up to the decisive battle of Sekigahara

Battle of Sekigahara

The , popularly known as the , was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 which cleared the path to the Shogunate for Tokugawa Ieyasu...

 which ended the period

Sengoku period

The or Warring States period in Japanese history was a time of social upheaval, political intrigue, and nearly constant military conflict that lasted roughly from the middle of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century. The name "Sengoku" was adopted by Japanese historians in reference...

 of over 100 years of war, and was immediately followed by the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

. Shiroishi was a castle just south of the city of Sendai

Sendai, Miyagi

is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, Japan, and the largest city in the Tōhoku Region. In 2005, the city had a population of one million, and was one of Japan's 19 designated cities...

, controlled by a retainer of Uesugi Kagekatsu

Uesugi Kagekatsu

was a daimyo during the Sengoku and Edo periods of Japanese history. The son of Nagao Masakage and husband of Uesugi Kenshin's elder sister, Aya-Gozen. After his father died, he was adopted by Kenshin....

, who in turn was one of the chief supporters of Ishida Mitsunari

Ishida Mitsunari

Ishida Mitsunari was a samurai who led the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the Azuchi-Momoyama period of the 17th century. Also known by his court title, Jibunoshō...

.

Date Masamune

Date Masamune

was a regional strongman of Japan's Azuchi-Momoyama period through early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful daimyo in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai...

 and Mogami Yoshiaki

Mogami Yoshiaki

was a daimyō of the Yamagata domain in Dewa Province, in the late Sengoku period and early Edo period.-Life:Mogami Yoshiaki was the first son of Mogami Yoshimori , and succeeded his father as daimyō of Yamagata...

, daimyo of large nearby domains, laid siege to this castle, beginning the conflict in the north between the representatives of Ishida and Tokugawa. Its capture would also mark the first contribution of Date Masamune to the Sekigahara campaign.

This would be followed by two counter-sieges on the part of Uesugi Kagekatsu

Uesugi Kagekatsu

was a daimyo during the Sengoku and Edo periods of Japanese history. The son of Nagao Masakage and husband of Uesugi Kenshin's elder sister, Aya-Gozen. After his father died, he was adopted by Kenshin....

 and Naoe Kanetsugu

Naoe Kanetsugu

was a Japanese samurai of the 16th-17th centuries. The eldest son of Higuchi Kanetoyo, Kanetsugu was famed for his service to two generations of the Uesugi daimyo. He was also known by his court title, Yamashiro no Kami or his childhood/adolescent name, Higuchi Kanetsugu .Kanetsugu served first as...

 against the castles of Hataya

Siege of Hataya

The siege of Hataya was one of several battles in Japan's Tōhoku region which served as preludes to the decisive Sekigahara Campaign which would end the 250-year period of war known as Sengoku....

, Kaminoyama

Siege of Kaminoyama

The siege of Kaminoyama took place in 1600, at the end of Japan's Sengoku period. It was one of many battles making up the Sekigahara Campaign, in which Tokugawa Ieyasu eliminated the last opposition to his domination of the Japanese islands....

 and Hasedo

Siege of Hasedo

The siege of Hasedō was one of a series of battles fought in the far north of Japan's main island of Honshū contemporaneous with the famous and decisive campaigns between Tokugawa Ieyasu and Ishida Mitsunari further south...

.