Sekigahara: The Rise of the Tokugawa, 1600

The campaign opens with a siege. Ishida Mitsunari moved against Fushimi Castle, held for Tokugawa Ieyasu by his vassal Torii Mototada. Torii defended it for eleven days, which bought Ieyasu time to build his own army. When the defences were finally breached, survivors of the garrison committed seppuku; several Kyoto temples still keep a blood-stained ceiling said to be the floor of a corridor here. The castle was dismantled in 1623, and the original site now holds the tomb of Emperor Meiji; the castle grounds reopened in 2007.

Location precision: The 1600 castle was dismantled in 1623; the pin marks the Momoyama hill where its site and the modern replica stand.

Mitsunari wanted Gifu and Ōgaki as choke points to slow the Eastern Army. Gifu was commanded by Oda Hidenobu, a grandson of Nobunaga, in a stronghold Nobunaga had renamed "Gifu Castle". But Fukushima Masanori and Ii Naomasa took it before the main Western forces arrived: the siege lasted a single day, a prelude to Sekigahara. Hidenobu was expelled to live out his life as a monk at Mount Koya. The keep standing on the mountain today is a concrete reconstruction.

Visitor guidance: The reconstructed keep houses a museum, and its top floor has a 360-degree observation deck.

Ōgaki guarded the Sekigahara Pass, the main overland route connecting Mino with Ōmi and Kyoto. Its lord, Itō Morimasa, ruled a 30,000-koku domain and was a staunch supporter of Mitsunari. With Gifu already lost, Mitsunari concentrated his forces at Sekigahara, setting the scene for the battle. When news of the Eastern victory reached Ōgaki, the garrison commander Akizuki Tanenaga surrendered the castle to Mizuno Katsunari. The tenshu and two yagura were reconstructed after World War II, and the grounds are preserved as a public park.

Visitor guidance: The castle area is a public park; the rebuilt keep stands inside it.

Some 75,000 men under Ieyasu faced 120,000 under Mitsunari. The armies stumbled into each other at dawn in dense fog caused by earlier rains. Ii Naomasa's 3,600 crimson-clad "red devils" opened the fighting. The famous turning point is Kobayakawa Hideaki on Mt. Matsuo: the old story says Ieyasu fired arquebuses at his position to force a choice, though Stephen Turnbull argues the distance makes this very unlikely. Hideaki attacked with over 15,000 men, and one historian estimates the whole battle lasted two hours, from 10:00 to 12:00.

Location precision: The fighting spread across the Sekigahara basin; the pin marks a battlefield memorial north-west of the town, not one fixed position.

Hideyoshi had made Mitsunari the daimyō of Sawayama in Ōmi Province. After the battle Kobayakawa Hideaki, now on the Eastern side, attacked it. Mitsunari's father Ishida Masatsugu and brother Ishida Masazumi defended it, but the castle surrendered in half a day. A Tokugawa vassal who entered reported that there was not a single piece of gold or silver kept there. Ii Naomasa later destroyed the castle and carried much of its stone walls and buildings to Hikone Castle.

Location precision: Only a sign marks the site of the castle; the pin marks the Sawayama hill.

Visitor guidance: A hiking course leads to the summit of Mount Sawayama; a sign marks the castle site.

Mitsunari tried to escape the battlefield but was caught by villagers. He was beheaded in Kyoto and his head publicly displayed. Other Western leaders, including Konishi Yukinaga and Ankokuji Ekei, were captured and executed over the following days. His remains were buried at Sangen-in, a sub-temple of Daitoku-ji in Kyoto.

Location precision: Sangen-in is a sub-temple inside the Daitoku-ji complex, and the pin marks the complex; the sources name Kyoto for the execution but not the exact site.

Ieyasu had made Edo his base after Hideyoshi offered him eight eastern provinces. After Sekigahara he redistributed domains to his allies, raising Ii Naomasa to 180,000 koku, and Hideyori was degraded to an ordinary daimyo. On 24 March 1603 Ieyasu received the title of shōgun from Emperor Go-Yōzei. Edo Castle became the residence of the shōgun and the headquarters of the military government for the Edo period (1603–1867); after the Meiji Restoration it became the Tokyo Imperial Palace.

Visitor guidance: Some moats, walls and ramparts of the castle survive around the Tokyo Imperial Palace.