In the third month of 1585, Toyotomi Hideyoshi dispatched a large army against Negoro-ji as part of his effort to bring the religious powers of Kii Province under control. The temple at that time held some 720,000 koku of land and fielded around 10,000 warrior monks. After fierce fighting, the great majority of the temple complex was put to the torch and the warrior-monk forces were destroyed in what is known as the Negoro Campaign. With this victory Hideyoshi secured control of Kii Province and, riding the same momentum, in the same year subjugated Shikoku and crushed Sasa Narimasa in Etchu-Toyama, advancing his project of unifying the realm. The Negoro Campaign is regarded as a symbolic event marking the dismantling of the medieval armed religious institutions and as a pivotal military action laying the foundations of the early modern Japanese state.