In 1581, Hideyoshi bought up Inaba's rice in advance and drove the surrounding peasants into the castle to exhaust its food faster, maintaining a roughly four-month siege that reduced the defenders to a hell of starvation. Commander Kikkawa Tsuneie, sent in by the Mori, committed seppuku in exchange for sparing his men. The 'Tottori starvation siege' epitomizes Hideyoshi's cold, calculated style of war.