Gerard Dockery says:
Kōfu Castle (甲府城, Kōfu jō) was a Japanese castle located in the city of Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture, in the Chubu region of Japan. The site has been protected as a National Historic Site since 2019. The castle is also known as Maizuru Castle, and the present-day surroundings are called Maizuru Castle Park (舞鶴公園, Maizuru-jō Kōen).
Kōfu Castle is located in the physical center of the city of Kōfu on a small hill. The city itself is located at the confluence of the Kamanashi River and the Fuefuki River. During the Sengoku Period after the local warlord (Takeda Shingen) seized control of the province from his father. He made Tsutsujigasaki Castle his seat. Before this time, the Kōfu area was subject to frequent flooding, and it was only through massive flood control projects which were undertaken by Takeda Shigen over a 20-year period that the area was considered inhabitable. After Takeda Shingen's death, his son Takeda Katsuyori was defeated by a coalition of the Oda clan and the Tokugawa clan in 1582. Oda Nobunaga placed his general Kawajiri Hidetaka in charge of Kai Province, but Nobunaga was assassinated only three months later and vengeful former Takeda clan retainers assassinated Kawajiri soon afterwards. The vacant province was fought over by Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Late Hōjō clan, with Ieyasu emerging victorious. However, after the 1590 Siege of Odawara, Toyotomi Hideyoshi forced Ieyasu to exchange his holdings for new territories in the Kantō region and gave Kai Province to his Kato Mitsuyasu (1537–1593).
Kato originally governed from the old Tsutsujigasaki palace, but as that site had minimal defenses and had little room for expansion, he began work on a new castle at Ichijyomodoriyama, a small hill a short distance away, which had a small fort guarding the valley. This was later called "Kōfu Castle". He died before the completion of the new castle, and was succeeded by Asano Nagamasa (1547–1611), Hideyoshi's step-brother-in-law. Asano completed the castle in 1593.
Kōfu Castle was originally T-shaped, with the main body spreading on the ridge of the hill from east-to-west, separated into three or four layers of terraces over a 200 by 100 meters area. The front of the castle protruded north-to-south and had the main gate. The inner bailey was at the top of the hill measuring 100 by 50 meters, with a four-story tenshu painted black with gold-colored roof tiles. Below the inner bailey were several enclosures with a complex system of stone walls, in some places up to 15 meters in height.
After the Battle of Sekigahara, Kōfu Castle came into the hands of the Tokugawa clan with whom it remained until the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. The Tokugawa shogunate initially used Kōfu Castle as a stronghold that the shōgun could retreat to, should any enemies take Edo Castle. Although the tenshu constructed by Asano Nagamasa had fallen into ruin and was not replaced, the castle itself was kept in good repair and was ruled by a cadet branch of the clan.
Tokugawa Tsunatoyo, the daimyō of Kōfu, became the heir of the fifth Shōgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi and moved to Edo Castle. He was replaced in 1704 by Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, one of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi's closest retainers. Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu was also a descendant of the Takeda clan, and made strong efforts for restoring the prosperity of the region. However, his son Yanagisawa Yoshisato was transferred to Yamato Kōriyama Domain, and Kai province became tenryō territory ruled directly by the shogunate though an appointed hatamoto administrator. During this period, the honmaru of the palace and the Akagenenmon gate were destroyed by a large fire in 1727.
During the Boshin War of the Meiji restoration, Katsu Kaishū dispatched the Shinsengumi under Kondo Isami to seize Kōfu Castle before it could fall into the hands of the advancing Imperial army. However, the Imperial army led by Itagaki Taisuke reached Kōfu first and took the castle without a fight. The Imperial Army then defeated the Shinsengumi at the Battle of Katsunuma to keep the castle.
At the start of the Meiji period, the castle was abandoned, and in 1877 in accordance with government orders that all old fortifications were to be destroyed, all of the remaining castle structures were pulled down. The outer areas of the castle became the location of Kōfu Station, and other areas were occupied by government offices. In 1904 the area around the inner bailey was opened to the public as Maizuru Castle Park. Since the 1990s, archaeological excavations and reconstruction of the important castle features have been ongoing, and reconstructions of the gate and a yagura tower were completed in 2004. The tower functions as a museum that features many artifacts from the castle's original buildings.
The castle is a ten-minute walk from Kōfu Station on the JR East Chūō Main Line.
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Gerard Dockery says:
Takashima Castle (高島城, Takashima-jō) is a Japanese castle located in Suwa, central Nagano Prefecture, Japan. At the end of the Edo period, Takashima Castle was home to the Suwa clan, daimyō of Takashima Domain. The castle is also known as ’The Floating Castle of Suwa’’’ (諏訪の浮城, Suwa-no-uki-shirō) or Shimazaki Castle (島崎城, Shimazaki-jō)
Takashima Castle is originally built on a peninsula extending into Lake Suwa, with the lake itself forming part of its moats. This meant that only the side facing the shore had to have strong ramparts. The Main Bailey (Honmaru) was connected to the Second Bailey (Ni-no-maru) and Third Bailey (San-no-Maru) by bridges, with the Main Bastion (Koromo-no-nami kuruwa (衣之波曲輪 )) containing the Main Gate (Ōtemon) facing the shore. During the Edo period, increasing sedimentation of Lake Suwa left the castle surrounded by land, and the site is now located the middle of the modern city of Suwa.
Today, the area is a public park. Only the north and east side of the moat has been preserved. In 1970, some of the castle structures were reconstructed, but are not historically accurate. The castle was listed as one of the Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles in 2017.
The area around Lake Suwa had been under the control of the Suwa clan since at least the early Heian period; however, the Suwa were conquered in the Sengoku period by Takeda Shingen, who annexed the area to his territories. Takashima Castle was ruled by a succession of Takeda generals (beginning with Itagaki Nobukata) until the defeat and annihilation of the Takeda clan at the Battle of Nagashino in 1575.
The area then came under the control of Oda Nobunaga, who assigned it to one of his generals, Kawajiri Hidetaka. After Nobunaga was assassinated in the Honnō-ji incident, the territory came under the control of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who assigned Hineno Takayoshi as daimyō of Suwa Domain. Hineno Takayoshi began a complete reconstruction of the castle, which was completed by his son, Hineno Yoshiakira. The Hineno were reassigned in 1601, and the domain was returned to the hands of the Suwa clan by Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Suwa remained in control of the castle until the Meiji restoration.
Following the establishment of the Meiji government and the abolition of the han system, the remaining structures of the castle were dismantled in 1875, leaving only the stone foundations. A Shinto Shrine dedicated to the war dead was established within the grounds in 1900 and the area of the Second and Third Baileys was built over as a residential district. The present donjon, yagura and gates are all reconstructions, which were completed in 1970.
Wikipedia
Gerard Dockery says:
Following the Meiji restoration, all buildings of the castle except for one gate were either destroyed or transferred to neighboring temples. The outer enclosure areas became schools, and a shinto shrine to the Yanagisawa clan was erected in the central bailey. The tall stone walls and deep moat around central bailey and secondary area are well-preserved, and the outer water moat partially survives in the form of discontinuous ponds around the castle. The Ote-mon Gate was reconstructed in 1983, the Ote-higashi-sumi-yagura in 1984, and the Ote-muki-yagura in 1987 with donations from citizens. An archaeological excavation from 2013 to 2017 confirmed the foundations of the tenshu and that this structure existed during the time of Toyomi Hidenaga. According to popular legend, the tenshu was destroyed in the 1596 Keichō–Fushimi earthquake due to a curse caused by some of its foundation stones being Buddhist statues which had been blasphemously installed upside-down; however, per contemporary documents it was dismantled and relocated to Nijō Castle and then to Yōdō Castle. A survey and construction project was carried out from 2013 to 2017, and the foundation stones were confirmed. This survey confirmed that a castle tower definitely existed during the time of Toyotomi Hidenaga.
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Gerard Dockery says:
Kōriyama Castle (郡山城, Kōriyama-jō) is a flatlands-style Japanese castle located in the city of Yamatokōriyama, Nara Prefecture, Japan. Its ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 2023.
Kōriyama Castle is located at the center of the Nara Basin on the southern end of the Saikyo Hills, on a peninsula protected by the Akishino and Tomio Rivers. The site appears to have been a physic garden in the Nara period, and the first record of a fortification dates from the late 10th century. During the Sengoku period, it was extensively remodeled by Tsutsui Junkei (1549-1584), a local petty warlord who had previously been a general commanding the sōhei (armed monks) of Kofuku-ji. The clan controlled central Yamato Province, but were defeated by Matsunaga Hisahide. Kōriyama Castle was taken by Matsunaga Hisahide, but was soon recovered by Tsutsui Junkei. After Matsunaga Hisahide failed rebellion against Oda Nobunaga, Tsutsui Junkei was awarded all of Yamato Province. Oda Nobunaga ordered him to consolidate his castles, and he selected Koriyama as his stronghold. Following the assassination of Nobunaga in 1582, Tsutsui remained neutral in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's battle against Akechi Mitsuhide, and was awarded with confirmation in his existing territory. However, after Tsutsui Junkei's death, his successor was transferred to Iga Province in 1585 and Kōriyama was awarded to Hideyoshi's younger brother, Toyotomi Hidenaga. Hidenaga significantly expanded Kor Kōriyama yama Castle to have the prestige suitable for the brother of Hideyoshi, and the shape of the current castle was completed at this time.
The basic layout was like a whirlpool, with secondary and outer enclosures surrounding the central bailey, which had a tenshu constructed in its northwest corner and the main gate at the southeast edge. Since Yamato lacked high-quality stone, each household in the area was required to provide 20 loads of stones. Stone Buddhist statues, gravestones, and stone pagodas from temples were robbed to provide building materials. Among the stones used were foundation stones the Rajōmon of Heijō-kyō, and stone Buddhas from the "Zōtō", a pyramidical Buddhist ruin from around the 8th century in Nara city.
After Hidenaga's death, Kōriyama Castle was given to Nagamori Mashita (1545-1615), one of five magistrates of Toyotomi government. Under his tenure, the castle town was improved and protected by water moats. During the 1600 Battle of Sekigahara, he supported the Western Army of Ishida Mitsunari and was thus deposed by Tokugawa Ieyasu. Many of the defensive structures of the castle were destroyed by order of the new Tokugawa shogunate. After the 1614-1615 Siege of Osaka, Kōriyama was made the center of Kōriyama Domain, which was ruled by a succession of fudai daimyō houses such as the Mizuno clan, Okudaira Matsudaira clan, and Honda clan, and the castle structures were reconstructed. In 1724, Yanagisawa Yoshisato, the son of Shōgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi's advisor and confidant Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu was transferred from Kōfu Castle to Koriyama. His descendants would continue the rule Koriyama to the Meiji restoration.
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Gerard Dockery says:
The history of Edo Castle dates back to the Heian Period when a fortified palace was built by the Edo clan on this site. In 1457 Ota Dokan constructed the first Edo Castle under the Uesugi clan. The castle remained under the control of the Uesugi family until the coming of the Tokugawa. Before Tokugawa Ieyasu, Edo (Tokyo) was just another town in the Kanto area. Partly due to Ieyasu's revolutionary city planning, the town of Edo developed at lightning speed and quickly became the social and political center of Japan.
In 1590, after Toyotomi Hideyoshi completed the unification of Japan he granted lordship over the greater Tokyo region to his lieutenant Tokugawa Ieyasu. Tokugawa could have ruled from the well established castle town of Odawara (80km west of Tokyo); instead, he took the opportunity to build a new city from the underdeveloped village of Edo. In a little over 100 years, Edo's population would grow to more than a million people, making it the largest city in the world.
When Tokugawa became Shogun in 1603, Edo effectively became the capital of Japan. He mobilized a workforce from all parts of the country to build the huge stone walls, watchtowers, and palaces of the castle. The castle was the heart of Tokugawa's city and the largest castle in the world. The castle design was the work of the great castle architect, and Ieyasu's friend, Todo Takatora.
The 15km outer moat and the 5km inner moat connect to the Sumida River to roughly spiral around the inner compound of the castle. The entire 15km of the outer moat was dug and completed in around four months, an incredible feat in any century. These Inner and Outer moats were crossed by 36 gates, many of which have left their mark on well known place names: Hanzomon, Toranomon, Akasaka Mitsuke (-mon & -mitsuke are gates); Hitotsubashi, Kandabashi, Suidobashi, and Iidabashi (-bashi means bridge) are all namesakes from those fortified bridges. Buddhist temples were even strategically located in the Northeast (Kaneiji Temple) and Southwest (Zojoji Temple) to ward off evil spirits in accordance with Japanese feng shui.
Since the end of the Edo Period (1868), Tokyo has suffered calamities such as the Great Kanto Earthquake (1923) and WWII where fires destroyed much of the city. Even so, you can still find remnants of the original castle scattered around Tokyo. There are around 20 original buildings (3 of the gates are registered as Important Cultural Properties) and sections of the stonework fortifications can be seen throughout the city.
The six main compounds surrounded by the inner moat remain almost as they were at the end of the Edo Period. The Western and Fukiage Compounds are now known as the Imperial Palace and the First, Second and Third Compounds are called the "Imperial Palace East Gardens." You can walk the gardens, but the public is only allowed into the Imperial Palace grounds on special occasions. The North Compound is home to a park, museum, and the famous Budokan event hall. Jogging around this central core is a popular course for Tokyo runners. Any day of the week, you will see countless joggers making the 5km trek around the castle grounds. Many people don't realize that the massive stone walls and waterway they jog around were the original castle walls and moat. Along this course you can also enjoy the sights of 9 gates and 3 watchtowers, including the Otemon Gate.
The amount of stonework that has lasted over the past 400 years is amazing considering all they have withstood. Each stone was expertly fit together without mortar to provide enough flexibility to stand through hundreds of years of earthquakes. Most of the stone walls and fortifications of the outer moat were destroyed to make way for new developments in the 1900s. Sotobori Dori (Outer Moat Road) was built over part of the outer moat after filling most of it in. The canal across the northern part of the castle today is the only part of the old moat that was not filled in. If you walk along the high embankments you will occasionally come across ruins from the original fortifications.
For 264 years, 15 generations of Tokugawa ruled Japan from Edo Castle. The Tokugawa gave up control of the castle when they lost the Boshin war in 1868. The Emperor was restored as the ruler of Japan and moved to Edo Castle. At this time, the city was renamed Tokyo, or "Eastern Capital". The next time you are in Tokyo or even look at a map of the city, note the large green area in the middle and think about how the castle defined the city of Tokyo today.
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Gerard Dockery says:
Ooura Tamenobu was awarded the area around Hirosaki for his loyalty to Hideyoshi during the Battle of Odawara. He changed his name to to Tsugaru and started work on Hirosaki Castle in 1603. He died in 1607 and work on the castle was put on hold until his son Tsugaru Nobuhira restarted it in 1610. He finished the castle in just one year by cannibalizing materials from Horikoshi Castle and Daikoji Castle. The 3 level main keep of Hirosaki Castle seems disproportionately small when compared to the huge estate encompassed by the castle today. Hirosaki Castle was originally built with a 5 level keep which was struck by lightning and burned to the ground in 1627. The new 3 level keep is actually just the renovated Ninomaru tasumi yagura watchtower. The Tsugaru clan held the castle until the Meiji Restoration when it was taken over by the government.
Hirosaki Castle has the only extant main keep to the east of Matsumoto Castle (Nagano Pref.) making it a historical treasure of the Tohoku region. Hirosaki Castle is also famous throughout Japan for the more than 2600 cherry trees that fill its grounds today. Every spring when the trees are in bloom thousands of visitors flock to the grounds for one of Japan's finest Cherry Blossom Festivals.
Even though the main keep is not very spectacular ad there is less stonework than comparable castles, the buildings and walls are more unique than most other castles. There are five large, original yaguramon gates, the likes of which you won't see anywhere else, and 3 three story yagura. The layout of the castle grounds and moats are nearly perfectly preserved which makes a vast peaceful and relaxing park without too many people. Aomori is also famous for apples so you'll see apple treats, apple juice and more everywhere.
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Gerard Dockery says:
A powerful family originally built a fortified residence on this site called Shinohara Castle. After Hideyoshi pacified Kyushu, Mori Motonari's son Hidekane built Kurume Castle. After the Battle of Sekigahara, Hidekane, who was on the Western side of the battle was transferred to a different position and Tanaka Yoshimasa became lord of Kurume Castle. In 1621, Arima Toyouji became the new lord of Kurume Castle. Arima renovated the castle into a modern Edo Period castle. A main keep was never built at Kurume Castle but it did boast seven yagura towers in the Honmaru. Kurume Castle remained in the hands of the Arima until it was dismantled in the Meiji Period.
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Gerard Dockery says:
Kakegawa Castle remained in ruins through the Shōwa period, with the exception of the Ni-no-Maru Goten (二の丸御殿) (daimyō's mansion), built by Ōta Sukekatsu after the earthquake, and registered with the government in 1980 as an Important Cultural Property.
Other surviving portions of the castle included a portion of the moats and stone walls, and the drum house. A gate from the main bailey of the castle built in 1659 was given to the Buddhist temple of Yusan-ji in Fukuroi, where it now serves as the main gate of that temple. It is also a National ICP.
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Gerard Dockery says:
In 1385, Hosokawa Yoriyuki built Inoyama Castle on the present site of Tokushima Castle. After Toyotomi forces conquered Shikoku, Hachisuka Iemasa was appointed the lord of Awa Province (present day Tokushima Prefecture.) Initially, Hachisuka Iemasa based his headquarters at Ichinomiya Castle. However, it turned out to be a rather inconvenient location to govern Awa, so he moved to Tokushima Castle in 1585. The existing fortifications were enlarged and improved.
The castle is located in the heart of Tokushima City, on a 62m hill called Inoyama. The castle is a renkaku-style hilltop castle with a Honmaru (Main Bailey), Higashi Ninomaru (Eastern Second Bailey), Nishi Ninomaru (Western Second Bailey), and Nishi Sannomaru (Western Third Bailey) located up on the hill with additional baileys: Nishinomaru Yashiki, Baba, Goten, and Miki Bailey at the base of the hill. Initially, a castle keep was built in the Honmaru at the top of the hill, but it was pulled down and a new three-storey castle keep without the usual stonewall foundation (tenshudai) was built in the Higashi Ninomaru in the early Edo Period. The castle lasted eight years into the Meiji Period before it was demolished in 1875. Only the Washimon (Washi Gate) in the Miki Bailey survived, but it was destroyed during a WWII air raid in July 1945. The current Washimon was rebuilt in 1989 to mark the centenary of Tokushima City.
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Gerard Dockery says:
The current tenshu of the castle was completed in 1811. It is a three-story building with three roofs, and a height of 14.4 meters. The design is smaller than early Edo-period varieties of tenshu, and it was built on a corner of the inner bailey on the site of a yagura, rather than the stone base of the original tenshu. The small size was partly due to the restricted finances of the domain towards the end of the Edo period, but its location and design were also intended to alleviate concerns which might be raised by the Tokugawa shogunate should a larger structure be built. At present, it is a separate standing structure; however, prior to 1896 it had an attached gatehouse.
The tenshu is surrounded by three surviving yagura from the Edo period (the Ninomaru Tatsumi Yagura, Ninomaru Hitsujisaru Yagura, Ninomaru Ushitora Yagura), on its second bailey, and five surviving gates (Sannomaru Ōtemon Gate, Sannomaru East Gate, Ninomaru South Gate, Ninomaru East Gate, Kitanokuruwa North Gate) in the walls of its second and third baileys. All of these structures, including the tenshu itself, are National Important Cultural Properties. The castle grounds also contain a surviving castle guardhouse, although it has been moved to a different location on the castle grounds.
The surrounding Hirosaki Park around the castle grounds is one of Japan's most famous cherry blossom spots. Over a million people enjoy the park's 2600 trees (which were originally planted around in grounds in 1903) during the sakura matsuri (cherry blossom festival) when the cherry blossoms are in bloom, usually during the Japanese Golden Week holidays in the end of April and beginning of May.
Wikipedia (excerpt)
Gerard Dockery says:
Ikoma Chikamasa, the lord of the Sanuki area originally ruled from Takamatsu Castle. While there, he built and moved to Marugame Castle placing his son in charge of Takamatsu Castle. Marugame Castle was decomissioned as part of the one castle per country law in 1615.
Marugame Castle was resurrected in 1641 when Yamazaki Ieharu was granted the small fief of Western Sanuki. He rebuilt the castle into what we see today and developed the surrounding castle town of Marugame.
This is an amazing castle. I spent much more time here than I had anticipated. I don't think I've seen any book or website that really does justice to the size of this castle nor the magnificent stone walls. One of the great things about Marugame Castle is how close you can get to all of the walls. If you think about the big Edo Period castles like Edo, Osaka, Nagoya, etc their great stone walls are across a moat so you can't physically get right up next to most of them to be really awed by their scale. The main keep at the top is the smallest in Japan, but when you have such a commanding view from the only mountain in sight, you don't need a big keep.
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Gerard Dockery says:
Ogasawara Tadazane (former lord of Matsumoto), moved into the area in 1617. In 1619, under the orders of Tokugawa Hidetada he built Akashi Castle in just one year for the purposes of watching over the Western lords and building up the Tokugawa defenses in the region. He accomplished building this castle in so little time mainly because he used materials from castles in the area that were decomissioned under the one castle per country law of 1615, mainly Fushimi Castle and nearby Funage Castle. The castle deftly makes use of the natural terrain in a 3 tiered castle compound. Ogasawara's father-in-law Honda Tadamasa, who also directed the construction of Himeji Castle, assisted with the construction of Akashi castle. Even though they built a large foundation for a large main keep, no main keep was ever built. In its place the honmaru had 4 large 3 story yagura, two of which are still standing today. Eventually, Ogasawara Tadazane was moved to Kokura Castle. The lordship of Akashi Castle changed hands several times until it was taken over by Matsudaira Naoakira in 1682. The Matsudaira continued to rule until the of the Meiji Restoration.
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Gerard Dockery says:
Akashi Castle (明石城, Akashi-jō) was an Edo period Japanese castle located in the city of Akashi, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It was also known as Kiharu Castle (喜春城, Kiharu-jō) or Kinkō Castle (錦江城, Kinkō-jō). Its ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 1957.
Akashi Castle is located on Mount Akamatsu, a hill in central Akashi, to the north of Akashi Station. The site was the location of a burial mound which was believed to have been the grave of the Nara period poet Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. The location dominates the San'yōdō highway connecting the Kinai region with western Japan and also the main route north to Tanba and Tango Provinces. It is also very near the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, overlooking the narrows to Awaji island. Considered by the Tokugawa shogunate to be a backup to Himeji Castle, it was the final line of defences for the Kansai region against any attack from the west.
The construction of the castle was by order of Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada from 1617 to 1619, who had assigned Ogasawara Tadazane to the area as daimyō of the newly created 100,000 koku Akashi Domain.[3] Ogasawara Tadazane's father Ogasawara Hidemasa had married a granddaughter of Tokugawa Ieyasu and was daimyō of Matsumoto Domain. He was killed in action at the Siege of Osaka. It is claimed without clear documentary evidence that Miyamoto Musashi assisted in building the castle as a "Construction Supervisor", as it is recorded that he was in the service of Ogasawara Tadazane at the time.
The castle only took one year to complete, which was relatively fast for the time period. This was done so quickly as a result of the 1615 decree mandating castle per clan, so many castles in the area were dismantled and some materials and buildings were recycled for the construction of Akashi Castle. This included wood from Miki Castle, Takasago Castle, Edayoshi Castle, and Funage Castle and a number of buildings from Fushimi Castle and Funage Castle including yagura towers. Although no tenshu main tower was ever built, Akashi Castle became a large castle with 20 yagura and 27 gates. The Inner bailey had four three-story corner yagura, two of which have survived to the present.
The Ogawasawa clan were transferred to Kokura Domain in 1632, and afterwards the castle was ruled by a succession of fudai daimyō or shimpan clans. Akashi Castle underwent major repairs in 1739, and was largely demolished by the Meiji Government in 1874. The castle site became the Hyogo Prefectural Akashi Park.[2] The castle suffered considerable damage in the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, with some collapsed stone walls and extensive damage to its yagura towers.
Akashi Castle was listed as one of Japan's Top 100 Castles by the Japan Castle Foundation in 2006.
The castle is a ten-minute walk from Akashi Station on the JR West San'yō Main Line.
Wikipedia
Gerard Dockery says:
In 1619, Mizuno Katsunari, a cousin of Tokugawa Ieyasu, was the first of the Tokugawa hereditary vassals (fudai daimyo) to be stationed in the Chuugoku region. He was placed here at Fukuyama to be just between the non-hereditary vassals (tozama daimyo) in Hiroshima and Okayama. He received great support from the Tokugawa in the form of money, materials and buildings transferred from Fushimi Castle (the Fushimi Yagura and Sujigane Gate survive today) to build this rather large and strong castle (23 yagura and 10 gates) quickly. It shows the importance Tokugawa placed on showing his strength to these tozama daimyo. The castle was completed in 1622.
The iron plating was added to the north side of the castle because it was the most vulnerable. There is no moat on this side and it was presumed that any attack would come from the north. Sure enough, the Choshu forces did attack from the north and were stopped around the area of a shrine, now called the Abe Shrine. The Akamon, or Red Gate, still has a bullet hole in it from the attack.
Fukuyama Castle was one of the greatest castles of the Edo Period. Many buildings survived the Meiji Restoration, but were mostly destroyed in the air raids of 1945. Only the Fushimi Yagura and Sujigane Gate survived.
Right next to the train station, Fukuyama Castle has become one of the must-see castles of Western Japan. While the main keep is a reconstruction, it is a very good reconstruction in terms of outside appearance. The museum inside is very engaging for castle and history fans alike. In recent years, they plated the north side of the keep with iron plates as it originally was and cleaned up the site by removing many of the trees that blocked your view of the yagura and main keep.
The original Fushimi Yagura, Sujigane Gate, Bell Tower and reconstructed Inui yagura provide many photogenic angles combined with the multiple layers of well preserved stone walls. If you visit, plan some time to take great photos from the shinkansen platform windows too! For the castle fan that wants to add a little extra to the trip, there are a few places around town with the remains of stone walls and there is even a gate from a former samurai residence. You can check out these extras with a map in the album Castle Town.
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