141115 Ako Castle Ako Hyogo pref Japan23n

is a former flatland

Japanese castle are fortresses constructed primarily of wood and stone. They evolved from the wooden stockades of earlier centuries and came into their best-known form in the 16th century. Castles in Japan were built to guard important or strategic sites, such a ...

located in the city of Akō,

Hyōgo Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to th ...

, Japan. Built by the

Asano clan The was a Japanese samurai clan that descended from the Minamoto clan, and the Emperor Seiwa (850-881), the 56th Emperor of Japan. The Main Lineage (''sōke'', 宗家) were Lords (daimyō) of the Hiroshima Domain in Aki Province and another f ...

in the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, it was the center of

Akō Domain was a Han (Japan), feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Harima Province in what is now the southwestern portion of modern-day Hyōgo Prefecture. It was centered around Akō Castle, which is located in wh ...

in western

Harima Province or Banshū (播州) was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is the southwestern part of present-day Hyōgo Prefecture. Harima bordered on Tajima, Tanba, Settsu, Bizen, and Mimasaka Provinces. Its capital was Himeji. During th ...

. Demolished in 1873 by the Meiji government, the castle was designated a National Historic Site in 1971, with the area under protection expanded in 2003. Within the castle grounds is the ''Nagayamon'' gate to the residence of

Ōishi Kuranosuke Oishi may refer to: * Ōishi (surname), a Japanese surname * Oishi (Philippine brand), a snack company from the Philippines * Oishi Group, a Thai food-and-drink company * Ōishi Station, a train station in Nada-ku, Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japa ...

, the ''

karō were top-ranking samurai officials and advisors in service to the ''daimyōs'' of feudal Japan. Overview In the Edo period, the policy of ''sankin-kōtai'' (alternate attendance) required each ''daimyō'' to place a ''karō'' in Edo and anothe ...

'' of the domain under

Asano Naganori was the ''daimyō'' of the Akō Domain in Japan (1675–1701). His title was ''Takumi no Kami'' (). He is known as the person who triggered a series of incidents retold in a story known as ''Chūshingura'' (involving the forty-seven rōnin), ...

. The house itself no longer exists, but its location has a separate National Historic Site designation. Both the Honmaru Garden and the Ni-no-Maru Gardens have been restored to an approximation of their appearance in the Edo period, and are collectively designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty in 2021.

Overview

Akō Castle is located on the southern seashore of Akō city, and guarded the border between former

and

Bizen Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area that is eastern Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of western Japan.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Mimasaka no Kuni''" in . Bizen bordered Bitchū Province, ...

. It was originally a small fortification erected by the local Oka clan in the 15th century. However, after the area was awarded to

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

's general and son-in-law

Ikeda Terumasa was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. His court title was ''Kokushi (officials), Musashi no Kami''. Terumasa was also known by the nickname ''saigoku no shōgun'', or, "The ''Shōgun'' of Western Japan". Terumasa fought in many ...

after the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was an important battle in Japan which occurred on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu Prefecture, ...

, and a new castle was constructed. The Ikeda clan ruled from

Himeji Castle () is a hilltop Japanese castle complex situated in Himeji, a city in the Hyōgo Prefecture of Japan. The castle is regarded as the finest surviving example of prototypical Japanese castle architecture, comprising a network of 83 rooms with adva ...

, and Akō Castle was constructed as a secondary fortification to secure the domain's western borders. Ikeda Terumasa's vast holdings were broken up after his death, and his fifth son, Ikeda Masatsuna, received a 35,000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

'' portion which had been assigned as the widow's portion to his mother Tokuhime. His younger brother, Ikeda Teruoki, inherited the domain in 1631. However, he went insane in 1645, murdering his concubine and several ladies-in-waiting, and was dispossessed. The Ikeda were replaced by a cadet branch of the

. Asano Naganao spend 13 years rebuilding Akō Castle on a scale far in excess of his ''

kokudaka refers to a system for determining land value for taxation purposes under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo-period Japan, and expressing this value in terms of ''koku'' of rice. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Koku"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 5 ...

'' of 53,000 ''koku'' and also reconstructed the

castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, ...

. The castle had 12 gates and 10 '' yagura towers''. The design of the castle was unusual in that it consisted of concentric moated enclosure each shaped in a geometric pattern, which may have been influenced by knowledge of Western

star fort A bastion fort or ''trace italienne'' (a phrase derived from non-standard French, meaning 'Italian outline') is a fortification in a style developed during the early modern period in response to the ascendancy of gunpowder weapons such as c ...

designs. The stone foundation base of a five-story ''

tenshu is an architectural typology found in Japanese castle, Japanese castle complexes. They are easily identifiable as the highest tower within the castle. Common translations of ''tenshu'' include keep, main keep, or ''donjon''. ''Tenshu'' are cha ...

'' was constructed, but it remained only as a foundation, and no ''tenshu'' was ever actually constructed. Although it is now far from the coastline, at the time of its construction it was built on the seashore, and it was possible to sail from docks located in the castle. The Asano clan were dispossessed following the famous

forty-seven rōnin The revenge of the , also known as the or Akō vendetta, was a historical event in Japan in which a band of ''rōnin'' (lordless samurai) avenged the death of their former master on 31 January 1703. The incident has since become legendary. I ...

incident, and the castle passed into the hands of the Mori clan who ruled over a much reduced Akō Domain from 1706 until the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

Current situation

Subsequent to Meiji Restoration outer areas and most buildings were lost due to the 1873 Abolition of Castles Ordinance by the

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji ...

. Many of the buildings were pulled down, and portions of the stone walls were demolished to be used as a

revetment A revetment in stream restoration, river engineering or coastal engineering is a facing of impact-resistant material (such as stone, concrete, sandbags, or wooden piles) applied to a bank or wall in order to absorb the energy of incoming water an ...

when the Chikusa River flooded in 1892. Many of the moats were filled in, and the site of the Honmaru central enclosure became a school in 1928. A portion of moats and one ''yagura'' were reconstructed in 1935 and more moats in 1953. Subsequently, several buildings and structures of the inner area have been restored, including the Otemon main gate in 1955. The school was relocated in 1981, ten years after the site received National Historic Site designation. From the 1990s, reconstruction of the Honmaru garden began. Several more gates were restored by 1996. In 2006 Akō Castle was selected as one of

Japan's Top 100 Castles The Japanese castle, castles in were chosen based on their significance in culture, history, and in their regions by the in 2006. In 2017, the Japanese Castle Association created an additional finest 100 castles list as Continued Top 100 Japane ...

by the Japan Castle Association.

Oishi Shrine

Oishi Shrine is a

Shinto shrine A Stuart D. B. Picken, 1994. p. xxiii is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more kami, , the deities of the Shinto religion. The Also called the . is where a shrine's patron is or are enshrined.Iwanami Japanese dic ...

located in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Dedicated to the

. It is a

Beppyo shrine A ''Beppyō'' shrine () is a category of Shinto shrine, as defined by the Association of Shinto Shrines. They are considered to be remarkable in some way, and thus given a higher status than other shrines. It is considered the successor to the mo ...

, or a shrine that is particularly notable in a certain way with a significant history to it. IT is located in the ruins of Akō Castle.http://pub.nohin.hyogo-tourism-foreign.cms8341.jp.e.aas.hp.transer.com/things/historical/h-038.html

Gallery

141115 Ako Castle Ako Hyogo pref Japan05bs3.jpg, Site of the Ni-no-Maru Gate Ako-Castle001.JPG, Honmaru rear gate (restored) 141115 Ako Castle Ako Hyogo pref Japan12s3.jpg, ''Masugata''-style Honmaru rear gate 141115 Ako Castle Ako Hyogo pref Japan26n.jpg, Honmaru Stable Gate 141115 Ako Castle Ako Hyogo pref Japan16bs5.jpg, Foundations of the Honmaru Palace 赤穂城跡・天守閣イルミネーション - panoramio - mikeneko.jpg, Foundation base of the Tenshu 141115 Ako Castle Ako Hyogo pref Japan24s3.jpg, Honmaru Palace ''Tsubo-niwa''　, alt=Honmaru Palace Tsubo-niwa

References

Literature

* * *

External links

Ako Castle official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ako Castle Beppyo shrines Ken-sha Shinto shrines Shinto shrines in Hyōgo Prefecture Castles in Hyōgo Prefecture 100 Fine Castles of Japan Places of Scenic Beauty Historic Sites of Japan Akō, Hyōgo