is a hilltop-style

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 ...

located in the town of Miharu, Tamura District,

Fukushima Prefecture Fukushima Prefecture (; ja, 福島県, Fukushima-ken, ) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,810,286 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miyagi ...

, in the southern

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku reta ...

of Japan. It also called Maizuru Castle (舞鶴城). Built in 1543, the castle and its surrounding land is maintained by the government of Japan as a public park. Built in the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

and occupied by a succession of ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominall ...

'' of

Miharu Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003). It was based at Miharu Castle in southern Mutsu Province in ...

under the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

, the site is now a public park noted for its

sakura A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of genus ''Prunus'' or ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especially in Japan. They generally ...

Background

Miharu Castle is located on the 407-meter Shiroyama hill in the Abukuma Mountains near the center of current Fukushima prefecture, and commands a crossing point of the north-south route connecting Shirakawa with

Kōriyama is a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 322,996 people in 141760 households, and a population density of 430 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Kōriyama is designated as a core city an ...

and the east-west route between

Aizu-Wakamatsu is a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 118,159 in 50,365 households, and a population density of 310 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Geography Aizuwakamatsu is located in the west ...

and the Sōma territories on the eastern coast. The fortification are located in an L-shaped plateau located approximately 80-meters up the hillside. The upper enclosure was the site was residence of the lord, and the lower enclosure contained a three-story

donjon A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in ...

. Along the lower half of the hill, a ridge extends on all sides, and contained secondary enclosures. The area of the castle was very compact.

History

The exact date of the foundation of Miharu Castle is unknown, but it was constructed by

Tamura Yoshiaki (died 1561) was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period, who ruled the area around Miharu, in Mutsu Province. He ordered the construction of Miharu Castle is a hilltop-style Japanese castle located in the town of Miharu, Tamura Distric ...

at around 1504 AD. The Tamura clan claimed descent from the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japan ...

general Sakanoue Tamuramaro who conquered this region from the

Emishi The (also called Ebisu and Ezo), written with Chinese characters that literally mean " shrimp barbarians," constituted an ancient ethnic group of people who lived in parts of Honshū, especially in the Tōhoku region, referred to as in contem ...

, so the origins of the fortifications may be much older. By the time of the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by ...

, the

Tamura clan Tamura (usually written 田村), a Japanese placename and family name, may refer to: In places: *Tamura, Fukushima, a city in Japan *Tamura District, Fukushima is a district located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003 population data but ...

had declined and the Miharu area was divided between many competing small warlords. Although Tamura Yoshiaki was aggressive in attacking its neighbours and expanding the Tamura holdings, his position was threatened by the growing power of the

Date clan The is a Japanese samurai kin group. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Date", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 5 retrieved 2013-5-5. History The Date family was founded ...

to the north, the Ashina clan to the west and the

Sōma clan The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled the northern Hamadōri region of southern Mutsu Province in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan for over 700 years, from the Kamakura period through the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The Sōma claime ...

to the east. The Tamura chose to ally with Date clan. Yoshiaki's grandson,

Tamura Kiyoaki was a Japanese samurai and head of the Tamura clan. Tamura clan was a daimyō ruled part of Mutsu. Kiyoaki inherited the headship of the Tamura clan around 1571. His daughter Lady Tamura married Date Masamune was a regional ruler of Ja ...

, sent his daughter Yoshihime (1568-1653) as a formal wife to

Date Masamune was a regional ruler of Japan's Azuchi–Momoyama period through early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful ''daimyō'' in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai. An outstanding tactician, he was made ...

; however, after the death of Kiyoaki the situation within the Tamura clan became weak. When Date Masamune submitted to

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

at the

Siege of Odawara (1590) The third occurred in 1590, and was the primary action in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign to eliminate the Hōjō clan as a threat to his power. The months leading up to it saw hasty but major improvements in the defense of the castle, as Hi ...

, he did not permit any member of the Tamura clan to accompany him. As a result, their lands were declared forfeit and were annexed by the Date; however, Date Masamune was forced to give up his holdings in what is now Fukushima by Hideyoshi the following year. Hideyoshi gave the territories to

Gamō Ujisato or Gamō Yasuhide was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku and Azuchi–Momoyama periods. He was heir and son of Gamō Katahide, lord of Hino Castle in Ōmi Province, he later held Matsusaka ( Ise Province) and finally Aizuwakamatsu Castle i ...

, who then embarked on a program to modernise the major castles of his territory with features such as stone walls and combined gates. Along with

Nihonmatsu Castle is a Japanese castle located in what is now the city of Nihonmatsu, northern Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Throughout most of the Edo period, Nihonmatsu Castle was home to the Niwa clan, ''daimyō'' of Nihonmatsu Domain. The castle was also known ...

and

Inawashiro Castle is a town located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 13,810 in 5309 households, and a population density of 35 persons per km². The total area of the town was . It is noted as the birthplace of the famous ...

, Miharu Castle was also modernised. After the death of Ujisato in 1595, the territory went to Uesugi Kagekatsu. The

Uesugi clan The is a Japanese samurai clan which was at its peak one of the most powerful during the Muromachi and Sengoku periods (14th to 17th centuries). Appert, Georges. (1888) ''Ancien Japon,'' p. 79./ref> At its height, the clan had three main branc ...

lost the territory as a result of the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 ( Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of ...

and were transferred to Yonezawa by the new

. The shogunate created the 30,000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about . It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1000 gō. One ''gō'' is the volume of the "rice cup", the plastic measuring cup that is supplied ...

for Katō Akitoshi, a younger son of

Katō Yoshiaki was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the late Sengoku period to early Edo period who served as lord of the Aizu Domain. A retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he fought in the battle of Shizugatake in 1583, and soon became known as one of the ''shichi-hon- ...

in 1627. he was transferred to

Nihonmatsu Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in southern Mutsu Province. It was centered on Nihonmatsu Castle in what is now the city of Nihonmatsu, Fukushima, and its territory included all of Nihonmatsu, Moto ...

the following year and replaced by

Matsushita Nagatsuna Matsushita (written: lit. "below the pine tree") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Daisuke Matsushita (born 1981), a former Japanese football player * Hiro Matsushita (born 1961), former Japanese Champ Car racing dr ...

, formerly of Nihonmatsu, who ruled until dispossessed in 1644. In 1645, the

Akita clan The was a Japanese samurai clan of northern Honshū that claimed descent from Abe no Sadato of the Abe clan. The Akita clan was originally known as the . In the Kamakura period, they were installed in the Tsugaru district of Mutsu Province t ...

was transferred from

Shishido Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Hitachi Province (modern-day Ibaraki Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Shishido Jin'ya in what is now part of the city of Kasama, Ibaraki. It was ruled for mu ...

Hitachi Province was an old province of Japan in the area of Ibaraki Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Hitachi fudoki''" in . It was sometimes called . Hitachi Province bordered on Shimōsa (Lower Fusa), Shimotsuke, and Mutsu ( Iwase -17 ...

, and the ''

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. 54 ...

'' of the domain was increased to 50,000 ''koku''. The Akita ruled 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 practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

. During the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...

, although Miharu Doman was a member of the

Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei The was a Japanese military-political coalition established and disestablished over the course of several months in early to mid-1868 during the Boshin War. Its flag was either a white interwoven five-pointed star on a black field, or a black i ...

, the castle was surrounded without a fight to 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 ...

Current situation

After the Meiji revolution, all the remaining structures of the castle were removed, except for the main gate of the

han school The was an educational institution in the Edo period of Japan, originally established to educate children of '' daimyō'' (feudal lords) and their retainers in the domains outside of the capital. These institutions were also known as ''hanga ...

. The shape of the earthen ramparts largely remains and the area is used as a public park famed for its

trees in spring. The castle was listed as one of the

Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles The is a list of 100 castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it ...

in 2017.

References

Literature

* * * * *

External links

Japan CastleJapan reference
{{Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles Castles in Fukushima Prefecture Ruined castles in Japan Parks and gardens in Fukushima Prefecture Miharu, Fukushima Mutsu Province Iwashiro Province Akita clan