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Matsuzaka Castle
was a Japanese castle (now in ruins) located in the city of Matsusaka, Mie Prefecture, Japan. Throughout most of the Edo period, Matsusaka Castle was a secondary administrative center for the Kishu-Tokugawa clan, ''daimyō'' of Kishū Domain. It has been protected as a National Historic Site since 2011. Background Matsusaka Castle is located on the west coast of Ise Bay, in the center of former Ise Province. In addition to the nearby seaport, the castle dominated a land communication junction, where five roads leading to Iga, Yamato Province, Yamato, and Kii Province and the road to Ise Shrine converged. The castle town of Matsusaka prospered by trading, and merchants of Matsusaka were known for their activities nationwide. The founder of Mitsui, one of modern Japan's largest commercial enterprises was born in Matsuzaka. The castle itself is built on a wedge-shaped hill facing eastward and consists of three layers of terraces. The Honmaru (central bailey) at the top of the hi ...
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Matsusaka, Mie
is a city located in Mie Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 157,235 in 66,018 households and a population density of 250 people per km². The total area of the city is . The city is famous for Matsusaka beef. Geography Matsusaka is located in east-central Kii Peninsula, in central Mie Prefecture. It stretches the width of Mie Prefecture, and is bordered by Ise Bay on the Pacific Ocean to the east, and Nara Prefecture to the west. Parts of the city are within the limits of the Yoshino-Kumano National Park. Climate Matsusaka has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Matsusaka is . The average annual rainfall is with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around . Demographics The population of Matsusaka has been increasing slowly over the past 50 years. ...
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Jōkamachi
The were centres of the domains of the feudal lords in medieval Japan. The ''jōkamachi'' represented the new, concentrated military power of the daimyo in which the formerly decentralized defence resources were concentrated around a single, central citadel. These cities did not necessarily form around castles after the Edo period; some are known as ''jin'yamachi'', cities that have evolved around ''jin'ya'' or government offices that are not intended to provide military services. Defined broadly, ''jokamachi'' includes ''jin'yamachi''. It is also referred to as ''jōka'', as was common before the early modern period. History The origins of ''jōkamachi'' dates back to the Kamakura period, but it was not until the 1570s in the Sengoku period that the ''jōkamachi'' predominated other types of town. The ''jōkamachi'' can be divided into the ''shugo jōkamachi'', in which a castle town is ruled by the resident daimyo. While the ''shugo jōkamachi'' were the political centr ...
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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 cooking), used to this day for the plastic measuring cup that is supplied with commercial Japanese rice cookers. The ''koku'' in Japan was typically used as a dry measure. The amount of rice production measured in ''koku'' was the metric by which the magnitude of a feudal domain ('' han'') was evaluated. A feudal lord was only considered ''daimyō'' class when his domain amounted to at least 10,000 ''koku''. As a rule of thumb, one ''koku'' was considered a sufficient quantity of rice to feed one person for one year. The Chinese equivalent or cognate unit for capacity is the ''shi'' or '' dan'' () also known as ''hu'' (), now approximately 103 litres but historically about . Chinese equivalent The Chinese 石 ''dan'' is equal to 10 ''d ...
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Toyotomi Hideyoshi
, otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Course of History, Viking Press 1988. p. 68. Although he came from a peasant background, his immense power earned him the rank and title of and , the highest official position and title in the nobility class. He was the first person in history to become a ''Kampaku'' who was not born a noble. He then passed the position and title of ''Kampaku'' to his nephew, Toyotomi Hidetsugu. He remained in power as , the title of retired ''Kampaku'', until his death. It is believed, but not certain, that the reason he refused or could not obtain the title of , the leader of the warrior class, was because he was of peasant origin. Hideyoshi rose from a peasant background as a Affinity (medieval), retainer of the pr ...
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Oda Nobukatsu
also known as Kitabatake Tomotoyo was a Japanese samurai of the Azuchi–Momoyama period. He was the second son of Oda Nobunaga. He was adopted as the head of the Kitabatake clan from Ise Province. He survived the decline of the Oda clan from political prominence, becoming a ''daimyō'' in the early Edo period. Though often described as an incompetent general, Nobukatsu was a skilled warrior. In the battle of Komaki and Nagakute, he used a 13th-century '' tachi'' of the Fukuoka Ichimonji school, to slay a samurai known as Okada Sukesaburō. The blade came to be known as "Okada-giri Yoshifusa", now a national treasure. Biography In 1570, Nobukatsu became an adopted heir of the Kitabatake clan and married a daughter of the former lord of Kitabatake, Tomonori. The true nature of this marriage was a condition of truce forced by the Oda clan to the Kitabatake clan. In 1575, Nobukatsu officially became the head of the family. The next year, he killed his father-in-law, imp ...
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Oda Nobunaga
was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demon King of the Sixth Heaven". Nobunaga was an influential figure in Japanese history and is regarded as one of the three great unifiers of Japan, along with his Affinity (medieval), retainers, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Nobunaga paved the way for the successful reigns of Hideyoshi and Ieyasu by consolidating power, as head of the very powerful Oda clan, through a series of wars against other ''daimyō'' beginning in the 1560s. The period when Nobunaga and Hideyoshi were in power is called the Azuchi–Momoyama period. The name "Azuchi–Momoyama" comes from the fact that Nobunaga's castle, Azuchi Castle, was located in Azuchi, Shiga; while Fushimi Castle, where Hideyoshi lived after his retirement, was located in Momoyama. Nob ...
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Sengoku Period
The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as the period's start date, but there are many competing historiographies for its end date, ranging from 1568, the date of Oda Nobunaga#Ise campaign, Omi campaign, and march to Kyoto, Oda Nobunaga's march on Kyoto, to the suppression of the Shimabara Rebellion in 1638, deep into what was traditionally considered the Edo period. Regardless of the dates chosen, the Sengoku period overlaps substantially with the Muromachi period (1336–1573). This period was characterized by the overthrow of a superior power by a subordinate one. The Ashikaga shogunate, the ''de facto'' central government, declined and the , a local power, seized wider political influence. The people rebelled against the feudal lords in revolts known as . The period saw a break ...
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Southern Court
The were a set of four emperors ( Emperor Go-Daigo and his line) whose claims to sovereignty during the Nanboku-chō period spanning from 1336 through 1392 were usurped by the Northern Court. This period ended with the Southern Court definitively losing the war, and they were forced to completely submit sovereignty to the Northern Court. This had the result that, while later Japanese sovereigns were descended from the Northern Court, posterity assigns sole legitimacy during this period to the Southern Court. The Southern descendants are also known as the "junior line" and the , Daikaku-ji being the cloistered home of Go-Uda, a Southern ruler. Because it was based in Yoshino, Nara, it is also called the . Nanboku-chō overview The genesis of the Northern Court go back to Emperor Go-Saga, who reigned from 1242 through 1246. Go-Saga was succeeded by two of his sons, Emperor Go-Fukakusa and Emperor Kameyama, who took turns on the throne. This was because on his death bed ...
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Emperor Go-Daigo
Emperor Go-Daigo (後醍醐天皇 ''Go-Daigo-tennō'') (26 November 1288 – 19 September 1339) was the 96th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'')後醍醐天皇 (96) retrieved 2013-8-28. according to the traditional order of succession. He successfully overthrew the Kamakura shogunate in 1333 and established the short-lived Kenmu Restoration to bring the Imperial House back into power. This was to be the last time the emperor had real power until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.Sansom 1977: 22–42. The Kenmu restoration was in turn overthrown by Ashikaga Takauji in 1336, ushering in the Ashikaga shogunate. The overthrow split the imperial family into two opposing factions between the Ashikaga backed Northern Court situated in Kyoto and the Southern Court based in Yoshino. The Southern Court was led by Go-Daigo and his later successors. Biography Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (''imina'') was Takaharu''-shinnō'' (� ...
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Kitabatake Clan
The Kitabatake clan was a clan that ruled south Ise Province in Japan and had strong ties to the eastern provinces through Pacific sea routes. Among its leaders included Kitabatake Tomonori. Clan heads # Kitabatake Masaie (1215–1274, founder) # Kitabatake Morochika (1244–1315) # Kitabatake Moroshige (1270–1322) # Kitabatake Chikafusa (1293–1354) # Kitabatake Akiyoshi (1326?–1383?) # Kitabatake Akiyasu (1361?–1414) # Kitabatake Mitsumasa (1382?–1429) # Kitabatake Noritomo (1423–1471) # Kitabatake Masasato (1449–1508) # Kitabatake Kichika (1468–1518) # Kitabatake Harutomo (1503–1563) # Kitabatake Tomonori (1528–1576) # Kitabatake Tomofusa (1547–1580) # Kitabatake Tomotoyo ( Oda Nobukatsu) (1558–1630) See also * Kitabatake Shrine References External linksKamon World{{in lang, ja Japanese clans Minamoto clan ...
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Muromachi Period
The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ''shōgun'', Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kenmu Restoration (1333–1336) of imperial rule was brought to a close. The period ended in 1573 when the 15th and last shogun of this line, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, was driven out of the capital in Kyoto by Oda Nobunaga. From a cultural perspective, the period can be divided into the Kitayama and Higashiyama cultures (later 15th – early 16th centuries). The early years from 1336 to 1392 of the Muromachi period are known as the or Northern and Southern Court period. This period is marked by the continued resistance of the supporters of Emperor Go-Daigo, the emperor behind the Kenmu Restoration. The Sengoku period or Warring States period, which begins in 1465, largely overlaps ...
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Yagura (tower)
is the Japanese word for "tower", "turret", "keep", or "scaffold". The word is most often seen in reference to structures in Japanese castle compounds but can be used in other situations as well. The bandstand tower erected for Bon Festival is often called a ''yagura'', as are similar structures used in other festivals. ''Yagura-daiko'' (''taiko'' drumming from atop a ''yagura'') is a traditional part of professional sumo competitions.Official Grand Sumo homepage


Etymology

There were signs that the first written form of kanji was during ancient periods, simply being a character representing a tower before being changed to – in which the former replaced the latter once again. The term originally derives from the use of fortress towers as high/tall or arrow (, ''ya'') storeh ...
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