270px, Ōgaki Castle in 1933 270px, Edo period layout map of Ōgaki Castle is a flatlands-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, suc ...

located in the city of Ōgaki,

Gifu Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture ...

, Japan. During the

Sengoku period The was a period in 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 feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Variou ...

, Ōgaki Castle was home to several of

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 C ...

's most trusted generals and relatives; during 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 ...

, it was home to the Toda clan, ''

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 Ōgaki Domain, who dominated parts of the province of Mino under the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in ...

. Other names for the castle include Bi Castle (麇城 ''Bi-jō'') and Kyoroku Castle (巨鹿城 ''Kyoroku-jō'').

History

Ōgaki is located in western Mino Province, and was bordered by the

Ibi River The is a tributary of the Kiso River located in Gifu and Mie Prefectures in Japan. Along with the Nagara and Kiso rivers, the Ibi is the third of the Kiso Three Rivers of the Nōbi Plain. It is one of Japan's first-class rivers. The former T ...

and the Kuisegawa River. In addition to its defensive site, the location was also of strategic value in control of the Sekigahara Pass, which was the main overland route connecting Mino with

Ōmi Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, Ōmi was ranked as one of the 13 "great countri ...

and

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ...

. A fortification was originally erected on this site by the Miyagawa clan, a local samurai clan, who called it "Ushiya Castle". The area came to be hotly contested in the

between Saitō Dōsan and

Oda Nobuhide was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and magistrate of the Sengoku period known as "Tiger of Owari" and also the father of Oda Nobunaga the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobuhide was a deputy '' shugo'' (Shugodai) of lower Owari Province and head of the ...

. Under

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese '' daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unif ...

, Ujiie Naotomo followed by his son Ujiie Naomasa ruled the area.

recognized the location's strategic significance, and assigned a succession of his generals to the castle: Ikeda Tsuneoki,

Toyotomi Hidetsugu was a daimyō during the Sengoku period of Japan. He was the nephew and retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the unifier and ruler of Japan from 1590 to 1598. Despite being Hideyoshi's closest adult, male relative, Hidetsugu was accused of atrociti ...

Toyotomi Hidenaga , formerly known as . He was a half-brother of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the most powerful and significant warlords of Japan's Sengoku period The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 ...

, Katō Mitsuyasu, Hitotsuyanagi Naosuke, Toyotomi Hidekatsu and finally to Itō Morimasa. Under these generals, the area of the castle was expanded and its defenses strengthened. The central area of the castle was small, but it was encircled by multiple layer of water moats connected to the river, which gave the castle a large total area. When

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fel ...

decided to march westward to seize power from the

Toyotomi clan The was a Japanese clan that ruled over the Japanese before the Edo period. Unity and conflict The most influential figure within the Toyotomi was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the three "unifiers of Japan". Oda Nobunaga was another primar ...

Ishida Mitsunari Ishida Mitsunari (, 1559 – November 6, 1600) was a Japanese samurai and military commander of the late Sengoku period of Japan. He is probably best remembered as the commander of the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the ...

attempted to use

Gifu Castle is a Japanese castle located in the city of Gifu, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Along with Mount Kinka and the Nagara River, it is one of the main symbols of the city. The castle is also known as . It was designated a National Historic Site in 20 ...

and Ōgaki Castle as his front line of defense, and to cut off the approaches to Osaka via the Tokaido and

Nakasendō The , also called the ,Richard Lane, ''Images from the Floating World'' (1978) Chartwell, Secaucus ; pg. 285 was one of the five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto in Japan. There were 69 ...

highways. However, Gifu Castle, which was held by Oda Nobunaga's grandson

Oda Hidenobu , the son of Oda Nobutada, was a samurai who lived during the Azuchi-Momoyama period in the late-16th century. He was a convert to Catholicism. His other name was Sanbōshi (三法師). Succession dispute When Oda Nobutada and Oda Nobunaga, H ...

, fell to Ieyasu's vanguard after only one day, Ieyasu chose to quickly move through Mino Province, although a large portion of his army (led by

Tokugawa Hidetada was the second ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate. Early life (1579–1593) Tokugawa Hidetada was bo ...

) had not yet arrived. At Ōgaki, Itō Morimasa was ''daimyō'' of a 30,000 '' koku'' domain and a staunch supporter of Ishida Mitsunari, but was an inept commander. Caught by surprise, Ishida Mitsunari concentrated his forces at Sekigahara, setting the scene for 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 ...

. Itō Morimasa marched to his support, rather than utilizing the castle for a flanking attack, and was defeated. The castle fell to Tokugawa forces after a small skirmish shortly after the battle. Under the

, the castle was given to a number of ''fudai'' clans until 1635, when the castle and domain were assigned to Toda Ujikane, whose descendants would continue to rule to 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 r ...

in 1871. Under the Toda, Ōgaki Castle was repaired, with a four-story ''

tenshu is an architectural typology found in 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 characterized as ty ...

'' and corner ''yagura'' watchtowers, and four layers of moatsOgaki Castle
Japan National Tourist Organization. Accessed May 22, 2008. Many of the castle structures were destroyed and the outer layers of moats were filled in by order of 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 ...

after the end of the Edo period, but the central portion of the castle survived largely intact. The area is preserved as a public park. Due to the historical importance of the castle, including its role in the Battle of Sekigahara, the ''tenshu'' and ''yagura'' were designated a

National Treasure The idea of national treasure, like national epics and national anthems, is part of the language of romantic nationalism, which arose in the late 18th century and 19th centuries. Nationalism is an ideology that supports the nation as the fundam ...

in 1936. However, these structures were all destroyed by American air raids on July 29, 1945. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the ''tenshu'' and two of the ''yagura'' were reconstructed based on old drawings and photographs in 1959, albeit in modern reinforced concrete. The ''tenshu'' now serves as a museum. Several original gates of the castle have survived but are no longer in their original locations. The Castle was listed as one of the

Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles The is a list of 100 castles, intended as a sequel of 100 Fine Castles of Japan The castles in were chosen based on their significance in culture, history, and in their regions by the in 2006. In 2017, Japanese Castle Association created an ad ...

in 2017.

Literature

References

External links

Photos with detailed descriptions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ogaki Castle Castles in Gifu Prefecture Museums in Gifu Prefecture Military and war museums in Japan Old National Treasures of Japan Buildings and structures in Japan destroyed during World War II Ōgaki