is a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

located in Aya,

Miyazaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Miyazaki Prefecture has a population of 1,028,215 as of 1 January 2025 and has a geographic area of 7,735 Square kilometre, km2 (2,986 sq mi). Miyazaki Prefectur ...

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 ...

History

Aya was built from around 1331 to about 1334. It's name derives from the man who oversaw the construction of the castle, who referred to himself only as "Aya" (his real name was Koshiro Yoshito). His family ruled over the castle until the

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 ...

, when the head of the

Itō Clan The are a Japanese clan of ''gōzoku'' that claimed descent from the Fujiwara clan through Fujiwara Korekimi (727–789) and Kudō Ietsugu. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papi ...

took over Aya Castle, which was one of 48 under their control and considered to be their most strategic against the Shimazu. The

Shimazu Clan The were the ''daimyō'' of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan. The Shimazu were identified as one of the '' tozama'' or outsider ''daimyō'' familiesAppert, Georges ''et al.'' (1888). in contr ...

seized the castle following their victory over the Itō in 1577. The castle was then given to Niiro Hisatoki, one of the retainers for the Shimazu Clan.

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: ...

conquered the castle for a short period ten years later. In 1615, however, the castle was destroyed due to a shogunal decree that every domain could have only one castle. The castle keep, or ''tenshu'', was rebuilt in 1985 out of wood, and was based on pictures of other castles of the era. It houses a museum that has items pertaining to the castle's history.

References

{{coord, 32.003218, 131.249113, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark_region:JP_scale:10000 Castles in Miyazaki Prefecture

History

Further reading

References