is a late

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

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 village of Chihayaakasaka,

Osaka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nara ...

, Japan. Its ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 1934.

History

Chihaya Castle is located at a ridge extending from

Mount Kongō is a mountain in the Kongō Range in the Kawachi region of Osaka Prefecture, Kansai, Japan. It is near Mount Yamato Katsuragi. The mountain has lent its name to a series of naval ships and ship classes: the Imperial Japanese Navy's 1877 ...

on the border of

Kawachi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the eastern part of modern Osaka Prefecture. It originally held the southwestern area that was split off into Izumi Province. It was also known as . Geography The area was radically different in th ...

with the Yoshino region of

Yamato Province was a province of Japan, located in Kinai, corresponding to present-day Nara Prefecture in Honshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005). "Yamato" in . It was also called . Yamato consists of two characters, 大 "great", and 和 " Wa". At first, th ...

. It overlooks a narrow valley and is approximately five kilometers upstream from Akasaka Castle, which was the main base of the Kusunoki clan. In 1331, when

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 o ...

attempted to overthrow the

Kamakura shogunate The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459. The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no Yori ...

in the

Genkō War The , also known as the , was a civil war fought in Japan between the Emperor Go-Daigo and the Kamakura Shogunate from 1331 to 1333. The Genkō War was named after Genkō, the Japanese era corresponding to the period of 1331 to 1334 when the wa ...

, he relied on

Prince Moriyoshi (1308 – August 12, 1335) was a Japanese prince and monk. He was the son of Emperor Go-Daigo and his consort Minamoto no Chikako. Moriyoshi was named by his father as the head abbot of the Enryaku-ji temple on Mount Hiei. Go-Daigo attempte ...

and a local lord from the Chihaya-Akasaka area,

Kusunoki Masashige , or , was a Japanese military commander and samurai of the Kamakura period remembered as the ideal loyal samurai. Kusunoki fought for Emperor Go-Daigo in the Genkō War to overthrow the Kamakura shogunate and restore power in Japan to the ...

to raise an army. However, this first attempt failed, and Emperor Go-Daigo was captured and exiled to the

Oki Islands The is an archipelago in the Sea of Japan, the islands of which are administratively part of Oki District, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. The islands have a total area of . Only four of the around 180 islands are permanently inhabited. Much of the ...

. Kusunoki Masashige faked his death at the

Siege of Akasaka The siege of Akasaka was one of the earlier battles of the Genkō War between the figurehead Emperor Godaigo and the largely Hōjō-controlled Kamakura shogunate during the final years of the Kamakura period in Japan. The battle in question ...

and escaped into the deep mountains of his own territory where he constructed

Kami-Akasaka Castle is a late Kamakura period Japanese castle located in the village of Chihayaakasaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan."Osaka Info �"The ruins of Kamiakasaka castle"/ref> Its ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 1934. It is also ...

and Chihaya Castle. The place selected for Chihaya Castle was very defensible: a narrow ridge with an elevation of 150 meters with steep cliffs, protected on both sides by rivers. The only access was by a climb of 500 steep and narrow stairs and the surrounding topography was not conductive to siege operations. Moveable bridges were among the fortress' chief defensive measures, alongside its wooden walls, earthwork defenses, and strategic location on Mt. Kongō. The fortress was surrounded with felled trees and boulders, which could be rolled down the mountain on an approaching army, and screens of brush were used to help protect from arrows. The castle itself consisted of five

enclosures Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...

spread 200 meters along the ridge, protected by dry moats. The main enclosure measured around 100 by 20 meters and may have had a ''yagura'' tower in one corner. Although the castle was small, it could house several hundred men. In 1333, Kusunoki Masashige emerged from hiding, attacking shogunate positions in

Kii province , or , was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today Wakayama Prefecture, as well as the southern part of Mie Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kii''" in . Kii bordered Ise, Izumi, Kawachi, Shima, and Yamato Pro ...

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

and then the ''

Rokuhara tandai was the post of the chiefs of the Kamakura shogunate in imperial capital Kyoto whose agency, the , kept responsibility for security in Kinai and judicial affairs on western Japan, and negotiated with the Imperial Court in Kyoto, imperial court. ...

'' offices in

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

, The Kamakura shogunate sent a large army against him, which took Kami-Akasaka Castle after a siege of two weeks and then attacked Chihaya Castle. Per the medieval chronicle ''

Taiheiki The (Chronicle of Great Peace) is a medieval Japanese historical epic (see '' gunki monogatari'') written in the late 14th century and covers the period from 1319 to 1367. It deals primarily with the Nanboku-chō, the period of war between the ...

'', the greatly outnumbered defenders put up a strong defense, forcing the attackers to abandon direct assault and to resort to a siege. However, the castle had a well, and could also receive supplies carried by ''

yamabushi are Japanese mountain ascetic hermits. They are generally part of the syncretic religion, which includes Tantric Buddhism and Shinto. Their origins can be traced back to the solitary Yama-bito and some (saints or holy persons) of the eighth ...

'' supporting Prince Moriyoshi, who was on the other side of

, shogunal forces were unable to cut the castle's supply lines. Moreover, Kusunoki Masashige used

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrori ...

tactics, making continual raids and surprise attacks, or using straw dummies to trick the shogunal army. As the siege continued, the shogunal army, trapped in the narrow valley, began to experience supply problems, along with a considerable loss in prestige in being unable to defeat their numerically much smaller enemy. While this battle was occurring, Emperor Go-Daigo managed to escape from Oki and raised a new army. The Kamakura shogunate dispatched another large army under the command of

Ashikaga Takauji also known as Minamoto no Takauji was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate."Ashikaga Takauji" in ''Encyclopædia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. ...

; however, Takauji defected to the imperial side and soon afterwards, at the Battle of Kamakura, the shogunate was overthrown. After the

Kenmu restoration The was a three-year period of Imperial rule in Japanese history between the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period from 1333 to 1336. The Kenmu Restoration was an effort made by Emperor Go-Daigo to overthrow the ruling Kamakura Shogunate ...

, Chihaya Castle became the residence of

, and his sons

Kusunoki Masatsura was the eldest son of Kusunoki Masashige (1294 – 1336), and succeeded him as the head of the Kusunoki lineage. Along with his father and his younger brothers Masanori and Masatoki, Masatsura was a supporter of the Southern Imperial Court duri ...

Kusunoki Masanori was a samurai who fought for the Southern Court in Japan's Nanboku-chō Wars, and is famed for his skills as a leader and military strategist, though he later sought a diplomatic solution and was regarded a traitor by many of his comrades. He was ...

and

Kusunoki Masatoki Kusunoki Masatoki (Japanese: 楠木正時, died February 4, 1348) was a Japanese samurai lord during the Nanboku-chō period. He was second-in-command during the Battle of Shijōnawate, and died in battle in 1348, along with his older brother, Kus ...

. However, in 1392, the castle was attacked by Hatakeyama Motokuni of the

Northern Court The , also known as the Ashikaga Pretenders or Northern Pretenders, were a set of six pretenders to the throne of Japan during the Nanboku-chō period from 1336 through 1392. Even though the present Imperial House of Japan is descended from the ...

, who defeated Kusunoki Masanori's son, Kusunoki Masakatsu, and the castle was abandoned. During the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

, 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 ...

to Kusunoki Masashige was erected on the site of the Ni-no-maru in castle ruins, with the shrine offices in the San-no-maru. Chihaya Castle was listed 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 Foundation in 2006.Japan Castle Foundation
/ref> Chihaya Castle11.jpg, site of the Yagura Chihaya Castle12.jpg, Honmaru Chihaya-jinja haiden.jpg, Ni-no Maru (Chihaya Jinja) Chihaya-jinja1.jpg, San-no-maru Chihaya Castle1.jpg, Yon-no-Maru Chihaya Castle15.jpg, Old map of the castle Chihaya Castle07.jpg, Dry moats facing San-no-maru Chihaya Castle05.jpg, Dry moats facing Yon-no-Maru View from Chihaya Castle.jpg, View from Yon-no-Maru Chihaya Castle01.jpg, Entrance to Mount Kongō Chihaya Castle nawabari.jpg, Layout map of Chihaya Castle

References

External links

* {{Kongō-Ikoma-Kisen Quasi-National Park Buildings and structures completed in 1332 1330s establishments in Japan Castles in Osaka Prefecture Historic Sites of Japan 100 Fine Castles of Japan Kawachi Province Chihayaakasaka

History

See also

References

Further reading

External links