is a flatland-style castle located in what is now the city of Fukui,

Fukui Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Fukui Prefecture has a population of 778,943 (1 June 2017) and has a geographic area of 4,190 km2 (1,617 sq mi). Fukui Prefecture borders Ishikawa Prefecture to the north, Gif ...

, Japan. 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 the headquarters of a branch of the

Matsudaira clan The was a Japanese samurai clan that descended from the Minamoto clan. It originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province (modern-day Aichi Prefecture). During the Sengoku period, the chieftain of the main line of t ...

, who were hereditary ''

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 Fukui domain 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 ...

. The castle was also known by the name of , after an earlier castle built by

Shibata Katsuie or was a Japanese samurai and military commander during the Sengoku period. He served Oda Nobunaga as one of his trusted generals, was severely wounded in the 1571 first siege of Nagashima, but then fought in the 1575 Battle of Nagashino an ...

, over whose ruins it is partly built.

History

As Kitanoshō Castle

In 1573, after the

Siege of Ichijōdani Castle The 1573 was undertaken by Oda Nobunaga, a powerful warlord (''daimyō'') of Japan's Sengoku period. It was one of several actions taken in a series of campaigns against the Asakura and Azai clans, which opposed his growing power. Ichijōdani ...

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 ...

placed his trusted general

in charge of

Echizen Province was a province of Japan in the area that is today the northern portion of Fukui Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Echizen bordered on Kaga, Wakasa, Hida, and Ōmi Provinces. It was part of Hokurikudō Circuit. Its abbreviated for ...

. As the former location of the

Asakura clan The is a Japanese kin group. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)">DF 7 of 80">"Asakura", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 3 ramparts were faced with stone, and that there was a network of water Rampart (fortification)">ramparts were faced with stone, and that there was a network of water moat">Rampart (fortification)">ramparts were faced with stone, and that there was a network of water

moats. The inner bailey">moat">Rampart (fortification)">ramparts were faced with stone, and that there was a network of water moats. The inner bailey had a donjon which was nine-stories in height in its southeast corner, making it one of the largest ever built. The surrounding jōkamachi">castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, ...

was also laid out by Shibata Katsuie, and became the predecessor of current city of Fukui. Shibata Katsuie was in constant conflict with neighbouring Uesugi Kenshin, and after Kenshin's death he was able to expand his territory into Kaga Province, Kaga and Etchū Provinces. When Nobunaga was assassinated at the Honnō-ji Incident in 1582, Shibata was unable to move from Kitanoshō due to local instability, and was thus unable to prevent

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 ...

from seizing power. Although he was married to Nobunaga's younger sister,

Oichi was a female historical figure in the late Sengoku period. She is known primarily as the mother of three daughters who became prominent figures in their own right – Yodo-dono, Ohatsu Nagamasa had no hope of winning, and chose to commit seppu ...

, this did not prevent Hideyoshi from invading the following year. After his forces were defeated at the

Battle of Shizugatake The was a battle of the Sengoku period of Japan fought between Toyotomi Hideyoshi (then Hashiba Hideyoshi) and Shibata Katsuie in Shizugatake, Ōmi Province in May 1583. Katsuie supported Oda Nobutaka's claim as successor of Oda Nobunaga in ...

, Shibata withdrew to Kitanoshō Castle, which was subsequently destroyed in 1583. A few stone foundations of the castle were uncovered in archaeological digs and are now open to the public.

As Fukui Castle

Following 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 ...

, the victorious

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 ...

awarded all of

to his second son,

Yūki Hideyasu was a Japanese samurai who lived during the Azuchi–Momoyama and early Edo periods. He was the ''daimyō'' of Fukui Domain in Echizen. Early life Hideyasu was born as in 1574, the second son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, by Lady Oman (also known as L ...

. He began the construction of a new castle on a site overlapping the ruins of Kitanoshō Castle in 1601, with its

Inner bailey The inner bailey or inner ward of a castle is the strongly fortified enclosure at the heart of a medieval castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It is protected by the outer w ...

(''Honmaru'') located slightly to the north of the former castle. Many of the stones of the former castle were reused in its construction. Surrounded by four separate water moats, the layout of the castle’s ''Honmaru'' and ''Ni-no-maru'' precincts are said to have been designed by Ieyasu himself, and took six years to complete. Yūki Hideyasu was allowed to take the

Matsudaira The was a Japanese samurai clan that descended from the Minamoto clan. It originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province (modern-day Aichi Prefecture). During the Sengoku period, the chieftain of the main line of ...

patronym in 1604. The castle was renamed "Fukui Castle" by the third ''daimyō'' of Fukui Domain,

Matsudaira Tadamasa was an early to mid-Edo period Japanese samurai, and ''daimyō''. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Matsudaira" at ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 30 retrieved 2013-4-9. ...

, in 1624. The name comes from a well called ''Fukunoi'', or "good luck well", the remains of which can still be seen today. The 5-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 ...

'' of the castle was destroyed by fire in 1669 and was never rebuilt, leaving only its massive 37-meter high stone foundation. Following Yūki Hideyasu, 17 generations of the Matsudaira clan ruled from Fukui for 270 years 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 r ...

. In 1871, all of the remaining buildings of the castle, with the exception of the ''daimyō'' palace, were destroyed and many of the moats were filled in. The area was used for the Fukui Prefectural Assembly, Fukui government offices, police station and other public buildings, including a park. In 1945, the palace was destroyed during the

Bombing of Fukui during World War II The on July 19, 1945, was part of the strategic bombing campaign waged by the United States against military and civilian targets and population centers during the Japan home islands campaign in the closing stages of World War II. Background The ...

. Today, the castle remains in ruins, with only some moats, ramparts and foundation stones remaining, although there is a reconstruction movement, and one

covered bridge A covered bridge is a timber-truss bridge with a roof, decking, and siding, which in most covered bridges create an almost complete enclosure. The purpose of the covering is to protect the wooden structural members from the weather. Uncovered woo ...

, the Orōkabashi Bridge, was restored in 2008. 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.

External links

JCastle on Fukui CastleFukui Prefectural official site

References

{{Authority control Castles in Fukui Prefecture Fukui (city) Echizen-Matsudaira clan Echizen Province Former castles in Japan

History

As Kitanoshō Castle

As Fukui Castle

Further reading

External links

References