is a ''hirayamajiro'', or

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 ...

situated on a hill, located in Izushi,

Hyōgo Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to th ...

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

For more than 200 years the Yamana Family resided at Konosumi Castle. In 1569 the castle fell to attacks by

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 "Demo ...

's successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi. After the fall of Konosumi Castle,

Yamana Suketoyo was a Japanese samurai and commander of the Sengoku period. He was the last head of the Tajima Yamana clan. Yamana clan was the Shugo of the Tajima. He owned Ikuno Silver Mine and started full-scale development. Yamana clan's home castle ''K ...

built another at Mt. Ariko to the Southeast, but it too fell to

Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innov ...

in 1580. In 1604 Koide Yoshihide built Izushi castle at the base of Mt. Ariko. The Koide ruled over the castle until 1697, when it was transferred to the Matsudaira, who controlled it for only a few years before it was transferred to Sengoku Masaaki. The Sengoku clan ended up ruling over the castle 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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

. In the Edo Period, it was the center of the

Izushi Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Tajima Province in what is now the northern portion of modern-day Hyōgo Prefecture. It was centered initially around Izushi Castle in what is now the Izushi n ...

. Izushi Castle is a well known spot in the spring for viewing cherry blossoms. On November 3 they have a castle festival with a mock sankin kotai presentation. While the castle itself is small, it retains elements of the castle town with old samurai homes and shops from the Edo period.

Today

In 1979, the Tojomon (Tojo gate) and the Nishisumi yagura in the ''honmaru'' were re-built. Besides these reconstructions, only the castle's ruins still remain, though the city of Izushi retains its grid layout which was arranged for military purposes around the castle. A shrine is sited within the ruins, with 37

torii A is a traditional culture of Japan, Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred, and a spot where kami are welcomed and thought to ...

and 157 stone steps leading up to it.Izushicho celebrates 400 years as castle town : Lens on Japan : Columns : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)
/ref> On the remains of the ''mihariyagura'' stands the Shinkoro, a traditional Japanese wooden clock tower. Following the

, a western-style clock was installed in it. It is seen as the symbol of the town.

Sources

* http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/columns/0005/lens137.htm * https://web.archive.org/web/20080504120839/http://www.jcastle.info/castle/profile/24-Izushi-Castle

References

External links

Izushi Castle
{{Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles Castles in Hyōgo Prefecture

History

Today

Sources

Further reading

References

External links