270px, Foundations of the ''tenshu'' Kuwanajou001

is a

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 Kuwana, northern Mie Prefecture,

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 ...

. At the end of the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, Kuwana Castle was home to a branch the Matsudaira clan, ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' of Kuwana Domain. The castle was also known as or .

Background

During the late Heian period and Muromachi period, the area of modern Kuwana was known as and was a major seaport on Ise Bay, controlled by a guild of merchants. The poet Socho described it in 1515 as a major city with over a thousand houses, temples and inns. The port was protected by three fortifications, (Higashi Castle, Nishi Castle, Misaki Castle) which made up what was known as the “Three Castles of Kuwana”. During the Sengoku period, the area came under the influence of the ''

Ikkō-ikki were armed military leagues that formed in several regions of Japan in the 15th-16th centuries, composed entirely of members of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism. In the early phases, these ''ikki'' leagues opposed the rule of local Shugo, go ...

'' movement centered at Nagashima. After the ''Ikkō-ikki'' were exterminated 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 ...

, the Kuwana area was awarded to his general Takigawa Kazumasa. After Nobunaga's death, Takigawa opposed Toyotomi Hideyoshi and lost his territories. For a time, Oda Nobukatsu held the area, but was dispossessed by Hideyoshi following the Battle of Odawara. In 1595, Hideyoshi assigned Ujiie Yukihiro a 22,000 '' koku'' domain, but he was dispossessed by Tokugawa Ieyasu after the Battle of Sekigahara. Tokugawa Ieyasu realized the strategic importance of Kuwana in the ongoing struggle against the Toyotomi clan in

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 ...

due to its location at the mouth of Nagara River on the western side of the Nagashima delta area formed by the Kiso River, Nagara River and Ibi River. This meant that any travelers on the vital Tōkaidō highway connecting Edo with

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 ...

had to pass through Kuwana in order to take a boat from Kuwana port to Atsumi Peninsula in

Owari Province was a province of Japan in the area that today forms the western half of Aichi Prefecture, including the modern city of Nagoya. The province was created in 646. Owari bordered on Mikawa, Mino, and Ise Provinces. Owari and Mino provinces w ...

, as there were no bridges. Ieyasu reassigned Honda Tadakatsu from Otaki Castle in Kazusa Province to Kuwana and ordered him to construct a large fortification on the riverbank on what was roughly the site of the old Higashi Castle. Under the Honda, Kuwana-juku developed as a prosperous post town.

Structure of Kuwana Castle

The castle Honda constructed was roughly triangular, protected on one side by the Kiso River. Within, the inner Bailey of the castle was rectangular, measuring 150 by 60 meters, and contained a four-roof, six-story '' tenshu'' and three three-story ''yagura'' watchtowers at each corner. Smaller secondary and tertiary enclosures surrounded the inner area forming a buffer zone for defense rather than a residential zone as in most other castles. The whole was surrounded by low stone walls and 24 two-story ''yagura'', 12 one-story ''yagura'' and 46 gates. The western area of the castle, from which any attack was anticipated to come, was further protected by a water moat

History

In 1616, the Honda were transferred to Himeji Domain, and Kuwana Domain came under the control of a cadet branch of the Matsudaira clan, who would rule Kuwana throughout the remainder of the

. The castle burned down in a fire of 1701, which also destroyed most of the surrounding

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, ...

. The

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

did not grant permission for the ''tenshu'' to be rebuilt, and the rest of the castle was restored on a much smaller scale During the Bakumatsu period, Kuwana was ruled by Matsudaira Sadaaki, key supporter of the Tokugawa clan in the Boshin War and younger brother of Matsudaira Katamori of Aizu Domain. However, in his absence while fighting the Satchō Alliance in northern Japan, the castle was surrendered to imperial forces without a battle. It was set on fire by troops 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 ...

and after 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 ...

, its stone walls were demolished to form part of the breakwater at Yokkaichi Port. In 1928, the inner bailey and a portion of the Ni-no-Maru second bailey with some remnants of stone walls and moats were made into a public park, the and the castle ruins became a Mie Prefectural Historical site in 1942. The current structures include two reconstructed ''yagura''. The castle site is a 20-minute walk from Kuwana Station.

Literature

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External links

Kuwana Castle Jcastle Profile

Notes

{{Authority control Castles in Mie Prefecture Ruined castles in Japan History of Mie Prefecture Kuwana, Mie Ise Province Designated historic sites of Mie Prefecture