was a

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

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 what is now the city of Kōka,

Shiga Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,398,972 as of 1 February 2025 and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to th ...

, in the

Kansai region The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropol ...

of Japan. Its ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 2017.

History

During the

Muromachi The , also known as the , is a division of History of Japan, Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Ashikaga shogunate, Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially establ ...

and

, the area of Kōka was ruled by many autonomous petty lords. After

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: ...

consolidated his rule over the area from 1583, he assigned the area to Nakamura Kazuuji, one of his most trusted generals and senior administrators. Nakamura chose a location on the 100-meter Mount Daiko in the eastern part of Minakami to be his stronghold. This point controlled where the Tōkaidō enters into

Ōmi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō Circuit (subnational entity), circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, ...

via the Suzuka Pass, and thus controlled access to

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 ...

and

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 ...

from central and eastern Japan. It is also located on the junction of the Tōkaidō with a road to

Shigaraki was a town located in Kōka District, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. Population As of 2004, the town had an estimated population of 13,885 and a density of 84.92 persons per km2. The total area is 163.5 km2. History On October 1, 2004, Shiga ...

, and onwards to

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...

. Nakamura ruled over a domain with a ''

kokudaka refers to a system for determining land value for taxation purposes under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo-period Japan, and expressing this value in terms of ''koku'' of rice. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Koku"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 5 ...

'' of 60,000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

''. Following the

Siege of Odawara (1590) The third occurred in 1590, and was the primary action in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign to eliminate the Hōjō clan as a threat to his power. The months leading up to it saw hasty but major improvements in the defense of the castle, as H ...

, he was awarded with

Sunpu Castle is a Japanese castle in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan. The sobriquet of this feudal fortress was the "Castle of the Floating Isle".Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)Shizuoka It was also referred to as or . Hist ...

, which had been vacated by

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

, who had been ordered by Hideyoshi to transfer to the

Kantō region The is a geography, geographical region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures of Japan, prefectures: Chiba Prefecture, Chiba, Gunma Prefe ...

. As was typical of Japanese castles of this time, Minakuchi Okayama Castle consisted of a group of

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 ...

, protected by stone walls and dry moats, on the slopes of the hill, with the

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 ...

at the summit, with a ''Yagura'' watchtower. The main gate was in the center of the southern slope, facing the Tōkaidō.

Archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

s have found the foundations of the gate and remnants of its stone walls. Nakamura was replaced by

Mashita Nagamori was a ''daimyō'' in Azuchi–Momoyama period, and one of the '' Go-Bugyō'' appointed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Also called Niemon (仁右衛門) or by his court title, Uemon-no-jō (右衛門尉). He was sent to Korea as one of the Three Burea ...

(1545-1615) in 1590, followed by

Natsuka Masaie was a daimyō in the Azuchi-Momoyama period. He served Niwa Nagahide and later Hideyoshi. He was one of the '' Go-Bugyō'', or ''five commissioners'', appointed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Biography He was born in Owari Province. Masaie served Ni ...

(1562-1600) in 1595. Both of these generals were very important officials within the Toyotomi administration, and this is an indication of the importance that Hideyoshi placed on this castle. During the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was an important battle in Japan which occurred on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu Prefecture, ...

, Natsuka was loyal to the Western Army under

Ishida Mitsunari was a Japanese samurai and military commander of the late Sengoku period of Japan. He is probably best remembered as the commander of the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the Azuchi–Momoyama period of the 16th century. He ...

, but was unable to participate in any combat. After the battle, he returned to Minakuchi Okayama Castle, which came under attack by the forces of Ikeda Nagayoshi and Kamei Korenori. Natsuka surrendered the castle and was forced to commit ''

seppuku , also known as , is a form of Japanese ritualistic suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honor, but was also practiced by other Japanese people during the Shōwa era (particularly officers near ...

''. After the establishment of 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 ...

, the surrounding area was awarded as

Minakuchi Domain was a ''Fudai daimyō, Fudai'' Han (Japan), feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It was located in southeastern Ōmi Province, in the Kansai region of central Honshu. The domain was centered at Minakuchi Castle, loca ...

, a '' fudai'' domain ruled by the Katō clan. Minakuchi Okayama Castle was ordered to be dismantled, and many of its stones were reused in the construction of the much smaller

Minakuchi Castle thumbnail, 260px, layout of Minakuchi Castle thumbnail, 260px, Another view of the ''yagura'' , is a ''hirashiro''-style Japanese castle located in the former town of Minakuchi, in the city of Kōka, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. The castle is also ...

. The castle ruins are a 15-minute walk from Minakuchi Station on the

Ohmi Railway is a Japanese private railway company which operates in Shiga Prefecture, and a member of the Seibu group since 1943. The company is named after the Ōmi Province, the former name of the present-day Shiga. The railway is nicknamed by local users ...

References

External links

*
Shiga Prefecture official site

Shiga-Biwako Visitor Information

{{in lang, ja Castles in Shiga Prefecture Kōka, Shiga Historic Sites of Japan Ōmi Province Ruined castles in Japan

History

See also

References

External links