was 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, suc ...

of the

Sengoku period The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Variou ...

, controlled by the Kizawa and Matsunaga clans. There are little remains of the castle on the present day site, just some moats and earthworks.

Location

The castle was located atop

Mount Shigi is a mountain located in Ikoma District, Nara, Japan. Legends Legend of Prince Shotoku One of the legends of Mt. Shigi tells of Prince Shotoku asking for victory from the gods over his opponents. Prince Shotoku was a descendant of the Soga fa ...

, on the border of Japan's Kawachi and

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, ...

s (today

Nara prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the ...

). The ''

shugo , commonly translated as “(military) governor,” “protector,” or “constable,” was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the ''shōgun'' to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The po ...

'' (shogunal governors) and later ''

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 Yamato province ruled the province from Shigisan, and wielded some control over the strategic passes between Yamato and Kawachi. The location was also significant for the temple of Chōgosonshi-ji, which sits on the mountainside, some distance below the castle. Shigisan is the central mountain of the

Shingon Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra. Kn ...

sect of Buddhism, and is claimed to be the location where, in 587,

Shōtoku Taishi Shōtoku may refer to: * Prince Shōtoku , also known as or , was a semi-legendary regent and a politician of the Asuka period in Japan who served under Empress Suiko. He was the son of Emperor Yōmei and his consort, Princess Anahobe no Ha ...

defeated

Mononobe no Moriya was an '' Ō-muraji'', a high-ranking clan head position of the ancient Japanese Yamato state, having inherited the position from his father Mononobe no Okoshi. Like his father, he was a devoted opponent of Buddhism, which had recently been intr ...

in the

battle of Shigisan A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and forc ...

History

The castle was originally constructed in 1536 by

Kizawa Nagamasa Kizawa Nagamasa (木沢長政) was a ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period in Japan. Nagamasa built Shigisan Castle for the Hatakeyama clan in 1536, an accomplishment that earned him the title of ''shugo'' of Yamato Province. In 1561 he expanded int ...

, who commanded it on behalf of the

Hatakeyama clan The was a Japanese samurai clan. Originally a branch of the Taira clan and descended from Taira no Takamochi, they fell victim to political intrigue in 1205, when Hatakeyama Shigeyasu, first, and his father Shigetada later were killed in battl ...

, who held the post of ''shugo'' of Yamato province. It was repaired and expanded on in 1559, by Matsunaga Danjo Hisahide, who commanded it on behalf of the

Miyoshi clan is a Japanese family descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and the Minamoto clan (Seiwa-Genji). They were a cadet branch of the Ogasawara clan and the Takeda clan. At the beginning of the 14th century AD, Ogasawara Nagafusa settled in Shik ...

. It would grow to be roughly 700m from north to south, and 550m from east to west, and included a four-story '' yagura'' (tower or turret). In 1562, however, the daimyo of Yamato province moved to Tamonyama Castle. Shigisan castle fell to members of the Miyoshi clan in 1568, but was recaptured quickly afterwards when the attackers' attention was redirected to the capital by the activities of

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 ...

. Nobunaga would then besiege the castle in 1577, destroying it and bringing the downfall of Matsunaga Hisahide.

References

*''The information in this article is based largely upon that in the corresponding article on the Japanese Wikipedia, accessed 8 January 2008.'' {{coord, 34.612729, 135.668208, type:landmark_region:JP_scale:10000, format=dms, display=title Infrastructure completed in 1536 Castles in Nara Prefecture Former castles in Japan 1536 establishments in Japan Ruined castles in Japan Matsunaga clan Miyoshi clan 1530s establishments in Japan

Location

History

See also

References