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 ...

Chikuzen Province was an old province of Japan in the area that is today part of Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyūshū. It was sometimes called or , with Chikugo Province. Chikuzen bordered Buzen, Bungo, Chikugo, and Hizen Provinces. History The original provi ...

, in the north of Kyūshū. It was at the peak of

Mount Tachibana Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

, extending in part into the Higashi-ku in

Fukuoka is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center ...

. The castle is also known as Rikka-jō, Tachibana-jō, or Rikkasan-jō.

History

The castle was originally built in 1330, by Ōtomo Sadatoshi, Constable ('' shugo'') of

Bungo Province was a province of Japan in eastern Kyūshū in the area of Ōita Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Buzen Province. Bungo bordered Buzen, Hyūga, Higo, Chikugo, and Chikuzen Provinces. History At the end of the 7th century, Toyo ...

, as a show of support to the

Tachibana clan Tachibana clan may refer to: *Tachibana clan (kuge) (橘氏), a clan of ''kuge'' (court nobles) prominent in the Nara and Heian periods *Tachibana clan (samurai) The Tachibana clan (立花氏) was a Japanese clan of ''daimyō'' (feudal lords) d ...

. Since it was in a tactically powerful location, looking down upon the port town of

Hakata is a ward of the city of Fukuoka in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Many of Fukuoka Prefecture and Fukuoka City's principal government, commercial, retail and entertainment establishments are located in the district. Hakata-ku is also the locatio ...

, the castle was fought over throughout the Sengoku period by the Ōtomo, Ōuchi, and Mōri clans. In one of the more significant sieges, the Ōtomo clan lost the castle to the Mōri clan in 1569, who had become one of the most skilled and powerful clans in the field of naval warfare; their use of Western-style cannon granted them a large advantage in this battle. They abandoned it soon afterwards, however, following a defeat at Tatarahama to an allied Ōtomo- Amago clan force. The castle was besieged once more, in 1586, by the Shimazu family; the castle's lord at the time was Tachibana Muneshige. However, the Shimazu would fail in their siege and Muneshige successfully defended the castle. Soon after,

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 ...

would arrive and launch his

Kyūshū Campaign is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

, which he would also gain the assistance of the Ōtomo. After Hideyoshi's conquest of Kyūshū ended with the surrender of the Shimazu, Muneshige and his clan were given Yanagawa castle, whereas Tachibana Castle would be entrusted in the care of Kobayakawa Takakage. A little over a decade later, at the beginning of 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 ...

, Tachibana was largely destroyed and dismantled, much of the stone going into the construction of Fukuoka Castle. Today, remnants of the ''

honmaru 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 ...

'' (central keep), the wells and waterworks survive.

References

*''Much of this article derives from a translation of the corresponding article on th
Japanese Wikipedia
'' *Turnbull, Stephen (1998). ''The Samurai Sourcebook''. London: Cassell & Co. {{coord, 33.679722, 130.468319, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark_region:JP_scale:10000 Buildings and structures completed in 1330 Former castles in Japan Tachibana castle Ruined castles in Japan Castles in Fukuoka Prefecture