is a Japanese castle located in Suwa, central

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. At the end of the Edo period, Takashima Castle was home to the

Suwa clan The , also known as the Jin or Miwa clan (神氏, ''Miwa uji / Miwa-shi'' or ''Jinshi'') was a Japanese '' shake'' and samurai family. Originating from the area encompassing Lake Suwa in Shinano Province (modern-day Nagano Prefecture), it was ori ...

, '' daimyō'' of Takashima Domain. The castle is also known as or

Situation

Takashima Castle is originally built on a peninsula extending into Lake Suwa, with the lake itself forming part of its moats. This meant that only the side facing the shore had to have strong ramparts. The Main Bailey (''Honmaru'') was connected to the Second Bailey (''Ni-no-maru'') and Third Bailey (''San-no-Maru'') by bridges, with the Main Bastion (''Koromo-no-nami kuruwa'' (衣之波曲輪 )) containing the Main Gate (''Ōtemon'') facing the shore. During the Edo period, increasing sedimentation of Lake Suwa left the castle surrounded by land, and the site is now located the middle of the modern city of Suwa. Today, the area is a public park. Only the north and east side of the moat has been preserved. In 1970, some of the castle structures were reconstructed, but are not historically accurate. The castle was listed as one of the Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles in 2017.

History

The area around Lake Suwa had been under the control of the

since at least the early Heian period; however, the Suwa were conquered in the Sengoku period by Takeda Shingen, who annexed the area to his territories. Takashima Castle was ruled by a succession of Takeda generals (beginning with Itagaki Nobukata) until the defeat and annihilation of the Takeda clan at the Battle of Nagashino in 1575. The area then came under the control 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 unify ...

, who assigned it to one of his generals, Kawajiri Hidetaka. After Nobunaga was assassinated in the

Honnō-ji incident The was an attempt to assassinate Japanese daimyo Oda Nobunaga at the Honnō-ji temple in Kyoto on 21 June 1582, resulting in the suicide by '' seppuku'' of both Nobunaga and his son Oda Nobutada. The unprotected Nobunaga was ambushed by his ...

, the territory came under the control of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who assigned Hineno Takayoshi as '' daimyō'' of Suwa Domain. Hineno Takayoshi began a complete reconstruction of the castle, which was completed by his son, Hineno Yoshiakira. The Hineno were reassigned in 1601, and the domain was returned to the hands of the Suwa clan by Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Suwa remained in control of the castle until the Meiji restoration. Following the establishment of the Meiji government and the

abolition of the han system The in the Empire of Japan and its replacement by a system of prefectures in 1871 was the culmination of the Meiji Restoration begun in 1868, the starting year of the Meiji period. Under the reform, all daimyos (, ''daimyō'', feudal lords) ...

, the remaining structures of the castle were dismantled in 1875, leaving only the stone foundations. A

Shinto Shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...

dedicated to the war dead was established within the grounds in 1900 and the area of the Second and Third Baileys was built over as a residential district. The present donjon, ''yagura'' and gates are all reconstructions, which were completed in 1970.

Literature

* *Takada, Tōru: Takashima-jo in: Miura, Masayuki (ed.): Shiro to Jinya. Tokoku-hen. Gakken, 2006. , S. 100th *Nishigaya, Yasuhiro (ed.): Takashima-jo. In: Nihon Meijo Zukan, Rikogaku-sha, 1993. . * * * *

References

External links

Japan Castle Profile - Takashima Castle
{{Authority control Castles in Nagano Prefecture Suwa, Nagano