was a

Sengoku The was the period in 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 the period's start ...

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 ...

''yamajiro''-style

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 town of Takatori,

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 ...

, in the

Kinki 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 metrop ...

of Japan. Its ruins been protected by the central government as a National Historic Site since 1953. Takatori Castle was listed as one of

Japan's Top 100 Castles The Japanese castle, castles in were chosen based on their significance in culture, history, and in their regions by the in 2006. In 2017, the Japanese Castle Association created an additional finest 100 castles list as Continued Top 100 Japane ...

by the Japan Castle Foundation in 2006.

Overview

Takatori Castle is a mountain castle built on Mount Takatori, 583 meters above sea level, about four kilometers southeast of the modern urban center of Takatori town. The castle was famous for its 29 white-plastered yagura turrets are lined up on the mountain. When viewed from the

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 song "Tatsumi Takatori, if you look at it, it's not snow, Tosa's castle" was sung. Tōsa is the old name of Takatori. The castle consisted of a series of baileys, and the castle interior area covered about 10,000 square meters; the circumference of the fortifications extended for over three kilometers, and the total area of the entire castle was about 60,000 square meters, and the circumference was about 30 kilometers. It is the largest

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 ...

mountain castle, and it is counted as one of the three largest mountain castles in Japan, along with

Bitchū Matsuyama Castle , also known as , is a Japanese castle located in the city of Takahashi, Okayama, Takahashi, Okayama Prefecture, in the San'yō region of Japan. Along with having one of only twelve remaining original ''tenshu'' (main keeps) in the country, Bi ...

(

Okayama Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,826,059 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefecture ...

) and

Iwamura Castle 270px, Edo period layout was located in the southeastern area of Mino Province in Japan. Its ruins can be found in the modern-day municipal subdivision of Iwamura, in Ena, Gifu Prefecture. Along with Takatori Castle in Nara and Bitchu-Matsuyam ...

(

Gifu Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,910,511 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture ...

). I Despite 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 ...

's edict of " One Castle per Province" in 1615, the castle was largely spared from destruction, and its stone walls and stone ramparts remain to this day.

History

A fortification was first built on this location by Ochi Kunizumi in 1332. At the time, southern half of Nara basin was governed by Ochi clan, which was in constant conflict with the

Tsutsui clan Tsutsui clan is a Japanese clan originating during the Sengoku period (16th century) of Japan. Throughout the time of the 16th century, the Tsutsui clan would mainly control the Yamato Province, due to the efforts of the feudal lord (''daimyō'') ...

at north half of Nara basin for hegemony over

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, th ...

. The Ochi supported the

Southern Court The were a set of four emperors ( Emperor Go-Daigo and his line) whose claims to sovereignty during the Nanboku-chō period spanning from 1336 through 1392 were usurped by the Northern Court. This period ended with the Southern Court definitivel ...

in the wars of the

Nanboku-chō period The , also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period, was a period in Japanese history between 1336-1392 CE, during the formative years of the Ashikaga shogunate, Muromachi (Ashikaga) shogunate. Ideologically, the two courts fought for 50 ...

, and Takatori Castle was initially a subsidiary castle of Kaibukiyama Castle, the main stronghold of the Ochi. However, due to its size and strategic location, it gradually became the main stronghold by the

. In June 1532, 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 ...

'' invaded Yamato Province and won a crushing victory over the armed monks of Kofuku-ji, whose remnants sought refuge at Takatori Castle. The castle was placed under siege, but the ''Ikkō-ikki'' were defeated by an army from the Tsutsui clan. In 1580,

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 ...

secured control of Yamato Province and declared that all fortifications aside from Kōriyama Castle be destroyed. Takatori Castle was abandoned in 1580, but was reoccupied by

Tsutsui Junkei son of Tsutsui Junshō, and a ''daimyō'' of the province of Yamato. On 1571, Junkei, through the offices of Akechi Mitsuhide, pledged to service of Oda Nobunaga. Military life Early in his career, in 1565, Matsunaga Hisahide, one of the most ...

after Nobunaga's death in 1584. In 1585, his heir

Tsutsui Sadatsugu was a cousin and adopted son of Tsutsui Junkei, a feudal lord of the Yamato province. At the death of Junkei in 1584, he was relocated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi to Iga Province, where he built the Iga Ueno Castle. In 1585, he participated at Hide ...

was transferred to

Iga Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan located in what is today part of western Mie Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Iga" in . Its abbreviated name was . Iga is classified as one of the provinces of the T� ...

and Yamato Province came under the rule of Hideyoshi's brother,

Toyotomi Hidenaga , formerly known as or . He was a half-brother of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the most powerful and significant warlords of Japan's Sengoku period and regarded as 'Hideyoshi's brain and right-arm'. Life Hidenaga was also known by his court tit ...

. Takatori Castle was initially occupied by Hidenaga's chief vassal, Wakisaka Yasuharu, but was later given to another chief vassal, Honda Toshihisa. In 1589, Toshihisa ordered his vassal, Moroki Daizen, to build a new castle. Toshihisa served Toyotomi Hideyasu, who became Hidenaga's successor when he died in 1591. After Hideyasu died at the age of 17 in 1595, Toshihisa's son, Honda Toshimasa, became Hideyoshi's direct vassal and was given a fief of 15,000 ''

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 Hideyoshi's death, Honda Toshimasa sided with

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 ...

. While serving with the Tokugawa forces in the campaign against

Uesugi Kagekatsu was a Japanese samurai ''daimyō'' during the Sengoku and Edo periods. He was the adopted son of Uesugi Kenshin and Uesugi Kagetora’s brother in law. Early life and rise Kagekatsu was the son of Nagao Masakage, the head of the Ueda Naga ...

, Takatori Castle was attacked by

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 withstood the attack. After the 1600

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, ...

, Honda Toshimasa was recognized for his contributions and was given an additional 10,000 ''koku'', becoming the first ''

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

Takatori Domain Takatori Domain (タカトリ藩) was a feudal domain established in 1640, and disestablished at the start of the Meiji Era in 1871. It was based in what was then Yamato Province, and is now Nara Prefecture. It was controlled by lords of the Uemur ...

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 25,000 ''koku''. However, Toshimasa's son Masatake died without an heir in 1637, bringing an end to the Honda clan's rule. In 1640, the ''

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the Shōgun, shogunates in History of Japan, Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred ...

'' Uemura Iemasa was promoted to ''daimyō'' to revive Takatroi Domain, and the Uemura clan ruled the castle for 14 generations until 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 ...

. In the

Bakumatsu period were the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, under foreign diplomatic and military pressure, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunat ...

, the ''daimyō'' residence at the foot of the mountain was one of the places attacked in the '' Tenchūgumi incident.'' "Coalition"Japanese castle Tenshu layout format.svg, Computer reconstruction of Takatori Castle tenshu Takatorij5.jpg, Foundations of the tenshu Kojimadera-tempgate02.jpg, Ninomon Gate Takatorijo-castle-matsunomongate.jpg, Matsunomon Gate Takatorij6.jpg, Surviving stone walls of Takatori Castle

Current situation

The castle was abandoned in 1873, and many of the buildings, especially gates, were auctioned to nearby temples. Until around 1887, the main buildings, including the castle tower, remained within the castle, but since it was on the top of a mountain far from civilians, nothing was maintained and many collapsed naturally. The Ninomon Gate is now the ''

sanmon A or is the most important mon of a Japanese Zen Buddhist temple, and is part of the Zen '' shichidō garan'', the group of buildings that forms the heart of a Zen Buddhist temple.JAANUS It can be often found in temples of other denominations ...

'' to Kojima-dera temple in Takatori town; the front gate of the ''daimyō'' residence is the front gate of Ishikawa Clinic in town, and the Matsunomon Gate was moved to the Takatori Elementary School in 1892. After the school burned down in 1942, it was preserved by the Kongoriki Sake Brewery and in 2004 was restored as the front gate of a children's park. These are the only surviving structures of Takatori Castle. However, the remains of the stone walls on the mountain have remained in almost perfect condition without being disrupted by human activity. The castle site is a 60-minute walk from the

Kintetsu Railway , referred to as and officially Kinki-Nippon Railway, is a Japanese passenger railway company, managing infrastructure and operating passenger train service. Its railway system is the largest in Japan, excluding Japan Railways Group. The railw ...

Yoshino Line The is a railway line in Nara Prefecture, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Kintetsu Railway. It connects in Kashihara and in Yoshino. All Express and Limited Express trains continue to and from Ōsaka Abenobashi Station on the ...

Tsubosakayama Station.

External links

Town home pageTakatori Tourist Information (with castle layout maps)

References

{{100 Fine Castles of Japan Castles in Nara Prefecture Ruined castles in Japan Takatori, Nara Historic Sites of Japan 100 Fine Castles of Japan Honda clan Yamato Province

Overview

History

Current situation

See also

Further reading

External links

References