was a castle structure in Tamanawa ward of

Kamakura , officially , is a city of Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. It is located in the Kanto region on the island of Honshu. The city has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 people per km2 over the tota ...

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The adopted brother of Hōjō Ujiyasu, Hōjō Tsunashige, was commander of the castle.

History

Hōjō Sōun who had been fighting with the

Miura clan The was one of the branch families descended from the Taira clan. They held large fiefs, and retained great political influence. They were one of the primary opponents of the Hōjō clan, Hōjō family of Shikken, regents in the mid-13th ce ...

built the castle to avoid being attacked from behind by the Ōgigayatsu Uesugi clan's relief army. Even after the fall of the Miura clan, Tamanawa castle continued to be an important castle of the Hōjō clan as a base of defense against the Satomi clan. In 1561, Tamanawa castle was surrounded by

Uesugi Kenshin , later known as , was a Japanese ''daimyō'' (magnate). He was born in Nagao clan, and after adoption into the Uesugi clan, ruled Echigo Province in the Sengoku period of Japan. He was one of the most powerful ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period ...

's army but he left without even attacking the castle. During the siege of Odawara in 1590, Hōjō Ujikatsu entrenched himself in the castle but was besieged by a big army of the

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 ...

. In the end Ujikatsu surrendered without resistance. After the Siege of Odawara,

placed his reliable retainer

Honda Masanobu was a commander and ''daimyō'' in the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu in Japan during the Azuchi-Momoyama and Edo periods. In 1563, when an uprising against Ieyasu occurred in Mikawa Province, Masanobu took the side of the peasants against Ieyasu ...

. Later, the castle was given to Nagasawa

Matsudaira clan The was a Japanese samurai clan that descended from the Minamoto clan. It originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province (modern-day Aichi Prefecture). During the Sengoku period, the chieftain of the main line of the ...

, a member of the Tokugawa clan. Tamanawa castle was abandoned in 1703 when Nagasawa Matsudaira clan transferred to the Otaki Domain. There are little remains of the castle on the present day site, just some moats and earthworks. Excavated artefacts from the castle are exhibited at Ryūhō-ji Temple near the castle.

Access

The castle remains are located on the outskirts of Kamakura, close to

Ōfuna Station Ōfuna Station (, ) is a railway station in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and Shonan Monorail. Lines Ōfuna Station is served by the Tokaido Main Line, Shōnan-Shinjuku Line, Negishi Line (Keihin-T� ...

(About 15 minutes walk from

Gallery

File:諏訪壇下土塁？？2 2014.jpg, Eathen wall of Tamanawa Castle(under the Suwadan compound) File:Moat of Tamanawa Castle.jpg, Horikiri style moat of Tamanawa Castle File:Horikiri of Tamanawa Castle.jpg, Horikiri style Moat of Tamanawa Castle File:408 太鼓郭.jpg, Taikokuruwa compound File:Moat_and_earthen_wall_of_Tamanawa_Castle_(Kuichigai_compound).jpg, Moat and earthen wall of Kuichigai compound

References

{{reflist Castles in Kanagawa Prefecture Former castles in Japan Ruined castles in Japan Go-Hōjō clan 1510s establishments in Japan