was an early

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

''jōsaku''-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 Yahaba in Shiwa District,

Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...

in the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, , or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains ...

of far northern

Honshū , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian ...

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 site was proclaimed a National Historic Site of Japan on 5 August 1969.

Background

In the late

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capita ...

, after the establishment of a centralized government under the ''

Ritsuryō is the historical Japanese legal system, legal system based on the philosophies of Confucianism and Legalism (Chinese philosophy), Chinese Legalism in Feudal Japan. The political system in accord to Ritsuryō is called "Ritsuryō-sei" (). ''Kya ...

'' system, the Yamato court sent a number of military expeditions to what is now the

of northern Japan to bring the local

Emishi The were a group of people who lived in parts of northern Honshū in present-day Japan, especially in the Tōhoku region. The first mention of the Emishi in literature that can be corroborated with outside sources dates to the 5th century AD, ...

tribes under its control. The Emishi were able to successfully resist the Japanese for several decades; however, in 802 AD, the '' Chinjufu-shōgun''

Sakanoue no Tamuramaro was a court noble, general and ''shōgun'' of the early Heian period of Japan. He served as Dainagon, Minister of War and ''Ukon'e no Taisho'' (Major Captain of the Right Division of Inner Palace Guards). He held the ''kabane'' of Ōsukune an ...

defeated Emishi chieftain Aterui, and many of the Emishi tribes in Shiwa region (the

Kitakami River The is the fourth largest river in Japan and the largest in the Tōhoku region. It is long and drains an area of . page 793 It flows through mostly rural areas of Iwate Prefecture, Iwate and Miyagi Prefecture, Miyagi Prefectures of Japan, Pr ...

Valley) submitted to Japanese rule. In 803 AD, Shiwa Castle was established in what is now part of the city of

Morioka is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Iwate Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. On 1 August 2023, the city had an estimated population of 283,981 in 132,719 households, and a population density of . The total area of t ...

to serve as an administrative center for the imperial government. However, the site was prone to flooding, and in 811 AD, a new site was selected approximately ten kilometers to the south. This was the start of Tokutan Castle.

Description

Tokutan Castle was a square enclosure located on a

river terrace Fluvial terraces are elongated terraces that flank the sides of floodplains and fluvial valleys all over the world. They consist of a relatively level strip of land, called a "tread", separated from either an adjacent floodplain, other fluvial t ...

on the western bank the

, approximately 356 meters on each side, consisting of an earthen

rampart Rampart may refer to: * Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement Rampart may also refer to: * LAPD Rampart Division, a division of the Los Angeles Police Department ** Rampart scandal, a blanket ter ...

surmounted by a wooden

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...

. '' Yagura'' watchtowers were erected at 70-80 meter intervals, with gates in the center of each wall facing each of the cardinal directions. The southeastern corner of the castle was a swamp, and it is uncertain of the walls and palisade extended to this area. Also to the east of the castle is a 400 meter long remnant of a canal, which evidently once connected the castle directly to the Kitakami River. Tokutan Castle appeared to have been partially built on top of an earlier site, with dimensions of approximately 150 meters to a side, which was at an angle to, and extended further to the east than the later, larger, enclosure.Yahaba Town official web site
/ref> As with the earlier Shiwa Castle, in the center of the enclosure was a fortified compound containing buildings for local administration; however, as Tokutan Castle was considerably smaller in scale than Shiwa Castle, it had a garrison of approximately 500 men. Although completed in 811 AD, Tokutan Castle was officially closed only four years later, in 815 AD. After its imperial garrison was withdrawn, the fortifications continued to be manned until sometime in the mid-9th century by the local militia (Emishi who were loyal to the Yamato court), but was eventually abandoned at some unknown time.

Current situation

There are no physical remains of Tokutan Castle today, although its outline can be discerned by

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other flight, airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wi ...

Japan National Route 4 is a major national highway in eastern Honshū, Japan. Measuring , it is the longest highway in the country. When oversea routes are included, it is the second longest highway in Japan, with National Route 58 then measuring because of its m ...

cuts through the site north-to-south, and most of the site is occupied by the local Tokuda Elementary School. Despite its legally protected status, a large portion of the site was severely damaged by construction work during the reconstruction of Tokuda Elementary School. On 31 July 2006 the Yahaba Town Board of Education announced that a wooden ''

kabuto ' (兜, 冑) is a type of helmet first used by ancient Japanese warriors that, in later periods, became an important part of the traditional Japanese armour worn by the samurai class and their retainers in History of Japan#Medieval Japan (118 ...

'' and other artifacts had been discovered at a well on the site. The site is a park, containing the which displays a number of item recovered during archaeological investigations and construction work. It is approximately five minutes by car from the

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

Tōhoku Main Line The Tōhoku Main Line () is a railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The line starts from Tokyo Station in Chiyoda, Tokyo and passes through such cities as Saitama, Saitama, Saitama, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Uts ...

Yahaba Station.

References

External links

Iwate Prefectural Agency for Cultural Affairs

{{in lang, ja 9th-century establishments in Japan Castles in Iwate Prefecture Ruined castles in Japan History of Iwate Prefecture Heian period Yahaba, Iwate Historic Sites of Japan Archaeological sites in Japan Mutsu Province 811 establishments 9th-century fortifications

Background

Description

Current situation

See also

References

External links