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

Kanegasaki is a town located in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 15,580, and a population density of 87 persons per km² in 6,155 households. The total area of the town is . In June 2001, the 34.8 hectare old centre of to ...

in Isawa 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 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 in October 2013.

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 imperial court sent a number of military expeditions to what is now 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 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. Some Emishi tribes sided with the Yamato forces, and these allied tribes were known as . By the early 11th century, the

Abe clan The was one of the oldest of the major Japanese clans (''uji''); and the clan retained its prominence during the Sengoku period and the Edo period.Meyer, Eva-Maria"Gouverneure von Kyôto in der Edo-Zeit." Universität Tübingen (in German). Th ...

, who had grown enormously wealthy by monopolizing the gold, iron and horse trade in northern Honshū, had emerged as the ruler of these ''fushū'', and were assigned the six Emishi districts (Iwate, Hienuki, Shiwa, Isawa, Esashi and Waga) in the from what is now Morioka to Hiraizumi in Iwate Prefecture. The Abe clan eventually began to raid territories south of their border. In 1051

Abe no Yoritoki (died 28 August 1057) was the head of the Abe clan of Emishi who were allowed to rule the six Emishi districts ( Iwate, Hienuki, Shiwa, Isawa, Esashi and Waga) in the from Morioka to Hiraizumi in what is now Iwate Prefecture. Background ...

led an army into northern Miyagi and defeated a government army that had been sent to stop the raids. This event triggered the Former Nine Years' War (

Zenkunen War The , also known in English as the Former Nine Years' War or the Early Nine Years' War, was fought between the Imperial Court in Kyoto, Imperial Court and the Abe clan in Mutsu Province, in Tōhoku region, Northeast Japan, from 1051 to 1062. It ...

. Abe no Yoritoki constructed twelve ''jōsaku''-style fortresses against the

Minamoto clan was a Aristocracy (class), noble surname bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the Imperial House of Japan, imperial family who were excluded from the List of emperors of Japan, line of succession and demoted into the ranks of Nobili ...

, whose leader

Minamoto no Yoriyoshi was a Japanese samurai lord who was the head of the Minamoto clan and served as '' Chinjufu-shōgun''. Along with his son Minamoto no Yoshiie, he led the Imperial forces against rebellious forces in the north, a campaign called the Zenkunen War, ...

was deputized as the '' Chinjufu Shogun'' and sent at the head of a new army to assert central government control over their territories. Of these twelve fortifications, only that of the Tonami Palisade is known. The fortification was assigned to Abe no Yoritoki's third son,

Abe no Munetō was a samurai of the Abe clan during the Heian period of Japan. He was the son of Abe no Yoritoki, the head of the Abe clan of Emishi who were allowed to rule the six Emishi districts in the from Morioka to Hiraizumi, Iwate, Hiraizumi in what ...

. In July 1057, Abe no Yoritoki was hit by a stray arrow, and retreated to the Tonami Palisade where he died.Ackroyd, Joyce. (1982). Lessons from History: the Tokushi Yoron, p. 120. In 1061, Abe no Munetō defeated the Minamoto forces in the Battle of Tonomi Palisade. Yoritoki's sons continued fighting for a time but were finally overwhelmed by combined Minamoto and Kiyowara armies in 1062.

Description

Tonomi Palisade is located approximately 2.5 kilometers west-northwest of the conjunction of 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 ...

and the

Isawa River The is a river in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. For about half its length it marks the border between Kanegasaki Town and Ōshū City. The river's origin is in the Ōu Mountains just west of Mt. Yakeishi (1548 meters). At its highest point it is ...

. It was a roughly rectangular enclosure, approximately 500 meters north-south by 300 meters east-west, surrounded by 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 ...

and moat. Nothing remains of Tonomi Palisade today. The Tohoku Expressway cuts through the middle of site, which is also bordered on one side by

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 ...

. The site has been excavated some 19 times between 1958 and 2012, and was backfilled after each excavation. The site is located about 10 minutes by car from Kanegasaki Station on 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 ...

Tohoku Main Line.

References

External links

Kanegasaki official home page

Cultural Treasures of Iwate Prefecture
{{in lang, ja Castles in Iwate Prefecture Ruined castles in Japan History of Iwate Prefecture 11th-century establishments in Japan Kanegasaki, Iwate Historic Sites of Japan Archaeological sites in Japan Mutsu Province

Background

Description

See also

References

External links