was a Japanese castle located in Tottori,

Tottori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Tottori Prefecture is the least populous prefecture of Japan at 570,569 (2016) and has a geographic area of . Tottori Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture to the west, Hirosh ...

History

Tottori Castle was constructed in Inaba Province during the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

as a ''yamashiro'' ("mountain castle") built into the mountain itself, using natural obstacles and defenses to a greater extent than man-made walls. In the late 12th century, following the

Genpei War The was a national civil war between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yoritomo, who appointed himself ...

, the new ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

'' Minamoto no Yoritomo granted the position of ''

shugo , commonly translated as “(military) governor,” “protector,” or “constable,” was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the ''shōgun'' to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The pos ...

'' of Tottori Castle to Nasu no Yoichi, the hero of the Battle of Yashima. Nasu lost the castle soon afterwards to

Kajiwara Kagetoki was a samurai and retainer of the Kamakura Shogunate during the late Heian and early Kamakura period. He was a spy for Minamoto no Yoritomo in the Genpei War, and a warrior against the Taira clan. He came to be known for his greed and treachery ...

, a spy for Yoritomo, in a hunting competition. Tottori Castle was reconstructed over a period from 1532 to 1555, having passed between various owners, and soon became the main castle of the San'in region. In 1573, Yamana Toyokuni moved Inaba Yamana clan's main castle to Tottori castle from Tenjinyama castle. Tottori Castle is perhaps best known for the

Siege of Tottori The siege of Tottori Castle occurred in 1581 and was part of Oda Nobunaga's campaign to consolidate his power in western Honshu in an effort to unite Japan during the late 16th century. The siege was fought between Hashiba Hideyoshi, an Oda clan ...

in 1581, in which the castle was besieged for 200 days by

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

on behalf 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 ...

. According to some accounts, the defenders led by Kikkawa Tsuneie were forced to surrender due to

starvation Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake, below the level needed to maintain an organism's life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, dea ...

, coming just short of resorting to

cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...

. When they surrendered, Hideyoshi provided food for the castle garrison, but many survivors ate too quickly and subsequently died from

refeeding syndrome Refeeding syndrome is a metabolic disturbance that occurs as a result of reinstitution of nutrition in people and animals who are starved, severely malnourished, or metabolically stressed because of severe illness. When too much food or liquid nut ...

. Tottori Castle became the seat of the

Tottori Domain 270px, Ikeda Yoshinori 270px, Front gate of the Tottori Domain residence in Edo was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now Tottori Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It controlled all of Inaba Provi ...

during the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

, a ''

han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...

'' (fief) covering much of Inaba and Hōki Province, and was ruled by various branches of the

Ikeda clan was a Japanese clan that claimed descent from Minamoto no Yorimitsu (948-1021) of the Seiwa Genji. Minamoto no Yasumasa, the fourth generation descending from Yorimitsu, and younger brother of Minamoto no Yorimasa (1104-1180), was the first to ...

. After 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 practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, Tottori Castle was nationalized and given to the Ministry of the Army in 1873, coming under the jurisdiction of the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

's 4th Division. In 1876, the Ministry of the Army decided to dismantle Tottori Castle when

was incorporated into

Shimane Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamaguc ...

, arguing that no castle was needed except in the prefectural capital, Matsue. In 1879, the demolition of Tottori Castle began, though Tottori Prefecture was later re-established in 1881. Little remains of the castle aside from parts of the stone wall and one gate, reinforced with iron and featuring spikes on the outside of the doors to help protect against attackers. Tottori Castle oldphoto Ninomaru

Notes

References

Literature

* * * {{Authority control Former castles in Japan Castles in Tottori Prefecture Historic Sites of Japan Demolished buildings and structures in Japan Buildings and structures demolished in 1879 Incidents of cannibalism