is a

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 the Sange neighborhood of the city of

Tsuyama is a city in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. In February 2023, the city had an estimated population of 97,507 in 45,653 households and a population density of 190 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Tsuyama is located in nort ...

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 ...

, in the

San'in region The is an area in the southwest of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It consists of the northern part of the Chūgoku region, facing the Sea of Japan. Specifically, it is the two prefectures of Shimane Prefecture, Shimane and Tottori Prefecture ...

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 ...

. Tsuyama considered one of Japan's three major ''hirayama'' (平山城 hilltop) style castles along with Himeji Castle and Matsuyama Castle, which were all constructed around the same time. During the

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 ...

, Tsuyama castle served as the primary residence of the ''

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 the Tsuyama Domain under 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 ...

. The castle was also called . It has been protected by the central government as a National Historic Site since 1963.

History

Tsuyama Castle is located in the center of Tsuyama Basin in former

Mimasaka Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area that is northern Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of western Japan. Mimasaka bordered Bitchū Province, Bitchū, Bizen Province, Bizen, Harima Province, Harima, Hōki Province, Hō ...

. It was an important junction of roads connecting

Himeji 260px, Himeji City Hall is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 525,682 in 227,099 households and a population density of 980 persons per km2. The total area of the city is ...

and

Okayama is the prefectural capital, capital Cities of Japan, city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The Okayama metropolitan area, centered around the city, has the largest urban employment zone in the Chugoku region of western J ...

on the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka Ba ...

with Tottori and

Yonago is a Cities of Japan, city in western Tottori Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 146,139 in 68,534 households and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It is the prefecture's second ...

on the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

, and was also a post station on the Izumi kaidō, the main pilgrimage route to Izumo Shrine. Later the Tsuyama area prospered also from its location on the Yoshiigawa river. During the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

and early

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

, the center of Mimasaka was at Innoshō, approximately ten kilometers to the west, where the Yamana clan, the ''

shugo , commonly translated as ' ilitarygovernor', 'protector', or 'constable', was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the shogun to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The position gave way to th ...

'' of the province had their fortified residence and Kamae Castle. Around 1441-1444, Yamana Norikiyo ordered the construction of a castle at Tsuru Mountain (i.e. Kakuzan Castle), which was later abandoned as the Yamana clan was greatly weakened in the

Ōnin War The , also known as the Upheaval of Ōnin and Ōnin-Bunmei war, was a civil war that lasted from 1467 to 1477, during the Muromachi period in Japan. ''Ōnin'' refers to the Japanese era name, Japanese era during which the war started; the war ende ...

. During the

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 ...

, the Mori clan were retainers of

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 ...

. Mori Ranmaru served as Nobunaga's page and died with him at the Honnō-ji Incident in 1582. His younger brother Mori Tadamasa served

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 ...

and was awarded with Matsushiro Castle in

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

after the

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, ...

in 1600. In 1604, after the death of Kobayakawa Hideaki, Mori Tadamada was transferred to Mimasaka Province and awarded a new domain with a '' kokudaka'' of 186,000 ''

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 ...

'' centered on Tsuyama. Finding Kamae Castle unsuitable as it was located in a geographically narrow location, he began construction of a new castle on the ruins of Kakuzan Castle. This castle was completed in 1616, at which time it had a five-story

tenshu is an architectural typology found in Japanese castle, Japanese castle complexes. They are easily identifiable as the highest tower within the castle. Common translations of ''tenshu'' include keep, main keep, or ''donjon''. ''Tenshu'' are cha ...

and 77 yagura turrets. Mori Tadamasa named the new castle "Tsuyama Castle". However, the Mori clan became extinct in 1697 and the domain was absorbed into the holdings of Asano Tsunanaga of

Hiroshima Domain The was a large domain that owned all of Aki Province and half of Bingo Province. It occupies most of current Hiroshima Prefecture. The domain office was located at Hiroshima Castle in Sato District, Aki Province (renamed Numata District in 1 ...

. The following year, the domain was revived as a 100,000 ''koku'' holding for a cadet branch of the Echizen-

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 ...

which descended from

Yūki Hideyasu was a Japanese samurai who lived during the Azuchi–Momoyama period, Azuchi–Momoyama and early Edo periods. He was the ''daimyō'' of Fukui Domain in Echizen Province, Echizen. Early life Hideyasu was born as in 1574, the second son of To ...

, Tokugawa Ieyasu's second son. The Matsudaira clan would rule Tsuyama to 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 1871. The castle was kept in good repair through the Edo era, although the Honmaru Place was lost to a fire in 1809.

Current situation

After the Meiji restoration, all buildings except one gate (which was moved to neighboring Nakayama Shrine) were demolished in 1873 and the site of the castle became . Several gates were reconstructed from 1874 to 1875, and the collapse of the stone walls of the Koshimaki yagura in 1890 led to conservation measures on the remaining stone walls. In 1900 the castle site became property of Tsuyama municipality and over 5000

sakura The cherry blossom, or sakura, is the flower of trees in ''Prunus'' subgenus '' Cerasus''. ''Sakura'' usually refers to flowers of ornamental cherry trees, such as cultivars of ''Prunus serrulata'', not trees grown for their fruit (although ...

trees were planted and in 1905 the Han school Shudokan (修道館) was relocated to Sannomaru and renamed Kakuzankan (鶴山館). A regional Industrial Promotion Exposition was held in 1936 during which time a faux tenshu was reconstructed, but it was demolished in 1945 to prevent its use as a landmark by enemy air raids. To celebrate the castle's 400-year anniversary in 2004, the Bitchū yagura was reconstructed, and the Taiko fence was repaired in 2006. Tsuyama Castle was listed as one of Japan's Top 100 Castles by the Japan Castle Foundation in 2006.Japan Castle Foundation
/ref> Every year from April 1st to 15th, the Tsuyama Cherry Blossom Festival is held around the castle ruins park. The castle is about 15 minutes on foot from Tsuyama Station on the

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...

Kishin Line is a railway line operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) between Himeji, Hyōgo and Niimi, Okayama, Japan. The name of the line comes from the first kanji of Himeji () and Niimi () which the line connects. Stations *S: Trains stop *s: ...

Tsuyama Line The is a railway line operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) connecting and in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. Stations All-stations and limited-stop services called operate over the line. In the "Rapid" column in the table below, "O ...

Structure

At the nearby Tsuyama Folk Museum, there is a restored model of Tsuyama Castle based on documents and old photographs. Located in the central part of the Tsuyama Basin, the Miya River, a tributary of the Yoshii River that flows to the east of the castle, and the natural cliffs of the hills are incorporated into the defensive line. The Yoshii River, which flows through the southern part of the castle, and its tributary, the Ida River, which is located in the western part, are the outer walls, protect age main part of the castle town. The total of 77 ''yagura'' turrets, including the outer walls, surpassed

Hiroshima Castle , sometimes called , is a Japanese castle, castle in Hiroshima, Japan that was the residence of the ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the Hiroshima Domain. The castle was originally constructed in the 1590s, but was largely destroyed by the Atomic bom ...

's 76 ''yagura'' and Himeji Castle's 61 ''yagura''.

Legends

Glaring pine

Mori Tadamasa had two servants, Ido Uemon (井戸宇右衛門) and Nagoya Kyuemon (名護屋九右衛門). Ido had served Tadamasa's father before him and excelled in

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

. Nagoya was a relatively new servant from Shinano who was the younger brother of Tadamasa's wife. Nagoya and Ido were competing for the castle to be built on their land, and their relations were strained. Tadamasa did not approve of competition and sought to recruit an assassin to kill Ido. Nagoya volunteered, but Tadamasa denied him. He continued to volunteer, until eventually Tadamasa accepted him, and gave him a ''

katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...

''. Ido arrived later at Innoshō with his colleagues and upon arrival was attacked by Nagoya who shouted, "The order of one's lord!". Ido was, however, a battle veteran, and killed Nagoya, suffering only a small wound. When his colleagues heard that Nagoya was attacking on "the order of one's lord", they killed Ido themselves and later killed his two younger brothers. After that incident, castle construction in Innoshō was cancelled and changed to Mount Tsuru. The tomb of Ido and his brothers was built on the south side of the Izumo kaidō highway and the tomb of Nagoya was built on the north side. On top of their graves, a pine tree was planted. On the road between the graves, bizarre phenomenon began to occur. Therefore, the road was moved in 1655, passing north of both graves. After this, the north and south sides of the pine alternated between lush growth and wilting. People thought that Ido and Nagoya were still fighting after their deaths. The pine was given the name "pine glaring at each other" (睨み合いの松/''Niramiai no Matsu'').

Blueprint

Kokura Castle is a castle in Kitakyushu, 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 Okho ...

was a famous castle by the sea in western Japan. Mori Tadamasa sent a spies to Kokura to try to observe the fortification from the sea. One night, light leaked out from the spies' ship, revealing their location to the castle. Taken into the castle, Hosokawa Tadaoki, heard their story and forgave them and gave them a copy of the castle blueprint and released them. Tadamasa constructed Tsuyama Castle by referencing these blueprints. After Tsuyama Castle was completed, Hosokawa Tadaoki sent a bell imported from Southeast Asia to Mori Tadamasa. The bell hung in the castle tower 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 ...

Fifth floor

When the Edo Period started, tenshu with five floors or more were banned. Officials were dispatched by the Tokugawa shogunate to inspect castles, and towers which violated the edict would be demolished. At the time, Tsuyama Castle had five floors. In an attempt to circumvent the ban, Mori Tadamasa removed the roof of the fourth floor. When the officials came and claimed that his tenshu had five floors, Tadamasa insisted that since the fourth floor had no roofing, it did not count. The officials were eventually convinced and permission was granted to keep the tower. Therefore, the fourth floor has no tiled roof.

Gallery

File: Tuyama castle tensyudai.JPG, Stone base of the ''

'' File: Tsuyama Castle02n3200.jpg, Stone wall and Bitchū-'' yagura'' File: Tsuyama Castle Bitchuu-yagura.jpg, Bitchū-''yagura'' File: Tuyama castle uratetumon.JPG, Ruins of Uratetu-mon File: Tsuyama Castle.jpg, Tsuyama Castle ruins File:Tsuyama Sta02s3720.jpg, Reconstructed visualisation

References

External links

Tsuyama Castle official homepage (in Japanese)

Guide to Japanese Castles

Tsuyama Castle revived (reproduction CG edition)
Japanese) {{Authority control Tourist attractions in Okayama Prefecture Buildings and structures demolished in 1875 Castles in Okayama Prefecture 100 Fine Castles of Japan Historic Sites of Japan Tsuyama Tsuyama-Matsudaira clan Mimasaka Province