Somayama Castle
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Somayama Castle
was a Kamakura period ''yamashiro''-style Japanese castle located in the town of Nanjō (now part of the town of Minamiechizen), Fukui Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Honshu, Japan. The ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 1934, with the area under protection expanded in 1979. Overview Mount Somayama is a hill with a height of 492 meters, located near the geographic center of Minamiechzen town at the southern end of the Nanjō Basin, where the Nanjō Mountains approach the narrow valley of the Hino River. This is a natural chokepoint for traffic on the Hokuriku Kaidō, the ancient highway connecting Echizen Province with Kyoto. The steep sides of Mount Somayama form a natural defensive position, and the castle is surrounded on three sides by the Hino River and its tributaries. The castle had its main enclosure at the base of the hillside, with the inner bailey at the summit. The origins of the castle are uncertain, but there is a local legend that ...
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Minamiechizen, Fukui
is a town located in Fukui Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 10,745 in 3,470 households and a population density of 31 persons per km². The total area of the town was . Geography Minamiechizen is located in central Fukui Prefecture, bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the west, Shiga Prefecture to the south and the Sea of Japan to the west. Parts of the coastal area of the town are within the borders of the Echizen-Kaga Kaigan Quasi-National Park. Neighbouring municipalities *Fukui Prefecture **Tsuruga ** Echizen **Ikeda ** Echizen (town) *Shiga Prefecture ** Nagahama *Gifu Prefecture **Ibigawa Climate Minamiechizen has a Humid climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm, wet summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Minamiechizen is . The average annual rainfall is with December as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around . Parts of ...
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Minamoto No Yorichika
was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during the Heian period (794–1185 AD), although its last occurrence was during the Sengoku period. The Taira were another such offshoot of the imperial dynasty, making both clans distant relatives. The Minamoto clan is also called the , or less frequently, the , using the on'yomi reading for Minamoto. The Minamoto were one of four great clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian period—the other three were the Fujiwara, the Taira, and the Tachibana. History The first emperor to grant the surname Minamoto was Minamoto no Makoto, seventh son of Emperor Saga. The most prominent of the several Minamoto families, the Seiwa Genji, descended from Minamoto no Tsunemoto (897–961), a grandson of Emperor Seiwa. Tsunemoto went ...
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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 Japan in the 1560s. Nobunaga emerged as the most powerful ''daimyō'', overthrowing the nominally ruling shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki and dissolving the Ashikaga Shogunate in 1573. He conquered most of Honshu island by 1580, and defeated the ''Ikkō-ikki'' rebels in the 1580s. Nobunaga's rule was noted for innovative military tactics, fostering of free trade, reforms of Japan's civil government, and the start of the Momoyama historical art period, but also for the brutal suppression of those who refused to cooperate or yield to his demands. Nobunaga was killed in the Honnō-ji Incident in 1582, when his retainer Akechi Mitsuhide ambushed him in Kyoto and forced him to commit . Nobunaga was succeeded by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who along with Toku ...
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Ikkō-ikki
were rebellious or autonomous groups of people that were formed in several regions of Japan in the 15th-16th centuries; backed up by the power of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism, they opposed the rule of governors or ''daimyō''. Mainly consisting of priests, peasants, merchants and local lords who followed the sect, they sometimes associated with non-followers of the sect. They were at first organized to only a small degree; if any single person could be said to have had any influence over them it was Rennyo, the leader of the Jōdo Shinshū Hongan-ji sect at that time. Whilst he may have used the religious fervour of the Ikkō-ikki in the defence of his temple settlements, he was also careful to distance himself from the wider social rebellion of the Ikkō movement as a whole, and from offensive violence in particular. With recent improvements in firearms at the time, the Ikko-ikki movement would be able to rise very suddenly as a menacing force and which presented a cr ...
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Asakura Clan
The is a Japanese kin group. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003).html" ;"title="DF 7 of 80">"Asakura", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 3 [PDF 7 of 80/nowiki>">DF 7 of 80">"Asakura", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 3 [PDF 7 of 80/nowiki> retrieved 2013-5-4. History The clan claims descent from Prince Kusakabe (662–689), who was the son of Emperor Tenmu (631–686). The family was a line of ''daimyō'' (feudal lords) which, along with the Azai clan, opposed Oda Nobunaga in the late 16th century. The Asakura were defeated by Nobunaga at the Battle of Anegawa in 1570; the family's home castle of Ichijōdani was taken in 1573. Asakura Nobumasa (1583–1637), nephew of Asakura Yoshikage, was allied with Toyotomi Hideyoshi and with Tokugawa Ieyasu. In 1625, he was granted Kakegawa Domain (25,000 ''koku'') in Tōtōmi Province. In 1632, he was implicated in a plot, causing him to be dispossessed and banished to Kor ...
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Northern Court
The , also known as the Ashikaga Pretenders or Northern Pretenders, were a set of six pretenders to the throne of Japan during the Nanboku-chō period from 1336 through 1392. The present Imperial House of Japan is descended from the Northern Court emperors. The Northern dynasty is also referred to as the "senior line" or the ; Jimyō-in was a temple and retirement residence of this line's emperors Go-Fukakusa and Fushimi. Nanboku-chō overview The origins of the Northern Court go back to Emperor Go-Saga, who reigned from 1242 through 1246. Go-Saga was succeeded in turn by two of his sons, Emperor Go-Fukakusa and Emperor Kameyama. On his death bed in 1272, Go-Saga insisted that his sons adopt a plan in which future emperors from the two fraternal lines would ascend the throne in alternating succession. This plan proved to be unworkable, resulting in rival factions and rival claimants to the throne. In 1333, when the Southern Emperor Go-Daigo staged the Kenmu Restoration and r ...
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Shiba Takatsune
  was the Constable (''shugo'') of Echizen Province during the 14th century Nanboku-chō Wars in Japan. He acted to block the northward progress of Nitta Yoshisada, who supported the Emperor's Southern Court against the ''shōgun''s Northern Court. Shiba, in his role as Constable, served the ''shōgun'' and thus the Northern Court. In 1336, an ally of Nitta named Uryū Tamotsu attacked Shiba's castle, which fell soon afterwards. Two years later, Shiba was ordered by the shogun Ashikaga Takauji to attack Uryū's fortress at Somayama. The attack failed, and Shiba was forced to fight Nitta's forces again in the defense of the Kuromaru (Black Fortress). With the aid of forces sent by Takauji and warrior monks from Heisenji, the fortress was held, and Nitta Yoshisada mortally wounded in the battle. Despite this great victory, Shiba was defeated once again in 1340, when the newly throned Emperor Go-Murakami sent an army to attack the Kuromaru. Shiba was forced to surrender. The ...
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Nitta Yoshisuke
also known as , (1305–1340) was the brother of Nitta Yoshisada in the early fourteenth century, and supported the Southern Court of Emperor Go-Daigo in the Nanboku-chō period, capturing Kamakura with his brother from the Hōjō clan in 1333. Both Nitta brothers survived the Siege of Kanegasaki (1337) by fleeing to Somayama. After his brother died, he fled to various parts of Japan including Mino, Owari, and Yoshino. In 1339, under orders from the new Emperor Go-Murakami, he captured Shiba Takatsune's fortress at Kuromaru. He died while on campaign in Iyo. References Further reading * McCullough, Helen Craig (1959). "The Taiheiki The (Chronicle of Great Peace) is a Japanese historical epic (see ''gunki monogatari'') written in the late 14th century and covers the period from 1319 to 1367. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Taiheiki''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', pp. 923 .... A Chronicle of Medieval Japan." 1959. Charles E. Tuttle Company, Tokyo, . * Papinot ...
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Uryū Tamotsu
Uryū may refer to: Places *Uryū District, Hokkaidō Uryū may refer to: Places * Uryū District, Hokkaidō, a district in Hokkaidō, Japan ** Uryū, Hokkaidō, a town People with the given name *, a social worker in the Meiji period *, an admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy Fictional characters ..., a district in Hokkaidō, Japan ** Uryū, Hokkaidō, a town People with the given name *, a social worker in the Meiji period *, an admiral of the Imperial Japanese Navy Fictional characters *, in the manga ''GetBackers'' *, in the manga ''Bleach'' {{disambiguation, given name Japanese masculine given names Masculine given names ...
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Ashikaga Takauji
was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate."Ashikaga Takauji" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 625. His rule began in 1338, beginning the Muromachi period of Japan, and ended with his death in 1358. He was a male-line descendant of the samurai of the (Minamoto) Seiwa Genji line (meaning they were descendants of Emperor Seiwa) who had settled in the Ashikaga area of Shimotsuke Province, in present-day Tochigi Prefecture. According to Zen master and intellectual Musō Soseki, who enjoyed his favor and collaborated with him, Takauji had three qualities. First, he kept his cool in battle and was not afraid of death.Matsuo (1997:105) Second, he was merciful and tolerant. Third, he was very generous with those below him. Life His childhood name was Matagorō (又太郎). Takauji was a general of the Kamakura shogunate sent to Kyoto in 1333 to put down the Genkō War which had started i ...
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Kanegasaki Castle
is a Towns of Japan, 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 town was protected as an Groups of Traditional Buildings, Important Preservation District by the national government for its traditional samurai residences. Geography Kanegasaki is located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan at the confluence of the Kitakami River, Kitakami and Isawa River, Isawa rivers and is bordered to the north by Kitakami, Iwate, Kitakami-shi, to the east and south by Ōshū, Iwate, Ōshū-shi. In the mountains to the west, there is a large reservoir known as Sengaishi that is dammed and used for irrigating the rice paddies in the plain below. Kanegasaki is characterized by a variety of geographical features, including mountains and wide expanses of rice paddies to the west and a small merchant dis ...
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