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Wakayama Castle
260px, Layout of the ''tenshu'' is a Japanese castle located in the city Wakayama, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. For most of the Edo Period, it was the administrative center of Kishū Domain, which was controlled by a cadet branch of the Tokugawa clan. Due to its size and status, Wakayama Castle was ranked as one of the most important castles under the Tokugawa shogunate. The castle was designated a National Historic Site in 1931, and its Nishi-no-Maru Garden was designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty in 1987. History During the Muromachi period, Kii Province was ruled by the Hatakeyama clan, which also controlled neighboring Kawachi and Izumi provinces; however, the political situation in Kii Province was complex, with large portions of the province under the effective control of armed monks under the control of Negoro-ji or followers of the Saiga Ikki, local followers of the ''Ikkō-ikki'' movement, who sought to overthrow the feudal system and establish a theocratic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 as ports, river crossings, or crossroads, and almost always incorporated the landscape into their defenses. Though they were built to last and used more stone in their construction than most Japanese buildings, castles were still constructed primarily of wood, and many were destroyed over the years. This was especially true during the Sengoku period (1467–1603), when many of these castles were first built. However, many were rebuilt, either later in the Sengoku period, in the Edo period (1603–1867) that followed, or more recently, as national heritage sites or museums. Today there are more than one hundred castles extant, or partially extant, in Japan; it is estimated that once there were five thousand. Some castles, such as the ones a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kawachi Province
was a province of Japan in the eastern part of modern Osaka Prefecture. It originally held the southwestern area that was split off into Izumi Province. It was also known as . Geography The area was radically different in the past, with Kawachi Bay and lake dominating the area over what is now land. ''Chiku'' Kawachi was divided into three : , , and . * The northern county comprised the modern Hirakata, Neyagawa, Kadoma, Moriguchi, Shijōnawate, Daitō, and Katano, Osaka areas. * The central county comprised the modern Higashiōsaka, Yao, and Kashiwara, Osaka areas. * The southern county comprised the modern Sakai's eastern part (all of Higashi-ku and Mihara-ku, and part of Kita-ku), Matsubara, Habikino, Fujiidera, Tondabayashi, Kawachinagano, Ōsakasayama, and Minamikawachi District areas. Development Kawachi province was established in the 7th century. On 11 May 716, the Ōtori, Izumi, and Hine districts were split off to form . In December 720, the and district ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tōdō Takatora
was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of Tōdō clan from the Azuchi–Momoyama to Edo periods. He rose from relatively humble origins as an ashigaru (a light foot soldier) to become a ''daimyō''. Biography During his lifetime he changed his feudal master seven times and worked for ten people, but in the end he rendered loyalty to Tokugawa Ieyasu, who became his last master. Takatora started working for Azai Nagamasa at the age of 15. In 1576, he served Hashiba Hidenaga, the younger brother of Hashiba Hideyoshi, a senior vassal of Nobunaga, and was granted a smallholding of land. Tōdō Takatora was promoted rapidly under Hashiba Hidenaga. In 1581, Takatora defeat a local clan in Tajima Province, his holding was increased and he was made commander of a unit of musketeers. He fought in the Chugoku region and fought at the Battle of Shizugatake in 1583. In 1585, he served in the conquest of Kishū and defeated Yukawa Naoharu. He was given more land in Kii Province, and was ap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yamato Province
was a province of Japan, located in Kinai, corresponding to present-day Nara Prefecture in Honshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005). "Yamato" in . It was also called . Yamato consists of two characters, 大 "great", and 和 " Wa". At first, the name was written with one different character (), but due to its offensive connotation, for about ten years after 737, this was revised to use more desirable characters () (see Names of Japan). The final revision was made in the second year of the Tenpyō-hōji era (c. 758). It is classified as a great province in the ''Engishiki''. The Yamato Period in the history of Japan refers to the late Kofun Period (c. 250–538) and Asuka Period (538–710). Japanese archaeologists and historians emphasize the fact that during the early Kofun Period the Yamato Kingship was in close contention with other regional powers, such as Kibi Province near present-day Okayama Prefecture. Around the 6th century, the local chieftainship gained national cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kishiwada Castle
is a Japanese castle located in the city of Kishiwada, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. At the end of the Edo period, Kishiwada Castle was home to the Okabe clan, ''daimyō'' of Kishiwada Domain. The Honmaru Garden of the castle is designated as a National Place of Scenic Beauty. The castle is also known as . Background Kishiwada Castle is located in the center of the city of Kishiwada, facing Osaka Bay. The site is a very strategic location, approximately half way in-between the cities of Osaka and Wakayama and just south of the port of Sakai. It is located on the Kishū Kaidō, the main route connecting the capital area of Japan with Kii Province, and its coastal location was important for transportation from the eastern Shikoku to Settsu Province and Kyoto. It is unknown when this location was first fortified. During the Nanboku-chō period, a local warlord named Kishiwada Osamu was subordinate to Kusunoki Masashige at the Battle of Minatogawa in 1336 and is believed to have bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Course of History, Viking Press 1988. p. 68. Hideyoshi rose from a peasant background as a Affinity (medieval), retainer of the prominent lord Oda Nobunaga to become one of the most powerful men in Japan. Hideyoshi succeeded Nobunaga after the Honnō-ji Incident in 1582 and continued Nobunaga's campaign to unite Japan that led to the closing of the Sengoku period. Hideyoshi became the ''de facto'' leader of Japan and acquired the prestigious positions of Daijō-daijin, Chancellor of the Realm and Sesshō and Kampaku, Imperial Regent by the mid-1580s. Hideyoshi launched the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598), Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592 to initial success, but eventual military stalemate damaged his prestige before his death in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matchlock
A matchlock or firelock is a historical type of firearm wherein the gunpowder is ignited by a burning piece of rope that is touched to the gunpowder by a mechanism that the musketeer activates by pulling a lever or trigger with his finger. Before the invention of the matchlock mechanism, the musketeer or an assistant had to apply the match directly to gunpowder by hand, much like a cannon. The matchlock mechanism allowed the musketeer to apply the match himself without losing his concentration. Description The classic matchlock gun held a burning slow match in a clamp at the end of a small curved lever known as the ''serpentine''. Upon the pull of a lever (or in later models a trigger) protruding from the bottom of the gun and connected to the serpentine, the clamp dropped down, lowering the smoldering match into the flash pan and igniting the priming powder. The flash from the primer traveled through the touch hole, igniting the main charge of propellant in the gun barrel. On ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ishiyama Hongan-ji
The was the primary fortress of the Ikkō-ikki, leagues of warrior priests and commoners who opposed samurai rule during the Sengoku period. It was established in 1496, at the mouth of the Yodo River, on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea. At the time, this was just outside the remains of the ancient capital of Naniwa, in Settsu Province. In fact, recent archaeological research has determined that the temple was established atop the ruins of the old imperial palace. The city (now called Osaka) has since grown around the site, incorporating the Ishiyama (stone mountain). Rennyo, the great revivalist abbott of Jōdo Shinshū (Ikkō-shū), retired to the area in 1496, initiating the series of events that would end in the formation of Japan's second-largest city. Contemporary documents describing his retirement site as being on a "long slope" (大坂, Ōzaka) are the first to call the area by that name, which has changed only slightly over time to Osaka (大阪), and become Japan's sec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saiga Ikki
The , based in Ōta in the Kii Province (now part of Wakayama Prefecture) of Honshū, were one of many ''ikkō-ikki'' mercenary groups in feudal Japan. Those in Ōta, led by Suzuki Magoichi, were better known as Saika Magoichi. Saika-ikki was formed by several peasant and noble people. Their unnamed men and women informants were said to have been called "Magoichi" by their clients. In particular, the members of the Saika ''ikki'', along with the monks of the Negoro-ji, were renowned for their expertise with the arquebus and for their expert gunsmiths and foundries. Both of these groups came to the aid of the Ishiyama Hongan-ji, the central fortress-cathedral of the ikkō-ikki that was besieged by Oda Nobunaga from 1570–80. The town motto is translated to English as "stand strong and do not forget". Their own fortress, Ōta Castle (near the site of present-day Wakayama Castle), was besieged by Nobunaga in 1577. The monastery was attacked again in 1585 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
