was a

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 Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

''yamashiro''-style Japanese castle located in the Kamiyamamachi neighborhood of the city of Nirasaki,

Yamanashi prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Yamanashi Prefecture has a population of 817,192 (1 January 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,465 km2 (1,724 sq mi). Yamanashi Prefecture borders Saitama Prefecture to the no ...

. It was the primary fortress of the warlord Takeda Nobuyoshi, the ancestor of the Takeda clan. The ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 2001. The castle is also known as

Background

Hakusan Castle is located in the northwestern part of the prefecture and is located at the northern end of the Kōfu basin, on a mountain with elevation of 573 meters. The site is on the right bank of the Kamanashi River near its confluence with the Shiokawa River, which can be considered part of its natural defenses. The ruins of

Shinpu Castle was a Sengoku period ''hirayama''-style Japanese castle located in what is now part of the city of Nirasaki, Yamanashi prefecture. It was the primary fortress of the warlord Takeda Katsuyori. The ruins have been protected as a National Historic ...

can be seen almost due north across the river. The castle extended on a ridge extending from north to south, about 150 meters east-to-west by 180 meters north-to-south. The enclosures are protected by vertical dry moats, and two large moats are provided on the ridge behind the west side. This combination of horizontal and radial moats was one of the techniques of Takeda castle design. Behind the west side leads to a ridge with an elevation of 882 meters, and the north and south ridges descend on the east side so as to wrap around the site of Hakusan Castle, with a signal tower built at the tip of each ridge. Each beacon defended the north and south of the main castle. The castle was built by Takeda Nobuyoshi, the son of Minamoto no Kiyomitsu of Yato Castle and the progenitor of the Takeda clan. Nobumitsu's residence was located just over a kilometer away and takes its name from the Hakusan Jinja, a

Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...

preexisting on this mountain. Little is known of the history of Hakusan Castle, other than that it was completely rebuilt by Aoki Nobutane as part the outer defensive line of Kai Province. After the fall of the Takeda clan, the castle came under the control of

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

, who used it as a stronghold against the Odawara Hōjō in his struggle for control of the province. The castle was assigned to the control of Yamadera Nobumasa for a period, and disappeared from history in the ''

Kanbun A is a form of Classical Chinese used in Japan from the Nara period to the mid-20th century. Much of Japanese literature was written in this style and it was the general writing style for official and intellectual works throughout the period. A ...

'' era of 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 ...

(1661-1673). The ruins of the castle include the remains of several '' kuruwa'' enclosures which formed the first, second and third baileys, as well as the remains of earthworks, dry moats, vertical moats, and foundations of gates. The preservation of the remains is very good, and plans to turn the site into quarry in 1983, and again in 1996 were thwarted by local conservation groups. The ruins are a short walk from the "Nabeyamagami" bus stop on the a bus from

Nirasaki Station is a railway station of the Chūō Main Line, East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in Wakamiya 1-chōme, in the city of Nirasaki, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. Lines Nirasaki Station is served by the Chūō Main Line, and is 147.0 kilometers fro ...

on the

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is 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 ...

Chūō Main Line The , commonly called the Chūō Line, is one of the major trunk railway lines in Japan. It connects Tokyo and Nagoya, although it is the slowest direct railway connection between the two cities; the coastal Tōkaidō Main Line is slightly faste ...

References

External links

Nirasaki city tourist information

Notes

{{reflist Castles in Yamanashi Prefecture Ruined castles in Japan History of Yamanashi Prefecture Sengoku period Nirasaki, Yamanashi Historic Sites of Japan Kai Province Takeda clan

Background

See also

References

External links

Notes