, also known as 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 ...

located in the city of Iga,

Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefectur ...

in the

Kansai region The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropoli ...

of Japan. The castle is also called , or "White Phoenix Castle," because of its beautiful architecture and floor plan. The castle has been protected by the central government as a National Historic Site since 1967.

Overview

Iga Ueno Castle is located on a hill at the northwestern corner of plateau formed by the Kizu River and Tsuge River, in the center of the city of Iga. The city itself is located in a mountainous basin on an important route connecting the ancient capital cities of

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It i ...

and

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

with the

Ise Grand Shrine The , located in Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. Officially known simply as , Ise Jingū is a shrine complex composed of many Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, and . The Inner ...

and provinces of eastern Japan. Iga Province was a small province separated from neighboring provinces on all sides by mountains, and its inhabitants maintained autonomy from outside control through reliance on

asymmetric warfare Asymmetric warfare (or asymmetric engagement) is the term given to describe a type of war between belligerents whose relative military power, strategy or tactics differ significantly. This is typically a war between a standing, professional ar ...

tactics, which later came to known as ''

ninjutsu , sometimes used interchangeably with the modern term , is the martial art strategy and tactics of unconventional warfare, guerrilla warfare and espionage purportedly practised by the ninja. ''Ninjutsu'' was a separate discipline in some trad ...

''.

History

In 1581,

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 ...

invaded and conquered Iga. Construction on Iga Ueno Castle began in 1585 by the command of Takigawa Katsutoshi. Under

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 ...

Tsutsui Sadatsugu was a cousin and adopted son of Tsutsui Junkei, a feudal lord of the Yamato province. At the death of Junkei in 1584, he was relocated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi to Iga Province, where he built the Iga Ueno Castle. In 1585, he participated at Hide ...

(1562-1615), was transferred from Kōriyama Castle in

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, th ...

to rule over Iga. He reconstructed the castle by dividing the hill into an upper eastern half and lower western half, with the upper portion forming the ''honmaru'', or innermost bailey, with a three-story ''

tenshu is an architectural typology found in 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 characterized as ty ...

'' on its eastern edge. Following the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end 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 ...

expelled Tsutsui Sadatsugu from Iga Province for his pro-

Toyotomi The was a Japanese clan that ruled over the Japanese people, Japanese before the Edo period. Unity and conflict The most influential figure within the Toyotomi was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the three "unifiers of Japan". Oda Nobunaga was a ...

stance and installed his trusted general

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 ...

to rule over Iga and the northern half of

Ise Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today includes most of modern Mie Prefecture. Ise bordered on Iga, Kii, Mino, Ōmi, Owari, Shima, and Yamato Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History The name of Ise appears ...

. Tōdō also had a reputation for castle architecture and had previously built

Uwajima Castle 270px, Aerial view of Uwajima Castle is a ''hirayama-jiro'' Japanese castle located in the city of Uwajima, Ehime, Japan. An alternate name for this castle is Tsurushima-jō. The castle is one of twelve Japanese castles to still have an original ...

and

Imabari Castle is a Japanese castle in Imabari, Ehime, Japan. It was the center of Imabari Domain under the Edo Period Tokugawa shogunate and was ruled by a branch of the HisamatsuーMatsudaira clan through most of its history. This castle is well known as ...

. At Iga Ueno, he renovated the ''honmaru'', giving it high walls. This meant that the walls of the ''honmaru'' of Iga Ueno Castle were the tallest of any castle in Japan. He also significantly expanded the castle area overall, with large

kuruwa is a Japanese term for the walls of 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 Jap ...

terraces of over 100 meters in length extending to the east and west. This gave the castle an overall size of 800 meters by 400 meters in total, with the new inner baily shifted to the western half of the hill. The site of the Tsutsui ''tenshu'' became the main residence, and a new five-story ''tenshu'' was in the process of being constructed when it was destroyed in a wind storm in 1612. However, after the Toyotomi clan was extinguished at the

Siege of Osaka The was a series of battles undertaken by the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan, and ending in that clan's destruction. Divided into two stages (winter campaign and summer campaign), and lasting from 1614 to 1615, the siege ...

in 1615, the castle lost its importance and the ''tenshu'' (along with a planned series of water moats and stone walls) was never completed.

Present situation

Following 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 ...

, all of the remaining structures of Iga Ueno Castle were destroyed. In 1935, the ''tenshu'' was re-constructed out of wood. It houses a museum which holds a collection of artifacts relating to the area's history. Most other parts of the castle remain in ruins, though the towering ''honmaru'' walls still stand. The castle is preserved as Ueno Park. Iga Ueno Castle was listed as one of

Japan's Top 100 Castles The castles in were chosen based on their significance in culture, history, and in their regions by the in 2006. In 2017, Japanese Castle Association created an additional finest 100 castles list as Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles. Hokkaidō ...

by the Japan Castle Foundation in 2006.Japan Castle Foundation
/ref> Parts of the

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker and painter who directed thirty films in a career spanning over five decades. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. Kurosawa displayed a bold, dyna ...

movie ''

Kagemusha is a 1980 jidaigeki film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It is set in the Sengoku period of Japanese history and tells the story of a lower-class criminal who is taught to impersonate the dying ''daimyō'' Takeda Shingen to dissuade opposing lords fr ...

'' were filmed at Iga Ueno Castle. Immediately alongside the castle is the

Iga-ryū Ninja Museum The situated in a forested location in Iga, Mie Prefecture, Japan, is a museum dedicated to the history of the ninja and ninjutsu. It was established in 1964 and is located near Iga Ueno Castle. Jinichi Kawakami, who serves as the honorary dire ...

which features a model village and a museum of ninja history and displays. The castle is a 30-minute walk from

Iga-Ueno Station is an interchange passenger railway station located in the city of Iga, Mie Prefecture, Japan, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR-West). Lines Iga-Ueno Station is served by the JR Kansai Main Line and is located 94.5 rail kilometres fr ...

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, an ...

Kansai Main Line The is a railway line in Japan, which connects Nagoya Station with JR Namba Station in Osaka. It is jointly run by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and West Japan Railway Company (JR West), with the boundary between both comp ...

or a five-minute walk from Uenoshi Station on the

Iga Railway The is a railway line in Iga, Mie, Japan, operated by the private railway operator . The line connects Iga-Ueno Station with Iga-Kambe Station. The track and trains are owned by Kintetsu Railway, although the trains are operated by Iga Railway. It ...

References

External links

*
Mie Prefecture Tourism Federation
{{Authority control Castles in Mie Prefecture 100 Fine Castles of Japan Iga, Mie Historic Sites of Japan Iga Province Ruined castles in Japan Museums in Mie Prefecture History museums in Japan

Overview

History

Present situation

See also

References

Further reading

External links