was a

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

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 what is now the city of Kōka,

Shiga Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,412,916 (1 October 2015) and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to the north ...

, 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. Its ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 2017.

History

During the

Muromachi The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

and

, the area of Kōka was ruled by many autonomous petty lords. After

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 ...

consolidated his rule over the area from 1583, he assigned the area to

Nakamura Kazuuji Nakamura may refer to: Places *Nakamura, Kōchi, a former city in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan *Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, a ward in Nagoya city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan People *Nakamura (surname), a list of people with the surname Other uses *Nakamura s ...

, one of his most trusted generals and senior administrators. Nakamura chose a location on the 100-meter Mount Daiko in the eastern part of Minakami to be his stronghold. This point controlled the where the Tōkaidō enters into

Ōmi Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō circuit. Its nickname is . Under the '' Engishiki'' classification system, Ōmi was ranked as one of the 13 "great countr ...

via the Suzuka Pass, and thus controlled access to

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, 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, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

and

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

from central and eastern Japan. It is also located on the junction of the Tōkaidō with a road to

Shigaraki is a town located in Kōka District, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. As of 2004, the town has an estimated population of 13,885 and a density of 84.92 persons per km². The total area is 163.5 km². On October 1, 2004, Shigaraki, along with the to ...

, and onwards to

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 ...

. Nakamura ruled over a domain with a '' kokudaka'' of 60,000 '' koku''. Following the

Siege of Odawara (1590) The third occurred in 1590, and was the primary action in Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign to eliminate the Hōjō clan as a threat to his power. The months leading up to it saw hasty but major improvements in the defense of the castle, as Hi ...

, he was awarded with

Sunpu Castle was a Japanese castle in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan. The sobriquet of this feudal fortress was the "Castle of the Floating Isle".Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)Shizuoka It was also referred to as or . His ...

, which had been vacated by

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 fello ...

, who had been ordered by Hideyoshi to transfer to the Kantō region. As was typical of Japanese castles of this time, Minakuchi Okayama Castle consisted of a group of

enclosures Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

, protected by stone walls and dry moats, on the slopes of the hill, with the

inner bailey The inner bailey or inner ward of a castle is the strongly fortified enclosure at the heart of a medieval castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It is protected by the outer w ...

at the summit, with a ''Yagura'' watchtower. The main gate was in the center of the southern slope, facing the Tōkaidō. Archaeological excavations have found the foundations of the gate and remnants of its stone walls. Nakamura was replaced by Mashita Nagamori (1545-1615) in 1590, followed by Natsuka Masaie (1562-1600) in 1595. Both of these generals were very important officials within the Toyotomi administration, and this is an indication of the importance that Hideyoshi placed on this castle. During the Battle of Sekigahara, Natsuka was loyal to the Western Army under Ishida Mitsunari, but was unable to participate in any combat. After the battle, he returned to Minakuchi Okayama Castle, which came under attack by the forces of Ikeda Nagayoshi and

Kamei Korenori was a Japanese ''daimyō'' who lived through the early Edo period. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003).html" ;"title="DF 23 of 80">"Kamei" at ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p ...

. Natsuka surrendered the castle and was forced to commit '' seppuku''. After the establishment of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

, the surrounding area was awarded as Minakuchi Domain, a '' fudai'' domain ruled by the Katō clan. Minakuchi Okayama Castle was ordered to be dismantled, and many of its stones were reused in the construction of the much smaller Minakuchi Castle. The castle ruins are a 15-minute walk from

Minakuchi Station is a passenger railway station in located in the city of Kōka, Shiga Prefecture, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Ohmi Railway. Lines Minakuchi Station is served by the Ohmi Railway Main Line, and is located 43.8 rail kilometer ...

on the

Ohmi Railway is a Japanese private railway company which operates in Shiga Prefecture, and a member of the Seibu group since 1943. The company is named after the Ōmi Province, the former name of the present-day Shiga. The railway is nicknamed by local users ...

References

External links

*
Shiga Prefecture official site

Shiga-Biwako Visitor Information

{{in lang, ja Castles in Shiga Prefecture Kōka, Shiga Historic Sites of Japan Ōmi Province Ruined castles in Japan

History

See also

References

External links