is an

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

located in the city of

Komaki is a city located in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 148,872 in 68,174 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city was . Komaki is commonly associated with the former Komaki Airport, whic ...

Aichi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefectur ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. At one point, the mountain was topped with the original Komakiyama Castle, built by

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 ...

. Its base stretches for nearly from east to west, and from north to south, covering an area of approximately . The mountain is now a historical park, containing various castle ruins, including water wells and stone walls, in addition to artifacts dating further back. Though known for the ''

sakura A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of Prunus, genus ''Prunus'' or Prunus subg. Cerasus, ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especia ...

'' trees, the northern part of the mountain is home to many ''

Machilus thunbergii ''Machilus thunbergii'' (syn. ''Persea thunbergii''), the Japanese bay tree, red machilus, or tabunoki, is a widespread species of flowering plant in the family Lauraceae Lauraceae, or the laurels, is a plant family that includes the true l ...

'' trees. This is the only spot in the surrounding area where these trees occur naturally. The reproduction of Komakiyama Castle was built in 1967 and houses the Komaki City Historical Museum.

Komakiyama Castle

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 ...

''yamashiro''-style

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 part of the city of

Aichi prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefectur ...

. It was built by the warlord

to facilitate his conquest of

Mino Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today southern Gifu Prefecture. Mino was bordered by Ōmi to the west, Echizen and Hida to the north, and Shinano to the east, and Ise, Mikawa, and Owari to the south. Its abbreviat ...

, later reused 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 fellow ...

is his struggle for hegemony over

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 ...

. Its ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 1927.

Background

Komakiyama Castle is located on Mount Komaki, an isolated high hill in the center of the

Nōbi Plain The is a large plain in Japan that stretches from the Mino area of southwest Gifu Prefecture to the Owari area of northwest Aichi Prefecture, covering an area of approximately .

in central Owari Province. The isolation of the location meant that the castle had a good view in all directions. The castle consisted of many terraces on a steep hillside, protected by stone walls and dry moats, 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 ...

on the summit, crowned by a ''

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 ...

''.

History

After Oda Nobunaga defeated

Imagawa Yoshimoto was a pre-eminent ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) in the Sengoku period Japan. Based in Suruga Province, he was known as . he was one of the three ''daimyōs'' that dominated the Tōkaidō region. He died in 1560 while marching to Kyoto to become ...

at the

Battle of Okehazama The took place in June 1560 in Owari Province, located in today's Aichi Prefecture. In this battle, the heavily outnumbered Oda clan troops commanded by Oda Nobunaga defeated Imagawa Yoshimoto and established himself as one of the front-running ...

in 1560, securing his eastern borders, he turned his attention to the conquest of

to the north. He built a castle on Mount Komaki in 1563 as his base of operations due to its proximity to the middle and eastern areas of Mino. Nobunaga succeeded in securing Mino by 1567 and transferred his seat to

Inabayama Castle is a Japanese castle located in the city of Gifu, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Along with Mount Kinka and the Nagara River, it is one of the main symbols of the city. The castle is also known as . It was designated a National Historic Site in 20 ...

(the future

Gifu Castle is a Japanese castle located in the city of Gifu, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Along with Mount Kinka and the Nagara River, it is one of the main symbols of the city. The castle is also known as . It was designated a National Historic Site in 2011 ...

) in 1567 and then turned his attention to the conquest of 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 metropolita ...

to the west, abandoning Komakiyama Castle. After Nobunaga's assassination in 1582, conflict arose between his son

Oda Nobukatsu was a Japanese samurai of the Azuchi–Momoyama period. He was the second son of Oda Nobunaga. He survived the decline of the Oda clan from political prominence, becoming a ''daimyō'' in the early Edo period. Though often described as an inco ...

and his leading general

. Nobukatsu allied with

and seized Owari Province, while Hideyoshi held on to Mino Province. Hideyoshi's general

Ikeda Tsuneoki , also known as Ikeda Nobuteru (池田信輝), was an Ikeda clan ''daimyō'' and military commander under Oda Nobunaga during the Sengoku period and Azuchi–Momoyama periods of 16th-century Japan. He was a retainer of the famous warlords Oda No ...

crossed the

Kiso River The is a river in the Chubu region of Japan roughly long, flowing through the prefectures of Nagano, Gifu, Aichi, and Mie before emptying into Ise Bay a short distance away from the city of Nagoya.Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric ''et al.'' (2005) ...

and occupied

Inuyama Castle is a ''yamajiro''-style Japanese castle located in the city of Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The castle overlooks the Kiso River, which serves as the border between Aichi and Gifu Prefectures. The ''tenshu'' of Inuyama Castle, one of only 12 ...

. To counter this move, Tokugawa Ieyasu occupied and expanded the vacant Komakiyama Castle. Both sides clashed in a series of largely inconclusive battles known collectively as the

Battle of Komaki and Nagakute The was a series of battles in 1584 between the forces of Hashiba Hideyoshi (who would become Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1586) and the forces of Oda Nobukatsu and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Hideyoshi and Ieyasu had both served Oda Nobunaga and had not previou ...

. The stalemate ended when Ieyasu decided to submit to Hideyoshi, which resulted in his withdrawal to

Mikawa Province was an old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Mikawa''" in . Its abbreviated form name was . Mikawa bordered on Owari, Mino, Shinano, and Tōtōmi Provinces. Mik ...

, and Komakiyama Castle was once again abandoned. In 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 ...

, Owari Province came back under the control of the

Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty that was formerly a powerful ''daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of the Minamoto clan (Seiwa Genji) through the Matsudaira clan. The early history of this clan r ...

, and Komakiyama Castle was retained by

Owari Domain The was a feudal domain of Japan in the Edo period. Located in what is now the western part of Aichi Prefecture, it encompassed parts of Owari, Mino, and Shinano provinces. Its headquarters were at Nagoya Castle. At its peak, it was rated at ...

as a secondary fortification for use in emergencies, as it retained the shape of its original fortifications. By the time of 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 ...

, these fortifications were largely in ruins. The site was donated by the Tokugawa family to the local government in 1930 and became a park. A faux ''tenshu'' was recreated on the summit in 1967 and renovated in 2006. The building was modeled after the Hiunkaku Pavilion of the temple of

Nishi Hongan-ji is a Jōdo Shinshū Buddhist temple in the Shimogyō ward of Kyoto, Japan. It serves as the head temple of the sub-sect Honganji-ha. It is one of two Jōdo Shinshū temple complexes in Kyoto, the other being Higashi Hongan-ji, which is the ...

in Kyoto and is thus not a historically accurate reconstruction. It houses the Komaki City Historical Museum with examples of samurai armor,

Japanese sword A is one of several types of traditionally made swords from Japan. Bronze swords were made as early as the Yayoi period (1000 BC – 300 AD), though most people generally refer to the curved blades made from the Heian period (794 – 1185) to the ...

s and early firearms,

roof tile A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of temper ...

s, and other artifacts uncovered during excavations in the castle grounds. The site is a 20 minutes walk from

Meitetsu Komaki Line The is a railway line in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Nagoya Railroad (Meitetsu), connecting Kamiiida Station in Nagoya with Inuyama Station in Inuyama. The track from Kamiiida to Ajima is mostly undergrou ...

Komaki Station 270px, Track Layout is a railway station in the city of Komaki, Aichi Prefecture, Japan, operated by Meitetsu. Lines Komaki Station is served by the Meitetsu Komaki Line, and is located 9.8 kilometers from the starting point of the line at . ...

References

Literature

* * * * *

External links

Komaki city tourist information office

Komaki Castle
at Jcastle Guide {{Authority control Castles in Aichi Prefecture Ruined castles in Japan History of Aichi Prefecture 1560s establishments in Japan Komaki Historic Sites of Japan Museums in Aichi Prefecture History museums in Japan Owari Province