is a Japanese castle located in Murakami, northern Niigata Prefecture,

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 the end 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 ...

, Murakami Castle was home to a cadet branch of the

Naitō clan is a Japanese samurai kin group. The clan claims its descent from Fujiwara no Hidesato. The Naitō became ''daimyōs'' during the Edo period. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, ...

, ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

'' of

Murakami Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Echigo Province (modern-day Niigata Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Murakami Castle in what is now the city of Murakami, Niigata.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 castle was also known as . The ruin been protected as a National Historic Site since 1993. It is about 30 minutes on foot from Murakami Station 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 ...

Uetsu Line.

Background

Murakami Castle is located on top of , a 135 meter isolated peak in what is now the centre of the city of Murakami. The area is near the mouth of the Miomote River, and at the northern edge of the Echigo Plain. The area is more than 200 kilometers from the Jōetsu area, which contained the provincial capital of

Echigo Province was an old province in north-central Japan, on the shores of the Sea of Japan. It bordered on Uzen, Iwashiro, Kōzuke, Shinano, and Etchū Provinces. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Echigo''" in . It corresponds today to Niigata ...

, and was isolated from Dewa to the north and east by mountains.

History

During the

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 ...

, in the early 16th century, the Honjō clan fortified the top of Mount Gagyū as their residence. The Honjō were a cadet branch of the

Taira clan The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divided ...

from the Chichibu region of what is now

Saitama Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 km2 (1,466 sq mi). Saitama Prefecture borders Tochigi Prefecture ...

and seized this area in the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

. Along with several rival clans, including the Irobe clan based at Hirabayashi Castle, the Honjō were one of the “Agakitashu” who exercised virtually independent control over northern Echigo. In the early

, the Honjō were weakened by internal rivalries. Honjō Shigenaga (1540-1614) managed to reunite the clan, but was opposed by Uesugi Kenshin, who had united the

Uesugi clan The is a Japanese samurai clan which was at its peak one of the most powerful during the Muromachi and Sengoku periods (14th to 17th centuries). Appert, Georges. (1888) ''Ancien Japon,'' p. 79./ref> At its height, the clan had three main branch ...

and was in control of southern Echigo. Kenshin defeated the Agakitashu petty lords one after another, and eventually forced Honjō Shigenaga to submit. Shigenaga subsequently became a noted general under Kenshin and fought at the Battle of Kawanakajima against

Takeda Shingen , of Kai Province, was a pre-eminent ''daimyō'' in feudal Japan. Known as the "Tiger of Kai", he was one of the most powerful daimyō with exceptional military prestige in the late stage of the Sengoku period. Shingen was a warlord of great ...

. During the 1563 campaign against the Odawara Hōjō, he captured Sano Castle in Kōzuke and was ranked as second among Kenshin's generals. However, he was dissatisfied with the small rewards he received from Kenshin and revolted in 1568 with the encouragement of Takeda Shingen. The outraged Kenshin laid siege to Murakami Castle, but could not take it by force. Shigenaga eventually surrendered in 1569 and was pardoned by Kenshin, but he revolted again ten years later, this time with the backing of

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 ...

. After another bloody battle, he again surrendered and was again pardoned. After the death of Kenshin in 1578, Shigenaga supported Kenshin's successor

Uesugi Kagekatsu was a Japanese samurai ''daimyō'' during the Sengoku and Edo periods. He was the adopted son of Uesugi Kenshin and Uesugi Kagetora’s brother in law. Early life and rise Kagekatsu was the son of Nagao Masakage, the head of the Ueda Nagao c ...

. In 1588, Shigenaga defeated a Mogami army at the Battle of Jyugorihara and extended Uesugi control into the Shōnai area. However, in 1598, Uesugi Kagekatsu was transferred to

Aizu is the westernmost of the three regions of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, the other two regions being Nakadōri in the central area of the prefecture and Hamadōri in the east. As of October 1, 2010, it had a population of 291,838. The princip ...

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 ...

, and Shigenaga also accompanied him. The early fortifications consisted of earthen ditches and a wooden palisade. Honjō Castle was awarded to Murakami Yorikatsu in 1598, who rebuilt it in the contemporary style with stone ramparts and who renamed it Murakami Castle. The Murakami were followed in 1618 by the

Hori clan Hori may refer to: Ancient Egypt *Sewadjkare Hori, late 13th dynasty Pharaoh, also known as Hori II *Hori (High Priest of Osiris) Son of Wennenufer and High Priest of Osiris during the reign of Ramesses II (19th dynasty) *Hori I (High Priest of Pta ...

, who added a three-story '' tenshu'' and rebuilt the surrounding castle town into what would eventually become the city of Murakami. Under 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 ...

, Murakami saw a frequent change in rulers. The Hori were replaced by the

Honda clan The is a Japanese family that claims descent from the medieval court noble Fujiwara no Kanemichi. The family settled in Mikawa and served the Matsudaira clan as retainers. Later, when the main Matsudaira family became the Tokugawa clan, the Hon ...

in 1643, followed by a branch of the Matsudaira clan in 1649. In 1649, Matsudaira Naoyori rebuilt the ''tenshu'' and added new ''

yagura Yagura may refer to: * Yagura castle * Yagura opening * Yagura (tombs) * Yagura (tower) is the Japanese word for "tower", "turret", "keep", or "scaffold". The word is most often seen in reference to structures in Japanese castle compounds bu ...

'' watchtowers. However, in 1667 most of the castle was destroyed in a fire caused by lightning and its ''tenshu'' and ''yagura'' were not rebuilt after that time. The Matsudaira were replaced by the

Sakakibara clan The was a Japanese samurai clan who rose to prominence during the Edo period under the Tokugawa shogunate.Alpert, Georges. (1888). Before the Meiji Restoration, the clan served as ''daimyō'' of Takada Domain in Echigo Province. The Sakakibar ...

in 1667, followed by the Honda again in 1704, the Matsudaira in 1710, the

Manabe clan Manabe (written: 真鍋, 眞鍋 or 間部) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese ''daimyō'' *, Japanese ''daimyō'' *, Japanese manga artist *, Japanese television personality and model *, Japanese weightlifte ...

in 1717 and finally by a cadet branch of the

, who ruled until 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 ...

of 1868. During the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...

of the Meiji restoration, although the

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

of the domain were divided between those who were loyal to the Tokugawa shogunate, and those who supported the imperial restoration, the domain joined the pro-Tokugawa Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei. Due to its strategic position at the entry to Dewa Province, the castle was attacked and destroyed by imperial forces. During the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, much of the stone ramparts were dismantled and the stones were sold to the townspeople of Murakami as building materials. Fearing that the remnants of the castle would disappear completely, descendants of former Murakami domain samurai formed a society to petition for the protection of the remaining ruins. In 1960, the area was granted protected status as a Niigata Prefectural Historic Monument. In 1993, this status was upgraded to that of a National Historic Site. The castle was listed as one of the Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles in 2017.

Design of Murakami Castle

Mount Gagyū is long and narrow extending in a north to south direction, with the main areas of the castle spread along this ridge. The inner bailey is located at the top of the mountain, and at the southwest corner there was a three story ''tenshu''. On the northern corner of the inner bailey was a beak shaped terrace with a long and narrow secondary bailey ('' kuruwa''), extending to the main gate. The stone walls of the inner bailey follow the contour of the original terrain. The main gate to the inner bailey as a large "masugata" gate. To the north of the main gate is the saddle of the ridge, and a third bailey, which was used for the drilling of troops. An outer gate was located on the western hillside, and next to this gate was the residence of the ''daimyō''. The total size of the castle was over 500 square meters, making it the second largest in Echigo after Kasugayama Castle.

Literature

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References

External links