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 ...

flatland-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

Numazu is a city located in eastern Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 189,486 in 91,986 households, and a population density of 1,014 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Numazu is at the nor ...

Shizuoka prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,637,998 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the northea ...

. The ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 1988, with the area under protection extended in 2002.

Overview

Nagahama Castle is located on a small hill with an elevation of 30 meters on

Suruga Bay Suruga Bay (駿河湾, ''Suruga-wan'') is a bay on the Pacific coast of Honshū in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is situated north of a straight line from Omaezaki Point to Irōzaki Point at the tip of the Izu Peninsula and surrounded by Honshū ...

south of downtown Numazu. The castle is very small, with a length of only 100 meters. and consists of terraces built along the contour of the hill, protected by clay walls and dry moats. Vulnerable portions of the ramparts were faced with cut stone. The route to 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 ...

zigzagged through the second and third bailey, with gates in between. The top of the castle overlooks the anchorage of Uchiura, which was strategic for the

Late Hōjō clan Late may refer to: * LATE, an acronym which could stand for: ** Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy, a proposed form of dementia ** Local-authority trading enterprise, a New Zealand business law ** Local average treatment effect, ...

and later the

Takeda clan The was a Japanese samurai clan active from the late Heian period until the late 16th century. The clan was historically based in Kai Province in present-day Yamanashi Prefecture. The clan reached its greatest influence under the rule of Taked ...

History

In the 1570s, the Late Hōjō clan based at

Odawara Castle is a landmark in the city of Odawara in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. History Odawara was a stronghold of the Doi clan during the Kamakura period, and a fortified residence built by their collateral branch, the Kobayakawa clan, stood on the ...

Sagami province was a province of Japan located in what is today the central and western Kanagawa Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kanagawa''" at . Sagami Province bordered the provinces of Izu, Musashi, and Suruga. It had access to the Paci ...

and the

from Kai Province went to war over the disputed territories of the former

Imagawa clan was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji by way of the Kawachi Genji. It was a branch of the Minamoto clan by the Ashikaga clan. Origins Ashikaga Kuniuji, grandson of Ashikaga Yoshiuji, established himself in the ...

Suruga Province was an old province in the area that is today the central part of Shizuoka Prefecture. Suruga bordered on Izu, Kai, Sagami, Shinano, and Tōtōmi provinces; and was bordered by the Pacific Ocean through Suruga Bay to the south. Its abbrevia ...

. The Takeda clan occupied most of Suruga from 1569 and had inherited the Imagawa navy; however the Hōjō clan also had a powerful navy, with which it controlled

Sagami Bay lies south of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshu, central Japan, contained within the scope of the Miura Peninsula, in Kanagawa, to the east, the Izu Peninsula, in Shizuoka Prefecture, to the west, and the Shōnan coastline to the north, while the ...

and waged war against the

Satomi clan The was a Japanese samurai clan of the Sengoku period (1467–1573) and early Edo period (1603–1868). The clan ruled Awa Province as a ''Sengoku daimyō'' and was a major military power in the Kantō region during the wars of the Nanboku-c ...

of Awa Province. In the 1570s, the Takeda reached an agreement with the Satomi, which allowed them to shift their fleet to Suruga Province, and constructed Nagahama Castle, on the border of

Izu Izu may refer to: Places *Izu Province, a part of modern-day Shizuoka prefecture in Japan **Izu, Shizuoka, a city in Shizuoka prefecture **Izu Peninsula, near Tokyo **Izu Islands, located off the Izu Peninsula People with the surname

*, Japane ...

and Suruga as a base of operations. Although the Hōjō clan was unable to destroy the Takeda navy, their fleet was able to keep the Takeda fleet largely bound to port. After the fall of the Takeda clan in 1582, the Hōjō clan came into conflict with

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 ...

and his successor,

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 ...

. Hideyoshi's forces included the

Kuki clan Kuki can refer to: Locations * Kuki, Isfahan, a village in Isfahan Province, Iran * Kuki, Saitama, a city in Japan Peoples and culture * Kuki, or Thadou people, an ethnic tribe native to northeastern India (also Burma, where they are called ''Ch ...

based in

Shima Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan which consisted of a peninsula in the southeastern part of modern Mie Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Shima''" in . Its abbreviated name was . Shima bordered on Ise ...

and the

Murakami clan Murakami may refer to: * 3295 Murakami, a minor planet * Murakami (crater), an impact crater on the far side of the Moon * Murakami (name), a Japanese surname, including a list of people with the name * Murakami, Niigata, a city in Niigata prefectu ...

based in the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka ...

, the two strongest naval powers in Sengoku Japan. During the 1590 Siege of Odawara, the Hōjō navy faced overwhelming odds and surrendered at Nagahama Castle and at Shimoda. Nagahama Castle was abandoned soon afterwards. The site is a five-minute walk from the "jōkabashi" bus stop on the Izuhakone Bus from

Numazu Station is an interchange railway station on the Tōkaidō Main Line in the city of Numazu, Shizuoka, Japan, operated by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central). The station is also a freight terminal and rail yard for the Japan Freight Railway Comp ...

Gallery

File:Nagahama Castle (1st Kuruwa).jpg, 1st ''Kuruwa'' File:Nagahama Castle (2nd Kuruwa).jpg, 2nd ''Kuruwa'' File:Shinto shrine on Nagahama Castle.jpg, 3rd ''Kuruwa'' with Shinto shrine File:Nagahama Castle (4th Kuruwa).jpg, 4th ''Kuruwa'' File:Atakefune-izu.jpg, Full-scale model of ''

Atakebune or were large Japanese warships of the 16th and 17th century used during the internecine Japanese wars for political control and unity of all Japan. History Japan undertook major naval building efforts in the mid to late 16th century, during t ...

References

Bibliography

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External links