is a

hilltop castle A hilltop castle is a type of hill castle that was built on the summit of a hill or mountain. In the latter case it may be termed a mountaintop castle. The term is derived from the German, ''Gipfelburg'', which is one of a number of terms used ...

, located in Fukuoka City,

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders S ...

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 ...

. Today, only its ruins still stand.

History

Najima Castle was located on a peninsula projecting into Hakata Bay on the north of the estuary of the Tatara River. The castle fundamentally consisted of the hon-maru or primary

kuruwa is a Japanese term for the walls of a Japanese castle, and the regions bounded by the arrangement of those walls. The term may also be written as 郭, and the term is also used for castles built after the Edo period. The kuruwa serves as a def ...

, the ni-no-maru or secondary

, and the san-no-maru or tertiary

, respectively ranging from west to east, and extending for over 900 meters or 2953 ft. The hon-maru, presumably the highest place in the castle, is now about 25 meters or 82 ft. above sea level.福岡市埋蔵文化財調査報告書第318集『名島城跡I』（福岡市教育委員会、1993年）第2図/Fukuoka City Excavation Report Vol.318 "The site of Najima Castle I", Fukuoka City Board of Education, Fig.2 The castle was built by

Kobayakawa Takakage was a samurai and daimyō (feudal lord) during the Sengoku period and Azuchi–Momoyama period. He was the third son of Mōri Motonari who was adopted by the Kobayakawa clan and became its 14th clan head. He merged the two branches of the Koba ...

, an illustrious Japanese general, in the late 16th century. However, it turned out to be undesirable as the administrative center of the han or clan, for it seemed impossible to construct an extensive castle town or joka-machi, because of the river on the south, the sea on the north and the west, and the foothills on the east. On top of that, the castle was located far from Hakata, a large business center. The Castle was demolished around 1601, and the stones and the wooden structures were re-used to build the Fukuoka Castle.

References

Related Samurai clans

Tachibana clan (samurai) The Tachibana clan (立花氏) was a Japanese clan of ''daimyō'' (feudal lords) during Japan's Sengoku and Edo periods. Originally based in Tachibana castle in Kyūshū, the family's holdings were moved to the Yanagawa Domain in the far north- ...

Kobayakawa clan The was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Taira clan. Their holdings were in the Chūgoku region. They were a powerful clan during the Sengoku period but were disbanded during the Edo period after the Battle of Sekigahara. Ho ...

Kuroda clan Kuroda (written: lit. "black ricefield") is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese painter * Akinobu Kuroda 黒田明伸, Japanese historian *Chris Kuroda, lighting designer and operator for the band Phish and Ju ...

External links

Japanese Castle Explorer - Najima Castle
Castles in Fukuoka Prefecture {{castle-stub