was the fortified residence ''

jin'ya A was a type of administrative headquarters in the Tokugawa Shogunate during the Edo period of Japanese history. ''Jin'ya'' served as the seat of the administration for a small domain, a province, or additional parcels of land. ''Jin'ya'' hou ...

'' of the ''

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as ''gokenin.'' However ...

'' Takagi clan under 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 ...

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 ...

. It was located in the Kamiishizu neighborhood of the city of

Ōgaki Ōgaki Castle is a city located in Gifu, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 161,539, and a population density of 782 persons per km2 in 65,931 households. The total area of the city was . Ōgaki was the final destination for the ...

Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, F ...

in the Chūbu region of

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 ...

. The site has been protected as a National Historic Site since 2014.

Overview

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 ...

, Takagi Sadatoshi was a vassal of Saito Dosan, followed 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 ...

and

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 ...

. After 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 ...

, he was deprived of his holdings by

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 forced to flee into exile in Kai Province. The Takagi territories in

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 ...

were given to

Seki Kazumasa was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the late Sengoku period through early Edo period, who was a retainer of the Oda and Toyotomi clans. His court title was . Kazumasa took part in many of the major campaigns of the Toyotomi clan, serving as a yoriki un ...

, who built Tara Castle in either the Tenshō era (1573-93) or the

Keichō was a after ''Bunroku'' and before ''Genna''. This period spanned from October 1596 to July 1615. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * 1596 : The era name was changed to ''Keichō'' to mark the passing of various natural disasters ...

era (1593-1615). During the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of ...

, he served the Eastern Army and was awarded with a domain in

Ise Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today includes most of modern Mie Prefecture. Ise bordered on Iga, Kii, Mino, Ōmi, Owari, Shima, and Yamato Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History The name of Ise appears i ...

. In the meanwhile, Takagi Sadatoshi had also become a vassal of

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 ...

and was allowed to recover his ancestral home after the departure of the Seki clan. He divided the Takagi clan into three branches: the western (Nishitakagi) branch had a ''

kokudaka refers to a system for determining land value for taxation purposes under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo-period Japan, and expressing this value in terms of ''koku'' of rice. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Koku"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 54 ...

'' of 2300 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about . It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1000 gō. One ''gō'' is the volume of the "rice cup", the plastic measuring cup that is supplied ...

'', the eastern (Higashitakagi) has 1000 ''koku'', and the northern (Kitatakagi) also had 1000 ''koku'', and each of the three branches constructed a ''jin'ya'' residence at the same location in 1601. The three branches were regarded by the Tokugawa shogunate as a single entity, and despite its ''hatamoto'' status, the clan was subject to the ''

Sankin-kōtai ''Sankin-kōtai'' ( ja, 参覲交代/参覲交替, now commonly written as ja, 参勤交代/参勤交替, lit=alternate attendance, label=none) was a policy of the Tokugawa shogunate during most of the Edo period of Japanese history.Jansen, M ...

'' requirement of having to make a trip to

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

every other year to attend the Shogun's court. The site of the Nishitakagi jin'ya is located on a

river terrace Fluvial terraces are elongated terraces that flank the sides of floodplains and fluvial valleys all over the world. They consist of a relatively level strip of land, called a "tread", separated from either an adjacent floodplain, other fluvial te ...

at an elevation of 130 meters, next to the

Makita River The is a river in Japan which empties into the Ibi River in Gifu Prefecture. It which ultimately flows into the Kiso River. River communities The river passes through or forms the boundary of Ōgaki, Yōrō was a after ''Reiki'' and befor ...

, a tributary of the

Ibi River The is a tributary of the Kiso River located in Gifu and Mie Prefectures in Japan. Along with the Nagara and Kiso rivers, the Ibi is the third of the Kiso Three Rivers of the Nōbi Plain. It is one of Japan's first-class rivers. The former Tō ...

. An important role played by the clan was that of ''Kawadori'', which gave them control of all traffic on the

Kiso Three Rivers The refers to the three major rivers that make up the alluvial plain area of the Nōbi Plain of Japan. The three rivers are the Kiso River, the Ibi River and the Nagara River. Given their location, they are sometimes referred to as the Nōbi Th ...

. The ''jin'ya'' was constructed with the Ise Kaidō, the main highway to Ise Province, on its east side. It was protected by extensive stone walls, much of which date from the earlier Tara Castle. Within the compound was the main residence on the north side, and a secondary residence on the south side, with the clan cemetery in the west. Most of the structures burned down in a fire in 1832. The main gate was restored in 1852 and the mansion itself in 1896, although on the site of the former secondary residence.

Archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

s have indicated that the underground remains of the original foundations are well preserved. The sites of the smaller ''jin'ya'' for the Higashitakagi and Kitatakagi branches have been lost to encroachment of residences and farmlands, and are not covered in the National Historic Site designation. The ''jin'ya'' is now the , which introduces the nature, history, and culture of the Kamiishizu area and which stores the more than 100,000 ancient documents that have been handed down by the Takagi clan.

References

External links

Ōgaki city official home pageGifu Sightseeing
{in lang, ja Castles in Gifu Prefecture Former castles in Japan Ruined castles in Japan History of Gifu Prefecture Ōgaki Archaeological sites in Japan Historic Sites of Japan Mino Province

Overview

See also

References

External links