) was an

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 ...

flatland-style Japanese castle located in what is now the center of the city of Jōetsu, Niigata Prefecture in the

Hokuriku region The was located in the northwestern part of Honshu, the main island of Japan. It lay along the Sea of Japan within the Chūbu region, which it is currently a part of. It is almost equivalent to Koshi Province and Hokurikudō area in pre-modern ...

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separ ...

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 ...

. 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 ...

, it was the centre of

Takada Domain , was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It was located in Echigo Province, in the Hokuriku region of Honshū. The domain was centered at Takada Castle, located in what is now part of the city of Jōetsu in Niig ...

Background

Takada Castle is located at the juncture of the Seki River and Yashiro River, and utilises a small height surrounded by the curving rivers as part of its outer moat. The castle is also located so as to control bottleneck in the main route between the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

and the

Kantō region The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Slight ...

to the east. Since the 14th century, this area was ruled by a branch of the Nagao clan, who were senior retainers of the

Uesugi Uesugi (sometimes written ''Uyesugi'') is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: People *Uesugi clan, a Japanese samurai clan **Uesugi Akisada, (1454–1510), a samurai of the Uesugi clan **Uesugi Harunori (1751–1822), a Jap ...

under the Muromachi shogunate. The Nagao clan built nearby Kasugayama Castle, and in the middle of 16th century, Uesugi Kenshin (1530-1578) (formerly of the Nagao clan but who had succeeded to the chieftainship of the Uesugi clan) united

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 ...

under his rule. However, after his death, the clan was forced to submit to

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 were 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 ...

. Hideyoshi appointed the Hori Hideharu (1575-1606) as lord of Echigo, and he relocated from Kasugayama to Fukushima Castle in the port of Naoetsu. The Hori clan was deprived of is holdings in 1610 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 ...

soon after the start of the Tokugawa shogunate, and the domain were given to Ieyasu's sixth son,

Matsudaira Tadateru was a ''daimyō'' during the Edo period of Japan. He was the sixth son of Tokugawa Ieyasu. He was born in Edo Castle during the year of the dragon (''tatsu''), and as a child his name was Tatsuchiyo (辰千代). His mother was , a concubine of I ...

. Matsudaira Tadateru was Ieyasu's son by a concubine, and had been sent away to be raised by retainers soon after his birth. He was appointed ''daimyō'' of Fukaya in Musashi in 1599, and was transferred to

Sakura Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Shimōsa Province (modern-day Chiba Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Sakura Castle in what is now the city of Sakura, Chiba. It was ruled for most of its hi ...

in 1602, followed by

Kawanakajima Domain The were a series of battles fought in the Sengoku period of Japan between Takeda Shingen of Kai Province and Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo Province from 1553 to 1564. Shingen and Kenshin contested each other for control of the plain of Kawanaka ...

in 1603. His appointment to Takada Domain came with 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 750,000 ''koku'', making the domain the second largest in Japan, and was intended to offset neighbouring

Kanazawa Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1583 to 1871.

ruled by the ''tozama'' Maeda clan. Although Fukushima Castle was well-designed and was conveniently close to the port at Naoetsu, Tadateru found that it was too small for his forces, and was also subject to frequent flooding. In 1614, he decided to build a completely new castle at a more inland location. During this time period, the relations between the Tokugawa shogunate and Toyotomi Hideyori and his supporters based in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

were rapidly approaching open war. Consequently, the shogunate could not afford either the time nor the money for a new castle at Takada. The shogunate ordered

Date Masamune was a regional ruler of Japan's Azuchi–Momoyama period through early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful ''daimyō'' in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai. An outstanding tactician, he was made all ...

(who was also Tadateru's father-in-law) to organise the construction and 13 ''daimyō'' houses to contribute manpower and resources. These included

Maeda Toshitsune was an early-Edo period Japanese samurai, and the 2nd ''daimyō'' of Kaga Domain in the Hokuriku region of Japan, and the 3rd hereditary chieftain of the Maeda clan. Toshitsune was a brother of Maeda Toshinaga and a son of Maeda Toshiie. He was ...

from Kanazawa Domain, and even the former warlord of Echigo,

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 ...

, who was now at

Yonezawa Yonezawa City Hall is a city in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 81,707 in 33,278 households, and a population density of 150 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Yonezawa is most famous for ...

. Construction of the castle was begun on 15 March 1614 and was more or less completed only four months later. To save time and resources, only earthen ramparts were used, with no stone facing, and no '' tenshu'' was constructed.

Structure

The completed castle measured 800 by 400 meters with a 220 x 230 meter inner bailey protected by moats and a clay wall. This bailey had two masugata-style gates and a three-story ''yagura'' in the southwestern corner, which served as its donjon. The inner bailey was surrounded by the second enclosure and there were smaller tertiary enclosures to the northeast and southwest, with a wide outer moat. Compared with its huge size, Takada Castle had a simple layout with only three ''yagura'', and was mainly protected by just a combination of moats and clay wall.

History

Tadateru did not have much time to enjoy his new castle. During the

Siege of Osaka The was a series of battles undertaken by the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan, and ending in that clan's destruction. Divided into two stages (winter campaign and summer campaign), and lasting from 1614 to 1615, the siege ...

in 1615, Tadateru had a falling out with his elder brother

Shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

Tokugawa Hidetada was the second ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate. Early life (1579–1593) Tokugawa Hidetada was bo ...

, who regarded him as a potential rival Tadateru's position was also endangered by Tokugawa Ieyasu's lack of any familiar feelings for his sixth son, and by the fact that his more favoured younger brothers,

Tokugawa Yoshinao was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. Biography Born the ninth son of Tokugawa Ieyasu with his concubine, Okame no Kata. His childhood name was Gorōtamaru (五郎太丸). While still a young child, he was appointed leader of ...

Tokugawa Yorinobu was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. Born under the name Nagatomimaru (長福丸), he was the 10th son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, by his concubine Kageyama-dono. On December 8, 1603, Yorinobu received the fief of Mito, then rated at 20 ...

and Tokugawa Yorifusa had come of age and had been granted large domains. Tadateru was disposed in 1616 and was confined to Takashima Castle in

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

until his death more than 50 years later. Takada Domain was considerably reduced in ''kokudaka'', and was assigned to a series of '' fudai daimyō'', many of whom held the domain only for a short period and saw the position as only a stepping-stone to a better promotion. The domain came under the control of 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 1741, 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 ...

. Takada Castle was damaged by an earthquake in 1665 and again in 1751. In 1802, the all of the castle burned down, except the gates and corner towers. Although the castle did not suffer any damage 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 ...

, the reconstructed ''daimyō'' palace and three-story ''yagura'' burned down in 1870. In 1872, per an edict by the

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji o ...

, the remaining castle structures were dismantled, and the moats were filled in, with the eastern half of the castle grounds sold off and used as a school grounds. The central part of the castle became the base for the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

's 13th Infantry Division. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the central and surviving western half of the castle grounds became Takeda Park, which was planted with over 4000

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. In the context of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the city of Jōetsu (1991) it was decided that the corner ''yagura'' should be rebuilt in its original form, using old plans, the surviving moats and earthen ramparts repaired, and a bridge connecting the inner bailey with the Ni-no-maru secondary bailey was also restored. The castle was listed as one of the Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles in 2017.

Bibliography

* * Ikeda Koichi, ''Takada-jo'' in: Miura Masayuki (Ed.), ''Shiro to jinya.'' Tokoku-hen. Gakken, 2006. . * Miyaji Saichiro (Ed.), ''Takada-jo'' in ''Bakumatsu shoshu saigo-no hanshu-tachi''. Higashinihon-hen. Jinbunsha, 1997. . * Niigata-ken no rekishi sampo henshu iinkai (Ed.): ''Niigata-ken no rekishi sampo.'' Yamakawa Shuppan, 2009. .

References

External links