was a 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 ...

in what is now the city of

Takaoka, Toyama is a city in the northwestern portion of Toyama Prefecture, Japan. Takaoka has the second largest population after Toyama City. The area that is east of Kureha hill (呉羽丘陵 Kureha-kyuryo) has been called Goto (呉東), which means the east ...

Japan. It was originally constructed in 1609, and was only used for a few years before being dismantled. The site of its ruins are now a park."Takaoka-Castle" J Caste http://jp.jcastle.info/castle/profile/273-Takaoka-Castle The castle is designated one of

Japan's Top 100 Castles The castles in were chosen based on their significance in culture, history, and in their regions by the in 2006. In 2017, Japanese Castle Association created an additional finest 100 castles list as Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles. Hokkaidō ...

by the Japanese Castle Foundation. The ruins are protected as a National Historic Site.

Background

Takaoka Castle is located at the center of what is now the city of Takaoka, in the western part of

Etchū Province was a province of Japan in the area that is today Toyama Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Etchū bordered on Noto and Kaga Provinces to the west, Shinano and Hida Provinces to the south, Echigo Province to the east and the Sea ...

. The Takaoka area was considered the center of Etchū Province until the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

, as it was the location of the

provincial capital A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the g ...

and was an important junction point for the ''Hokuriku kaidō'' highway and the road to

Noto Province was a province of Japan in the area that is today the northern part of Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan, including the Noto Peninsula (''Noto-hantō'') which is surrounded by the Sea of Japan. Noto bordered on Etchū and Kaga provinces to the so ...

. The area came under the control of the

Maeda clan was a Japanese samurai clan who occupied most of the Hokuriku region of central Honshū from the end of the Sengoku period through the Meiji restoration of 1868. The Maeda claimed descent from the Sugawara clan of Sugawara no Kiyotomo and Suga ...

under

Maeda Toshiie was one of the leading generals of Oda Nobunaga following the Sengoku period of the 16th century extending to the Azuchi–Momoyama period. His preferred weapon was a yari and he was known as "Yari no Mataza" (槍の又左), Matazaemon (又左 ...

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

of 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 ...

from the early

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 ...

Design

Takaoka Castle was a rectangle of 400 meters long and 200 meters wide. The castle originally had five

enclosures Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...

, all surrounded by a single, or in places, a double, moat. 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 ...

was 200 meters square and located at the middle part of western edge, surrounded by moats, with smaller

to the north, east and south. As the west side of the castle was a marsh, and there was no need for a secondary enclosure on this side. Each enclosure was guarded by stone walls and a wide moat. The design was influenced by the

Jurakudai The Jurakudai or Jurakutei () was a palace constructed at the order of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Kyoto, Japan. Construction began in 1586, when Hideyoshi had taken the post of , and required nineteen months to complete. Its total area was almost equa ...

palace of

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 ...

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

, as the small secondary enclosures were poorly designed for defence, but were instead intended to enhance the prestige of the inner bailey as well as to provide beautiful views along the moats. It is uncertain if a ''

tenshu is an architectural typology found in Japanese castle complexes. They are easily identifiable as the highest tower within the castle. Common translations of ''tenshu'' include keep, main keep, or ''donjon''. ''Tenshu'' are characterized as ty ...

'', or even if ''yagura'' watchtowers were ever built.

History

Maeda Toshinaga was a Sengoku period Japanese samurai and the second early-Edo period ''daimyō'' of Kaga Domain in the Hokuriku region of Japan, and the 3rd hereditary chieftain of the Maeda clan. He was the eldest son of Maeda Toshiie. His childhood name was ...

, the son of Maeda Toshiie and second ''

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 Kaga Domain retired in 1605 at the age of 43, and moved from

Kanazawa Castle is a large, partially-restored Japanese castle in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. It is located adjacent to the celebrated Kenroku-en Garden, which once formed the castle's private outer garden. It was the headquarters of Kaga Domain, rule ...

Toyama Castle Toyama Castle moat is a flatland-style Japanese castle located in the city of Toyama, Toyama Prefecture, in the Hokuriku region of Japan. It is also called Azumi Castle (安住城 ''Azumi-jō''). Built in 1543, the castle and its surrounding ...

. The reason for his early retirement is uncertain, but one reason could have been that he wanted to ensure the succession of the Maeda clan by turning the position of ''daimyō'' to his younger brother

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 ...

, who was married to the daughter of ''

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 ...

. Toyama Castle burned down in 1609, and Toshinaga relocated to Uozu Castle while waiting for permission from the shogunate to build a new castle at a place named Sekino. The design of the castle was done by

Takayama Ukon , born and also known as Dom Justo Takayama (c. 1552 – 3 or 5 February 1615) was a Catholic Church in Japan, Japanese Catholic Kirishitan daimyō and samurai who lived during the Sengoku period that witnessed anti-Catholic sentiment. Takay ...

, who had been exiled to

Kaga Province was a province of Japan in the area that is today the south and western portion of Ishikawa Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Kaga bordered on Echizen, Etchū, Hida, and Noto Provinces. It was part of Hokurikudō Circuit. Its abbr ...

. When the castle was completed, the location was renamed "Takaoka". Toshinaga developed a

castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, ...

surrounding the new castle: however, in 1614 Toshinaga died due to illness, and the Tokugawa shogunate proclaimed the rule the following year, resulting in the destruction of the castle.Takoaka - Japan Visitor http://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-city-guides/takaoka Later the Maeda clan rebuilt Toyama Castle as the administrative center of Etchū Province, but kept the site of Takaoka Castle as a location for warehouses to store tax rice for Kaga Domain. Within the castle grounds were also a

sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...

brewery, salt warehouses, a gunpowder factory, and the offices of the local governor, the Takaoka ''

Machi-bugyō were ''samurai'' officials of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan, this was amongst the senior administrative posts open to those who were not ''daimyō''.Beasley, William G. (1955). ''Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853–186 ...

''. Many of these buildings were destroyed in a fire in 1821. After 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 ...

, the government district office for

Imizu District, Toyama was a district located in Toyama Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the district had an estimated population of 57,362 and a density of 747.39 persons per km2. The total area was 76.75 km2. Before the dissolution on October 31, 2005, the distric ...

was built in the castle site.

Current situation

The ruins of the castle are mainly just remnants of its stone ramparts. The ruins sit at the , which was established in 1875, became a Toyama Prefectural park in 1967. The park contains a

Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...

, the Imizu Jinja, which is the ''

ichinomiya is a Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a province. Shrines of lower rank were designated , , , and so forth. ''Encyclopedia of Shinto'' ''Ichi no miya'' retrieved 2013-5-14. The term gave rise t ...

'' of Etchū Province, the Takaoka Municipal Museum, Takaoka Public Hall and a zoo. The park's

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 ...

is the city's major location for cherry blossom viewing. The castle ruins are located about ten minutes on foot from Takaoka Station on the

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...

Hokuriku Main Line The Hokuriku Main Line ( ja, 北陸本線, ) is a 176.6 kilometer railway line owned by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) connecting the Maibara Station in Maibara, Shiga, with the Naoetsu Station in Joetsu, Niigata. The section betwee ...

, or a five minute walk from Etchū-Nakagawa Station on the

Himi Line The is a 16.5 km (10.3 mi) railway line in Toyama Prefecture, Japan, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). It connects Takaoka Station (Toyama), Takaoka Station in Takaoka, Toyama, Takaoka with Himi Station in Himi, Toyama, Him ...

References

External links

Tourism Information in Toyama

Literature

* * * * * {{100 Fine Castles of Japan 1609 establishments in Asia Castles in Toyama Prefecture Etchū Province Maeda clan Historic Sites of Japan Ruined castles in Japan Hanami spots of Japan Takaoka, Toyama