Takatori Castle was a 14th-century
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 ...
, now in ruins, in
Takatori
is a town located in Takaichi District, Nara Prefecture, Japan.
As of March 31, 2017, the town has an estimated population of 6,964. The total area is 25.77 km².
Geography
Located in central Nara Prefecture in the Nara Basin, most of t ...
,
Nara Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the northwest, Wakayama P ...
.
History
Ochi Kunizumi built the original castle in 1332. The Ochi controlled the castle until the mid-16th Century, and during this time, it took part in several revolts as an important castle in the area. Takatori Castle was then abandoned by order of
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 ...
in 1580, when he declared
Kōriyama Castle
was a Japanese castle in what is now the city of Yamatokōriyama, Nara Prefecture, Japan. The Sengoku ''daimyō'' Tsutsui Junkei started construction of the castle, and Toyotomi Hidenaga made it his residence. In the Edo period, it became the ...
the ruling castle in the region.
Tsutsui Junkei
son of Tsutsui Junshō, and a ''daimyō'' of the province of Yamato. On 1571, Junkei, through the offices of Akechi Mitsuhide, pledged to service of Oda Nobunaga.
Military life
Early in his career, in 1565, Matsunaga Hisahide, one of the most ...
began reconstruction of the castle in the year 1584, but died shortly afterwards. His heir
Sadatsugu was also moved to
Iga province
was a province of Japan located in what is today part of western Mie Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Iga" in . Its abbreviated name was . Iga is classified as one of the provinces of the Tōkaidō. Under the ''Engishiki'' cl ...
the following year, and rebuilding the castle fell to Honda Tarozaemon with his son Toshitomo. The
Honda clan
The is a Japanese family that claims descent from the medieval court noble Fujiwara no Kanemichi. The family settled in Mikawa and served the Matsudaira clan as retainers. Later, when the main Matsudaira family became the Tokugawa clan, the Hon ...
were lords of the castle until 1640, when
Uemura Iemasa became the new lord. The
Uemura clan then 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 ...
.
Takatori Castle, together with
Bitchu Matsuyama Castle and
Iwamura Castle
270px, Edo period layout
was located in the southeastern area of Mino Province in Japan. Its ruins can be found in the modern-day municipal subdivision of Iwamura, in Ena, Gifu Prefecture. Along with Takatori Castle in Nara and Bitchu-Matsuyama ...
, is named one of the Three Great Mountaintop Castles.
In its heyday, it was a huge, sprawling castle with 27
towers
A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures.
Towers are specifica ...
, impressive stone walls and several baileys for the residences of vassals.
Current site
Currently only stone walls exist, and some of the gatehouses, which are used as residences, and one is used as a pharmacy.
Further reading
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References
{{100 Fine Castles of Japan
Castles in Nara Prefecture
Ruined castles in Japan