was a

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 ...

Japanese castle located in what is now the city of

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 ...

, southern

Yamagata Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Yamagata Prefecture has a population of 1,079,950 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 9,325 km² (3,600 sq mi). Yamagata Prefecture borders Akita Prefecture to the north, ...

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 of the castle was designated a National Historic Site in 2016. The castle grounds are a 20 minutes walk from

Nishi-Yonezawa Station is a railway station in the city of Yonezawa, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). Lines Nishi-Yonezawa Station is served by the Yonesaka Line, and is located 6.5 rail kilometers from the terminus of the ...

on the

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

Yonesaka Line. It should not be confused with

Tateyama Castle is a Japanese castle located in Tateyama, southern Chiba Prefecture, Japan. At the end of the Edo period, Tateyama Castle was home to the Inaba clan, ''daimyō'' of Tateyama Domain, but the castle is better known for its association with the forme ...

in Tateyama, Chiba, whose name is written with slightly different ''

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

.''

Situation

Tateyama Castle is located on a small hill in the southwestern corner of the Yonezawa Basin of ancient Dewa Province. The Yonezawa Basin measures approximately 30 by 10 kilometers and is surrounded by mountains on all sides making it a natural fortress. The castle location is also at the confluence of the Omono River and the Otaru River in the upper watershed of the

Mogami River The is a river in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. Description and history It is 224 km long and has a watershed of 7,040 km2. It is regarded as one of the three most rapid rivers of Japan (along with the Fuji River and the Kuma River). ...

, which also add to its natural defenses. The location is on the route to mountain passes to the

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 ...

region. The main bailey area is roughly triangular-shaped, with a length of 100 meters and maximum width of 50 meters, extending east-west. The western line of this triangle was protected by an earthen

rampart Rampart may refer to: * Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement Rampart may also refer to: * "O'er the Ramparts We Watched" is a key line from "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the ...

, 10 meters wide by five meters high, faced with stone. At the northern edge of this wall was the main gate, which was a ''Masugata''-style gate, also faced with stone walls. The secondary bailey was a square enclosure 50 meters long, which was also protected by the earthen rampart on its western side, and dry moats. Surrounding these areas were many smaller enclosures, fortified by earthen ramparts, dry moats and watch towers, which served as the fortified residences of senior retainers.

History

Ōe no Hiromoto Ōe no Hiromoto (, 1148–1225) was a Japanese ''kuge'' (court noble) and vassal of the Kamakura shogunate, and contributed to establishing the shogunate's governmental structure. Life A great-grandson of the famous scholar Ōe no Masafu ...

was one of Minamoto no Yoritomo's senior councilors, and was awarded a ''

shōen A was a field or manor in Japan. The Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: ''zhuāngyuán'', Cantonese: ''zong1 jyun4''). Shōen, from about the 8th to the late 15th century, describes any of the private, ...

'' in Dewa Province, which he gave to one of his younger sons. This son changed his name to "Nagai" after the name of the ''shōen''. The origins of Tateyama Castle are uncertain, but it appears to have been constructed by the Nagai clan during the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

. The Nagai also built

Yonezawa Castle is a flatland-style Japanese castle located in the center of the city of Yonezawa, southern Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. Throughout the Edo period, Yonezawa Castle was home to the Uesugi clan, ''daimyō'' of Yonezawa Domain. History The first c ...

, which was four kilometers east of Tateyama Castle as their administrative center. During the Nanboku-chō period, the Nagai supported the

Northern Court The , also known as the Ashikaga Pretenders or Northern Pretenders, were a set of six pretenders to the throne of Japan during the Nanboku-chō period from 1336 through 1392. The present Imperial House of Japan is descended from the Northern Cour ...

, whereas the aggressive Date clan in the adjacent Fukushima Basin supported the

Southern Court The were a set of four emperors (Emperor Go-Daigo and his line) whose claims to sovereignty during the Nanboku-chō period spanning from 1336 through 1392 were usurped by the Northern Court. This period ended with the Southern Court definitively ...

. The Date invaded the Yonezawa Basin and destroyed the Nagai clan in 1385. During the

, the Date were leaked by internal conflicts and wars with the

Ashina clan Ashina may refer to: *Ashina tribe, a ruling dynasty of the Turkic Khaganate *Ashina clan (Japan), one of the Japanese clans *Ashina District, Hiroshima, a former Japanese district *Empress Ashina (551–582), empress of the Chinese/Xianbei dynasty ...

and the Mogami clan, and transferred their seat from Kōri-Nishiyama Castle to Yonezawa. At this time, Tateyama Castle was repaired as a military stronghold and place of refuge in case of emergency as its location was far for defendable than that of Yonezawa Castle. In 1584, Date Terumune turned over the chieftainship of the Date clan to his son,

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 ...

, and retired to Tateyama Castle. However, after he was assassinated by the Nihonmatsu clan later that year. In 1589, Date Masamune finally defeated the Ashina, and moved his seat from Yonezawa to Kurokawa Castle in Aizu. Tateyama Castle retained its importance due to its location guarding the mountain passes between Yonezawa and Aizu. In 1591, after Date Masamune pledged fealty 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 ...

, he was forced to turnover both Yonezawa and Aizu to Gamō Ujisato. Ujisato ruled from

Aizuwakamatsu Castle , also known as Tsuruga Castle (鶴ヶ城 ''Tsuru-ga-jō'') is a concrete replica of a traditional Japanese castle in northern Japan, at the center of the city of Aizuwakamatsu, in Fukushima Prefecture. Background Aizu Wakamatsu Castle is locate ...

and modernized many castles around his domains, but Tateyama Castle does not appear to be one of them. Following his death in 1595, the Yonezawa portion of his territory was awarded to

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 ...

. After 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 ...

and the establishment 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 ...

, the

Uesugi clan The is a Japanese samurai clan which was at its peak one of the most powerful during the Muromachi and Sengoku periods (14th to 17th centuries). Appert, Georges. (1888) ''Ancien Japon,'' p. 79./ref> At its height, the clan had three main branch ...

was reduced to only its holdings in Yonezawa. The Uesugi were conservative in outlook, and rebuilt Yonezawa Castle in an almost archaic style with earthen walls; however, as they were surrounded by hostile neighbors, some effort was made to remodel Tateyama Castle with stone walls. In 1615, the Tokugawa shogunate proclaimed the "One Country - One Castle" policy and forbid the ''

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 ...

'' to keep multiple strongholds in their domains. The newly reconstructed stone walls of Tateyama Castle were thrown down and the castle was abandoned. The site was excavated from 2011 to 2015 by the Yonezawa City Board of Education.

Literature

* * *

References

External links

Yonezawa city home page
{{in lang, ja Castles in Yamagata Prefecture Ruined castles in Japan Historic Sites of Japan Yonezawa, Yamagata Dewa Province Archaeological sites in Japan

Situation

History

See also

Literature

References

External links