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 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 ...

located in what is now part of the city of

Tamba-Sasayama , formerly known as , is a city in the central eastern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 40,050 in 17523 households and a population density of 110 persons per km2. The total area of the city is Geograph ...

Hyōgo Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, an ...

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 ...

. Its ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 2005.The castle was one of the largest in

Tanba Province was a province of Japan in the area of central Kyoto and east-central Hyōgo Prefectures. Tanba bordered on Harima, Ōmi, Settsu, Tajima, Wakasa, and Yamashiro Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō system ...

, along with

Kuroi Castle was a Sengoku period Japanese castle located in what is now the Kasuga-cho neighborhood of the city of Tamba Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It was also called or . Famous as the birthplace of Lady Kasuga, the wet nurse of Tokugawa Iemitsu, it ruins ...

and

Yagi Castle 270px, Aerial photograph showing the relative locations of the old castle, new castle and Kamakura-period mansion is a late Kamakura period Japanese castle located in the Yōka neighborhood of the city of Yabu, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Its ru ...

. It was the original base of power for the Hatano clan.

History

Yagami Castle is located on 400-meter Most Tashiroyama to the southeast of the modern city center of Tamba-Sasayama in former

. Tanba is very mountainous, but due to its proximity to the capital at

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 ...

, it was regarded as having high strategic values. Settlement was mostly in four mountain basis, Hikami and Sasayama in what is now Hyōgo and Fukuchiyama and Kameoka in what is now Kyoto Prefecture. During 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 ...

, the ''

shugo , commonly translated as “(military) governor,” “protector,” or “constable,” was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the ''shōgun'' to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The pos ...

'' of the province was the

Hosokawa clan The is a Japanese Samurai kin group or clan. Ancestors # Emperor Jimmu # Emperor Suizei # Emperor Annei # Emperor Itoku # Emperor Kōshō # Emperor Kōan # Emperor Kōrei # Emperor Kōgen # Emperor Kaika # Emperor Sujin # Emperor Suinin # Emper ...

, who ruled through their deputy, the Naito clan. However, following the

Onin War Onin may refer to: * Ōnin, a Japanese era ** Ōnin War * Onin peninsula, on the Bomberai Peninsula Bomberai Peninsula ( id, Semenanjung Bomberai), otherwise known as the Bird's Beak Peninsula ( id, Semenanjung Paruh Burung), is located in the Wes ...

, the Hosokawa clan was greatly weakened and divided by internal conflicts, and many small local chieftains seized power over areas of the province. One of these was the Hatano clan, whose chieftain, Hatano Tanemichi was a talented general who seized the Sasayama basin from the Naito clan and built Yagami Castle as his stronghold in 1508. His son Hatano Harumichi lost Yagami castle to

Matsunaga Hisahide Matsunaga Danjo Hisahide (松永弾正久秀 1508 – November 19, 1577) was a ''daimyō'' and head of the Yamato Matsunaga clan in Japan during the Sengoku period of the 16th century. Biography He was a retainer of Miyoshi Nagayoshi fro ...

in 1557, but Harumichi’s son Hatano Hideharu, recovered it in 1566, with the support of

Akai Naomasa was a Japanese samurai leader of the Sengoku period.Ōta, Gyūichi ''et al.'' (2011)''The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga,'' p. 323 n32 He was known as a brave and skillful warrior so his nickname was 'red Oni (demon) of Tamba Province'. Naomasa is ...

, the "Red Demon of Tanba" of Kuroi Castle in neighboring Hikami basin. The Hatano clan gradually expanded Yagami castle into a large fortress. The castle itself consisted of ten connected

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 ...

spread northeast and northwest on 200 meters of ridges at the mid-way point on the slopes of the mountain. Only the central area was protected by stone walls. In the surrounding hills were numerous outlying fortifications to protect the approaches to the main castle. In 1568,

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 ...

entered Kyoto, but was unable to immediately turn his attention to further conquests to the west due to war with the

Takeda clan The was a Japanese samurai clan active from the late Heian period until the late 16th century. The clan was historically based in Kai Province in present-day Yamanashi Prefecture. The clan reached its greatest influence under the rule of Taked ...

of Kai Province. Many of the lords of Tanba, including the Hatano, pledged fealty to Nobunaga, but the Akai clan was an exception. During this period, Akai Naomasa greatly expanded his power, aggressively counterattacking against the

Yamana clan The was a Japanese samurai clan which was one of the most powerful of the Muromachi period (1336-1467); at its peak, members of the family held the position of Constable (''shugo'') over eleven provinces. Originally from Kōzuke Province, and late ...

Tajima Province was a province of Japan in the area of northern Hyōgo Prefecture. Tajima bordered on Tango and Tanba to the east, Harima to the south, and Inaba to the west. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō system, Tajimao was ...

. As the Yamana were Nobunaga's vassals, in 1575 Nobunaga sent

Akechi Mitsuhide , first called Jūbei from his clan and later from his title, was a Japanese ''samurai'' general of the Sengoku period best known as the assassin of Oda Nobunaga. Mitsuhide was a bodyguard of Ashikaga Yoshiaki and later a successful general under ...

to conquer Tanba and destroy the Akai. Mitsuhide was quickly able to lay siege to Kuroi Castle, but he was betrayed by Hatano Hideharu from behind and was forced to flee the province in early 1576. Mitsuhide raised a new army and invaded Tanba again in 1578. This time, he methodically constructed fortifications along the way to protect his supply lines and to guard against a repeat of his disastrous first campaign. Both Kuroi Castle and Yakami Castle were placed under siege. In June 1579, after a one year encirclement and over ten assaults, Yakami Castle surrendered. Hatano Hideharu and his two brothers were sent as prisoners to Nobunaga, who had them executed. It is often claimed that Akechi Mitsuhide sent his aged mother to Yakami Castle as a hostage to reassure the Hatano that their lives would be spared if they surrendered, and that she was executed when Nobunaga went back on his word and killed them instead. It is further said that this was a contributing cause to the

Honnō-ji incident The was an attempt to assassinate Japanese daimyo Oda Nobunaga at the Honnō-ji temple in Kyoto on 21 June 1582, resulting in the suicide by '' seppuku'' of both Nobunaga and his son Oda Nobutada. The unprotected Nobunaga was ambushed by his ...

of 1582 in which Akechi Mitsuhide assassinated Nobunaga; however, there are no historical records to support these claims.

Akechi Mitsutada was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period who served the Akechi clan. He was a cousin of his lord, Akechi Mitsuhide. He was castle commander of Yakami Castle. Control over the Yakami Castle passed into Mitsutada hands when the Hatano clan w ...

(1540-1582), a relative of Mitsuhide was placed as a castellan of Yagami Castle. After

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 ...

defeated Mitsuhide at the

Battle of Yamazaki The was fought in 1582 in Shimamoto, Osaka, Yamazaki, Japan, located in current-day Kyoto Prefecture. This battle is sometimes referred to as the Battle of Mt. Tennō (天王山の戦い ''Tennō-zan no tatakai''). In the Honnō-ji Incident, ...

, he replaced Akechi Mitsutada with

Toyotomi Hidekatsu Toyotomi Hidekatsu (豊臣秀勝, 1569 – October 14, 1592)Hall, John Whitney ''et al.'' (1991). ''The Cambridge History of Japan'' was Toyotomi Hideyoshi's nephew (later adopted) and a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period. He was the lord o ...

, and after Hidekatsu's death, it was controlled by

Maeda Gen'i was a Buddhist priest from Mt. Hiei, retainer of Oda Nobunaga and later one of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's '' Go-Bugyō'', along with Ishida Mitsunari, Asano Nagamasa, Mashita Nagamori and Natsuka Masaie. He entered the service of Oda Nobunaga some ...

. 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 ...

, despite being on the losing Western side, 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 ...

confirmed Maeda Gen'i at Yakami Castle. He was succeeded by Maeda Shigekatsu, who was granted a 50,000 ''

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 ...

'' domain in 1602. A fervent ''

Kirishitan The Japanese term , from Portuguese ''cristão'' (cf. Kristang), meaning "Christian", referred to Catholic Christians in Japanese and is used in Japanese texts as a historiographic term for Catholics in Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries. M ...

'', he was accused of misgovernment and many of his officials committed ''

seppuku , sometimes referred to as hara-kiri (, , a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honour but was also practised by other Japanese people ...

.'' In 1608, he was declared insane by the shogunate and removed from office. The castle was given to

Matsudaira Yasushige was a Japanese samurai of the Azuchi-Momoyama through early Edo periods. He was the family head of the Matsui-Matsudaira, a family which received the Matsudaira name as an honorific following his father's service to Tokugawa Ieyasu. Yasushige e ...

, who may have been

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 ...

's illegitimate son. A new castle,

Sasayama Castle is an early Edo Period Japanese castle located in the city of Tamba-Sasayama, Hyōgo, Japan. It ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 1956. History Sasayama Castle is located at the center of Tamba-Sasayama city. The Sa ...

was constructed three kilometers to the north, and after Matsudaira Yasushige relocated his seat there in late 1608, Yakami Castle was abandoned. At present, only some remnants of stone walls and the rough outlines of the enclosures on the mountainside remain.

Gallery

Takajosan01.JPG, Entrance to climbing path to Yagami Castle Takajosan02.JPG, Akuta-maru ruins Takajosan05.JPG, portion of the Honmaru Takajosan07.JPG, ruins of the Honmaru Takajosan08.JPG, portion of the Honmaru Takajosan06.JPG, portion of the San-no-maru walls Takajosan10.JPG, Mount Tashiro from the San-no-maru

Literature

External links

Tamba-Sasayama City official home page

References

{{reflist Castles in Hyōgo Prefecture Ruined castles in Japan Historic Sites of Japan Tanba Province Tamba-Sasayama Akechi clan 1500s establishments in Japan

History

Gallery

See also

Literature

External links

References