Bitchū Matsuyama Castle
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, also known as Takahashi Castle, is a
castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
located in Takahashi,
Okayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 7,114 km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefecture borders Tottori Prefecture to the ...
,
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 n ...
. It is not to be confused with Matsuyama Castle in
Matsuyama 270px, Matsuyama City Hall 270px, Ehime Prefectural Capital Building is the capital city of Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku in Japan and also Shikoku's largest city. , the city had an estimated population of 505,948 in 243541 househo ...
,
Ehime Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,342,011 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, T ...
. Along with being one of only twelve remaining original castles in the country, Bitchū Matsuyama Castle is notable as the castle with the highest elevation above sea level in Japan at 430 meters (1410 ft).


History

The castle was originally built on a nearby mountain (Omatsuyama) in 1240 AD by Akiba Shigenobu. Takahashi Muneyasu constructed a castle on the modern site on Mount Gagyū in 1331, though the design of this castle differed from the one that stands on the site now. When Mimura Motochika became the feudal lord of the region, Matsuyama castle was enlarged again and the site extended to cover the entire mountain. With assistance from the
Mōri clan The Mōri clan (毛利氏 ''Mōri-shi'') was a Japanese samurai clan descended from Ōe no Hiromoto. Ōe no Hiromoto was descended from the Fujiwara clan. The family's most illustrious member, Mōri Motonari, greatly expanded the clan's power ...
, Mimura Motochika conquered the whole Bitchu area and defended it against the Amako clan. Motochika later entered into secret communications with the Oda, and having come to the attention of the Mōri, they forced him from the castle and died in the escape.Samurai-Archives
/ref> In 1600, the castle became part of the
Bitchū-Matsuyama Domain 270px, Itakura Katukiyo was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now western Okayama Prefecture. It controlled most of central Bitchū Province and was centered around Bitchū Matsuyama Castle. It w ...
where Kobori Masatsugu and his son Masakazu came to the area as officers 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 ...
and repaired the castle as part of the efforts to turn Matsuyama into a castle town. In 1617,
Ikeda Nagayoshi Ikeda may refer to: * Ikeda (surname), a Japanese surname * Ikeda (comics), a character in ''Usagi Yojimbo'' * Ikeda clan, a Japanese clan * Ikeda map, chaotic attractor * ''Ikeda'' (annelid) a genus of the family Ikedidae Places * Ikeda, Osaka i ...
was transferred here as the new lord of Bitchū-Matsuyama Domain and was followed by Ikeda Nagatsune, who ruled until 1641. The next feudal lord, Mizunoya Katsutaka, rebuilt the ''donjon'' (keep), turrets and other gates in addition to building Onegoya house on the southern side of Mount Gagyu where public affairs were administered. The Mizunoya clan ruled here until 1695 where it was transferred again to the
Andō clan The is a Japanese samurai kin group. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003).html" ;"title="DF 6 of 80">"Andō," ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 2 DF_6_o_...
_and_the_ DF_6_o_...
_and_the_Ishikawa_clan">DF_6_of_80/nowiki>">DF_6_o_...
_and_the_Ishikawa_clan_in_1711._The_tenshu.html" ;"title="Ishikawa_clan.html" ;"title="DF 6 of 80/nowiki>">DF 6 o ...
and the Ishikawa clan">DF 6 of 80/nowiki>">DF 6 o ...
and the Ishikawa clan in 1711. The tenshu">Ishikawa_clan.html" ;"title="DF 6 of 80/nowiki>">DF 6 o ...
and the Ishikawa clan">DF 6 of 80/nowiki>">DF 6 o ...
and the Ishikawa clan in 1711. The tenshu was unusual in that it was only two stories tall, though a larger ''tenshu'' along the lines of Himeji Castle's would have been unnecessary as Bitchu Matsuyama Castle was located on a mountain, thus allowing a large field of vision. The lord's palace was constructed at the base of the mountain. Itakura Katsuyoshi became lord in 1744, and eight descendants of his ruled the castle 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 ...
. After the
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 character ...
had ended, the castle was partly destroyed, but the rest of it was abandoned and slowly fell into disrepair. In 1929, a citizens' group was established and restoration work was begun on the castle. After this work was completed, the Takahashi City authorities repaired the keep's turret, and mud walls. Three parts were saved and still stand today: a short section of wall, the Nijū '' yagura'', and the ''tenshu''.


Today

In recent years, parts of the castle have been reconstructed to augment the parts that remain, all of which have been named Important Cultural Properties in 1950 by the National Government. In 1957 the government began restoring the castle to its original state and was completed by 1960. It is also a popular place to visit because it is the only ''yamashiro'', or mountain castle, to have an original ''tenshu''. The castle is on a mountain and the road up to the summit does not go all the way, so to get to the castle, one must hike up a mountain path. In December 2018, a local cat named Sanjūrō was installed as the honorary "lord" of the castle. , named after local samurai Tani Sanjūrō, originally belonged to Megumi Nanba but had run away on July 14, 2018 after torrential rains brought floods and mudslides in the area. The cat was later found living in the castle by one of the workers, who started feeding it. The presence of Sanjūrō, who was first made a provisional mascot before being named as "lord", has helped increase the number of visitors to the castle.


Gallery

File:Bitchu Matsuyama Castle 5.JPG, The ''tenshu'' of Bitchū Matsuyama castle. File:Bitchu Matsuyama Castle 3.JPG, The Nijū ''yagura'' File:Bitchu Matsuyama Castle 7.JPG, The levels going up the slope can be seen. File:Bitchu Matsuyama Castle 4.JPG, The section of original wall that remains, along with the commanding view from the castle. File:Bitchu Matsuyama Castle 6.JPG, The successive levels of walls can easily be seen. File:Bitchu Matsuyama Casle observatory202111-1.jpg, The castle floating on a sea of clouds.


See also

* Ueno Tsuruhime *
Mimura Iechika (1517 – February 24, 1566) was a Japanese '' daimyō'' of the Sengoku period. The son of Mimura Munechika, he was the lord of Matsuyama Castle, in Bitchū Province. As the influence of the Hosokawa was decreasing in the province, he joined wit ...
* Mimura Motochika


References


Literature

* * * * https://web.archive.org/web/20080312053739/http://library.thinkquest.org/C001119/tour/parse.php3?src=bitchu * https://web.archive.org/web/20110127042515/http://www.jcastle.info/castle/profile/23-Bitchu-Matsuyama-Castle
Samurai-Archives: Mimura Motochika
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bitchu Matsuyama Castle Castles in Okayama Prefecture Historic Sites of Japan Important Cultural Properties of Japan