is 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 ...

located in the city of Toyama,

Toyama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Toyama Prefecture has a population of 1,044,588 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,247.61 km2 (1,640.01 sq mi). Toyama Prefecture borders Ishikawa Prefecture to the ...

, 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 land is maintained by the government of Japan as a public park.

Background

Toyama Castle is located at the center of modern current Toyama city. The surrounding area is roughly in the geographic center of Etchū Province and is a wide plain with a number of large rivers. A fortification was initially erected on this location in 1543 on the banks of the

Jinzū River The is a river that flows from Gifu Prefecture to Toyama Prefecture in Japan. It is called Miya River (宮川 ''Miya-gawa'') in Gifu. It is in length and has a watershed of . Geography The river flows from Mount Kaore in Gifu and meets the Tak ...

by the local Jinbō clan, who governed western Etchū Province as retainers of the

Hatakeyama clan The was a Japanese samurai clan. Originally a branch of the Taira clan and descended from Taira no Takamochi, they fell victim to political intrigue in 1205, when Hatakeyama Shigeyasu, first, and his father Shigetada later were killed in battle ...

. Eastern Etchū Province was governed by their rivals, the Shiina clan, who were also retainers of the Hatakeyama. As the Hatakeyama waned in power and influence in the 15th century, the two clans waged a constant war for dominance over Etchū, with the ''

Ikkō-ikki were rebellious or autonomous groups of people that were formed in several regions of Japan in the 15th-16th centuries; backed up by the power of the Jōdo Shinshū sect of Buddhism, they opposed the rule of governors or ''daimyō''. Mainly co ...

'' helping play one side against the other.

History

In the 1550s, the Jinbō clan overwhelmed the Shiina; however, the Shiina made an alliance with

Uesugi Kenshin , later known as was a Japanese ''daimyō''. He was born in Nagao clan, and after adoption into the Uesugi clan, ruled Echigo Province in the Sengoku period of Japan. He was one of the most powerful ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period. Known a ...

, who captured Toyama Castle in 1570 after a fierce back-and-forth struggle. The leader of the Jinbō clan fled to Oda Nobunaga. The Uesugi plan placed Kojima Motoshige, a former retainer of the Jinbō, in charge of the castle as castellan, and he suppressed an attack by the ''Ikkō-ikki'' in 1571. Due to a plot by

Takeda Shingen , of Kai Province, was a pre-eminent ''daimyō'' in feudal Japan. Known as the "Tiger of Kai", he was one of the most powerful daimyō with exceptional military prestige in the late stage of the Sengoku period. Shingen was a warlord of great ...

, the Shiina then revolted against Kenshin, but were defeated. After Kenshin's death, Nobunaga extended his power into the region, placing Jinbō Nagatsumi back in charge of Toyama Castle in 1578. However, due a revolt by his retainers Jinbō Nagatsumi lost control of Toyama Castle in 1581. Nobunaga was unforgiving of this incompetence, and installed his general

Sassa Narimasa , also known as Kura-no-suke (内蔵助), was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku through Azuchi–Momoyama period.">DF 7 of 80">"Asa ..., where he was in the rear guard. In 1575, Narimasa fought at the Battle of Nagashino">DF 7 of 80/nowiki>">D ...

in his place. The Jinbō clan then disappears from history (with the major exception of the place name, Jinbōchō, Tokyo after a surviving clan member who entered the service of

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 fello ...

). Under Sassa Narimasa, the castle was greatly expanded in size, and new moats and towers were added. Narimasa also began a series of flood control works which gradually transformed the area surrounding the castle from a marsh to rich rice lands. After Nobunaga's assassination in the Honnoji Incident of 1585, there was a falling out between Sassa Narimasa and

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 ...

. After defeating

Shibata Katsuie or was a Japanese samurai and military commander during the Sengoku period. He served Oda Nobunaga as one of his trusted generals, was severely wounded in the 1571 first siege of Nagashima, but then fought in the 1575 Battle of Nagashino an ...

at the

Battle of Shizugatake The was a battle of the Sengoku period of Japan fought between Toyotomi Hideyoshi (then Hashiba Hideyoshi) and Shibata Katsuie in Shizugatake, Ōmi Province in May 1583. Katsuie supported Oda Nobutaka's claim as successor of Oda Nobunaga in ...

, Hideyoshi gradually extended his control over the Hokuriku region and placed his general

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� ...

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 abb ...

. Narimasa responded by fortifying his border with Kaga and by making a pre-emptive attack against the Maeda at

Suemori Castle is a former Japanese castle located in Nagoya. It was originally outside the city of Nagoya in the countryside of the Owari Province. Lord Oda Nobuhide (1508-1549) built this castle in 1548. The following year, his third son Oda Nobuyuki (d. ...

, but was defeated. In August 1585, Hideyoshi invaded Etchū Province with more than 100,000 soldiers and besieged Toyama castle, which surrounded after only one week. Hideyoshi granted the castle to 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 Sugaw ...

. Following 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 Maeda clan were confirmed as ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominal ...

'' of Kaga Domain, which included most of Etchū Province.

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 Toshiba and second daimyō of Kaga Domain rebuilt the castle and temporarily used it as his retirement home until much of it burned down in 1609. His grandson,

Maeda Toshitsugu was a feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Etchū Province (modern-day Toyama Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Toyama Castle in what is now the city of Toyama. Throughout its history, it was ruled by a cadet branch of the Maed ...

was awarded a 100,000 '' koku'' holding in Etchū Province in 1639, the forming

Toyama Domain was a feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Etchū Province (modern-day Toyama Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Toyama Castle in what is now the city of Toyama. Throughout its history, it was ruled by a cadet branch of the Maed ...

; however, initially his fief did not include Toyama Castle. Unable to raise funds to build his own castle, in 1659 he reached an agreement with Kaga Domain to exchange some of holdings for Toyama Castle and the surrounding lands. In 1661, he received permission from the

to rebuild the castle and to lay out a new

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, a ...

. His descendants ruled over Toyama from here 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 ...

. Many of the structures of the castle and its rampant were destroyed by the

1858 Hietsu earthquake The was a doublet earthquake that took place on April 9, 1858 (according to the old Japanese calendar, February 26, Ansei 5). It most likely occurred on the Atotsugawa and Miboro faults, which connect the Amō Pass in Gifu Prefecture (in the par ...

, and most of what survived was destroyed by order of the new

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji o ...

in 1871.

Current

After the remaining structures of the castle were removed, the Toyama Prefectural office was built on site of 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 ...

. This building burned down in 1899, was reconstructed in 1900 and burned down again in 1933. The castle site became a park, and was used for many public rallies prior to, and during, World War II. The castle site was also ground zero for the Toyama Air Raid of August 2, 1945. A faux reproduction of the donjon of Toyama Castle was built in 1954 in ferro-concrete, and houses the and the , noted for its collection of utensils for

tea ceremonies An East Asian tea ceremony, or ''Chádào'' (), or ''Dado'' ( ko, 다도 (茶道)), is a ceremonially ritualized form of making tea (茶 ''cha'') practiced in East Asia by the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. The tea ceremony (), literally transla ...

and antiques. The only original structures of the castle which have survived are one gate (the and discontinuous portions of the original moats and stoneworks. The castle was listed as one of the

Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles The is a list of 100 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 ...

in 2017.

References

Literature

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External links

Toyama Castle - Japan Visitor Guide
{{Authority control Castles in Toyama Prefecture Museums in Toyama Prefecture Parks and gardens in Toyama Prefecture Toyama (city) Maeda clan Etchū Province