Bitchu Matsuyama Casle observatory202111-1

, also known as , is a

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 a ...

located in the city of

Takahashi is the third most common Japanese surname. Less common variants include , , , , , , , and . Notable people with the surname Takahashi * Aaron Takahashi, Japanese-American actor * , Japanese singer and actress * , Japanese kickboxer * , Jap ...

Okayama Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,826,059 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefecture ...

, in the

San'yō region The San'yō Region (山陽地方 ''San'yō-chihō'') is an area in the south of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It consists of the southern part of the Chūgoku region, facing the Seto Inland Sea. The name ''San'yō'' means "southern, sunny ( ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Along with having one of only twelve remaining original ''tenshu'' (main keeps) 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). It has been protected by the central government as a National Historic Site since 1956.

History

A fortification was originally built on a nearby mountain (Mount Omatsu) in 1240 AD by Akiba Shigenobu, but its details are not clear. In the

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

, the

Hosokawa clan The is a Japanese samurai kin group or Japanese clan, clan. The clan descends from the Seiwa Genji, a branch of the Minamoto clan, and ultimately from Emperor Seiwa, through the Ashikaga clan. It produced many prominent officials in the Ashikaga ...

was ''

shugo , commonly translated as ' ilitarygovernor', 'protector', or 'constable', was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the shogun to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The position gave way to th ...

'' of

Bitchū Province was a province of Japan on the Inland Sea side of western Honshū, in what is today western Okayama Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Bizen and Bingo Provinces; those three provinces were settled in the late 7th Century, dividing form ...

, but ruled through local proxies. Takahashi Muneyasu constructed a new castle at the current location on Mount Gagyū in 1331, though the design of this castle differed from the one that stands on the site now. Mount Gagyū is located north of the center of modern Takahashi, and is a long ridge with an elevation of approximately 430 meters, overlooking the

Takahashi River The is a Class A major river in the western part of Okayama Prefecture. It acts as the main drainage for the Takahashi River Drainage System, and is one of the three main drainage rivers in Okayama Prefecture (the others being the Yoshii River a ...

. The location is of strategic importance in controlling the north-south transportation route between the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka Ba ...

and the

San'in region The is an area in the southwest of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It consists of the northern part of the Chūgoku region, facing the Sea of Japan. Specifically, it is the two prefectures of Shimane Prefecture, Shimane and Tottori Prefecture ...

on the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

, and the east-west transportation route between

Tsuyama is a city in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. In February 2023, the city had an estimated population of 97,507 in 45,653 households and a population density of 190 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Tsuyama is located in nort ...

Mimasaka Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area that is northern Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of western Japan. Mimasaka bordered Bitchū Province, Bitchū, Bizen Province, Bizen, Harima Province, Harima, Hōki Province, Hō ...

and Miyoshi in the center of the

Chūgoku region The , also known as the region, is the westernmost region of Honshū, the largest island of Japan. It consists of the prefectures of Hiroshima, Okayama, Shimane, Tottori and Yamaguchi. As of the 2020 census, it has a population of 7,328,339 ...

. In the early

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

, the Shō clan supplanted the Hosokawa and occupied Bitchū Matsuyama Castle in 1532, making it their stronghold in their campaign against the

Amago clan The , descended from the Emperor Uda (868–897) by the Kyogoku clan, descending from the Sasaki clan (Uda Genji). Kyogoku Takahisa in the 14th century, lived in Amako-go (Izumo Province), and took the name 'Amago'. The family crest is also t ...

Izumo Province was an Old provinces of Japan, old province of Japan which today consists of the eastern part of Shimane Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province is in the Chūgoku region. History During the early Kofun period (3rd century) this reg ...

. By the mid-century, the

Mōri clan The was a Japanese clan, 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 in Aki Province. Durin ...

from

Aki Province or Geishū () was a province in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, comprising the western part of what is today Hiroshima Prefecture. History When Emperor Shōmu ordered two official temples for each province (one for male Buddhist prie ...

had defeated the Amago while simultaneously supporting the Mimura clan against the Shō and the Ukita clans.

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 ...

(1517–1566) captured Bitchū Matsuyama Castle from the Shō in 1561, but was soon assassinated by

Ukita Naoie was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period. He was born in Bizen Province, to Ukita Okiie, a local samurai leader and head of the Ukita clan. He has historical reputation as one of , a nickname which he shared with Matsunaga Hisahide a ...

in 1566. His son, Mimura Motochika recaptured the castle in 1571 and greatly enlarged it, extending the site to cover the entire mountain. With assistance from the Mōri clan, Mimura Motochika conquered the whole Bitchū area. After the Mōri clan made peace with the Ukita clan, Motochika entered into secret communications with

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...

, and when this betrayal came to light he was besieged in the castle by the combined forces of the Mōri clan and the Ukita clan in 1574. The castle fell to the Mōri clan in 1575 and the Mimura clan was extinguished.Samurai-Archives
/ref> In 1600, following the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was an important battle in Japan which occurred on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu Prefecture, ...

, the Mōri clan were deprived of Bitchū Province and were forced to cede the castle to

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

. He retained the castle as directly-ruled ''

tenryō The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil war ...

'' territory and appointed Kobori Masatsugu as ''

daikan ''Daikan'' (代官) was an official in ancient Japan that acted on behalf of a ruling monarch or a lord at the post they had been appointed to. Since the Middle Ages, ''daikan'' were in charge of their territory and territorial tax collection. In ...

''. His son, Kobori Masakazu is better known as

Kobori Enshū was a Japanese aristocrat, garden designer, painter, poet, and tea master during the reign of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Biography His personal name was Masakazu (政一). In 1604, he received as inheritance a 12,000-''koku'' fief in Ōmi Province at K ...

, the famed tea master and garden designer. In 1617, he was transferred to

Ōmi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō Circuit (subnational entity), circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, ...

and Ikeda Nagayoshi of a cadet branch of the

Ikeda clan was a Japanese clan that claimed descent from Minamoto no Yorimitsu (948-1021) of the Seiwa Genji. Minamoto no Yasumasa, the fourth generation descending from Yorimitsu, and younger brother of Minamoto no Yorimasa (1104-1180), was the first to ...

was appointed ''

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 no ...

'' of the newly created

Bitchū-Matsuyama Domain 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 was ruled in its latter his ...

. After his son died without heir in 1641, the domain went to Mizunoya Katsutaka, who rebuilt the ''

tenshu is an architectural typology found in Japanese castle, Japanese castle complexes. They are easily identifiable as the highest tower within the castle. Common translations of ''tenshu'' include keep, main keep, or ''donjon''. ''Tenshu'' are cha ...

'', ''yagura'' turrets and gates in addition to rebuilding the

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, ...

. The ''tenshu'' was unusual in that it was only two stories tall and is smaller than a typical corner ''yagura'' in many large castles, though a larger ''tenshu'' along the lines of

Himeji Castle () is a hilltop Japanese castle complex situated in Himeji, a city in the Hyōgo Prefecture of Japan. The castle is regarded as the finest surviving example of prototypical Japanese castle architecture, comprising a network of 83 rooms with adva ...

's would have been unnecessary as Bitchū Matsuyama Castle was located on a mountain, thus allowing a large field of vision. The ''daimyō'' palace was constructed at the base of the mountain. The Mizunoya clan ruled until 1695. After passing through brief periods under

Andō clan The is a Japanese samurai kin group. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)">DF 6 of 80">"Andō," ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 2 DF 6 of 80/nowiki> retrieved 2013-5-5. ...

and the Ishikawa clan, the domain and castle were ruled by a cadet branch of the Itakura clan">Ishikawa clan">DF 6 of 80/nowiki> retrieved 2013-5-5. ...

History

Current situation

Gallery

See also

References

Literature