was a fortification built on the island of

Itsukushima is an island in the western part of the Inland Sea of Japan, located in the northwest of Hiroshima Bay. It is popularly known as , which in Japanese means "Shrine Island". The island is one of Hayashi Gahō's Three Views of Japan specified in ...

(also known as Miyajima) during the

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 ...

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 ...

. Although referred to as 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 ...

, it did not have a donjon (''tenshu'') or serve as the residence of a land-holding noble, and therefore is probably more within the definition of a

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

, rather than a true

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 ...

. Built by

Mōri Motonari was a prominent ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) in the western Chūgoku region of Japan during the Sengoku period of the 16th century. The Mōri clan claimed descent from Ōe no Hiromoto (大江広元), an adviser to Minamoto no Yoritomo. Motonari w ...

, Miyao Castle was part of a greater plan to bait and trap his enemy, Sue Harukata, which culminated in the

Battle of Miyajima The 1555 was the only battle to be fought on the sacred island of Miyajima; the entire island is considered to be a Shinto shrine, and no birth or death is allowed on the island. Extensive purification rituals took place after the battle, to clea ...

in 1555. The site of Miyao castle is located in Hamano-cho on the island of

Miyajima may refer to: Places * Miyajima, another name for the Japanese island Itsukushima * Miyajima, Hiroshima, a former town on this island, merged into Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima is a city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The name derives from a m ...

, Hatsukaichi city,

Hiroshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of 2,811,410 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 8,479 km² (3,274 sq mi). Hiroshima Prefecture borders Okayama ...

Background

In 1551, Sue Harukata revolted against his lord Ōuchi Yoshitaka, forcing him to commit seppuku. Sue effectively led the Ōuchi family and its armies, which ruled over

Aki Province or Geishū () was a province in the Chūgoku Region of western Honshū, 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 ...

. In 1554, Mōri Motonari, as a fellow vassal of the Ōuchi clan, took up arms against Sue. The heavily outnumbered Mōri force attacked and defeated Sue at the

Battle of Oshikibata The was a preliminary round of the battle of Miyajima which was to follow. Mōri Motonari sought to avenge Sue Harukata's coup against their lord, Ōuchi Yoshitaka, and succeeded. Following the battle of Miyajima, the Mōri clan The Mōri ...

. Mōri later departed from the mainland to build Miyao Castle on

, popularly known as Miyajima.

Castle construction

As site for Miyao Castle, Mōri Motonari selected a 30-meter hill called in the northwest corner of the island, near the main shrine and overlooking the channel between Miyajima and the mainland. Miyao Castle was designed as a on a piece of land at the foot of steep-sided mountains, including the 535-meter

Mount Misen is the sacred mountain on Itsukushima in Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima, Japan, and is the highest mountain on the island at 535 m; it is situated within the World Heritage area of Itsukushima Shrine. The sea around the island ( Seto Inland Sea) and ...

. The castle area could be approached by sea on three sides. Thus, Miyao Castle was intended to be highly visible and fairly vulnerable. The castle was hastily built with the forthcoming battle in mind. About 1,000 laborers were employed, and it took them about one month to build it to Motonari's satisfaction. Stone walls had to be built in order to buttress the weakly tamped earthen foundation which, without support, would have easily collapsed. A permanent donjon (''tenshu'') was probably never built.

Battle of Miyajima

When construction of Miyao Castle was complete, Motonari departed for the mainland, leaving a small garrison to defend the castle. In late September 1555, Sue Harukata took the bait, attacked, and took the castle with overwhelming force. Within days, Motonari and his allies maneuvered into their respective positions and stormed Miyao Castle from three sides. While a landing force approached from the sea, two other groups had landed on the other side of the island, travelled overland, and attacked the castle from behind. Although Motonari's forces were heavily outnumbered, he knew the land and the castle's weaknesses, and thus had the tactical advantage as well as the element of surprise. Motonari's forces were able to kill, capture, or scatter the occupying defenders and re-take the castle. The battle became an important milestone in the history of western Japan.

Aftermath

No records specify what was done with Miyao Castle after the

. It was poorly built to begin with, a temporary fortification intended as bait in an elaborate trap. Of further consideration is the fact that Miyao Castle was built on sacred ground, and the ensuing battle was itself an act of desecration in a place where neither birth nor death are supposed to occur. Following the battle, resident

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

priests conducted elaborate ceremonies in order to remove the pollution of death. Therefore, it is generally believed that Miyao Castle was abandoned by the Mōri clan. The site was probably plundered for its stones and lumber, to be used as construction materials elsewhere. The site of Miyao Castle is now a small park on top of Yougai Hill. There is an explanatory signboard and a small shrine there. The hill is bounded on all sides by residences, shops restaurants, hotels, and ''

ryokan A is a type of traditional Japanese inn that typically features ''tatami''-matted rooms, communal baths, and other public areas where visitors may wear yukata and talk with the owner. Ryokan have existed since the eighth century A.D. du ...

''; access to the park is via two staircases on opposite sides of the hill, one of which is very near the ferry docks. The Miyao Castle site is given little or no attention in the tourist literature of Itsukushima, and so it is rarely visited.

References

{{coord, 34.300554, 132.322415, display=t Castles in Hiroshima Prefecture Former castles in Japan Mōri clan 1555 in Japan Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima