260px, layout drawing of Shingū Castle A. Honmaru B. Demaru C. Kanenomaru D. Matsunomaru E. Ninomaru F. Mizunote ① Castle tower ② Cable car trace 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 Shingū, southern

Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 876,030 () and a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture to ...

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 ...

. At the end of the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, Shingū Castle was home to a cadet branch of the

Mizuno clan The Mizuno clan, a prominent Japanese clan, held the esteemed positions of samurai and nobility. Throughout the tumultuous Sengoku period, they were the rulers of Kariya Castle in Mikawa Province, which also served as the ancestral home of Tok ...

, hereditary ''

karō were top-ranking samurai officials and advisors in service to the ''daimyōs'' of feudal Japan. Overview In the Edo period, the policy of ''sankin-kōtai'' (alternate attendance) required each ''daimyō'' to place a ''karō'' in Edo and anothe ...

'' of

Kishū Domain The Kishū Domain (紀州藩, Kishū-han), also referred to as Kii Domain or Wakayama Domain, was a feudal domain in Kii Province, Japan. This domain encompassed regions in present-day Wakayama and southern Mie Prefecture, Mie prefectures and ...

. Its ruins, along with the clan cemetery for the Mizuno clan, were designated a National Historic Site in 2003. The castle is also called the or the .

History

Shingū Castle is located a hill by the mouth of

Kumano River The is a river in the Kii Peninsula of central Japan, located in Nara, Wakayama and Mie Prefectures. It is long and has a watershed of . The river rises from Mount Ōmine in the Yoshino-Kumano National Park in Tenkawa, Nara and follows a general ...

in the southeastern extremity of Wakayama. From the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

, Shingū was a port city from which timber floated down the Kumano River was taken to Osaka and other locations for sale, and was gateway to the Kumano Sanzan shrines, an important pilgrimage destination. The local Shingū clan claimed descent from

Minamoto no Yukiie was a brother of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, and one of the commanders of the Minamoto forces in the Genpei War at the end of the Heian period of Japanese history. In 1181, he was defeated at the Battle of Sunomatagawa by Taira no Shigehira. After ...

and were also a naval power who assisted

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, ruling from 1192 until 1199, also the first ruling shogun in the history of Japan.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako ...

in the

Genpei War The was a national civil war between the Taira clan, Taira and Minamoto clan, Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yori ...

. However, 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 Shingū were replaced by the Horinouchi clan, who under Horinouchi Ujiyoshi, submitted to

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 later

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

. After Hideyoshi's death, Ujiyoshi supported the Western Army at 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, ...

and was thus dispossessed by

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 ...

. Under the Tokugawa Shogunate,

Kii Province , or , was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today Wakayama Prefecture, as well as the southern part of Mie Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kii''" in . Kii bordered Ise, Izumi, Kawachi, Shima, and Yamato Pro ...

was awarded to

Asano Yukinaga was a Japanese samurai and feudal lord of the late Sengoku and early Edo periods. His father served as one of the '' Go-Bugyō'' in the late Azuchi–Momoyama period. Asano Yoshinaga was born at Odani, in the Asai district of Ōmi Province, ...

. As the Kumano region was so distance from the capital of the province at

Wakayama Wakayama may refer to: * Wakayama Prefecture, a prefecture of Japan * Wakayama (city), the capital city of Wakayama Prefecture, Japan * Wakayama Station, a train station in Wakayama, Wakayama * Wakayama University, a national university in Wakayama, ...

, Asano started to build a branch castle on Tankakuyama in Shingū in 1601. The castle was to be abandoned in 1616 when the shogunate issued a proclamation that there could be only one castle per domain; however, the Asano received a special exemption from the ruling. In 1619, the Asano were transferred to

Hiroshima Domain The was a large domain that owned all of Aki Province and half of Bingo Province. It occupies most of current Hiroshima Prefecture. The domain office was located at Hiroshima Castle in Sato District, Aki Province (renamed Numata District in 1 ...

, and Kii Province was given to

Tokugawa Yorinobu was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period. Born under the name Nagatomimaru (長福丸), he was the 10th son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, by his concubine Kageyama-dono. On December 8, 1603, Yorinobu received the fief of Mito, then rated at 2 ...

, the 10th son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, and one of the ''

gosanke The , also called simply , or even , were the most noble three branches of the Tokugawa clan of Japan: Owari, Kii, and Mito, all of which were descended from clan founder Tokugawa Ieyasu's three youngest sons, Yoshinao, Yorinobu, and Yorifusa ...

'', or three cadet branches of the

Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty which produced the Tokugawa shoguns who ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868 during the Edo period. It was formerly a powerful ''daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of ...

who could provide a candidate for

Shogun , officially , was the title of the military aristocracy, rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor of Japan, Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, exc ...

should the main line of descent fail.

had five hereditary ''

'', each of whom had a ''

kokudaka refers to a system for determining land value for taxation purposes under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo-period Japan, and expressing this value in terms of ''koku'' of rice. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Koku"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 5 ...

'' equal to, or greater than, many of the smaller ''daimyō''. A cadet branch of the Mizuno clan was the hereditary ''karō'', based in Shingū, with a ''kokudaka'' of 35,000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

'' and Mizuno Shigeyoshi completed construction of the castle in 1633. The castle extends on the hill in a rough "U"-shape. The central area is 50 by 30 meters on the eastern half of the hill, and contained 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 ...

'' and a ''yagura'' watchtower. The entrance was protected by a winding path with many dead ends through several enclosures with stone walls and dry moats. The Kumano River forms a natural moat protecting the rear of the castle, whose fortifications extend to the water's edge and include a port on the river with warehouses. The Mizuno clan continued to rule from Shingū Castle to 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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

. In 1873, per orders of the

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 ...

all remaining structures of the castle were demolished. All that remain today are remnants of stone walls overlooking the river and ocean. In 1952, the site of the castle became privately-owned land, and a kindergarten and hotel were constructed on the site of the Ni-no-maru enclosure, with a cable car running up the slope to the ruins of the inner enclosure as a tourist attraction. This cable car ceased operation in 1980 and was demolished in the 1990s, and much of the site was re-acquired by the city government and has become "Tankaku-jo Park". There are ongoing discussions to reconstruct the ''tenshu''. The Mizuno clan cemetery is located approximately one kilometer to the south of the castle site, and is part of the National Historic Site designation. In 2017, the castle was listed as one of the

Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles The is a list of 100 Japanese castle, castles, intended as a sequel of 100 Fine Castles of Japan. The castles were chosen for their significance in culture, history, and in their regions by the in 2017. Hokkaidō region Tōhoku region Kant ...

. The castle is a 15-minute walk from

Shingū Station is an interchange passenger railway station located in the city of Shingū, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, jointly operated by JR West and JR Central. Overview Shingū Station is the main railway station in Shingū, and plays an important role ...

on the JR

Kisei Main Line The is a railway line that parallels the coastline of the Kii Peninsula in Japan between Mie Prefecture and Wakayama Prefecture. The name takes the ''kanji'' characters from the names of the old provinces of and . The line is operated by Cen ...

, whose tracks cut across the castle grounds in a tunnel.

Gallery

171008 Shingu Castle Shingu Wakayama pref Japan19n.jpg, Site of the Otemon Gate to the main enclosure 新宮城本丸石垣.JPG, Walls of the main enclosure 171008 Shingu Castle Shingu Wakayama pref Japan37n.jpg, Ruins of the Matsu-no-maru gate 100718 Shingu Castle Shingu Wakayama pref Japan01s.jpg, Shingū Castle ruins from the Kumano River

Literature

* * * * *

External links

Shingu City Tourist Association

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shingu Castle Castles in Wakayama Prefecture Historic Sites of Japan Ruined castles in Japan Shingū, Wakayama Kii Province

History

Gallery

See also

Literature

External links

Notes