was a ''jōsaku''-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 a ...

built in the late

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capita ...

in what is now part of the city of

Tagajō is a city located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 62,869 in 27,869 households, and a population density of 3,200 people per km². The total area of the city is . The city was named after Taga Castle, the c ...

Miyagi prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,265,724 (1 August 2023) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akit ...

in the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, , or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains ...

of far northern

Honshu , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by ...

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 ...

. Bashō tells of his visit to the site in ''

Oku no Hosomichi , translated as ''The Narrow Road to the Deep North'' and ''The Narrow Road to the Interior'', is a major work of ''haibun'' by the List of Japanese language poets, Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō, considered one of the major texts of Japanese liter ...

''. The ruins of Taga-jō and its former temple have been designated a since 1922.

History

In the

, after the establishment of a centralized government under the ''

Ritsuryō is the historical Japanese legal system, legal system based on the philosophies of Confucianism and Legalism (Chinese philosophy), Chinese Legalism in Feudal Japan. The political system in accord to Ritsuryō is called "Ritsuryō-sei" (). ''Kya ...

'' system, the imperial court sent a number of military expeditions to what is now the

of northern Japan to bring the local Emishi tribes under its control. In what is now Miyagi Prefecture, a civil administration was established in the form of a provincial capital and regional administrative centers in the late 6th century; however, a massive Emishi uprising occurred in 709 AD during which time many of these structures were destroyed. Per the ''

Shoku Nihongi The is an imperially-commissioned Japanese history text. Completed in 797, it is the second of the '' Six National Histories'', coming directly after the and followed by ''Nihon Kōki''. Fujiwara no Tsugutada and Sugano no Mamichi served as t ...

'', following a huge earthquake in the year 715 AD, a large number of people migrated to this area from the southern

Kantō region The is a geography, geographical region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures of Japan, prefectures: Chiba Prefecture, Chiba, Gunma Prefe ...

, forming numerous fortified settlements in the hinterland. An inscription on a monument found at the site of Taga Castle gives a foundation date of 724 AD and states that it was constructed by Azumabito Ono as the provisional provincial capital of Mutsu Province. Along with Akita Castle and Okachi Fort in

Dewa Province was a province of Japan comprising modern-day Yamagata Prefecture and Akita Prefecture, except for the city of Kazuno and the town of Kosaka. Dewa bordered on Mutsu and Echigō Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History Early per ...

, it was one of the main bases for the Yamato re-expansion into northern Honshu. Its commander was titled and was the northern equivalent to the commander of in

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's Japanese archipelago, four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa Island, Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Ryukyu Islands, Islands ...

. The castle was significantly renovated by Fujiwara Asakari in 762 AD. Taga Castle was rebuilt after being sacked and burned by the Emishi in 780 AD. From 802 AD, the frontier between Yamato and Emishi territories shifted further north due to the successful campaigns of Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, and with the construction of Isawa Castle, Taga Castle gradually lost importance. It was retained as a center for administrative functions, but most military activities were transferred to various northern strongholds. It was badly damaged by the Jōgan tsunami of 869. In 10th century, due to the collapse of ancient administrative system and rise of local samurai bands, the central government abandoned direct rule in favor of a feudal system of local warlords nominally under the control of various nobles in Kyoto. Taga Caste gradually fell into ruins, and rise of Hiraizumi under the

Northern Fujiwara The Northern Fujiwara (奥州藤原氏 ''Ōshū Fujiwara-shi'') were a Japanese noble family that ruled the Tōhoku region (the northeast of Honshū) of Japan during the 12th century as their own realm.

in the twelfth century saw its final demise. During the

Nanboku-chō period The , also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period, was a period in Japanese history between 1336-1392 CE, during the formative years of the Ashikaga shogunate, Muromachi (Ashikaga) shogunate. Ideologically, the two courts fought for 50 ...

Kitabatake Chikafusa was a Japanese court noble and writer of the 14th century who supported the Southern Court in the Nanboku-cho period, serving as advisor to five Emperors. Some of his greatest and most famous work was performed during the reign of Emperor ...

and his son

Kitabatake Akiie was a Japanese court noble, and an important supporter of the Southern Court during the Nanboku-chō Wars. He also held the posts of Commander-in-Chief of the Defense of the North, and Governor of Mutsu Province. His father was Imperial ad ...

briefly occupied the site for the

Southern Court The were a set of four emperors ( Emperor Go-Daigo and his line) whose claims to sovereignty during the Nanboku-chō period spanning from 1336 through 1392 were usurped by the Northern Court. This period ended with the Southern Court definitivel ...

, but later moved to the more secure mountain fortress of Mount Ryōzen to the north. The site reverted to empty fields, and was not excavated until 1955, with more extensive investigations in 1976.

Description

Taga Castle is more of a fortified city than a military stronghold. It is located on a plateau 10 kilometer northeast of Sendai city near the Pacific coast. This area is a hill country which divides the Sendai Plain into half and which was close to

Shiogama is a cities of Japan, city located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 52,662, and a population density of 3,032 persons per km² in 23,270 households. The total area of the city is . Geography Shiogama is in n ...

, a natural port which was also used during this era. The site was surrounded by a marsh and rivers, making it an appropriate place for defense. The fortification was a square enclosure, approximately 3.4 kilometers in perimeter, consisting of a 5-meter high earthen

rampart Rampart may refer to: * Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement Rampart may also refer to: * LAPD Rampart Division, a division of the Los Angeles Police Department ** Rampart scandal, a blanket ter ...

surmounted by a wooden

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...

, and protected by a 3-4 meter wide dry moat. The east side of the castle facing the connecting hills was especially well-protected, and an east side gate was built inside of hollow of the wall guarded by corner turret. Within the fortified main gate in the south was a main road of over 20 meters in width leading to a second square enclosure, 100 meter square, also with earthen walls. The outer area contained administrative offices, barracks and the residences of officers, while the inner area contained the higher government administrative buildings, workshops and storehouses. About a kilometer south of the Taga Castle ruins are the ruins of a large Buddhist temple complex, and outside the southern wall of the castle are the ruins of a planned settlement. The site today is maintained as an archaeological park. Taga Castle was listed as one of the 100 Fine Castles of Japan by the Japan Castle Foundation in 2006. File:Taga Castle zenkei.JPG, Panorama File:Tagajo-ato seiden.JPG, Site of the Front Palace File:Tagajo-ato kouden.JPG, Site of the Rear Palace File:Tagajo-ato higashi-wakiden.JPG, Site of the Eastern Palace File:Tagajo-ato nishi-wakiden.JPG, Site of the Western Palace File:Tagajo-ato nanmon.JPG, Site of the South Gate File:Tagajo-ato nandou.JPG, from the center facing south File:Tagajo Kashiwagi 01.JPG, ruins of a foundry

Tagajō Stele

The or is a stone

stele A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...

with a

inscription Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

that gives distances to the capital at

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...

, the province of the Emishi, and other regions. creatively recounts his viewing of the monument in ', concluding 'there are seldom any certain vestiges of what has been, yet in this place there are wholly trustworthy memorials of events a millennium ago' and is moved to tears. In his account the monument functions as a poetic place or '' utamakura''. In 1998 it was designated an Important Cultural Property.

Tagajō Temple ruins

Excavations to the southeast of the fort have uncovered the ruins of a temple, now known as Tagajō Haiji. Such temples were built in concert with a provincial administrative center. Five buildings have been identified inside a large rectangular compound enclosed by an earthen wall.

Tōhoku History Museum

The , on the grounds of the Taga Castle, has finds from the excavations as well as from other sites in Tōhoku.

References

External links

Tagajō Tourist Association

Excavation report
The Comprehensive Database of Archaeological Site Reports in Japan.

JCastle info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Site of Tagajo Castles in Miyagi Prefecture Buddhist temples in Miyagi Prefecture Special Historic Sites Important Cultural Properties of Japan Tagajō, Miyagi Ruined castles in Japan History of Miyagi Prefecture Nara period Archaeological sites in Japan Archaeological parks Mutsu Province