[Explanation]
As you can see in Marugame castle, the stone wall is very high and the castle tower has been built. The height of the stone wall is known to be the highest in Japan.

Castle tower itself is a small petite and the smallest guardian in the Mie castle Tower. Inner moat surrounded inner citadel, there was a samurai residence around that, but most of it was demolished in Meiji era.

In the era of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, it became the territory of the Ikoma family, the main castle was Takamatsu Castle, and Marugame castle existed as the castle of Takamatsu Castle. Later, during the Edo Period several Daimyo came, but in 1658, the prestigious Kyogoku family of Omi entered in 60 thousand stones and enter the Meiji Restoration.

In Heisei 18th Era (2006), it was selected as “Japan’s No. 78th among Japan’s 100 Great castle”.

As stated above the height of the stone wall is not ordinary. I hesitated too to climb to Inner citadel. However, the view from the castle was a very wonderful landscape. I hope you visit it by all means.

[Address,access]
1 Marugame city, Kagawa prefecture 763 – 0025

[Map]

[Explanation]
Maruoka castle existed in Maruoka, Sakai-shi in Fukui Prefecture. It was a flat mountain castle located on top of the hill that was at the East side of Maruoka city. It is also called Kasumiga Castle.

It was built by Katsutoyo Shibata, who was a Nobunaga Oda’s vassal that had moved from Toyoharaji castle.
In 1582 after the incident of Honnnoji, Katsutoyo was moved to Nagahama castle in Omi through the Kiyosu conference, and instead Katsuie appointed Iekiyo Yasuie as the new owner of Maruoka castle.

In 1583 when the battle of Shizugatake occurred after the relationship between Katsuie Shibata and Hideyoshi Toyotomi became worse, Katsuie lost at this war and was killed at Kitanosho castle. After that Echizen became under control of Nagahide Niwa, and Nagahide appointed Munekatsu Aoyama sa the owner of Maruoka castle.

After the death of Nagahide Niwa, Munekatsu Aoyama and his son Tadamoto continued to be vassals of Hideyoshi Toyotomi, keeping the ownership of the territory. In 1600 at the battle of Sekigahara, they supported the West troops (Mitsunari Ishida), had lost the war and the Aoyama family was subject to Kaieki.

Hideyasu Yuki, Ieyasu Tokugawa’s second son, took over Echizen, and Moritsugu Imamura, Hideyasu’s vassal, was given 26 thousand Koku and owned the castle. However in 1612, Moritsugu Imamura was overthrown at the incident of Echizen, and Narishige Honda became the new owner of the castle.

After that, Tadanao Matsudaira, the 2nd lord of Fukui domain, was sent away to Bungo no Kuni due to his inexcusable actions, and Fukui domain had fallen. At the same time, Narishige Honda became independent from Fukui domain and he started Maruoka domain.

In 1695, during Shigemasu’s period, a family incident occurred among the Honda family and they were subject to Kaieki by Bakufu. Kiyozumi Arima then became the owner for 50 thousand Koku, and since then Arima-shi have been the owner until the Meiji restoration. It is estimated that the castle tower was built in Azuchi Momoyama period, and it is registered as national important cultural treasure.

※Maruoka castle is registered 36th in Japan’s 100 famous castles.

[Address,access]
1-59 Maruokacho Kasumicho, Sakai-shi, Fukui 910-0231

[Map]

[Explanation]
Kazutoyo Yamauchi received Tosa from Ieyasu Tokugawa because of his achievement at the battle of Sekigahara, and he entered Urado castle that was owned by Motochika and Morichika Chosokabe at that time. But in 1601 he started to build a new castle on mount Otakasaka, and when Honmaru and Ninomaru were completed in 1603, he moved there from Urado castle.

Tosa was territory of Motochika and Morichika Chosokabe, so he struggled to govern Tosa. He applied a strict class system, where Chosokabe-shi’s former retainers were to be Goshi, and the vassals of the Yamauchi family were classified as Joshi.

Many of the people that played an important role during Bakumatsu were from Goshi.
The famous examples include Ryuma Sakamoto, Shintaro Nakaoka, Mitsuaki Tanaka, Yotaro Iwasaki.

■ Urado Castle ruins, where Motochika and Morichika Chosokabe resided.

浦戸城：土佐の戦国大名長宗我部元親・長宗我部盛親の居城 浦戸城石碑 【お城特集 日本の歴史】

[Address,access]
1-2-1 Marunouchi, Kochi-shi, Kochi

[Map]

[Explanation]
Matsue castle was a flat mountain castle that was located in Matsue-shi in Shimane prefecture. It is also called Chidori castle. There is a castle tower that still exists, and it is registered as an important cultural property of the country and the castle ruin is registered as a national historic site. It was also chosen 64th in Japan’s 100 famous castles.

Tadauji Horio became the owner of Gassantoda castle in 1600 after the battle of Sekigahara. But Gassantoda castle was originally Amago-shi’s residence and it was not suited for the construction of a modern style castle town, so the ruins of Suetsugu castle became an option to construct a modern style castle.

In 1607 the construction began on mount Kameda, where Suetsugu castle existed. And in the winter of 1611, the construction of Matsue castle was completed (Yoshiharu Horio had died in June right before its completion). In 1633 after Tadaharu Horio’s death, Horio-shi was subject to Kaieki since there was no successor.

In 1634 Kyogoku Tadataka became the owner. During Kyogoku’s period, Sannomaru that still exists was built and Matsue castle was completed. In 1637, Kyogoku-shi ended because Tadataka Kyogoku did not have any successor.

Naomasa Matsudaira became the owner in 1638, and the Matsudaira family continued to govern the region until the Meiji restoration. It flourished as a center of economics in Izumo region during Edo period. But Matsue castle was destroyed in Meiji.

In 1960, a part of Honmaru was restored, and in 1994 the pathway that connects Sannomaru and Ninomaru, and a gate bridge were also restored. in 2000, South Yagura and a part of the moat, and in 2001 Naka Yogura and Taiko Yagura, and another part of the moat were restored as well.

The castle ruin is used as a park called Matsue Shiroyama Park. Matsue castle was the only castle that had a castle tower that adopted the construction style of early Edo period.

※The picture shows Matsue castle that was registered as the 64th castle of Japan’s 100 famous castles

[Address,access]
1-5 Tonomachi, Matsue-shi, Shimane 690-0887

[Map]

[Explanation]
Himeji Castle was originally the residence of Kuroda-shi. Kuroda-shi gradually gained power in the region, and when the Oda family’s power became very big and when they were ready to fight Mori, Kuroda-shi advised Masamoto Kodera to be on the Oda family’s side. However, the Oda family still had many enemies including Osaka’s Honganji, Kai’s Katsuyori Takeda, and Echigo’s Shingen Uesugi.

When the attack on the Chugoku region began, Hideyoshi Hashiba was appointed as the commander in chief but his army did not have that many soldiers. But Kanbe Kuroda, the lord of the Kuroda family at that time, strongly believed in Oda’s unification of the country.

The situation got worse and Murashige Araki started a rebellion with Nagaharu Bessho against the Oda family. Kanbe was placed in a very tight situation, but the Oda family avoided the direct fight with Mori-shi, and instead, invaded each regions gradually. Kanbe went to Murashige Araki to persuade him to stop the rebellion, but he was confined in Arioka castle. He was rescued when Arioka castle was defeated.

After a long battle, Nagaharu Bessho also surrendered and Harima no Kuni was restored. At this time Kanbe was impressed by Hideyoshi’s power and he was serving him. And when Hideyoshi needed a base in order to conquer the Chugoku region, he handed his Himeji castle to Hideyoshi.

Himeji castle was then expanded and remodeled rapidly by Hideyoshi, and became an important base for them. After that when the incident of Honnoji happened, he continued to defeat Mitsuhide Akechi, Katie Shibata who was Oda’s vassal, Ichimasu Takigawa, and eventually Ieyasu Tokugawa. And in the end he defeated Hojo-shi, achieving Tenka.

On the other hand, Hidenaga Toyotomi and Iesada Kinoshita were appointed as the owner of Himeji castle. After the death of Hideyoshi, in 1600 the battle of Sekigahara between Mitsunari Ishida who was plotting reconstruction of the Toyotomi family, and Ieyasu Tokugawa occurred, the east troops led by Ieyasu defeated the west troops led by Mitsunari in a day, and the Toyotomi family fell. Terumasa Ikeda became the owner of Himeji castle after the battle of Sekigahara.

However, when young Mitsumasa took over the castle after the death of Terumasa, Bakufu did not feel at ease since Himeji castle was an important base for them. So they transferred the Ikeda family to Tottori, and appointed Honda-shi as the new owner. During Honda-shi’s period, every part of Himeji castle was completed. After Honda-shi, the owner of Himeji castle continued to change, to the Matsudaira family, Sakakibara family, Matsudaira family, Honda family, Sakakibara family, and then to Matsudaira family again. After that Sakai-shi became the owner and it continued until the end of Sengoku period.

Himeji castle is also called Hakuro castle because of its beautiful white walls, and the castle tower and Yagura that has been existing since Edo period are registered as an important cultural property of the country. It is also registered as national special historic site, 59th castle of Japan’s 100 famous castles, as well as UNESCO world heritage site.

[Address,access]
68 Honmachi, Himeji-shi, Hyogo 670-0012

[Map]

[Description]
Matsumoto Castle was also called [Fukashi Castle] during Sengoku Era. The castle was built by [Ishikawa Kazumasa] who was the competent vassal of [Tokugawa Ieyasu]. However, it was the residence of Mr. Ogasawara during Sengoku Era. And Ishikawa Kazumasa renovated it. Kazumasa was originally the vassal of Mr. Tokugawa. Because he was appointed as the foreign affairs officer with Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the distance with Mr. Toyotomi became closer as more opportunities to contact Hideyoshi.

The truth is unknown whether Kazumasa’s deviations related with the attraction of Hideyoshi or it is due to the internal life dangerous from Ieyasu, but as the point of contact with Mr. Toyotomi increased, the distance to Tokugawa bassal group became wider. In addition, it is said that it had gone to Hideyoshi’s pull-out technique which was said to be “a coterie of a buddy”.

Kazumasa was appointed as the castle owner of Matsumoto Castle after [the Battle of Hojo], and Ieyasu ordered the remains of Mr. hojo to transfer to Kanto. Therefore, Mr. Tokugawa’s vassal Mr. Ogasawara also transferred to Kanto. After Kazumasa was transferred, he quicky prepared to renovate the castle. The renovation continued until Kazumasa’s on [Yasunaga]’s generation. And the foundation of the castle town like resent was completed.

Today the remains are designated as National Treasury Tenshu. Tenshu of Matsumoto Castle is as valuable as [Himeji Castle]. In addition, Mr. Ishikawa afterward is said to have been involved by sin caused by the famous [Okubo Cho An Incident], or by the withdrawal of the Daimyo name by the Tokugawa Shogunate.

※When Mr. Tokugawa retreated, Mr. Ishikawa was treated as a fairytale Daimyo, not a score Daimyo.

[Ishikawa Yasunaga (Kazumasa’s son)] and his younger brother had participated in the [Osaka Jin]. Thus the end of the Mr. Ishikawa who was the deputy of Mr. Tokugawa was ended as anti-Tokugawa. Meanwhile, after Mr. Ishikawa was replaced, there were a few castle owners of Matsumoto Castle, first was Mr. Ogasawara, then Mr. Toda, Mr. Matsudaira, Mr. Hotta, Mr. Mizuno and Daimyo ruled this castle.

The beauty of Matsumoto Castle was reflected on the moats that surround the black castor Tenshu and the Castle tower. Matsumoto Castle is currently selected as the 29th famous castles in Japan.

[Matsumoto castle]
〒390-0873 4-1 Marunouchi, Matsumoto City, Nagano Province

[Map]

[Description]
Inuyama Castle is located inuyama City, Aichi Province, known as the National Treasures of Japan.

Nakamura Kazuuji was the castle owner during the period of Sekigahara Battle.
At that time, Yamauchi Kazutoyo was castle owner of Kakegawa Castle.

It is said that Inuyama Castle was built by Mr. Oda during Sengoku Era. It was involved in the Battle of Komaki Nagakute, and the Battle of Sekigahara, experienced being fallen down for 3 times.

When entering Edo Era, it was the residence of Mr. Nariseshi until Meiji Restoration. It was abandoned due to the Castle Abandon Order and only Tenshu escaped.
It is considered the national treasure of Japan as it has the existing Tenshu. Nowadays, a part of iron gate and oar are repaired.

[Address,access]
〒484-0082 65-2 Kitakoken, Inuyama, Inuyama City, Aichi Province

[Map]

[Description]
Hikone Castle is located in Hikone City, Shiga Province. It is a few flatland-mountain castle with the existing Tenshu left. [Ii Naomasa] was awarded 180000 stones from Tokugawa Ieyasu after [the Battle of Sekigahara], and his residence was Sawayama Castle.

However, the previous castle owner was [Ishida Mitsunari] and Naomasa hated living in mid century castle so he moved and started thinking of a modern castle. But Naomasa did not recover from the injury, he died while still thinking of the castle. [Ii Naotsugu] inherited Hikone Castle as well as the renovation will from his father.

It is said that it took 20 years to complete the castle. Mainly around Honmaru, the structure of the Omote, Nishinomaru, Bell Maru, Ninomaru, and the present existing Tenshu, multipurpose bench, balancing oar, drum, etc are still left.

This area was ruled by Mr. Ii until Meiji Restoration, and it escaped from being abandoned. Hikone Castle is one of Japan’s five greatest treasures (the other four are Matsumoto Castle, Inuyama Castle, Himeji Castle and Matuse Castle), and is selected as the 50th National Castle of Japan.

※The status of [Ii Naomasa] is built on front of Hikone Station.

[Address,access]
〒522-0061 １−１ Konki Town, Hikone City, Shiga Province

[Map]