Iga Ueno Castle
Iga Ueno Castle | |
---|---|
伊賀上野城 | |
Iga, Mie Prefecture, Japan | |
![]() Reconstructed tenshu of Iga Ueno Castle | |
Coordinates | 34°46′12″N 136°07′38″E / 34.770091°N 136.127194°E |
Type | hirayama-style Japanese castle |
Site information | |
Open to the public | yes (park) |
Condition | partially reconstructed |
Site history | |
Built | Edo period |
Built by | Tsutsui Sadatsugu / Tōdō Takatora |
In use | Edo period |
Demolished | 1871 |
Iga Ueno Castle (伊賀上野城, Iga-Ueno-jō), also known as Ueno Castle (上野城, Ueno-jō) is a
Overview
Iga Ueno Castle is located on a hill at the northwestern corner of plateau formed by the Kizu River and Tsuge River, in the center of the city of Iga. The city itself is located in a mountainous basin on an important route connecting the ancient capital cities of
History
In 1581, Oda Nobunaga invaded and conquered Iga. Construction on Iga Ueno Castle began in 1585 by the command of Takigawa Katsutoshi. Under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tsutsui Sadatsugu (1562-1615), was transferred from Kōriyama Castle in Yamato Province to rule over Iga. He reconstructed the castle by dividing the hill into an upper eastern half and lower western half, with the upper portion forming the honmaru, or innermost bailey, with a three-story tenshu on its eastern edge.
Following the Battle of Sekigahara, Tokugawa Ieyasu expelled Tsutsui Sadatsugu from Iga Province for his pro-Toyotomi stance and installed his trusted general Tōdō Takatora to rule over Iga and the northern half of Ise Province. Tōdō also had a reputation for castle architecture and had previously built Uwajima Castle and Imabari Castle. At Iga Ueno, he renovated the honmaru, giving it 30 metres (98 feet) high walls. This meant that the walls of the honmaru of Iga Ueno Castle were the tallest of any castle in Japan. He also significantly expanded the castle area overall, with large kuruwa terraces of over 100 meters in length extending to the east and west. This gave the castle an overall size of 800 meters by 400 meters in total, with the new inner baily shifted to the western half of the hill. The site of the Tsutsui tenshu became the main residence, and a new five-story tenshu was in the process of being constructed when it was destroyed in a wind storm in 1612. However, after the Toyotomi clan was extinguished at the Siege of Osaka in 1615, the castle lost its importance and the tenshu (along with a planned series of water moats and stone walls) was never completed.[2]
Present situation
Following the
In 1935, the tenshu was re-constructed out of wood.
Parts of the Akira Kurosawa movie Kagemusha were filmed at Iga Ueno Castle.
Immediately alongside the castle is the
The castle is a 30-minute walk from
See also
References
- ^ "伊賀上野跡". Cultural Heritage Online (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved 25 December 2016.
- ^ Iga Ueno Castle
- ^ Iga Ueno Castle Archived 2008-02-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Iga Ueno Castle, Mie". Archived from the original on 2008-04-15. Retrieved 2008-04-26.
- ^ Japan Castle Foundation
Further reading
- Benesch, Oleg and Ran Zwigenberg (2019). Japan's Castles: Citadels of Modernity in War and Peace. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 374. ISBN 9781108481946.
- De Lange, William (2021). An Encyclopedia of Japanese Castles. Groningen: Toyo Press. pp. 600 pages. ISBN 978-9492722300.
- Schmorleitz, Morton S. (1974). Castles in Japan. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co. ISBN 0-8048-1102-4.
External links
Media related to Iga Ueno Castle at Wikimedia Commons