Kawagoe Castle
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Kawagoe Castle (川越城, Kawagoe-jō) is a flatland
Along with a number of other castles in the region, Kawagoe saw much action in the 15th-16th centuries, as the
Decades later, when the Hōjō clan sought to gain control of the Kantō, Hōjō Ujitsuna took Edo castle in 1524, and subsequently seized Kawagoe in 1537, with the latter serving as an important base of operations. For roughly two decades after that, the Uesugi launched a number of attempts to regain the region. This culminated in the 1545 Siege of Kawagoe Castle, as the heavily outnumbered Hōjō garrison of Kawagoe defeated an attempted siege of Edo castle. This victory would lead to the end of Uesugi power in the region, and the near-total destruction of that clan.
The Hōjō having secured themselves in the region, Kawagoe served for another forty-five years as a satellite fortress defending
From the fall of the Later Hōjō until the end of the Edo period, it was the headquarters of the Kawagoe Domain.
Modern fate
In 1870 dismantlement of the castle began. Some of the buildings were relocated in Kawagoe and to nearby cities.
Today only a mound on which a yagura, or tower, and the primary hall (本丸御殿, Honmaru Goten) still remain on the original site. In 1967 the Saitama Prefectural Government designated it as a
References
- Sansom, George (1961). "A History of Japan: 1334-1615." Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
- ja:川越城 Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. (Japanese) as of 2008-03-07.
Literature
- De Lange, William (2021). An Encyclopedia of Japanese Castles. Groningen: Toyo Press. p. 600. ISBN 978-9492722300.
- Schmorleitz, Morton S. (1974). Castles in Japan. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co. ISBN 0-8048-1102-4.