Numata Castle
Numata Castle 沼田城 | |
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Numata, Gunma Prefecture, Japan | |
Coordinates | 36°38′55.4″N 139°2′20.5″E / 36.648722°N 139.039028°E |
Type | hilltop-style Japanese castle |
Site information | |
Open to the public | yes |
Site history | |
Built | 1532 rebuilt 1597, 1703 |
Built by | Numata Akiyasu, Sanada Nobuyuki, Honda Masanaga |
In use | Edo period |
Demolished | 1681, 1872 |
Numata Castle (沼田城, Numata-jō) is a
History
During the
Sanada Nobuyuki comprehensively rebuilt on a vast scale Numata Castle in 1597, incorporating stone walls and a large five-story donjon and several three-story yagura. Numata became a separate domain from the main Sanada holding at Ueda Castle in 1656. However, in 1681 Sanada Nobutoshi was dispossessed by the Tokugawa shogunate for gross under-representation of his revenues, and the castle of destroyed.
Numata Domain was restored in 1703 and given to Honda Masanaga, who rebuilt Numata Castle on a smaller scale by re-excavating some of the filled-in moats and restoring some of the earthen works, but a new donjon or yagura were never built. The castle then passed into the hands of a junior branch of the Kuroda clan before passing into the hands of the Toki clan in 1742. The Toki resided in a residence built within the third bailey, but the "castle" remained little more than a jin'ya.
In 1912, a former samurai in the service of the Toki clan, Kume Tamenosuke, purchased the castle site, and he donated it to the town of Numata in 1926 for use as a park. The park contains the Ubukata House, an Edo period structure that was once used as a pharmacy in the Numata castle town. The structure is an Important Cultural Property and serves as a local history museum. It also contains a scale model of Numata Castle under the Sanada.
Numata Castle was listed as one of the
References
- ^ "続日本100名城" (in Japanese). 日本城郭協会. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
Literature
- 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. pp. 144–145. ISBN 0-8048-1102-4.
- Motoo, Hinago (1986). Japanese Castles. Tokyo: Kodansha. p. 200 pages. ISBN 0-87011-766-1.
- Mitchelhill, Jennifer (2004). Castles of the Samurai: Power and Beauty. Tokyo: Kodansha. p. 112 pages. ISBN 4-7700-2954-3.
- Turnbull, Stephen (2003). Japanese Castles 1540-1640. Osprey Publishing. p. 64 pages. ISBN 1-84176-429-9.