Major CastlesMedieval Japan was home to hundreds of different castles, all serving their own purpose, but most were home to high authoritative figures or were used as military bases. Three of their major castles were the Osaka Castle, Himeji Castle, and Nijo Castle, however we also looked into a few smaller castles, Hirosaki and Matsumoto.
Osaka Castle The Osaka castle is a big landmark in history as it has been home to major battles, home to high
authoritative figures, and displays great Japanese architecture. The first construction began in 1583 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi at the former site of the Shiyama Honganji Temple. Hideyoshi intended for this castle to be the centre for the new, unified Japan. The original model for the Osaka Castle resembled the Azuchi Castle, headquarters of Oda Nobunaga. The castle featured 8 total stories, 5 main stories and 3 underground, with Gold Leaf on the outside to impress visitors. The year the Osaka Castle was finally completed in 1597, Hideyoshi died and passed the castle to Toyotomi Hideyori. (Osaka Castle- A Symbol of Osaka- 12) 3 years later in the year 1600, though, Ieyasu Tokugawa went on a power strike and attacked the castle with an army surpassing 200,000 men. Although Hideyori was outnumber by almost 2:1, the defenses built into the castle gave them the ability to ward off Tokugawa, for then at least. (Source 12) Some of the features built into and around the Osaka castle fortifying it from attackers are a big moat, walls, loopholes, stone drops, and arrow-ports. A moat 70-90 meters width, followed up by a wall 20+ meters in height made it very inaccessible to attackers. Stone drops were areas built into the castle that gave defenders the ability to, you guessed it, drop stones! Resembling windows in looks, sometimes these drop spots would go unseen by attackers, making them a successful defense weapon. Loopholes and arrow-ports were very similar, acting as minimally exposed areas to shoot a rifle or bow at attackers. (Majestic Urban Oasis- 6) In the year 1615, fed up and outraged Tokugawa sent his men back to the Osaka Castle and forcefully took control via the Summer Siege, marking an end to the Toyotomi Clan. By 1620, Tokugawa Hidetada, the new shogunate heir, began to rebuild the castle, maximizing its defenses and making it bigger than ever. Unfortunately for the mostly wooden castle, though, between 1660 and 1665 there were two major lightning strikes, destroying much of the revamped Osaka castle. (Osaka Castle- A Symbol of Osaka- 12) It took almost 200 years for this historic castle to get the desperately needed repairs, until money was finally collected from locals in 1843 to restore several turrets. In 1868, however, much of the castle was burned in civil war surrounding the Meiji Restoration and became used as a place to manufacture weapons for the great Japanese Army. In 1995, another restoration project was put in place, and the Osaka castle has lately been a very popular, and beautiful, tourist destination. (Osaka Castle- A Symbol of Osaka-12) People from all around the world come to see the great all the wonders it has to offer, and most are usually stunned (In a good way of coarse) about the thousands of blooming cherry trees. (Majestic Urban Oasis- 6) Nijo Castle The Nijo castle in Kyoto, Japan, built in 1603 by Tokugawa Ieyasu, was a beautiful and large castle (275,000 square meters) meant to shows its glory. (Nijo Castle GJG-10) The Nijo castle consists of two cocentric rings of forts, the Ninomaru Palace, ruins of the beautiful Honmaru Palace, and many support buildings in the complex with elaborate gardens expressing the castle's complex. This castle was built in a Shinden style, common style during the Heian period and in the Muromachi period, which comprised of a main hall (the shinden), with many subsidiary halls connecting from it. (Nijo Castle AHA- 11) Because of these shinden mansions, the atmosphere was cloistered, cauing small parcels of land. The gardens made in the limited land were quite grand. South of the shinden is a rectangular field that extends to a vast pond. On both sides of the shinden are covered corridors which lead to ponds with small islands in them. These mansions that contained the shinden's, however, were staggered into shoins (bays) which increased privacy and the peace once you were further from the entrance. (Nijo Castle AHA- 11) The further inside the castle you were showed the importance of your social ranking. The castle even showed more elegance when further in the architecture. The castle was built for shoguns and contributed by other feudal lords in Western Japan, so the interior of the castle the further in you were had paved tatami mats and glowed with rich decoration like golden paintings. (Nijo Castle AHA- 11)
Even though this castle had many riches to it, it was barely attacked and even settled in. It was used around three times by Tokugawa Ieyasu and two other times from his successors. The castle had remained empty for over 200 years until the shoguns had returned at the end of the Tokugawa period. (Nijo Castle AHA- 11) For example, the last shogun decided to live in the castle till the Meji restoration abolished the system of shogunates in 1868. (Nijo Castle AHA) The castle went through some troubling times afterwards and some main areas got destroyed. It even did before that, not from invasions, but from natural disasters. In 1750, the Donjon (greatest tower) of the castle was stricken by lightening and burned to the ground. (Nijo Castle GJG- 10) The inner palace of the castle was destroyed by a city wide fire in 1788. People have tried their best now to preserve it when in 1939 the castle was given to the city and restored most of it's structure. (Nijo Castle AHA- 11) In the Nijo castle there were a couple of palaces, but one of the most important ones was the Ninomau Palace that stood tall. It is made of hinoki cypress, a wood native to Japan, like how most buildings are made of wood. It was a beautiful piece of architecture with decorations of golden leaf designs and many wood carvings, which intended to show the wealth and power of the Shoguns. (Nijo Castle GJG- 10) The building is intimidating, showing its power to it visitors just as you walk in with the decorated wall paintings from the Kano school (famous Japanese at school) on the doors of the building. They didn’t have bodyguards to guard the doors since they thought the building was intimidating enough. (Nijo Castle GJG- 10) The building consists of reception chambers, living quarters, offices, and even areas where females could only go. This building showed a lot about social class, like other buildings, meaning the higher power you had the closer to the center of the complex you were. In order to know where people were at all times and to be careful of invaders inside the building, they had nightingale floors which cracked loudly for people to hear. (Nijo Castle GJG- 10) They also had secret doors inside walls for guards to protect important figure deeper in the building. Another palace that was similiar to the Ninomaru palace but smaller and less important was the Homaru palace. It also had living quarters, reception and entertainment rooms, entrance halls, and a kitchen area that was connected to the corridors and courtyards. (Nijo Castle GJG- 10) It also expressed some of the same elegance from the Ninomaru palace with it's paintings, being done by many famous artists. It actually had an architectural style more from the Edo period unlike others in castle's complex. This is because the palace was originally known as the Katsura palace with 55 attached buildings to it but it got relocated into the Nijo castle complex. (Nijo Castle GJG- 10) To express the castle's beauty in the outdoors, there were also many gardens with many cherry and ume trees spread throughout the layout of the castle. (Nijo Castle GJG- 10) The most famous garden was the Ninomaru garden next to the Ninomaru palace. It had a vast pond including three islands in it and features of carefully placed stones and topiary pine trees. Since this castle is now open to the public, to make the environment even more appealing to the eye they have added more gardens like the Soryu-en garden, which includes two tea houses and over 1000 carefully placed stones. (Nijo Castle GJG- 10) Himeji Castle The Himeji Castle was originally built in 1346 by Akamatsu Sadonori as a fortification against the local shogun. The Himeji was originally a fort until in 1577, Nobunaga Oda took control of the area and placed Hideyoshi in charge of the fort. Hideyoshi later transformed the Himeji into a Castle. In 1601 Terumasa was given control of the Himeji Castle by Tokagawa Ieyasu as a gift for his support in the battle of Sekigahara against Toyotomi. Terumasa intended to mold the Himeji Castle off of the Azuchi Castle. The Himehi castle then underwent 9 years of construction. The Harim district (where the Hemeji was located) was full of Toyotomi supporters. The Hemeji Played a key role in the protection and defense of the area and of Terumasa.
The Himeji castle is located on 4 primary hill in the Harim Plains. The center complex, ore donjon and 3 complementary ores , was located on 2 hills. The main tower of 150m (Columbia, 18) and the western tower where located on another 2 hills. The main tower is connected to adjacent areas by a network of different passages and corridors which form courts (wateriyagura). The base of the main tower was the palace room of the castle before it was burned down in a fire. In the South East corner of the court there is the Harakiri maru which is the designated area of the Samurai Sepoku. The main Donjon/keep is 6 stories high, the east and west towers are 4 stories high and the northwest tower is 5 floors high (Columbia, 18). Storehouses and residences are also a part of the castle. They are enclosed by the middle and outer moat and stone walls. The Design of the Himeji is a spiral where the main complex is located in the middle and the surrounding building protect the center. This is an approximation of the Hashigokaku style of Japanese Castles. The topographical location is the key strategic factor in the Himeji Caslte's impenetrability. Geographically strategic location is one of the most if not the most important aspects of a Castle's defense. The Himeji is a hill castle that uses its surrounding geographical area fro protection and as walls. There are 3 moats that divide the castle. Moats are especially key in slowing down the enemy, making them unorganized and inefficient. The Himeji was virtually impenetrable with 15 meter slope hills and a wandering maze of passages that will confuse any foreign enemy (Columbia, 18). The castle is equipped with regions of 84 gates that are strong and narrow so that not many men can pass through them at a time (Columbia, 18). There area also openings in the walls for surprise attacks (ishiutushi) for rifle or arrow (sama). There is a mentally testing aspect to the castle where the integration of nature confused and exhausts the enemy. Together all these aspects attribute to the success of the Himeji Castle. This Castle is a significant cultural mark in Japanese history. Aside from its beauty the Castle served a very important militaristic purpose. There is a beautiful harmony between man and nature and the craftsmanship of the Castle is breathe taking. The remarkable use of stone, walls, trees, water, wood and passages are some of the most interesting and heavenly structures. The Castle is simple but has an elegant feel. It wasn't just a death fort, but symbolized Daimyo power. It was a life palace. Hirosaki Castle The Hirosaki castle is a Japanese style castle spanning 612 meters east-west and 947 meters north-south. Classified as a hilltop castle, the Hirosaki grounds are divided into 6 separate baileys, walled or separated by moats. In 1603, Ōura Tamenobu began work on this castle but it was halted by his death a year later in 1604, but was finished by his successor Tsugaru Nobuhira in 1611. However, by a turn of events, in 1627 the main keep was struck by lightning and exploded when fire reached the gunpowder room. It was not until 1810 when the structure was created by 9th daimyō, Tsugaru Yasuchika. (Hirosaki Castle- 2)
The current donjon, completed in 1811, is a 3 story building including 3 roofs, individually with a height of 14.4 meters. For Edo-period castles this one was relatively small, while being build on the inner bailey site of a yagura instead of the stone base of the original donjon. The small size is mostly related to the restricted finances of the domain, but its location and design were intended to rid concerns of size. The donjon is surrounded by three surviving yagura of the Edo period. (Hirosaki Castle- 2) One of the Hirosaki Castle's most famous traits are the cherry blossom spots. Every year, millions of people gather to see these 2,600 cherry trees during bloom at the Cherry Blossom Festival (sakura matsuri). (National Cherry Blossom Festival- 9) Matsumoto Castle |
The flatland Matsumoto Castle is home to lots of history and classic Japanese architecture, making it a national treasure of Japan and is Japan's oldest castle. The Matsumoto is also known as the "Crow Castle" because of its all black exterior. It is located in the city of Matsumoto, which is accessible easily from Tokyo. (Matsumoto Castle- 8)
The castles original origin came from the Sengoku period around 1504 when Shimadachi Sadanaga of the Ogasawara clan created a fort in this area. In 1550, it then became possessed by The Takeda clan and then Tokugawa Ieyasu. After the transfer of Ieysu by Toyotomi Hideyoshi to the Kantō region, gave power of Matsumoto to Ishikawa Norimasa. Norimasa and his son went on to build most of the tower and other parts of the castle including the three main towers. Two of these three main towers was the keep and small castle in the Northwest. which were both started in 1590. The keep (tenshukaku), which was completed in the late 16th century, and maintains its original external stonework and wooden interiors. The other main tower was the Watari Tower. The Watari Tower consisted of the residence, as well as the drum and black gate, the innermost, 2nd, and 3rd bailey, the moat, and the Tsukimi Yagura. The Tsukimi Yagura was a beautiful add on to the castle in the year 1636 which featured a red railing and acted as the moon viewing room for the Matsumoto Castle. Even with all these additions coming in future years, most believe that a majority of the castle was done by 1593-4. For the next 280 years until the abolition of the feudal system, the castle was ruled by the 23 lords of Matsumoto representing six different daimyo origins. (Matsumoto Castle- 8) The most interesting part of the Matsumoto Castle is the elegant, black and white, main keep/donjon, which is only accessible by a smaller, minor keep. This minor keep is structurally independent of the main tower but is connected via a roofed passage. The round wooden pillars, these were rough hewn by a hand tool shaped like an axe (the entire castle being of course made from manual labor) from hemlock, fir, and spruce trees. There are 10 round pillars to help support the 1st and 2nd floors, while 12 pillars support the uppermost floors. The second floor features a wide variety of weapons ranging from firearms to body armour. (Source 8) The main keep is described as a Sotogata layout, meaning it is lots of squares on top of eachother, getting smaller progressively. This was a popular style used back in ancient Japan, and mimics the style of the Hirosaki or Marugame castles. The main keep is also described as Adjoined, meaning the main keep is connected to a smaller tower by a yagura. (Main Keep- 7) Lots of events take place at Matsumoto Castle throughout the four seasons. These include cherry blossom viewing, Taiko Drum Festival, Takigi Noh, ice carving, traditional gunnery exhibitions, and moon feasts. It is also very common for newly weds to come visit this breathtaking castle to take pictures or as part of a honeymoon. (Matsumoto castle- 8) |