Nobunaga’s Wall Nobunaga’s Wall is a 2 meter high, 120 meter-long, tile-topped wall made from traditional Japanese kawara roof tiles sandwiched between a sandy-clay cement, and located among the ancient trees and shrines of the sacred Atsuta Jingu Shrine in the southern suburbs of Nagoya City. Known as the Nobunaga Bei, the wall [...]
Ueda Castle (Nagano Prefecture) Ueda Castle in Nagano Prefecture once sat on a cliff facing the Saigawa River. Ueda Castle was also known as Amagafuchi-Jo, Isesaki-Jo, Matsuo-Jo and even Sanada-Jo after it’s first master, Sanada Masayuki who built the castle around 1583. The sturdy but small fortress made good use of the surrounding [...]
Hamamatsu Castle, The Castle of Success (Shizuoka Prefecture) Hamamatsu Castle in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture was originally called Hikuma Castle, or Shusse jo（Castle of Success) and was built by Imagawa Sadatsuke around 1532 on a small hill. With the fall of the Imagawa clan after defeat by Oda Nobunaga at Okehazama in 1560, the [...]
Tsu Castle (Mie Prefecture) Tsu Castle in Tsu City, Mie Prefecture, was first built by Hosono Fujiatsu in 1558 and known as Anotsu Castle, after the old name for the region. The site was chosen as the Ano and Iwata Rivers come together, forming a natural moat around the precincts, and the nearby [...]
Komaki Castle (Aichi Prefecture) Komaki Castle, properly known as Komakiyama Castle (Aichi Prefecture) was constructed in 1563 during the warlord Oda Nobunaga’s expansionist efforts. His plans were to defeat the neighboring warlord, Saito Tatsuoki, and take the province of Mino (Gifu Prefecture). Oda Nobunaga was a military genius, and realized that in order [...]
Ogaki Castle (Gifu Prefecture) Ogaki Castle in Ogaki City, Gifu Prefecture was first built circa 1500 in the middle of a plain by Miyakawa Yasusada, and was originally named Ushiya Castle, as the Ushiya River once served as a natural moat, but was later known also known as Bi Castle and Kyoroku Castle. [...]
Osaka Castle (Osaka Prefecture) Toyotomi Osaka Castle Keep Osaka Castle is one of the many icons of Osaka City, and was constructed in 1853 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi on the site of the Ishiyama Hongan-ji temple-fortress, and the scene of a violent uprising by warrior monks and peasantry in [...]
Sadowara Castle（Miyazaki Prefecture） Sadowara Castle in Miyazaki Prefecture was a Yamajiro, mountaintop castle, first built during the Nanboku-Cho period (1334-1394) by the Tajima clan. Like most castles of the period, the mountain used, Mt. Kakusho, was shaved flat in terraced sections to create the various baileys, or kuruwa, and while there were various [...]
Kiyosu Kaigi The “Kiyosu Kaigi” was a meeting held at Kiyosu Castle on July 16, 1582, three weeks after the death of Oda Nobunaga at the Honno-ji Incident, and two weeks after the Battle of Yamazaki in which Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeated the troops of Nobunaga’s attacker, Akechi Mitsuhide. The remaining retainers of the [...]
Kochi Castle (Kochi Prefecture) Kochi Castle is one of just 12 samurai castles with keeps in original condition. Yamanochi Kazutoyo (Yamauchi Katsutoyo), who was given Tosa Domain (modern-day Kochi Prefecture in Shikoku) following the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, commenced building a fine castle and residence there from 1601. Work took ten years [...]