Articles by Hiroto Uehara

Mukai-Haguroyama Castle (向羽黒山城 Mukaihaguroyamajō) was a mountain castle (山城 yamashiro) in Aizumisato Town, Onuma District, Fukushima. In 2001, the castle was designated a National Historic Site (国指定史跡 Kuni shitei shiseki), and on 6 April 2017, it was ranked as one of Japan's Finest 100 castles...

Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle (会津若松城) was the centre of the Aizu domain and the stage for one of the last big battles of the Boshin War. Locals refer to it as 'Tsurugajo' (鶴ヶ城). History: The castle was initially known as Kurokawa Castle (黒川城), home to the Ashina clan (蘆名氏), which had ruled the Aizu...

Inawashiro Castle (猪苗代城 Inawashiro-jō) is a mountain castle (平山城 hirayamashiro) in Inawashiro, Fukushima. It is also known as Kamegajō (亀ヶ城) and was designated a Historic Site of Fukushima. History: In the early Kamakura period, Sawara Yoshitsura (佐原義連) of the Miura clan (三浦氏) was given the...

Akadate Castle (赤館城 Akadate-jō) is a mountain castle built on a hill in Tanagura, Fukushima. This hill is only 345 metres high, but it was the dividing line between the Kantō and Tōhoku regions, connecting Ibaraki along the Kuji River to the south and Fukushima and Miyagi along the Abukuma...

Tanagura Castle (棚倉城 Tanagura-jō), also known as Kamegajō Castle (亀ケ城), is a flatland castle (平城 hirajiro) in modern-day Tanagura, Higashishirakawa, Fukushima Prefecture. In 2019, the former castle grounds were designated a National Historic Site. From the Kamakura period to the early Edo...

Kasama Castle (笠間城 Kasama-jō) is a mountain castle (山城 yamashiro) built on Mount Sajiro (佐白山) in Kasama City, west of Mito. In the early Kamakura period, Shiotani Tokitomo (塩谷時朝) of the Utsunomiya clan entered the area and built Kasama Castle. Tokitomo, who adopted the family name Kasama...

Mito Castle (水戸城 Mito-jō) was a Japanese castle located in Mito, Ibaraki, Hitachi Province (present-day Sanomaru, Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture). During the Edo period, it was the residence of the Mito Tokugawa family, one of the three Tokugawa families, and the seat of government of the Mito clan...

Obata Castle (小幡城 Obatajō) is a flatland castle (平城 hirajiro) built in Ibaraki Town, south of Mito. Although it is not well known to the general public, it is highly rated by castle enthusiasts who have visited it because of the excellent condition of the remains and its unique and complex...

Ōtaki Castle (大多喜城 Ōtakijō) was a flat mountain castle located in the town of Ōtaki, Isumi, south-eastern Chiba Prefecture. In the Middle Ages, the area was known as Ōtaki. Hence, the name of the castle derived from the locality. In the first half of the 16th century, the Mariyatsu Takeda...

Ōgaki Castle (大垣城 Ōgakijō) was a flatland castle (平城 hirajiro or hirajō) in Ōgaki, western Mino Province (modern-day Gifu Prefecture). It is also known as Kyoroku Castle (巨鹿城 Kyorokujō) or Bi Castle (麇城 Bijō). Castellans of Ōgaki during the Edo period: 1601-15: Ishikawa Yasumichi (石川康通) and...

Sone Castle (曽根城 or 曾根城 Sone-jō) was a castle located in Sone-chō, Ogaki, Gifu Prefecture dating back to the Sengoku Period. It has been designated a historic site by Ogaki City. The castle was a flatland castle built on a bend of the Hiranoi River (平野井川), a tributary of the Ibi River (揖斐川)...

Kitagata Castle (北方城) is a flat castle located in Kitagata Town, Motosu-gun, about five kilometres northwest of central Gifu City. It was designated a Historical Site of Gifu Prefecture. The castle was built and occupied by Iga Taroemon Mitsunari (伊賀太郎衛門光就). The fourth lord of the castle, Iga...

Gifu Castle (岐阜城 Gifu-jō) is a mountain castle built on Kinkazan (金華山, 329 meters above sea level) in the northern part of Gifu City. It was the residence of Oda Nobunaga and was designated a Historical Site of Japan in 2011. The first fortification on Kinkazan was built in 1201 by Nikaidō...

Kanō Castle (加納城 Kanō-jō) was a flatland (平城 hirajirō) castle located in modern-day Gifu City. When people hear Gifu, they first think of Gifu Castle, but it was here in Kanō Castle, where the political centre of Gifu was during the Edo period. Kanō-juku (加納宿) was the fifty-third of the...

Iwakura Castle (岩倉城 Iwakura-jō) was a flat castle (平城 hirajiro) located in Iwakura, north of Nagoya. The Oda clan, which held power in Owari during the Warring States period, was divided into two lines, the Iwakura Oda clan (岩倉織田氏, also known as the Ise no Kami 伊勢守家), which ruled the four...

Komakiyama Castle (小牧山城 Komakiyama-jō) was located in Komaki City, Aichi Prefecture. It is located approximately 10 kilometres north of Nagoya City on Mount Komaki, an isolated 86-metre-high hill in the centre of the Nōbi Plain (濃尾平野) in central Owari Province. In 1927, the ruins were protected...

Gakuden Castle (楽田城 Gakuden-jō) is a flatland castle (平城 hirajiro) located in the eastern part of the Nobi Plain, south of Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, and most importantly, close to the Kiso Highway (木曽街道). It is located halfway between Inuyama Castle (犬山城) and Komakiyama Castle (小牧山城). Oda...

Ryūsenji Temple is located in the northern part of Moriyama Ward, Nagoya, near Obata Ryokuchi. Saicho (最澄) originally founded the temple during the Enryaku era (782~806). Ryūsenji Castle (龍泉寺城 Ryūsenjijō) is said to have been built by Oda Nobuyuki (織田信行) , Nobunaga's younger brother, in 1556...

Obata Castle (小幡城) is a former flat mountain castle (平山城 hirayama) in Moriyama Ward, Nagoya. The castle is said to have been built in 1522 by Okada Shigeatsu (岡田重篤), a vassal of Oda Toshinobu. The castle was then occupied by Matsudaira Kiyoyasu (松平清康, 1511-1535), Tokugawa Ieyasu's...