Aizuwakamatsu Castle

Tsuruga Castle (鶴ヶ城, Tsuru-ga-jō), also known as Aizuwakamatsu Castle (会津若松城 Aizu-Wakamatsu-jō) is a Japanese castle in northern Japan, at the center of the city of Aizuwakamatsu, in Fukushima Prefecture.

Tsuruga Castle is located in the center of the Aizu basin and at crossroads to Kōriyama to the north and Yonezawa to the east and Murakami on the Sea of Japan coast. During the Nanboku-cho period, the area was ruled by the Ashina clan. Ashina Naomori built Kurokawa Castle (黒川城, Kurokawa-jō) within the Aizu basin in 1384. This castle was the predecessor of what later became Tsuruga Castle. It was ruled by Ashina Moriuji until 1561, when he turned his domain over to his son.

The Ashina clan also built Mukaihaguroyama Castle, a huge mountain castle 10 kilometers south of Aizuwakamatsu. However, by the Sengoku period, the power of the Ashina clan had weakened. Date Masamune, the greatest warlord of the Tōhoku area, had struggled against the Ashina clan for years, and finally captured the castle in 1589 at the Siege of Kurokawa Castle. However, Masamune was in turn forced to pledge fealty to Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1590, and was obliged to relocate north to Sendai. Aizu then came to be ruled by one of Hideyoshi's generals, Gamō Ujisato. Ujisato was expected to keep a close watch on Date Masamune, and thus rebuilt Kurokawa Castle into a modern castle in 1592, renaming it Tsuruga Castle, although the populace also referred to it as Aizu Castle or Wakamatsu Castle. He also built an unprecedentedly huge seven-story tenshu in 1593.

Ujisato died of illness at the age of 39, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi reassigned his vast domain to Uesugi Kagekatsu, whom he relocated from Echigo Province. Although Tsuruga Castle was already large, Uesugi Kagekatsu started to build another castle on the outskirts of Aizuwakamatsu town, but it was never completed. After having sided with the Toyotomi clan during the Sekigahara campaign, the Uesugi Clan was demoted in status and relocated to a much reduced Yonezawa Domain. The domain was then assigned to Katō Yoshiaki, who was noted for his bravery at the Battle of Shizugatake. Under the Katō, the castle was reformed and a new layout was imposed on the surrounding jōkamachi. However, during a great earthquake in 1611, the castle was severely damaged, and the tenshu was rebuilt into the current configuration.

Text adapted from “Aizuwakamatsu Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Aizuwakamatsu Castle ranks #479 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #24 of the 297 mapped in Japan. Founded 1384, it is older than 55% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 582 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 15,527 times in the last 60 days, more than 96% of the atlas. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Japan compares in the castle statistics.

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