Aya Castle

Aya Castle (綾城, Aya-jō) is a castle located in Aya, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan.

Aya was built between around 1331 and around 1334. Its name derives from the man who oversaw the construction of the castle, who referred to himself only as "Aya" (his real name was Koshiro Yoshito). His family ruled over the castle until the Muromachi period, when the head of the Itō Clan took over Aya Castle, which was one of 48 under their control and considered to be their most strategic against the Shimazu. The Shimazu Clan seized the castle following their victory over the Itō in 1577. The castle was then given to Niiro Hisatoki, one of the retainers for the Shimazu Clan. Toyotomi Hideyoshi conquered the castle for a short period ten years later. In 1615, however, the castle was destroyed due to a shogunal decree that every domain could have only one castle.

The castle keep, or tenshu, was rebuilt in 1985 out of wood, and was based on pictures of other castles of the era. It houses a museum that has items pertaining to the castle's history.

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

Aya Castle ranks #5,479 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #263 of the 297 mapped in Japan. Founded c. 1331, it is older than 61% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 604 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. It is one of the 37 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Kyushu. See how Japan compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗