Ichinomiya Castle

Ichinomiya Castle is a mountaintop castle in Tokushima, Japan.

Built in 1338, the castle was built on a strategically important site, with a river in front and on a mountain, both features giving it some protection as natural defenses. It was originally built by the Osagawara clan, which was appointed to govern Awa domain. In the conflict between Emperor Godaigo and Ashikaga Takauji, the founder of the Muromachi shogunate, the Osagawara supported the Emperor. With his defeat, the Ogasawara lost the castle, which was then given to the Ichinomiya clan From the 14th to the 16th centuries, generations of the Ichinomiya family ruled the castle. Hachisuka Iemasa was made lord of the castle after that.

The castle was dismantled in 1615. It was a hilltop castle, and it was built on the same site that Ichinomiya Castle originally was sited. In a conflict between Motochika Chosokabe and the Miyoshi, even though the Ichinomiya supported him, Motochika mistrusted the clan and removed the castle from their control, directly controlling it himself. The castle was finally demolished under the policy of Ikkoku Ichijyo Rei, or "one domein one castle rule" of 1615.

In 1585, Toyotomi Hideyoshi started a campaign against Chosokabe Motochika and his clan. Hideyoshi marched with 100,000 soldiers against Motochika, who had 40,000. Toyotomi Hidenaga, the younger brother, led 40,000 soldiers to lay siege to the castle. After initially attacking it, they then moved to destroy the water source for the castle. Considering they were outnumbered, and had no water supply, the castle surrendered to Toyotomi. With the surrender of the castle, Chosokabe Motochika himself surrendered. The battle around the castle was the central part of the campaign.

Presently, most of the remains of the castle that still stand currently are some bailey walls, and stairs. The site is signposted and accessible for tourists.

The Castle was listed as one of the Continued Top 100 Japanese Castles in 2017.

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

Ichinomiya Castle ranks #3,473 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #178 of the 297 mapped in Japan. Founded 1338, it is older than 60% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 604 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,841 times in the last 60 days, more than 65% of the atlas. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Wakayama, 69 km away. It is one of the 15 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Shikoku. See how Japan compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗