Kuwana Castle

Kuwana Castle (桑名城, Kuwana-jō) is a Japanese castle located in Kuwana, northern Mie Prefecture, Japan. At the end of the Edo period, Kuwana Castle was home to a branch the Matsudaira clan, daimyō of Kuwana Domain. The castle was also known as "Ōgi-jō" (扇城) or "Asahi-jō" (旭城).

During the late Heian period and Muromachi period, the area of modern Kuwana was known as Jūraku-no-tsu (十楽の津) and was a major seaport on Ise Bay, controlled by a guild of merchants. The poet Socho described it in 1515 as a major city with over a thousand houses, temples and inns. The port was protected by three fortifications, (Higashi Castle, Nishi Castle, Misaki Castle) which made up what was known as the “Three Castles of Kuwana”. During the Sengoku period, the area came under the influence of the Ikkō-ikki movement centered at Nagashima. After the Ikkō-ikki were exterminated by Oda Nobunaga, the Kuwana area was awarded to his general Takigawa Kazumasa.

After Nobunaga's death, Takigawa opposed Toyotomi Hideyoshi and lost his territories. For a time, Oda Nobukatsu held the area, but was dispossessed by Hideyoshi following the Battle of Odawara. In 1595, Hideyoshi assigned Ujiie Yukihiro a 22,000 koku domain, but he was dispossessed by Tokugawa Ieyasu after the Battle of Sekigahara. Tokugawa Ieyasu realized the strategic importance of Kuwana in the ongoing struggle against the Toyotomi clan in Osaka due to its location at the mouth of Nagara River on the western side of the Nagashima delta area formed by the Kiso River, Nagara River and Ibi River. This meant that any travelers on the vital Tōkaidō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto had to pass through Kuwana in order to take a boat from Kuwana port to Atsumi Peninsula in Owari Province, as there were no bridges.

Ieyasu reassigned Honda Tadakatsu from Otaki Castle in Kazusa Province to Kuwana and ordered him to construct a large fortification on the riverbank on what was roughly the site of the old Higashi Castle. Under the Honda, Kuwana-juku developed as a prosperous post town.

The castle Honda constructed was roughly triangular, protected on one side by the Kiso River. Within, the inner Bailey of the castle was rectangular, measuring 150 by 60 meters, and contained a four-roof, six-story tenshu and three three-story yagura watchtowers at each corner.

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

Kuwana Castle ranks #2,402 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #144 of the 297 mapped in Japan. Founded 1601, it is older than 32% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 626 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 2,646 times in the last 60 days, more than 73% of the atlas. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Yokkaichi, 13 km away. See how Japan compares in the castle statistics.

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