Minato Castle

Minato Castle (湊城, Minato-jō) was a Japanese castle in what is now Tsuchizaki Minato, Akita, Akita Prefecture, Japan. Throughout the Muromachi period, Minato Castle was home to the Ando clan, daimyō of Akita Domain, rulers of northern Dewa Province.

The early history of the castle is shrouded but it might have been constructed by the second of the Minato branch of the Ando family, Ando Yasusue, in 1436. Ando "Big Dipper" Chikasue of the Hiyama Ando went down from Hiyama Castle to Minato Castle uniting the two clan branches. After the Battle of Sekigahara, his son, Akita Sanesue was moved to Shishido, in Hitachi Province, and Satake Yoshinobu of Hitachi was relegated to Minato Castle in 1602. Satake began to build the new Kubota Castle and Minato Castle was abandoned in 1604.

The exit station is Tsuchizaki Station (north next of Akita Station).

2-minute walk straight from the exit of the station and you can soon see Tsuchizaki Shinmeisha Shrine on your left.

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

Minato Castle ranks #5,551 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #268 of the 297 mapped in Japan. Founded c. 1436, it is older than 51% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 455 atlas entries founded in the 15th century. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Japan compares in the castle statistics.

View on the interactive castle map →

Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗