Tsu Castle

Tsu Castle (津城, Tsu-jō) was a Japanese castle located in the city of Tsu, Mie Prefecture, Japan. During the Edo period, Tsu Castle was home to the Sudo clan, daimyō of Tsu Domain, who dominated the provinces of Ise and Iga under the Tokugawa shogunate. The castle was also known as "Anotsu-jō" (安濃津城) after the ancient name for Tsu. The castle ruins are a Prefectural Historic Site.

During the Sengoku period, in 1558, Hosono Fujiatsu built a castle at the conjunction of the Ano and Iwata rivers, using the rivers as natural moats. The port of Anotsu had been an important port for the coastal trade along the eastern coast of Japan; however, after its destruction by an earthquake at the end of the 15th century, it was gradually eclipsed by the ports of Kuwana and Matsusaka instead.

Oda Nobunaga took control of the castle in 1568 and ordered his younger brother Oda Nobukane to reside there in 1577 to consolidate Oda control over the Ise region. Under Oda Nobukane, the castle was greatly expanded in size, with the completion of the primary, secondary and third baileys, a five-story tenshu and secondary tenshu. Under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Nobukane was transferred to Tanba Province, and the castle was given to Hideyoshi’s retainer, Tomita Nobuhiro in 1595 along with a 50,000 koku domain.

However, during the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, the Tomita clan sided with the eastern forces under Tokugawa Ieyasu and Tsu Castle was attacked by the western armies under Mōri Terumoto and Chōsokabe Morichika. Although the 1300 defenders put up a stiff defense, the 30,000 attackers largely burned the castle down around them. Tomita Nobutaka and his wife, Yuki no Kata, successfully defended the castle. The Tomita were rewarded for their loyalty by the Tokugawa shogunate and were given an increase in kokudaka and rebuilt parts of the castle by the time they were transferred to Uwajima Domain in Iyo Province in 1608.

The Tomita were replaced by the Tōdō clan, who ruled as daimyō over the 220,000 koku Tsu Domain until the Meiji Restoration. Tōdō Takatora, who was a noted castle architect, renovated Tsu Castle with a three-story and a two-story tenshu, rejuvenated the castle town, and increased the clan’s revenues to 323,000 koku.Tōdō Takatora had worked on numerous castles previous to this one, including Edo Castle, Nagoya Castle, Zeze Castle and others.

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

Tsu Castle ranks #2,479 of 8,133 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #147 of the 297 mapped in Japan. Founded 1558, it is older than 38% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 755 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 3,652 times in the last 60 days, more than 79% of the atlas. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Tsu, 1 km away. See how Japan compares in the castle statistics.

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