Usuki Castle

Usuki Castle (臼杵城, Usuki-jō) is a Japanese castle in Usuki, Ōita Prefecture, Japan. Another name of this castle is Nyūjima Castle (丹生島城, Nyūjima-jō).

This castle was constructed by Ōtomo Sōrin in 1562 on the island Nyū-jima, in Usuki Bay as his head castle. During the 1560s, Sōrin had the largest territory in Kyūshū. However, after defeat at the Battle of Mimigawa in 1578, the power of Sōrin and the Ōtomo clan rapidly declined. In 1586, this castle fell to Shimazu Yoshihiro, a daimyō of Kagoshima, but was rescued by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

William Adams, basis for the character in the novel Shōgun by James Clavell, stayed in the castle upon his arrival in Japan.

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

Usuki Castle ranks #4,075 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #206 of the 297 mapped in Japan. Founded 1562, 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 2,923 times in the last 60 days, more than 75% of the atlas. 2 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 ↗