Aizu-Wakamatsu is the most powerful and at the same time the oldest castle in the Tōhoku region in the north of Honshu Island. Its history begins in the 14th century and is closely connected with the Ashina clan, whose members claimed descent from the legendary Taira family.
At the beginning of the 12th century, the Aizu region in Mutsu Province was ruled by Sawara Yoshitsuru, and his grandson adopted the surname Ashina, founding a new clan. In 1333, Ashina Naomori built his residence in Wakamatsu, which in 1384 was rebuilt into a full-scale castle and given the name Kurokawa. For many centuries, until the Meiji Restoration in 1868, it remained the main military and administrative center of the Aizu region.
In 1553, the castle and the region passed into the hands of Ashina Moriuji, who inherited them after the death of his father, Ashina Morikiyo. Moriuji significantly expanded the influence of the Ashina clan by taking lands from the Uesugi and Satake clans. These successes led to conflict with the Date clan, despite the former alliance between them. Contemporaries remembered Moriuji as a wise and just ruler under whom the region experienced economic prosperity. His reign is considered the golden age of the Ashina clan. In 1561, he withdrew from active rule to devote himself to the arts and handed power over to his son, Ashina Morioki.
Ashina Morioki proved to be an incapable ruler and died of alcoholism at the age of twenty-seven. After him, power passed to his adopted son, Ashina Moritaka, but because of his origins he lacked the support of the clan’s long-standing vassals and was soon killed as a result of a conspiracy. The new leader chosen was Ashina Morishige, Moritaka’s son-in-law and the son of the powerful daimyō Satake Yoshishige. His appointment also caused discontent, and many vassals defected to the young and charismatic Date Masamune. In 1585, the Ashina clan joined an alliance against Masamune led by the Hatakeyama clan. The combined army of thirty thousand men invaded Date territory.
Masamune attempted to stop the enemy with only seven thousand warriors but was defeated at the Battle of the Hitadori Bridge and retreated to Motomiya Castle. The allies prepared to storm the castle but received news that the Satake lands were under attack by the Satomi clan. After the Satake forces withdrew, the alliance collapsed and the siege was abandoned. In 1589, Masamune went on the offensive, invaded Aizu, captured Kurokawa Castle with relative ease, and completely destroyed the Ashina clan at the Battle of Suriagehara.
In 1590, Toyotomi Hideyoshi began his campaign against the Hōjō clan and invited Date Masamune to join him. Masamune was unable to do so in time and feared Hideyoshi’s wrath, so he appeared before him dressed in white garments symbolizing readiness to accept death. Hideyoshi appreciated the gesture and did not punish him, but Kurokawa Castle was confiscated and granted to Hideyoshi’s vassal, Gamō Ujisato. By 1592, Ujisato carried out a major reconstruction, building a seven-story tenshu keep, adding the Ninomaru and Sannomaru baileys, and renaming the castle Tsurugajō, or “Crane Castle.” Nevertheless, the new name did not take hold, and the castle came to be known as Aizu-Wakamatsu.
Gamō Ujisato was known not only as a military commander but also as a master of the tea ceremony and a patron of Sen no Rikyū. After Rikyū was forced to commit ritual suicide and his property was confiscated, Ujisato took in his adopted son, Sen Shōan, and brought him to Aizu-Wakamatsu. On the castle grounds, Shōan built the Rinkaku teahouse, which has survived to this day.
After Ujisato’s death in 1595, the castle was inherited by his son, Gamō Hideyuki, but he was soon transferred by Hideyoshi’s order to another domain with a sharp reduction in income. Aizu-Wakamatsu then passed to Uesugi Kagekatsu, the nephew and adopted son of Uesugi Kenshin. Kagekatsu took part in Hideyoshi’s campaigns and, after his death, became a member of the regency council. In 1600, he supported the Western Coalition and was defeated during the Sekigahara campaign, after which he lost a significant portion of his lands.
In 1611, the castle was damaged by an earthquake, and its restoration was completed under Katō Akinari in 1639. The keep became five stories tall, and this appearance later served as the basis for the modern reconstruction. In 1643, the castle was transferred to Hoshina Masayuki, the illegitimate son of the second shogun, Tokugawa Hidetada. His descendants, who bore the Matsudaira name, ruled Aizu-Wakamatsu for nearly 230 years, until the beginning of the Meiji period.
In 1852, the Aizu domain came under the rule of Matsudaira Katamori. In 1862, he was appointed military commissioner of Kyoto and formed the Rōshigumi unit, from which the famous Shinsengumi later emerged. After the transfer of power to the emperor in 1867 and the coup of 1868, the Boshin Civil War began. Katamori remained loyal to the shogunate and continued resistance in Aizu-Wakamatsu. As part of the Northern Alliance, the northern domains attempted to oppose the imperial forces but suffered defeat after defeat due to the lack of unified command.
In the fall of 1868, imperial troops broke through the defenses at the Bonari Pass and surrounded Aizu-Wakamatsu. The garrison numbered about five thousand men against an opposing army of fifteen thousand. After several failed assaults, a prolonged siege began. It was during this siege that the tragedy of the Byakkotai unit occurred, when nineteen young samurai committed seppuku, mistakenly believing that the castle had fallen.
On November 6, 1868, the garrison capitulated. The castle was severely damaged and was completely dismantled in 1874. During the demolition, monks from Amidadji Temple saved and relocated the three-story Gosangai turret. By the mid-20th century, only the moats, stone walls, and foundations of some structures remained on the castle grounds. In 1965, the main tenshu keep was reconstructed and converted into a museum. In subsequent years, the Kurogane Gate, galleries, and towers were rebuilt, and in 2011 the keep underwent renovation, during which the roof tiles were replaced with red ones.
Today, Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle Park is considered one of the best places to view cherry blossoms. Since 1934, the castle complex has held the status of a National Historic Site, and in 2006 it was included in the list of the “100 Outstanding Castles of Japan.”
See also
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Maruoka Castle
Maruoka Castle is located in the central part of the former city of Maruoka, which is now part of the city of Sakai. This area lies in the northeastern part of Fukui Prefecture. The castle was built on the bank of the Kuzuryu River, on the side opposite Fukui City, which once served as the administrative center of the former Echizen Province. Thanks to its location, Maruoka held significant strategic importance, as it controlled two major routes at once: the Hokurikudo highway leading from Kaga Province and the Mino Kaido road connecting these lands with Mino Province.
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Marugame Castle
Marugame is part of the so-called “Authentic Dozen,” a group of twelve castles whose donjons have survived to the present day without major reconstructions since the Edo period.
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Iyo Matsuyama Castle
Historically, the center of Iyo Province—corresponding to today’s Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku—was the city of Imabari, while the Matsuyama area was regarded as an agricultural hinterland with broad plains and low hills. During the Muromachi period, the central part of the province was governed by the Kano clan from Yuzuki Castle. With the onset of the Sengoku period, however, this clan lost its former influence and was forced to survive in the shadow of the more powerful Mori and Chōsokabe clans. After Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s forces conquered Shikoku in 1587, the northern part of Iyo Province was granted to Fukushima Masanori, one of the so-called “Seven Spears of Shizugatake.” In 1595, Masanori was transferred to Kiyosu Castle, and the lands around Matsuyama were given to another of the Seven Spears, Katō Yoshiaki, who received Masaki Castle and an income of 60,000 koku of rice.
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Kanazawa Castle
Construction of Kanazawa Castle began in 1580 on the orders of Sakuma Morimasa, a vassal of Oda Nobunaga. The castle was built on the site of the Ikko-ikki sect's Oyama Gobo temple, which is why it is sometimes called Oyama Castle. Morimasa managed to build several moats and begin construction of a castle town. However, after his defeat at the Battle of Shizugatake in 1583, he was executed, and ownership of the castle passed to Maeda Toshiie (1538–1599).
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Nakatsu Castle
Kuroda Yoshitaka (1546–1604) was one of the closest advisors to the legendary military commander Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He took part in key military campaigns of the late 16th century, including the campaign against Shikoku in 1585 and the campaign against Kyushu in 1587. Later, during the second campaign in Korea, Yoshitaka served as chief advisor to the commander of the invasion forces, Kobayakawa Hideaki. After Hideyoshi's death, he swore allegiance to Tokugawa Ieyasu, thereby securing his influence and patronage under Japan's new leader.
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Edo Castle
The history of Edo Castle dates back to the Heian period, when the Edo clan built a small fort on this site. In 1457, the vassal of the Uesugi clan, Ota Dokan (1432–1486), constructed a full-scale castle here. Internal conflicts weakened the Uesugi clan, and in 1524, Ota Dokan’s grandson, Ota Yasutaka, surrendered the castle without resistance to the forces of Hojo Soun, the ambitious leader of the Hojo clan. While Odawara Castle remained the clan's main stronghold, Edo was considered a key strategic fortress.
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Samurai Museum Shinjuku
Situated in the vibrant district of Shinjuku, the museum showcases an extensive collection of samurai armor, weapons, and cultural artifacts spanning from the Kamakura to the Edo period. The exhibits aim to convey the samurai's unwavering commitment to honor and discipline, reflecting how their spirit continues to influence modern Japanese culture.
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Anjo Castle
Anjo Castle was built on a slight elevation at the edge of the Hekikai Plateau, about 2 kilometers southeast of present-day central Anjo City in Aichi Prefecture. Today, the surrounding area thrives on large-scale agriculture and automotive manufacturing, utilizing the expansive flatlands and its proximity to the Nagoya region.
