Gifu Castle, once known as Inabayama Castle, has stood as a symbol of Gifu City and a hallmark of the tumultuous Sengoku period for over eight centuries. Initially constructed by the Nikaido clan around 1201, it underwent expansions and fortifications by influential daimyo such as the Saito clan of Mino and the Oda clan of Owari.
Perched atop the formidable Mt. Kinka, formerly Mt. Inaba, the castle's strategic location, standing 329 meters tall, commanded a view over the surrounding landscape, with the Nagara River flowing below, serving as a natural moat. Despite its reputation as an impregnable fortress, Gifu Castle fell to a mere sixteen samurai in a surprising turn of events.
The mastermind behind this audacious conquest was Takenaka Hanbei, military advisor to the castle lord, Saito Tatsuoki. Despite his frail appearance, Hanbei's tactical genius proved formidable. Incensed by a humiliating incident where a samurai of Gifu Castle insulted him, Hanbei orchestrated a clever ruse, leading to Tatsuoki's panicked retreat and the castle's swift capture.
Subsequently, Oda Nobunaga, having heard of Hanbei's feat, requested possession of the castle, but Hanbei, loyal to his lord, returned control to Tatsuoki before departing from service. However, Gifu's fortunes continued to fluctuate. Nobunaga later seized the castle in 1567, reinforcing it as a pivotal stronghold in his quest to unify Japan.
Under Nobunaga's rule, Gifu Castle underwent significant renovations, boasting the nation's first official castle tower, or tenshu. While the mountain peak housed a watchtower, the main castle complex sprawled at the base, featuring a grand four-story golden palace and expansive gardens, a testament to Nobunaga's opulence and power.
Portuguese Jesuit Missionary Fr. Louis Frois praised Gifu's prosperity, dubbing it a "bustling Babylon" and highlighting its significance in trade and commerce. However, Gifu's glory was short-lived. Damaged in the lead-up to the Battle of Sekigahara, the castle faced further destruction at the hands of Tokugawa forces, culminating in its dismantlement by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1601 to deter dissent.
Despite successive reconstructions, including a concrete replica built in 1956, Gifu Castle's legacy endures through ongoing research and restoration efforts. Recent discoveries shed light on its architectural intricacies, offering insights into Nobunaga's vision and strategic prowess, ensuring that the castle's story remains a captivating chapter in Japanese history.
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Amagasaki Castle
The founding year of Amagasaki Castle is traditionally considered to be 1617, when Toda Ujikané built his castle here, making it the administrative center of the Amagasaki Domain. However, as early as the Sengoku period, a fortress built by the Hosokawa clan already stood on this site. After the fall of Itami Castle in 1579, Araki Murashige—formerly a vassal of Oda Nobunaga who had rebelled against him—fled to this earlier castle.
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Hiroshima Castle
Mōri Terumoto (1553–1625) was the grandson and rightful heir of the renowned Mōri Motonari. When Terumoto became the head of the Mōri clan in 1571, he inherited vast territories covering a large part of the San’in and San’yō regions in western Honshū. In addition, the Mōri clan possessed the largest and most technologically advanced naval fleet of its time.
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Fukuyama Castle
After the defeat of Toyotomi Hideyori’s supporters in the Osaka Campaigns of 1614–1615, many clans in Japan still remained not fully loyal to the Tokugawa shogunate, especially in the western Chūgoku region. Mizuno Katsunari (1564–1651), a cousin of Tokugawa Ieyasu, became the first of the Tokugawa house’s close retainers, the so-called fudai daimyō, to be relocated to this strategically important area.
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Tiba Castle
The founder of the Chiba clan is considered to be Chiba Tsunesige (1083–1180), who in 1126 moved his residence to the Inohana area and built a strongly fortified stronghold there. Although Tsunesige himself came from the Taira clan, the Chiba clan later supported Minamoto no Yoritomo, the future founder of the first shogunate.
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Sunomata Castle
Oda Nobunaga, as part of his “final solution” to the conflict with the Saitō clan, conceived the construction of a fort in the Sunomata area, which was intended to serve as a forward base for an attack on Inabayama Castle (later renamed Gifu). Sunomata was a swampy area located between Ogaki Castle, a stronghold of the Oda clan, and Inabayama, the main fortress of the Saitō clan. Earlier attempts to build fortifications in this area, carried out by Oda generals Sakuma Nobumori and Shibata Katsuie, had all ended in failure. After that, the task was entrusted to the young vassal Kinoshita Tokichirō, who later became known as Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
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Shibata Castle
The exact time when structures first appeared on the site of the present-day castle is unknown; however, it is generally believed that the first fortified buildings were constructed here during the Muromachi period, when these lands were controlled by the Shibata clan.
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Okayama Castle
According to a number of accounts, the earliest fortifications on the site of present-day Okayama Castle appeared as early as the 14th century and were built by the Nawa clan. The Asahigawa River was used as a natural defensive barrier, protecting one side of the fortifications.
In the early 16th century, the Kanamitsu clan constructed a new castle here, which at the time was known as Ishiyama. In 1573, it came under the control of the Ukita clan, after which Ukita Naoie (1529–1582) launched large-scale reconstruction efforts. He did not live to see the work completed, and construction was continued by his son Hideie. -
Nagahama Castle
Hashiba, later known as Toyotomi Hideyoshi, received Odani Castle and the surrounding lands from Oda Nobunaga after the defeat of the Azai clan. However, Odani Castle was located high in the mountains, which made it poorly suited for the effective administration of the territory. For this reason, in 1575 Hideyoshi began constructing a new castle in the village of Imahama on the shore of Lake Biwa. Taking the character naga from Nobunaga’s name, he renamed both the village and the new castle Nagahama.
