Kikkawa Hiroie (1561–1625) was the grandson of the famous daimyo Mori Motonari and a vassal of the Mori clan. Under Mori Terumoto, he fought in both Korean campaigns and took part in the defense of Ulsan Castle. During the Battle of Sekigahara, Hiroie stood with his 3,000-man force on the side of the Western Coalition; however, even before the battle began, he sent Tokugawa Ieyasu a secret message stating that he did not intend to fight Tokugawa’s troops. As a result of his inaction, 15,000 soldiers under Mori Hidemoto were also unable to enter the battle, since Hiroie blocked their path.
After his victory in the Sekigahara campaign, Ieyasu wanted to confiscate all the lands of the Mori clan and grant two provinces—Nagato and Suo—for Kikkawa Hiroie’s use. However, thanks to Hiroie’s intervention, these two provinces remained with the Mori clan (which saved the Mori clan from complete destruction), while Hiroie received lands in Iwakuni. Later, he became the lord of the Iwakuni domain, but he did not hold the status of daimyo and continued to be considered a vassal of the Mori clan. The reason was that the Iwakuni domain was part of the larger Choshu (Hagi) domain, which was ruled by the Mori, and it was not officially recognized by the shogunate.
Hiroie began building his headquarters— Iwakuni Castle— in 1601 and completed it by 1608. The main baileys of the castle were located on Mount Shiroyama, which was protected on three sides by the Nishikigawa River, which formed a large bend at that point. The central section of the castle occupied an area measuring 100 by 50 meters. A keep was built in the rare Namban-zukuri style (also known as Namban-zukuri, “European style”). A distinctive feature of this style is that one of the floors is significantly larger than the one below it.
As with many late-period mountaintop castles, Iwakuni was developed not only on the mountain itself but also across a broad area at the foot of the mountain (the kyokan). However, the mountain portion of the castle lasted only seven years and was dismantled as early as 1615 in accordance with the Tokugawa shogunate’s decree of “one province, one castle.” Unlike the mountain section, the kyokan area was not dismantled and was used by the Kikkawa clan as a jinya (a small fortress without a main keep) all the way until the Meiji Restoration. This was the administrative center of the Iwakuni domain.
From the mountain portion, what remains today are the ruins of ishigaki stone walls, karabori dry moats, and the foundations of some structures. The castle keep was reconstructed in 1962. It is a four-tiered tower on a massive stone base. Although the reconstruction generally matches surviving descriptions, it was built using non-authentic materials (reinforced concrete) and is not located on the site of the original keep. When planning the reconstruction, it was decided to shift the keep closer to the edge of the mountain so that it would be more visible to tourists from the city.
The preserved base of the original keep (tenshudai) is located slightly off to the side of the current structure. It was restored in 1995. A small museum is housed inside the reconstructed keep. From the later jinya at the foot of the mountain, parts of the earthen ramparts (dorui), water-filled moats (mizubori), plastered earthen walls (dobei), ishigaki stone walls, and the foundations of towers have partially survived. On one of the foundations of a former corner turret, the Kinunkaku Pavilion of the local Kikko Shrine—the Kikkawa clan’s family temple—was built in 1884.
Some elements of former samurai residences from the Edo period have also survived, mainly nagayamon gates. On the grounds of the former jinya stands a monument to Kikkawa Hiroyoshi (1621–1679), the 19th head of the Kikkawa clan, the third commander of Iwakuni Castle, and the grandson of Kikkawa Hiroie. In 2006, the castle was included by the Japan Castle Foundation (Nihon Jokaku Kyokai) in the list of the “100 Fine Castles of Japan.”
In addition to the reconstructed main tower, another well-known attraction of Iwakuni Castle is the beautiful arched Kintaikyo Bridge. Historically, the river separated the samurai settlements and castle structures from the rest of the city. Only samurai were allowed to cross the river via this bridge. Kintaikyo was first built in 1673 and was then rebuilt many times, as was common for bridges in Japan. The current bridge is a reconstruction from 1953.
See also
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Imabari Castle
Tōdō Takatora (1556–1630) served at different times as a vassal of several famous clans—Azai, Oda, Toyotomi, and Tokugawa. He took part in the Battle of Anegawa (1570), the Battle of Shizugatake (1583), the invasions of Kyushu and Korea, the Sekigahara campaign (1600), and the Siege of Osaka (1614–1615).
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Gujo Hachiman Castle
Gujo Hachiman Castle is located on 350-meter Mount Hachiman, near the confluence of the Yoshidagawa and Kodaragava rivers, and not far from the Nagaragawa River. During the Sengoku period, this area was of great strategic importance: it stood at a key crossroads of routes connecting Mino Province in the south with the Sea of Japan in the north, and Hida Province in the east with Echizen Province in the west.
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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.
