Kamino-yama Castle stood at the center of an important logistics hub, in the middle of the Yonezawa Plain, which served as the gateway to the western part of the Tohoku region. Roads connecting the Aizu, Fukushima, and Yamagata areas intersected here.
The first structures on the site of what is now Kamino-yama Castle appeared as early as the Muromachi period, when the territory was controlled by the Tendo clan. The lands around the future castle repeatedly became a battleground between the Mogami and Date clans, changing hands several times.
In 1528, Takenaga (Buei) Yoshitada—a retainer of the Mogami clan and a relative of the Tendo clan—defeated the Koyanagawa clan, a vassal of the Date clan, and established himself in the area around the present-day castle. In 1535, he built Kamino-yama Castle as the southernmost outpost of Mogami territory. Yoshitada took the name of the land as his family name, thereby founding the new Kamino-yama clan.
When an internal power struggle broke out within the Mogami clan, Kamino-yama Yoshitada supported the opponents of the new daimyo, Mogami Yoshiaki. Yoshiaki did not have enough troops to carry out punitive campaigns, so he preferred to rely on cunning and bribery. In 1578, Kamino-yama Mitsukane, Yoshitada’s grandson, invaded Mogami lands with the support of the Date clan. Yoshiaki made a secret agreement with Minbu Satomi, an important vassal of Mitsukane. Under the terms of the plot, Satomi was to kill Mitsukane and, as a reward, receive Kamino-yama Castle. The conspiracy succeeded, and Satomi became the castle’s lord. The castle remained an important stronghold in the confrontation between the Mogami and Date clans.
Kamino-yama Castle was built on a low hill near a river that flowed nearby. Its fortification plan made the most of the natural defenses: the western and southern sides were protected by steep cliffs. The castle had two defensive rings, each surrounded by a water-filled moat (mizubori). The main enclosure, the honmaru, was almost rectangular, measuring roughly 100 by 50 meters.
In 1590, both the Mogami and Date clans pledged loyalty to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the Mogami clan’s rights to the lands around Kamino-yama Castle were confirmed.
During the Sekigahara campaign in 1600, the Mogami clan supported Tokugawa Ieyasu, and as a result their lands were attacked by the Uesugi clan. Kamino-yama Castle was besieged by a force of 4,000 soldiers, while the commander, Minbu Satomi, had only 500 men. However, Satomi hid part of the garrison outside the castle and suddenly attacked the besiegers from the rear, which helped prevent an assault on the castle. After Ieyasu’s victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, the Mogami clan’s rights to the lands around Kamino-yama Castle were confirmed once again.
However, in 1622 a conflict erupted within the clan, and as punishment the Mogami clan was stripped of its rights, and the territory of the new Kamino-yama Domain was confiscated. During the Edo period, the castle and the domain frequently changed hands, including the Matsudaira, Gamo, Toki, and Kanamori clans.
Under the rule of the Toki clan (1628–1691), the castle acquired a donjon, but it was destroyed in 1692 and was never rebuilt. In the 18th century, the castle passed into the hands of the Fujii branch of the Matsudaira clan, who governed the castle and domain until the beginning of the Meiji era.
According to an edict of the new Meiji government, the surviving castle structures were dismantled in 1872, and the former castle grounds were turned into a city park. A Shinto shrine was also built on the ruins.
In 1982, a reinforced-concrete keep tower was built on the site of the former second bailey. Since no materials showing what the original keep of Kamino-yama Castle looked like have survived, the keep of Inuyama Castle was used as the model for this “reconstruction.” This is yet another example of a “fake reconstruction” of Japanese castle keeps.
Today, the tower houses a history museum, and the top floor has an observation deck offering an excellent view of the Zao Mountains and the city of Kamino-yama. Some sources also give the castle another name: Tsukioka.
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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Iwakuni Castle
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.
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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.
