Kokura Castle is traditionally considered to have been founded by Hosokawa Tadaoki (1563–1645), although by the time the Hosokawa clan came to control these lands, the fortification had already existed since at least 1569 and was most likely built by members of the Mori clan.
Initially, Hosokawa Tadaoki served Oda Nobunaga. In the 1580s, he married Tама, the daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide (her Christian name was Gracia, 1563–1600). When Akechi Mitsuhide launched a rebellion that resulted in the death of Oda Nobunaga, he expected Tadaoki to support him in the struggle against Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of Nobunaga’s former generals. However, Tadaoki refused to join Mitsuhide and later swore allegiance to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. As a vassal of Hideyoshi, he took part in the campaigns at Komaki and Odawara. In the 1590s, Tadaoki grew closer to Tokugawa Ieyasu, and in 1600, during the Sekigahara campaign, he sided with him. On the eve of the decisive battle, Ishida Mitsunari attempted to put pressure on his opponents by taking members of their families hostage, including Gracia, but she chose to take her own life instead.
At the Battle of Sekigahara, Tadaoki commanded a five-thousand-man force positioned at the vanguard of the Tokugawa army and took part in clashes with the troops of Shima Sakon. After the victory, he was rewarded with the Nakatsu domain in Buzen Province, and in 1602 he was granted the Kokura domain.
The main residence of his holdings was considered to be Nakatsu Castle, located on the eastern coast of Kyushu. However, Tadaoki decided to move the center of his domain to the northern part of the island, to an area where major transportation routes between Kyushu and Honshu converged. He began constructing a new castle, inviting skilled craftsmen and experienced builders from various regions of the country. Tadaoki also invested significant effort and resources into developing the castle town surrounding it. Construction was fully completed by 1608.
In 1620, Tadaoki abdicated in favor of his son Tadatoki (1586–1641), who became the second daimyo of the Kokura domain. In 1632, Hosokawa Tadatoki was transferred to Kumamoto Castle, and Kokura passed to a relative of the Hosokawa clan, Ogasawara Tadaazane (1596–1667). Tadaazane, a great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu, came to Kokura from Akashi Castle. At his invitation, the Zen Buddhist monk Sokuhi, a representative of the Ōbaku school, arrived in the city, and several temples were built.
In 1634, at Tadaazane’s invitation, the renowned swordsman Miyamoto Musashi came to the castle. He lived in Kokura for seven years—the longest period he spent in one place throughout his life. During this time, the Niten Ichi-ryu school was established in the city, focusing primarily on the two-sword fighting technique developed and practiced by Musashi himself.
The Ogasawara clan controlled the castle for more than 230 years. In 1837, the Kokura donjon, along with the other buildings, was destroyed in a major fire. Two years later, the castle was restored, but the main tower was not rebuilt.
During the Bakumatsu period (1853–1869), the castle served as the headquarters for forces opposing the uprising of the Choshu clan against the shogunate. In 1866, the combined forces of the Kokura and Kumamoto domains attempted to suppress the rebellion but were defeated. The Ogasawara clan was forced to abandon Kokura Castle, which was set on fire by the retreating troops and burned to the ground. In 1869, the last Ogasawara daimyo, Tadanobu, transferred ownership of the castle to the emperor.
During World War II, the city of Kokura was designated as a secondary target for the first atomic bombing and the primary target for the second. However, the first bomb was dropped on the main target, Hiroshima, and a dense fog prevented the second bomb from being dropped on Kokura, leading to the selection of the alternate target, Nagasaki. Thus, Kokura narrowly escaped destruction twice.
After the war, the castle was confiscated by American occupation forces and returned to Japan in 1957.
In 1959, the castle’s main tower was reconstructed using reinforced concrete. This reconstruction is considered an example of a so-called “fake” castle, as its modern appearance differs significantly from the historical original: the donjon built by Hosokawa Tadaoki belonged to the simple sotogata type and had no gables. The present tower, by contrast, is decorated with numerous gables and can be classified as the namban-style, since its top floor is significantly larger than the one below it. The total height of the donjon is nearly 50 meters, about 19 meters of which are accounted for by the stone base. The tower consists of four tiers and five stories; the fifth story is larger than the fourth and features a panoramic observation deck. Since 1971, the donjon has housed a museum with an interesting collection of artifacts. By 1991, some of the castle’s secondary structures had also been reconstructed.
See also
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Kaminoyama Castle
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.
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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.
