The founder of the castle is considered to be Satake Yoshinobu (1570–1633). Yoshinobu was one of the six great generals of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. During the Odawara Campaign of 1590, he took part in the siege of Oshi Castle under the command of Ishida Mitsunari, with whom Yoshinobu developed a good relationship.
During the Sekigahara Campaign of 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered the Satake clan to march against the Uesugi clan in Aizu Province; however, Yoshinobu hesitated in choosing a side, as he sympathized with Ishida Mitsunari, the leader of the Western Coalition. As a result, the Satake clan split: Yoshinobu’s father, Satake Yoshishige, and many of the clan’s retainers supported the Eastern Coalition. Yoshinobu, for his part, sent only a small cavalry detachment to assist Tokugawa Hidetada against the Sanada clan.
Yoshinobu himself pretended to remain neutral, although there were rumors of his secret agreement with the Uesugi clan. After the Eastern Coalition’s victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, Tokugawa Ieyasu intended to completely confiscate Yoshinobu’s lands, but Yoshishige interceded on his behalf. Yoshinobu was transferred to Dewa Province with his income reduced by half, where he became the first daimyo of the new Kubota domain.
At first, Yoshinobu settled in Minato Castle, which was located on the territory of present-day Akita. However, the castle was too small to govern the domain and poorly defended, so Yoshinobu began construction of a new castle immediately after relocating to Akita, and the main works were completed by 1604.
The castle was built on a 40-meter hill on the left bank of the Nibetsugawa River, a tributary of the Omonogawa River; the rivers and surrounding marshlands became elements of the natural defense of the new castle. The defensive system included water-filled moats (mizubori) and earthen ramparts (dorui) with clay walls (dobē); however, the castle had virtually no stone walls (ishigaki), and according to one version, this was due to a shortage of suitable building stone in the region.
The castle never had a tenshu (main keep) or even tall yagura watchtowers; instead, eight two-story turrets and a palace were constructed. It is believed that Yoshinobu deliberately refrained from building a tenshu, even though he had the right to do so, in order to avoid provoking Ieyasu’s displeasure.
In documents of the Edo period, the castle was initially called Akita; however, a castle with that name had already existed slightly to the north since the Nara period, and around 1647 the name Kubota became firmly established. At the same time as the castle’s construction, a castle town began to develop, continuing to expand in subsequent years, with major construction phases taking place in 1607, 1619, 1629, and 1631. The castle was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1633 but was restored by 1635, and it later suffered additional fires in 1776, 1778, 1797, and 1880.
During the Boshin War of 1868, the Satake clan supported the Meiji government, as a result of which Kubota Castle was attacked by pro-shogunate forces from the neighboring Shōnai domain. In 1872, Kubota was abandoned in accordance with a Meiji government edict ordering the dismantling of samurai castles; most of the earthen ramparts were leveled, the moats were filled in, and the few remaining structures that had survived the 1880 fire were dismantled.
The only structure that survives today on the castle grounds is the guardhouse (bansho) near the former main gate, and its current appearance dates from a 1988 restoration; one of the castle gates has also survived, having been relocated in 1886 to a local Buddhist temple. A samurai residence dating from the 1800s, formerly owned by the Kurosawa clan and originally located within the third enclosure (sannomaru) of Kubota Castle, was moved in 1988 to Hitotsumori Park in Akita. It is one of the best-preserved samurai residences of the Edo period without significant alterations and has been designated a nationally Important Cultural Property.
On the site of the former honmaru and ninomaru enclosures now stands Senshū Park, where a Shinto shrine dedicated to Hachiman—Hachiman Akita Shrine—is located. It was built in 1907, burned down in a fire in 2005, and was reconstructed in its present form in 2007. In 1989, a three-story corner turret, Osumiyagura, was built; it is even larger than the main keeps of some castles and is considered a “fake” reconstruction, as no tower of such size ever existed at Kubota Castle. In 2001, the main gate of the honmaru enclosure was reconstructed.
In addition to a small museum inside the turret, the former castle grounds also contain the Satake Historical Materials Museum, which boasts a respectable collection of artifacts. The castle was also known by the names Yadome and Kuzune, and in 2006 it was included by the Japanese Castle Society (Nihon Jōkaku Kyōkai) in its list of the “100 Great Castles of Japan.”
See also
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Kavanhoe Castle
Kawanoe Castle is located on the small Wasi-yama hill near the port area of the Kawanoe district in the city of Shikokuchuo, occupying a central position along the northern coast of Shikoku Island. Kawanoe was also known as Butsuden Castle. The term “butsuden” in Japan refers to temple halls, and for this reason it is believed that a Buddhist temple once stood on the site before the castle was built. Due to its location at the junction of four provinces on Shikoku Island, Kawanoe held significant strategic importance and was repeatedly targeted by rival forces seeking military control over the region.
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Yokote Castle
The founder of the castle is considered to be the Onodera clan. The Onodera were originally a minor clan from Shimotsuke Province and served Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147–1199), the founder of the first shogunate. The Onodera distinguished themselves in battle against the Fujiwara clan of the Ōshū branch and were rewarded with lands around Yokote. Around the 14th century, the Onodera moved to Yokote as their permanent residence. Their original stronghold was Numadate Castle, but after a series of clashes with the powerful Nambu clan, they relocated their base to the site of present-day Yokote Castle. It was likely during this time that the first fortifications appeared at the castle.
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Wakayama Castle
Wakayama Castle was built in 1585, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered his uterine brother, Hashiba (Toyotomi) Hidenaga, to construct a castle on the site of the recently captured Ota Castle. The purpose of this construction was to secure control over the likewise newly conquered Province of Kii. Following an already established tradition, Hidenaga entrusted the project to his castle-building expert, Todo Takatora. Takatora carefully inspected the future castle site, personally drew up several designs, created a model of the planned castle, and took part in the work of laying out the grounds (nawabari). For the construction he brought in more than 10,000 workers and completed the large-scale project within a single year, which was considered extremely fast by the standards of the time.
Toyama Castle
Toyama Castle is located almost in the very center of the former province of Etchū and is surrounded by a wide plain with a large number of rivers. The very first castle on the banks of the Jinzu River was built in 1543 by Jimbo Nagamoto. The Jimbo clan were vassals of the Hatakeyama clan and governed the western part of Etchū Province. The eastern part of the province belonged to their rivals, the Shiina clan, who were also Hatakeyama vassals. Beginning in the 15th century, the influence of the ancient Hatakeyama clan gradually weakened, and as a result, the Jimbo and the Shiina fought constant wars for control of the province. Meanwhile, the forces of the Ikkō-ikki movement periodically intervened, helping first one side and then the other.
Takada Castle
During the Sengoku period, the lands where Takada Castle would later be built were part of Echigo Province and were controlled by the Uesugi clan.
Kishiwada Castle
The celebrated 14th-century military commander Kusunoki Masashige (1294–1336), who owned extensive lands south of what is now the city of Osaka, ordered one of his vassals, Kishiwada Osamu, to build a fortified residence. This order was carried out around 1336. These fortifications became the first structures on the site of what would later become Kishiwada Castle. From the beginning, the castle stood in a strategically important location—roughly halfway between the cities of Wakayama and Osaka, south of the key port of Sakai. Because of this position, it changed hands several times during periods of warfare.
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.
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).
