One of Nobeoka Castle’s most impressive features is the 22-meter-high stone wall around the central Hon-Maru citadel. Legend has it that if the castle were ever attacked and a specific keystone was moved, the wall would collapse, killing 1,000 invaders!
Formerly known as Agata Castle, Nobeoka Castle in Kyushu’s east-central Miyazaki Prefecture was originally the fortified residence of the Tsuchimochi clan from the 10th century. The Tsuchimochi controlled lands across Kyushu’s Hyuga region but lost much of their holdings when the Kamakura Shogunate allocated the southern districts to the Shimizu clan and the Miyazaki plains to the Ito clan, leaving the Tsuchimochi with only the northern areas. As expected, various clans fought among each other for a greater share of the fertile lands. In 1587, the region came under the control of Takahashi Mototane, who, despite his affiliation with Ishida Mitsunari at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, maintained his lands and commenced construction of Nobeoka Castle in 1601, completing it in 1603.
Situated between two rivers that meet just east of Nobeoka, the castle was perched on a plateau-like hill approximately 200 meters long and 100 meters wide, with three elliptical terraces featuring well-constructed ishigaki dry stone walls along the western face. This is where the Sennnin Goroshi, or the Thousand Killer Wall, a 20-meter-high, 70-meter-long wall, can be found. The shape of the wall’s corner is intriguing, as it curves downward before suddenly curving into a near-vertical drop toward the ground, resembling a reverse-angled fortissimo ( f ) mark. The eastern side of the castle does not have any stone wall work.
The Takahashi were replaced by Arima Yasuzumi in 1613 following a falling out with the Tokugawa Shogunate and expulsion. The Arima clan, formerly of Hinoe Castle in Nagasaki, strengthened the castle, adding not a keep but a three-story turret, and changed the name from Agata to Nobeoka Castle. The turret was destroyed in a blaze that started in the town in 1682 and was never replaced. The castle had a central Hon-Maru, Ni, and San no Maru baileys surrounding it, while the Nishi no Maru to the west was the site of the lord’s residence. This area also covered a 200-meter-long, 100-meter-wide stretch of land that enhanced the castle's defensive capabilities, allowing it to act like a Demaru, an outer defense separate from the main castle if the need ever arose.
The Arima were dismissed following peasant uprisings, and for the following years, various hereditary retainers of the Tokugawa were placed in charge until 1747, when the Naito clan of Aichi Prefecture was transferred to Nobeoka and remained until the beginning of the Meiji Period. The Naito clan graveyard can be found next to the Otemon Gate.
Although the castle was decommissioned in 1870, it finally saw battle in 1877 when Saigo Takamori and his troops took over the castle but were ousted by the Imperial troops. Saigo Takamori and his men fled to near Kagoshima, where they met their deaths shortly after.
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.
