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.
After the castle was completed, Hidenaga made Yamato Koriyama Castle his base, and appointed Kuwayama Shigeharu as the castellan of Wakayama. After the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, the castle passed to Asano Yoshinaga (1576–1613). Yoshinaga expanded and rebuilt the castle. As part of these works, he dismantled the old ishigaki stone walls and constructed new ones using higher-quality stone. He also built a three-story donjon covered with black panels, which was connected by roofed corridors to three corner turrets—an arrangement known as the renritsushiki type. The castle also gained two semicircular rings of mizubori moats, supplied with water from the Kinokawa River.
During the Osaka Summer Campaign of 1615, the castle was attacked by forces loyal to Toyotomi Hideyori under the command of Ono Harunaga, Ban Naoyuki, and Okabe Noritsuna. At that time, the castellan of Wakayama was Asano Nagaakira (1586–1632). He managed to defeat the Toyotomi forces in the Battle of Kashii. Naoyuki and Noritsuna were killed, and Harunaga retreated back to Osaka.
In 1619, the Asano clan was transferred to Hiroshima, and Wakayama Castle passed to Tokugawa Ieyasu’s tenth son, Yorinobu (1602–1671). Yorinobu rebuilt the castle for a third time, and once again the castle walls were reconstructed. By 1621 he added a new bailey to the northwest, and later planned to expand the castle to the south, but he was forced to abandon this plan due to rumors of his involvement in the Keian Uprising of 1651. The uprising’s leader, Yui Shosetsu, used Yorinobu’s name in his proclamations without Yorinobu’s consent. Even though the rumors were groundless, Yorinobu chose not to escalate the situation by strengthening his castle’s defensive capabilities.
The Tokugawa clan held the castle until the Meiji Restoration. The original tenshu (main keep) burned down after being struck by lightning in 1846, and in 1850 a new three-story donjon was built. It survived into the 20th century and was designated a National Treasure, but unfortunately it was completely destroyed by American aerial bombardment in 1945.
The donjon complex (the main tower, an attached tower, two corner turrets, gates, and connecting corridor-towers) was reconstructed in 1958 using reinforced concrete. This reconstruction is considered one of the so-called “fake buildings,” since it does not replicate any of the keeps that previously stood on this site. Considering that a sufficient amount of material (photographs, drawings, and descriptions) had been prepared for the structure’s designation as a National Treasure in 1935, the authorities’ decision to erect a concrete imitation looks quite strange.
At the foot of Mount Torafusu, where the donjon is located, visitors are greeted by a large tiger figure on a pedestal. This sculpture was donated to the castle by patrons in 1959. The reason is that as far back as the Middle Ages, the appearance of the castle from the bay was compared to a tiger lying down.
The Okaguchimon Gate has survived to the present day in its original form dating back to 1621. Since 1957 it has been designated an Important Cultural Property. The Oimawashimon Gate is believed to have survived since the 19th century, and its status is “Municipal Cultural Property.” The ishigaki stone walls, building foundations, and some of the moats have also survived.
In 1983, the main Otemon Gate and the Ichinobashi Bridge leading to it were restored. These structures had collapsed in 1909 due to a lack of proper maintenance. An interesting feature of Wakayama Castle is the roofed Ohashiroka Bridge, reconstructed in 2006. It connects the former ninomaru and Nishinomaru baileys. A bridge of this type, built with an incline, is a fairly rare structure in Japanese castle architecture.
The museum inside the donjon can boast a fairly rich collection. The exhibits are mostly from the Edo period, but there are also some particularly interesting items, such as a leather jinbaori.
In 2006, the castle was included by the Japan Castle Foundation (Nihon Jokaku Kyokai) in the list of the “100 Outstanding Castles of Japan.” The castle complex also has the status of a National Historic Site. The castle’s other names are Takegaki and Torafusu.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
