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Kagoshima Castle (鹿児島城, Kagoshima-jō) was an Edo period flatland-style Japanese castle located in the city of Kagoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Its ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 2023. [1] Kagoshima Castle was listed as one of Japan's Top 100 Castles by the Japan Castle Foundation in 2006. [2] ). It is more popular known in Kagoshima as Tsurumaru Castle (鶴丸城)
Kagoshima Castle was built by Shimazu Tadatsune following the defeat of the Shimazu clan along with the Western Army at the 1600 Battle of Sekigahara. His father Shimazu Yoshihiro had famously led a fighting retreat off of the battlefield and escaped with the bulk of his army intact back to Kyushu. The victorious Tokugawa forces landed in Kyushu to subdue the remnants of the forces loyal to Ishida Mitsunari and Toyotomi Hideyori, but reached a peace agreement with the Shimazu, who agreed to reduce their territory to the provinces of Satsuma and Ōsumi. The previous center of Satsuma and the main stronghold of the Shimazu clan had been in the area of present-day Satsumasendai and Izumi, which were nearer to provincial border with Higo Province. Shimazu Tadatsune therefore decided to relocate his stronghold further south, which was further away from potential invasion by the Tokugawa shogunate and protected by mountainous terrain. The actual site was selected by geomancy and was protected by the Hegigawa River to the east, Satsuma Kaidō to the west, the Kinko Bay to the south, and Mount Shiroyama to the north. He constructed a "yakata-zukuri" style castle, which was more of a large fortified residence than a Japanese castle. It consisted of a main citadel in the north and a secondary citadel to the south, protected by a moats and low walls, and did not have a tenshu or high stone walls. Mount Shiroyama to the rear of the castle was regarded as the redoubt which could be used in case of siege; however, after Tadatsune's death, the mountain was regarded as a sacred area and was placed off-limits. Tadatsune's father, Shimazu Yoshihiro, was adamantly against the construction of Kagoshima Castle due to its indefensible design and its proximity to the coast; however, politically the military weakness of the castle was intended as a political statement verifying the Shimazu clan's submission to the Tokugawa shogunate. The castle was completed in 1604. [3]
Kagoshima Castle was never used in actual battle until the Bakumatsu period, when it came under attack by the Royal Navy during the Anglo-Satsuma War of 1863. Shimazu Yoshihiro's concerns about its proximity the coast were proven accurate; however, as the castle was so inconspicuous, the British mistook a nearby Buddhist temple the temple for a castle tower and fired on it instead. [3]
Following the Meiji restoration, the fledgling Imperial Japanese Army garrisoned the castle. In 1873, the main citadel burned down, including the main gate of the caste. In 1877 the second citadel likewise burned down during the Satsuma Rebellion. The Kagoshima Prefectural Medical School and its affiliated hospital were established on the site of the second citadel in 1882, continuing under various names until it was relocated in 1974. The site is now the location of the Kagoshima Prefectural Library, Kagoshima City Museum of Art, and Kagoshima Prefectural Museum. The main citadel was used by the Kagoshima Seventh High School Zoshikan from 1901 until its destruction in an air raid in 1945. Afterwards, the site became the Faculty of Letters and Sciences of Kagoshima University until 1957, when it was replaced by the National Kagoshima University School of Medicine until 1974. It is now Reimeikan, Kagoshima Prefectural Center for Historical Material, which opened in 1984. [3]
A reconstruction of the Otemon main gate of the castle based on surviving documents and photographs was completed in 2020.
Media related to Kagoshima Castle at Wikimedia Commons
Kagoshima City, is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. As of 31 July 2024, the city had an estimated population of 583,966 in 285,992 households, and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is 547.61 km2 (211.43 sq mi).
Satsuma Province was an old province of Japan that is now the western half of Kagoshima Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. Its abbreviation was Sasshū (薩州).
Kobayashi is a city located in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. As of 1 May 2023, the city had an estimated population of 42,139 in 19144 households, and a population density of 75 persons per km2. The total area of the city is 562.95 km2 (217.36 sq mi).
The Shimazu clan were the daimyō of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan.
Shimazu Yoshihisa was a powerful daimyō and the 16th Chief of Shimazu clan of Satsuma Province, the eldest son of Shimazu Takahisa. He was renowned as a great general, who managed to subjugate Kyushu through the deft maneuvering of his three brothers. Eventually, in 1585, Yoshihisa seceded control of the entire Kyushu region.
Shimazu Yoshihiro was the second son of Shimazu Takahisa and the younger brother of Shimazu Yoshihisa. Traditionally believed to be the 17th head of the Shimazu clan, he was a skilled general during the Sengoku period who greatly contributed to the unification of Kyūshū.
Shimazu Tadatsune was a tozama daimyō of Satsuma, the first to hold it as a formal fief (han) under the Tokugawa shogunate, and the first Japanese to rule over the Ryūkyū Kingdom. As lord of Satsuma, he was among the most powerful lords in Japan at the time, and formally submitted to Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1602, to prove his loyalty, being rewarded as a result with the name Matsudaira Iehisa; Matsudaira being a branch family of the Tokugawa, and "Ie" of "Iehisa" being taken from "Ieyasu", this was a great honor. As of 1603, his holdings amounted to 605,000 koku.
The Satsuma Domain, briefly known as the Kagoshima Domain, was a domain (han) of the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan during the Edo period from 1602 to 1871.
Shimazu Toyohisa or Shimazu Tadatoyo, son of Shimazu Iehisa and nephew of Shimazu Yoshihiro, was a Japanese samurai who was a member of the Shimazu clan. He was also the castle lord in command of Sadowara Castle. He served in the Battle of Kyushu (1587) under his uncle against the Toyotomi. He fought bravely, but was ambushed off route when he charged forward. He was saved by his uncle. His wife was the daughter of Shimazu Tadanaga, cousin and karō to Shimazu Yoshihisa.
The outline of the History of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan is described herein.
The 1754 Horeki River incident was an incident in which the Tokugawa shogunate ordered Satsuma Domain to carry out difficult flood control works in Mino Province near its border with Owari Province in the Chūbu region of Japan during the Hōreki era. Rivers subject to frequent flooding in this area included the Kiso River, Nagara River and Ibi River near Nagoya. Due to the difficulty of the project and due to malicious interference by shogunal authorities to make completion of the project more difficult, this order ultimately resulted in 51 Satsuma samurai committing seppuku, 33 samurai dying from disease and the responsible karō, Hirata Yukie, also committing seppuku. The river improvement project was finally completed in the Meiji period. The incident is also called the Hōreki Age River Improvement Incident and the Nōbi Plain River Improvement Incident.
Oka Castle was a Sengoku to Edo period yamajiro-style Japanese castle located in the city of Taketa, Ōita Prefecture, Japan. Its ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 2023.
Chiran Castle wais a Japanese castle located in the Chiran area of the city of Minamikyūshū, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Its ruins were designated a National Historic Site in 1993.
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Shimazu Kameju or Kamejuhime (亀寿姫), was a Japanese noble woman from the Shimazu clan during the Sengoku period. She was the third daughter of Shimazu Yoshihisa, 16th head of the Shimazu clan, and wife to the 18th clan head, Shimazu Iehisa. Kameju is known as a beautiful and wise woman, it is said that she was very kind and loved by the people of Kagoshima. She played important roles as a diplomat when living under the Toyotomi clan, she later became castellan of Kokubu Castle.
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