Kakegawa Castle- A solid castle that even Tokugawa Ieyasu admired | Shizuoka

Kakegawa Castle built by the Imagawa clan of Suruga and their vassal Asahina

During the Bunmei nenkan（1469-1487), Yoshitada Imagawa of Suruga ordered his chief vassal Yasuhiro Asahina to build a stronghold at Tennozan, located on the northern coast of the Fukagawa River.
This castle is called Kakegawa Old Castle, and “Kakegawa Castle” was built on a continuation of the southwestern ridge around 1512.

In 1568, after the invasion of the Takeda clan in Kai and the Tokugawa clan in Mikawa, Ujizane Imagawa abandoned his base in Sunpu-kan and fled to “Kakegawa Castle” guarded by Yasucho Asahina.

Kakegawa Castle was besieged by the Tokugawa forces, but Yasucho held out for more than half a year and agreed to open the castle with Ujimasa’s help.

Tokugawa clan’s warring bases and Kazutoyo Yamauchi’s renovation work

After Yasutomo Asahina vacated the castle, Ieyasu Tokugawa placed father and son Ienari Ishikawa and Yasumichi Yasumichi in charge of the castle and made “Kakegawa Castle” his base of operations in his struggle against the Takeda clan.

When the Takeda clan fell and the Tokugawa clan moved to the Kanto region, the Ishikawa clan followed suit and moved to Kazusa Naruto, and Kazutoyo Yamauchi, a vassal of Hideyoshi Toyotomi, entered Kakegawa Castle with 51,000 (later 59,000) koku.

Kazutoyo made major renovations to Kakegawa Castle, a medieval castle built on Mt. Ryuzu, by building a circle of wards around the main castle, stone walls and a castle tower, and surrounding the castle town at the foot of the mountain with side structures to form a Teigaku Hirayamashiki castle of the Oritoyo period. The current layout is said to have been completed during this period.

After Hideyoshi’s death, Kazutoyo approached Ieyasu and belonged to the Eastern Army in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, and was given the whole province of Tosa for his war skills and moved to Kochi.　Thereafter, “Kakegawa Castle” was entered by the Tokugawa clan’s parent clan and feudal lords.

Ninomaru Palace of Kakegawa Castle

Ninomaru Goten was used as the official residence of the feudal lord, the clan’s government office, and the site of official ceremonies. Reconstructed in the late Edo period, it is a valuable castle palace that exists in only four places in Japan.

【References】・Weekly “Castles of Japan”　　Published February 18, 2014 by Kazuko Matsuoka, Editor

Access to Kakegawa Castle

◎1138-24, Kakegawa, Kakegawa-shi, Shizuoka 436-0079, Japan

◎Approximately 8 minutes walk from “Kakegawa Station” of JR Tokaido Main Line

Parking around Kakegawa Castle

Kakegawa Castle Official Website

Official Web Site：http://kakegawajo.com/

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