- Tottori domainRuled by three Ikeda families
- The Tottori Domain was a large domain that ruled Inaba Province and Hoki Province (present-day Tottori Prefecture). The stone value was as high as 325,000 koku, and the Ikeda clan continued to rule it throughout the Edo period. The Ikeda clan had three families, and in the early Edo period, there were territorial exchanges between the same Ikeda clan.
Tottori CastleTottori City, Tottori Prefecture
- spring
- summer
- autumn
- winter
- TOP
- China
- Tottori prefecture
- Tottori Castle
| Other name | Hisamatsu Castle, Hisamatsuyama Castle |
|---|---|
| castle construction | 1532-1555 |
| address | 1-220 Higashimachi, Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture |
- Access to Tottori Castle
- About 7 minutes by bus from JR Tottori Station.
HISTORYTottori Castle, also known as the “castle museum”
Tottori Castle is a castle located in Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture. It has been renovated many times and retains the changes in the form of the castle from the Sengoku period to the end of the Edo period, earning it the nickname ``Castle Museum.''
It is also known as the castle where Hideyoshi Hashiba raided for supplies. Let's unravel the history of Tottori Castle.
- Tottori Castle during the Sengoku period
- It has long been believed that Tottori Castle was originally a mountain castle built by Seimichi Yamana, the protector of Inaba, during the Tenbun era, the middle of the Sengoku period. However, recent research has revealed that it may have been built as a castle for the Tajima Yamana clan, which was in conflict with the Inaba Yamana clan. The first lord of Tottori Castle is officially recorded as Takeda Takashi, who betrayed the Inaba Yamana clan, allied with the Mori clan, forced the Inaba shugo Toyokazu Yamana to flee to Kano Castle, and was promoted to a gokujo. He is a person called Shin. However, in 1573, the castle was again attacked by Toyokuni Yamana, who had formed an alliance with Yukimori Yamanaka and other Amago remnants, and although Takanobu concluded a peace agreement and surrendered the castle, he was assassinated. Tottori Castle once again became the residence of the Inaba Yamana clan, but it was attacked by Motoharu Yoshikawa and the remnants of Amago, and the castle owner changed rapidly, but in 1575, Toyokuni Yamana, the younger brother of Toyokazu Yamana, became the castle owner. So I've settled down to a summary.
In 1580, Hideyoshi Hashiba, a vassal of Oda Nobunaga, began the first siege of Tottori Castle, and Toyokuni Yamana surrendered after being confined within the castle for three months. However, in the same month, the Mori clan, with whom they had signed a pact, visited Tottori Castle, and Toyokuni Yamana surrendered to the Mori clan. As a result, Toyokuni was removed from the position of lord of Tottori Castle, and Tsuneie Yoshikawa, a senior vassal of the Mori clan, became lord of Tottori Castle. In 1581, Yamana Toyokuni sent a secret messenger to Oda Nobunaga, but this was captured by the Mori clan, and the Mori clan became aware of Yamana Toyokuni's secret communication to the Oda clan. . Toyokuni ran away to Hideyoshi, but the remaining former retainers of the Yamana clan continued to follow the Mori clan, so Hideyoshi launched a second siege of Tottori Castle. At this time, Hideyoshi carried out a gruesome food raid that was later referred to as the ``Thirst Murder of Tottori.'' The battle began in July, and Tsuneie Yoshikawa, the castle lord, thought that if he held out until November, the snowfall would make it difficult to attack the castle, so he chose to siege the castle, but in anticipation of this, Hideyoshi Hashiba decided to attack Tottori Castle. They will buy up all the rice and destroy the channels for receiving support from outside Mori forces. Furthermore, Hideyoshi stationed his forces near the port of Karo and the mouth of the Chiyo River, making it impossible to transport supplies by sea. As a result, in late October, three months after the siege, the food in the castle was almost exhausted, and ``men and women were emaciated like hungry ghosts, huddled against the fence, crying out for help, crying out for help.'' The situation was so terrible that it was written in the ``Nobunaga Koki'', ``It's such a pitiful state, no one can pay attention to it.'' The lord of the castle, Tsuneie Yoshikawa, saw this terrible situation and decided to surrender the castle in exchange for suicide. Oda Nobunaga spared Tsuneie Yoshikawa's life and tried to add him to his vassals, but Tsuneie Yoshikawa was determined to commit suicide, and he committed suicide along with Doyo Morishita and Haritsugu Nakamura, senior vassals of the Yamana clan.
After the castle was surrendered, Tottori Castle was praised by Nobunaga Oda as a ``sturdy and famous castle,'' and Tsugujun Miyabe, a former retainer of the Asai clan and a supporter of Hideyoshi, entered the castle as the castle's lord. After that, Tsugujun Miyabe made great achievements in the Kyushu conquest, and was officially given 50,000 koku of land in Inaba and Tajima, and became the lord of Tottori Castle. - Tottori Castle in the Edo period
- When the Battle of Sekigahara broke out in 1600, Tsugujun's son, Miyanobubo, sided with the Western army. After the Battle of Sekigahara, the castle was violently attacked by the eastern army's Kamei Kinori and others, and the castle was surrendered. Later, Tottori Castle was given to Nagayoshi Ikeda along with 60,000 koku for his efforts in the attack on Minakuchi Okayama Castle in Omi-Koka District. After entering the castle, Ikeda Nagayoshi renovated Tottori Castle into a modern castle. Then, in 1617, Mitsumasa Ikeda entered the city with a large fief of 325,000 koku from Inaba and Hoki, expanded Tottori Castle, and established a castle town. After that, territory was exchanged with the Ikeda clan, the lord of the Bizen Okayama domain. This Ikeda clan is Mitsunaka Ikeda, a cousin of Mitsumasa Ikeda. The Ikeda clan continued to rule Tottori Castle until the end of the Edo period.
- Tottori Castle after the Meiji era
- The castle was designated as an existing castle by the Castle Abandonment Ordinance promulgated in 1837, and was placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, becoming the 4th Military Administration.
When Tottori Prefecture was incorporated into Shimane Prefecture in 1840, the buildings were demolished one after another, and in the end, all that was left was the middle partition gate and the Ogi Goten makeup room.
Later, in 1975 (Showa 50), the middle partition gate fell down due to strong winds (it was repaired in the same year), and now only the castle tower and stone wall remain. In 1993, a bronze statue of Tsuneie Yoshikawa was erected at the main entrance of Tottori Castle.
In 2005, the ``Basic Plan for the Preservation and Development of Taikogahira, a Historic Site of Tottori Castle Ruins'' was formulated, and as part of this plan, restoration work on the Otemon Gate was carried out from November 2019 to March 2021.
It has been open to the public since March 2021.
Today's Tottori Castle is one of Tottori's tourist attractions, and the spherical stone walls called Tenkyumaru are especially worth seeing.
Read about incidents related to Tottori Castle
- Battle of Tottori Castle“Thirst killing” due to the worst siege battle in history
- During the Sengoku period, many siege battles were fought, but the most famous siege battle in the San'in region was the one in 1581 when Toyotomi Hideyoshi attacked Tottori Castle (present-day Tottori City, Tottori Prefecture). It would be "The Thirst Killer of Tottori Castle." Bitchu Takamatsu Castle (Okayama Prefecture)
Read the biographies of people related to Tottori Castle
- Yoshikawa TsuneieThe samurai who was mourned as a "pathetic loyalist"
- In the latter part of the Sengoku period, Oda Nobunaga supported Ashikaga Yoshiaki and ruled the Kinai region. After the pacification of the Kinai region was completed, he turned his attention to areas outside of the Kinai region. He ordered Hashiba Hideyoshi to attack the Chugoku region. Tottori Castle, which belonged to the Mori clan, was also targeted for attack.
History of the Tottori Domain, with Tottori Castle as its domain office
| Domain office | Tottori Castle |
|---|---|
| old area | Omi District, Inaba Province |
| stone height | 325,000 koku |
| Fudai/Tozama | Foreigner |
| main lord | Ikeda family |
