- Type
- Castle
- Origins
- 1585 · 16th century per Wikidata: founding, first mention or construction
- Location
- Mie Prefecture, Japan
- Commissioned by
- Tsutsui Sadatsugu
- Coordinates
- 34.7701°, 136.1272°
History
Tsutsui Sadatsugu, moved to Iga Province by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, began building the castle on Ueno hill in 1585 and gave it a three-storey keep. In 1608 the domain passed to Tōdō Takatora, a celebrated castle builder, who on Tokugawa Ieyasu's orders turned the stronghold into a bulwark against the Toyotomi in Osaka. He took down the old keep and raised a stone wall almost 30 metres high on the west side, but his new five-storey keep collapsed in a typhoon in 1612 before it was finished. After the fall of Osaka in 1615 the keep was never rebuilt. The present wooden keep was funded in 1935 by a local politician, Kawasaki Katsu.
What to see
The castle stands in Ueno Park on a hill above the town, and the most striking sight is the almost vertical stone wall, about thirty metres high, seen from the edge of the moat. The three-storey keep of 1935 displays armour and mementoes of the Tōdō clan, and the ceiling of its top floor is decorated with panels of calligraphy and paintings by well-known artists. The park also holds the Haiseiden hall honouring Bashō and a museum of the Iga school of ninja.
Wikipedia article Official website Wikidata Q1333693
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