- Type
- Castle
- Origins
- 1457 · 15th century per Wikidata: founding, first mention or construction
- Location
- Saitama Prefecture, Japan
- Architect
- Ōta Dōkan
- Visiting
- probably – Wikidata lists it as a museum or gives tickets, opening hours or visitor numbers; check before you go
- Coordinates
- 35.9245°, 139.4915°
History
In 1457 Ōta Sukekiyo and his son Ōta Dōkan, retainers of the Ōgigayatsu Uesugi clan, built a castle at Kawagoe on the Musashi plain. In 1537 it was taken by Hōjō Ujitsuna, and in 1546 his son Ujiyasu routed a far larger Uesugi coalition army beneath its walls in a night attack. From 1590 Kawagoe belonged to the Tokugawa and was entrusted to their most reliable vassals, as it guarded the northern roads to Edo. Matsudaira Nobutsuna enlarged the castle in 1639, and in 1848 Matsudaira Naritsune built a new Honmaru palace. Most of the buildings were demolished after 1870, but part of the palace survived.
What to see
The surviving part of the Honmaru Goten palace of 1848 has a grand entrance under a curved karahafu gable, tatami-matted rooms and a garden. Next door stands the senior retainers' office, moved back to its original site. The mound of the Fujimi turret and stretches of earthworks also remain, and the old merchant quarter of Kawagoe with its kurazukuri storehouses begins nearby.
Wikipedia article Official website Wikidata Q1073688
Popularity: articles about this site in 11 Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia language editions and others).