Iga Ueno Castle

Iga Ueno Castle (伊賀上野城, Iga-Ueno-jō), also known as Ueno Castle (上野城, Ueno-jō) and Hakuho Castle (白鳳城, Hakuhō-jō), is a Japanese castle located in Iga, Mie Prefecture, Japan.

History

Construction on Iga Ueno Castle began in 1585 by the command of Takigawa Katsutoshi. However, the honmaru, or innermost bailey, as well as the tenshu, or donjon, upon which the modern reconstruction was based were built by Katsutoshi's successor, Tsutsui Sadatsugu. Sadatsugu was then succeeded by Tōdō Takatora. Takatora renovated the honmaru, giving it 30 metres (33 yards) high walls. This meant that the walls of the honmaru of Iga Ueno Castle were the tallest of any castle in Japan, a record that still holds. After the threat of rebellion passed, the castle was not seen to be as important as it once was. As a result, the tenshu was not re-built after it was destroyed by high winds in 1612.^[1] Because of its beautiful architecture, and floor plan, Iga Ueno Castle is also known as "Hakuho" or "White Phoenix Castle."

Today

In 1935, the tenshu of Iga Ueno Castle was re-constructed out of wood.^[2] It houses a museum which holds a collection of artifacts relating to the area's history.^[3] Most other parts of the castle lie in ruins, though the towering honmaru walls still stand. The castle is now a National Historic Site and preserved in Ueno Park. Parts of the Akira Kurosawa movie Kagemusha were filmed at Iga Ueno Castle.

Immediately alongside the castle is the Iga-ryū Ninja Museum which features a model village and a museum of ninja history and displays.

References

Schmorleitz, Morton S. (1974). Castles in Japan. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co. ISBN 0-8048-1102-4.  Coordinates: 34°46′12″N 136°07′38″E / 34.770091°N 136.127194°E / 34.770091; 136.127194

External links

Media related to Iga Ueno Castle at Wikimedia Commons

100 Fine Castles of Japan by region
Hokkaidō	Nemuro Peninsula Chashiato Goryōkaku Matsumae
Tōhoku	Hirosaki Ne Morioka Sendai Taga Kubota Yamagata Nihonmatsu Aizuwakamatsu Komine
Kantō	Mito Banna-ji Minowa Kanayama Hachigata Kawagoe Sakura Edo Hachiōji Odawara Tsutsujigasaki Kōfu Matsushiro Ueda Komoro Matsumoto Takatō Shibata Kasugayama
Chūbu	Takaoka Nanao Kanazawa Maruoka Ichijōdani Iwamura Gifu Yamanaka Sunpu Kakegawa Inuyama Nagoya Okazaki Nagashino Iga Ueno Matsuzaka
Kansai	Odani Hikone Azuchi Kannonji Nijō Osaka Chihaya Takeda Sasayama Akashi Himeji Akō Takatori Wakayama
Chūgoku	Tottori Matsue Gassantoda Tsuwano Tsuyama Bitchū Matsuyama Ki Okayama Fukuyama Yoshida-Kōriyama Hiroshima Iwakuni Hagi
Shikoku	Tokushima Takamatsu Marugame Imabari Matsuyama Yuzuki Ōzu Uwajima Kōchi
Kyūshūa	Fukuoka Ōno Nagoya Yoshinogari site Saga Hirado Shimabara Kumamoto Hitoyoshi Funai Oka Obi Kagoshima Nakijin Nakagusuku Shuri
a including Okinawa.