Toba Castle

Toba Castle ; 鳥羽城
	Toba, Mie Prefecture, Japan
	Portion of the foundations of the Main Keep of Toba Castle
Coordinates	34°28′50.98″N 136°50′40.38″E
Type	flatland-style Japanese castle
Site information
Open to; the public	yes
Condition	ruins
Site history
Built	1594
Built by	Kuki Yoshitaka
In use	Edo period
Demolished	1871

Toba Castle (鳥羽城, Toba-jō) was a Japanese castle (now in ruins) located in Toba, Mie Prefecture, Japan. Throughout the Edo period, Toba Castle was the administrative center for Toba Domain, a feudal domain of Shima Province under the Tokugawa shogunate. The site has been proclaimed a Prefectural Historic Site by the Mie Prefectural government.

History

Located on the coast of Ise Bay, with its main gate facing the ocean, Toba Castle was also known as the Floating Castle of Toba (鳥羽の浮城, Toba-no-uki-jō) or the Two-color Castle (二色城, Nishoku-jō) (from the fact that its seaward side was painted black, and landward side painted white).

The castle was constructed in 1594 by Kuki Yoshitaka, an admiral under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who commanded a force of Japanese pirates, who dominated the Ise Bay area in the Sengoku period. The Kuki clan ruled for three generations until 1633.

Following three generations of the Kuki clan until 1633, the castle came under the control of Naito Tadashige who expanded the grounds by adding a second and third bailey. It was subsequently ruled by various daimyō in the early Edo period, until it came into the possession of the Inagaki clan in 1725. The Inagaki ruled the 30,000 koku Toba Domain for eight generations until the Meiji restoration. The three-story tenshu (donjon) of the castle, built in 1633, was destroyed in 1854 during one of the Ansei great earthquakes and was not rebuilt.

The remaining structures of the castle were destroyed in 1871 by orders of the new Meiji government. Located on the castle site are the modern Toba city hall, city elementary school, Shiroyama Park, and Toba Aquarium

References

Schmorleitz, Morton S. (1974). Castles in Japan. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co. pp. 144–145. ISBN 0-8048-1102-4.
Motoo, Hinago (1986). Japanese Castles. Tokyo: Kodansha. p. 200 pages. ISBN 0-87011-766-1.
Mitchelhill, Jennifer (2004). Castles of the Samurai: Power and Beauty. Tokyo: Kodansha. p. 112 pages. ISBN 4-7700-2954-3.
Turnbull, Stephen (2003). Japanese Castles 1540-1640. Osprey Publishing. p. 64 pages. ISBN 1-84176-429-9.

External links

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