Aizuwakamatsu Castle

Timeline

1. 1384

   Founding of Kurokawa Castle

   During the Nanboku-cho era, Ashina Naomori builds the Odagaki estate (Higashi-Kurokawa-yakata) — considered the origin of Tsuruga Castle.

2. 1589

   Battle of Suriagehara

   Date Masamune defeats Ashina Yoshihiro and seizes Kurokawa Castle, ending the Ashina line; Hideyoshi reclaims Aizu the next year.

3. 1592

   Gamo Ujisato's Renovation

   Transferred from Omi Hino, Gamo Ujisato renames Kurokawa to Wakamatsu and launches a sweeping rebuild into an early modern castle.

4. 1593

   Renamed Tsurugajo

   A seven-story watchtower keep is completed and the castle is renamed Tsurugajo after the crane crest of the Gamo house.

5. 1611

   Aizu Earthquake and Rebuild

   The great Aizu Earthquake topples the keep; Kato Akinari rebuilds it as a five-story layered tenshu and adds the Nishi and Kita baileys.

6. 1643

   Hoshina Masayuki Arrives

   Hoshina Masayuki, half-brother of shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, enters with 230,000 koku; Aizu becomes the Matsudaira seat for two centuries.

7. 1868

   Battle of Aizu and Siege

   Boshin War: Aizu holds out for one month against 2,500 shells before surrendering to Itagaki Taisuke on 22 September.

8. 1874

   Demolition of the Keep

   Under War Ministry orders, the keep, turrets, and gates are dismantled and the castle grounds are converted into an army parade field.

9. 1890

   Ruins Bought Back

   Former Aizu retainer Endo Keishi buys the grounds back with 2,500 yen of his own funds and donates them to the former lord's house.

10. 1934

    National Historic Site Designation

    The castle ruins are designated a National Historic Site, protecting around 23 hectares of the inner bailey and outworks.

11. 1965

    Concrete Keep Reconstruction

    The keep's Edo-era exterior is reconstructed in reinforced concrete; the interior opens as the Tsuruga Castle Local History Museum.

12. 1990

    Rinkaku Teahouse Restored

    Rinkaku, the Shoan-built teahouse and a Fukushima ICP, is rebuilt on its original site within the inner bailey.

13. March 2011

    Red Tiles Return

    Re-roofing in late-Edo red akagawara is completed just 16 days after the Great East Japan Earthquake — the only red-tiled keep in Japan.

Detailed History

Tsuruga Castle's history reaches back to 1384, when Ashina Naomori, seventh head of the Ashina clan, built a fortified residence on the Odagaki estate during the Nanboku-cho era. By the mid 15th century the site was known as Kurokawa Castle, and under Ashina Moriuji it became the seat of an extensive Sengoku dominion. In 1589 Date Masamune defied Toyotomi Hideyoshi's prohibition to crush Ashina Yoshihiro at the Battle of Suriagehara and seized Kurokawa — but the next year, after the Odawara campaign, he pledged fealty to Hideyoshi, lost Aizu, and was relocated to Yonezawa. Gamo Ujisato, transferred from Omi Hino, began a vast reconstruction in 1592, renaming the town 'Wakamatsu' after the pine grove near his birthplace; in 1593 he raised an unprecedented seven-story watchtower keep and named it Tsurugajo. When Ujisato's son Hideyuki was moved to Utsunomiya in 1598, Uesugi Kagekatsu entered from Echigo Kasugayama with a 1.2 million koku fief, but after siding with the western coalition at Sekigahara he was reduced to Yonezawa in 1600. Hideyuki returned the next year, and after the great Aizu Earthquake of 1611 toppled the keep, Kato Yoshiakira and his son Akinari rebuilt it as a layered five-story tenshu and added the Nishi-deguruwa and Kita-deguruwa baileys that survive today. In 1643 Hoshina Masayuki — half-brother of the third shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu — was installed with 230,000 koku, and the castle remained the seat of the Aizu Matsudaira house for the rest of the Edo period. The ninth lord, Matsudaira Katamori, took the high office of Kyoto Shugoshoku in 1862 and commanded the Shinsengumi. In the Boshin War of 1868 the Battle of Aizu became a one-month siege: about 2,500 shells fell on the keep before Katamori surrendered to Itagaki Taisuke on 22 September. The Meiji War Ministry ordered the keep demolished in 1874, but in 1890 the former Aizu retainer Endo Keishi bought back the ruins with 2,500 yen of his own funds and donated them to the Matsudaira family. The site was designated a National Historic Site in 1934, the keep was reconstructed in reinforced concrete in 1965, and in March 2011 — just 16 days after the Great East Japan Earthquake — the roof was re-tiled in late-Edo red akagawara, making Tsuruga the only red-tiled keep in Japan.

Cultural Significance

Tsuruga Castle is a leading early modern castle of the Tohoku region, designated a National Historic Site in 1934. Within its inner bailey stands the Rinkaku teahouse, a Fukushima Prefecture Important Cultural Property built by Sen no Shoan, son of Sen no Rikyu, under the protection of Gamo Ujisato after Rikyu's seppuku; it was relocated to its original site in 1990. The name 'Tsurugajo' (Crane Castle) was given by Ujisato in 1593, drawing on the facing-crane crest of his house. The month-long siege of 1868, together with the tragedies of the Byakkotai boy soldiers, the Joshitai women's company, and the loyalist Sagawa Kanbei, became the spiritual emblem of the 'Aizu spirit' (aizu shikon) and has been depicted in literature and film — Shiba Ryotaro's Lord of the Castle, Saotome Mitsugu's Aizu Shikon, and NHK's drama Yae no Sakura (2013). The red-tile restoration completed in March 2011, only two weeks after the Great East Japan Earthquake, became a nationwide symbol of Fukushima's recovery. The akagawara — the only such surface on any Japanese castle keep — was reproduced through traditional Aizu-Hongo pottery techniques with a glaze formulated to withstand the region's freezing winters.

Architectural Details

Tsuruga Castle is a step-bailey hilltop castle (teikaku-shiki hirayama-jo) centered on the inner bailey, with the Kita-deguruwa and Nishi-deguruwa baileys north and west and the Ninomaru and Sannomaru extending east. All three gateways are protected by masugata stone gates and umadashi outworks, forming a layered defensive geometry. The northern main gate drew converging fire from four directions and was nicknamed 'Minagoroshi-maru' — the bailey of total annihilation. Today's keep, rebuilt in 1965 in reinforced concrete to follow the layered five-story plan of the 1611 Kato-era tenshu, faithfully reproduces the Edo-period silhouette: about 25 meters tall, with two shachi ornaments on its roof clad in silver leaf and gilded fangs and given two-carat diamond pupils (a gift from the chairman of Hazama). In the 2010-2011 renovation the black tiles were replaced with red Aizu-Hongo-yaki akagawara fired with a freeze-resistant glaze, returning the late-Edo aesthetic to view. The stone walls — uncoursed nozurazumi alternating with semi-dressed uchikomihagi — date from different eras, and the tenshu base and the masonry around Rokabashi are among the largest in Tohoku. In 2001 the Hoshii-yagura turret and South Watari-nagaya were rebuilt in wood, and the contrast between the timber-restored sections and the concrete keep is itself part of the architectural interest.