Isesaki Castle

Isesaki Castle is located in Isesaki City, Gunma Prefecture, and from the Sengoku period through the Edo period it functioned as a strategic stronghold in the southeastern part of Kōzuke Province (Kōzuke no kuni). Its predecessor was Akaishi Castle, said to have been built during the Sengoku period by Akaishi Saemon-no-jō; its castellans changed repeatedly among the Naba, Yura, Uesugi and Hōjō clans. The area, once known as Akaishi-gō, is said to have come to be called “Isesaki” (written 伊勢前, “before Ise”; later 伊勢崎) after territory was donated as sacred land to the Ise Grand Shrine in the mid-16th century. In 1601 (Keichō 6), Inagaki Nagashige entered the castle, became the first lord of Isesaki Domain, and laid out the town (machiwari). In 1616 (Genna 2), when the Inagaki clan moved to Fujii in Echigo, Isesaki became a holding of the Sakai family of Maebashi Domain. In 1681 (Tenna 1), when Sakai Tadahiro established Isesaki Domain, a new Isesaki Jinya was built as a jinya with double moats and earthen ramparts, and it served as the domain office until the abolition of the han system and establishment of prefectures in 1871 (Meiji 4). Today the former jinya site is occupied by the grounds of Isesaki City Kita Elementary School, Isesaki City Library and other facilities, and the samurai gate (buke-mon) of Dōju-in temple is said to be the jinya gate from the time of Inagaki Nagashige.