Kakunodate Castle

Kakunodate Castle was a mountain castle built on Mount Furushiro (Furushiroyama, also known as Komatsuyama) in Senboku District, Ugo Province (present-day Kakunodate Town, Senboku City, Akita Prefecture). It was a strategic stronghold that served as the political and military hub of the Senboku region of Dewa Province during the Sengoku period. In Ōei 31 (1424), the Tozawa clan, led by Tozawa Iemori, is said to have moved its residence from Kadoya Castle to Komatsuyama Castle (Kakunodate Castle). Afterward, following internal feuds within the clan, it became the stronghold of the Tozawa clan as a Sengoku daimyo. During the era of Tozawa Moriyasu (1566–1590), Kakunodate reached its greatest prosperity, and Moriyasu, a Sengoku warrior renowned for both wisdom and courage, was called "Oni-Kurō" and "Yasha-Kurō." Because Moriyasu died young at the age of 25, the Tozawa clan's expansion of power ended midway, but Kakunodate's cultural heritage was passed down to later generations. After the Battle of Sekigahara, when Satake Yoshinobu, who had been transferred from Hitachi Province (Ibaraki Prefecture) in Keichō 7 (1602), established the Akita domain (Satake domain), the Kakunodate area was placed under Satake clan control. Afterward, Ashina Yoshikatsu, a retainer of the Satake clan, developed the castle town in Genna 6 (1620). After the Ashina family became extinct, the Satake-Kita family succeeded to it, and the castle town of Kakunodate took shape. In line with the One Castle per Province Law (Ikkoku Ichijō-rei, 1615), Kakunodate Castle was abandoned in Genna 6 (1620), but the castle town survived as a samurai residence district and still maintains a scenery renowned as the "Little Kyoto of Michinoku." The samurai residence street in Kakunodate has been designated as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings at the national level. It is also known as a famous spot for weeping cherry trees and attracts many tourists. The castle site on Mount Furushiro has been developed as Furushiroyama Park, where level areas of former enclosures such as the main enclosure (shukaku) remain.