Nejo Castle

Nejo Castle, built in 1334 (Kenmu 1) by Nanbu Moroyuki, is a medieval hilltop castle (hirayamajiro) located in Hachinohe City, Aomori Prefecture. Throughout the Nanboku-chō period and into the Sengoku period, it functioned as an important stronghold of the Nanbu clan and flourished for about 300 years as the center of control for the Hachinohe region. It survived even after Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Odawara Campaign, but in 1627 (Kan'ei 4), with the transfer of the Hachinohe clan to Tōno, it was abandoned. In 1941 (Shōwa 16) it was designated a National Historic Site, and in 2006 (Heisei 18) it was selected as the 5th of Japan's 100 Famous Castles. The castle is a renkaku-shiki (linked-enclosure) fortification in which a series of enclosures (tate, kuruwa), namely Honmaru, Nakadate, Tōzenji-date, Okamae-date, and Sawasato-date, are connected in sequence. Excavations carried out over about eleven years clarified the structure of the medieval castle. Today it is developed as the Shiseki Nejo no Hiroba (Historic Nejo Plaza), where restored buildings are on display.