Taki Castle

Taki Castle was a hilltop fortress built on a ridge approximately 150 meters above the surrounding terrain in Taki, Isshi County, Ise Province (present-day Misugimachi, Tsu City, Mie Prefecture), and was the seat of the Kitabatake clan's rule over Southern Ise for approximately 250 years. The Kitabatake clan were descendants of Kitabatake Chikafusa (1293–1354), the court-noble warrior who supported Emperor Go-Daigo's Kenmu Restoration, and were a distinguished house that played a pivotal role as the mainstay of the Southern Court faction during the Northern and Southern Courts conflict, active in both Mutsu and Ise provinces. Chikafusa was also a great scholar who authored the Jinnō Shōtōki (Chronicle of Gods and Sovereigns), and an atmosphere of culture and learning pervaded Taki and its castle town. While the exact date of the castle's foundation is unclear, it appears to have been developed in stages from the late 14th through the 15th century and served as the political, military, and cultural center of Southern Ise. The castle's layout was a connected-enclosure hilltop design utilizing a ridge, with the main enclosure (honmaru), second enclosure (ninomaru), third enclosure (sannomaru), and outer enclosure (demaru) arrayed in a north-south line. Dry moats (horikiri) were constructed between each enclosure, and combined with steep slopes, these provided formidable defenses. A large palatial residence of the Kitabatake clan (Kitabatake clan residence ruins, present-day Misugi Village) was also established at the castle town, forming an integrated administrative center combining castle and mansion. The Kitabatake clan maintained close relations with the Ise Grand Shrine and also functioned as a religious authority in Southern Ise. In 1569, Oda Nobunaga began his invasion of Ise, and the following year (1570), Nobunaga's second son, Nobukatsu (then called Chashaku-maru), entered the castle as the adopted heir to Kitabatake Tomonori, establishing a nominal peace. However, in 1576, Nobunaga dispatched retainers to assassinate Kitabatake Tomonori (the Mise Incident), and by abandoning Taki Castle and establishing a new fortress at Matsugashima, he effectively ended Kitabatake rule. After its abandonment, portions of the Taki Castle ruins were used as cultivated land throughout the Edo period, but the main enclosure retains well-preserved structural remains from its heyday. Today it is protected as a national historical site, and ongoing surveys and restoration of the ruins are in progress. In Southern Ise, nurtured by the Kitabatake clan's cultural influence, a deep appreciation and discerning eye for swords developed, and smiths of Ise worked under the patronage of the Kitabatake. The castle town was deeply connected to the sword-making traditions of Iga and Ise known as chigusa-uchi, and records remain of smiths in Taki town engaged in the production of weapons and armor.