Kariya Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Kariya Castle, also known as the "Turtle Castle" (Kame-jō), is the cradle of Tokugawa Ieyasu's maternal family. It was built in 1533 by the Mizuno clan; tradition credits Mizuno Tadamasa, but the city of Kariya, relying on contemporary sources, leans instead towards Mizuno Chikamori or Moritada. Odai, Tadamasa's daughter and Ieyasu's future mother, married Matsudaira Hirotada in 1541. When the Mizuno sided with the Oda, Odai was divorced and returned to live near the castle, separated from her son. The Mizuno held Kariya through their shifting alliances between the Imagawa, the Oda and the Toyotomi, and regained it after Sekigahara. The castle became the seat of the Kariya domain, ruled in turn by nine lordly families, last of all the Doi clan from 1747. Taken over by the state after the abolition of the domains in 1871, its buildings were sold and demolished in 1873. Laid out as Kijō Park in 1937, the site keeps its enclosures, high earth ramparts around the honmaru and a water-filled moat. The city has launched a partial reconstruction project based on rediscovered old plans.