Iwakura Castle (Owari)

En un regard

Le château en bref

Iwakura Castle, in Iwakura north of Nagoya, was Kiyosu's rival for nearly a century. It was founded around 1479 by Oda Toshihiro, head of the "Ise-no-kami" branch of the Oda, who ruled the four northern districts of Owari Province from Iwakura while the Oda of Kiyosu held the southern ones. This lowland castle, surrounded by a double moat, was one of the most important in the province. The Iwakura Oda opposed the young Nobunaga by backing his brother Nobukatsu. Defeated at Ukino in 1558, Oda Nobukata saw his castle besieged the following year: Nobunaga burned the town, ringed the stronghold with palisades and took it after two to three months. Its fall all but completed the unification of Owari, and the castle was abandoned. Among the defenders who fell was the retainer Yamauchi Moritoyo, father of Yamauchi Kazutoyo, the future lord of Tosa, whom tradition holds was born here. The site, a municipal historic site, keeps only steles.