Yokote Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Yokote Castle, once known as Asakura Castle, occupies a height around which the Yokote River bends. Its foundation belongs to tradition and accounts diverge: the city of Yokote speaks of construction around 1550 by the Onodera clan, while the regional tourism body links it to Onodera Terumichi around 1570. No source consulted settles the question. The site owes its nickname, the castle of chives, to its cut slopes: it uses no stone, and the defenders are said to have planted Chinese chives to hold the banks in place, a detail reported by the municipality. The Onodera lost the stronghold after the Battle of Sekigahara. In 1602 the territory passed to Satake Yoshinobu; Yokote became a secondary stronghold of the domain, administered by vassals, among whom the Tomura are mentioned. The castle fell in 1868 during the Boshin War, and a specialist guide specifies that it burned in the fighting. The site became a park in 1902. The building that dominates the town today is no relic: it is a keep-style observation tower in concrete, erected in 1965 on the former second enclosure, whereas the site is said historically to have had only a palace, according to Jcastle. This modern landmark must therefore be distinguished from the actual remains, whose exact nature this research has not established and for which it has not identified any protection.