Kaminoyama Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

The present site of Kaminoyama is only the second location of this stronghold in the south of the Yamagata basin. Around 1400, Satomi Mitsunaga fortified Mount Kokūzō, to the west; the place changed hands with the rivalries between the Date and the Mogami. In 1535, his descendant Buei Yoshitada recaptured it and built a new castle on the present hill, known as Tsukioka. The Satomi, the Matsudaira of Nōmi, the Gamō and then the Toki followed one another there. The last of these, for whom a map presented to the shogunate in 1644 shows the Honmaru, the Ninomaru, a granary and samurai quarters, brought the complex to its greatest renown: local tradition speaks of the "famous castle of the land of Ushū". The forced transfer of the Toki in 1692 led to its dismantling by the shogunate, a date given by two secondary sources, the municipal brochure not stating it. The Kanamori and Fujii-Matsudaira who followed did not rebuild it, and the moats were filled in 1872. The present tower, erected in 1982 on the former Ninomaru, is a concrete museum that does not reproduce the vanished structure and should not be mistaken for a surviving remnant. The Honmaru is occupied by the Tsukioka shrine. Excavations carried out in 2004 in the car park yielded roof tiles, ceramics, and the remains of posts and wells.