Kuwana Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Mie

Kuwana Castle, nicknamed Ōgi-jō ("fan castle"), stood at the mouth of the Ibi River, on the shore of Ise Bay, in northern Mie Prefecture. The port of Kuwana, prosperous since the Middle Ages, was already guarded by several small forts when Tokugawa Ieyasu installed his loyal general Honda Tadakatsu there in 1601. Tadakatsu built a vast flatland castle protected by water, with a six-storey keep and dozens of towers, and developed the post town of Kuwana-juku on the Tōkaidō. After the Honda left for Himeji in 1617, branches of the Matsudaira clan ruled the domain until 1868. A fire destroyed the keep in 1701 and it was never rebuilt. During the Boshin War the castle surrendered to imperial forces without a fight; its stones were later used to build the port of Yokkaichi. The site is now Kyūka Park, famous for its cherry trees and irises, and the Banryū tower, reconstructed in 2003, once again overlooks the riverbank.