Obama Castle (Nihonmatsu)

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Préfecture de Fukushima

On a hill overlooking the former town of Iwashiro, now part of Nihonmatsu, Obama Castle was the centre of the Shiomatsu region during the Sengoku period. Tradition attributes its construction in 1471 to Ōuchi Munemasa, a hereditary retainer of the Ishibashi. In 1568 Ōuchi Yoshitsuna overthrew his overlord Ishibashi Naoyoshi and took control of the area, before his successor Ōuchi Sadatsuna manoeuvred between powerful neighbours. Having sworn fealty to Date Masamune in 1584, he went over to the Ashina the following year, prompting the Date invasion of Shiomatsu. Masamune then entered Obama without a fight and for about a year directed his operations against the Nihonmatsu from there; it was in this context that his father Terumune was abducted and killed. After the pacification of Ōshū, Gamō Ujisato entrusted the stronghold to a castellan with 25,000 koku, and the stone wall guarding the entrance to the main enclosure dates from that time. Abandoned in 1627, the site keeps its summit terrace laid out as a historical park, with a stele dedicated to the Ōuchi.