Stone walls with Mushabashiri stairs in Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle (Tsuruga-jo), Japan. Castle was founded in 1384 by Ashina Naomori and demolished in 1874
Tsuruga-jo is the strongest and oldest fortress in all of Tohoku. It was originally built in 1384 as Kurokawa-jo by Ashina Naomori. In 1589 Date Masamune defeated Ashina Yoshihiro and moved into Kurokawa-jo. A year later it was absorbed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and governed by Gamo Ujisato. Gamo renovated the castle and renamed it Tsuruga-jo. The reconstructed main keep you see today was built by Gamo. After the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate the castle was governed by the Matsudaira clan. The Matsudaira were a branch of the Tokugawa family and thus in the category of "inner lords." The "inner lords" were branches of the Tokugawa family who kept watch over the daimyo who were not originally Tokugawa allies and provided a buffer between allied and non-allied daimyo. The Matsudaira ruled from Tsuruga-jo until the Meiji Restoration when it fell in the Boshin War . The most famous episode from the downfall of Tsuruga-jo is that of the Byakkotai. The layout, nawabari, of this castle was patterened after that of Osaka Castle during Hideyoshi's time.
Size: 3066px × 2000px
Location: Aizu Wakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan
Photo credit: © Ivan Marchuk / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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