Equestrian statue of Mogami Yoshiaki in Yamagata Castle, Japan. Yoshiaki (1546-1614) was a samurai and the first lord of the Yamagata Domain
The castle originally established by Shiba Kaneyori at Yamagata is said to have been about the size of the honmaru of the later Yamagata castle. Shiba later took the name of the surrounding area and changed his name to Mogami. Mogami's ancestor Mogami Yoshiaki reconstructed the castle into a much larger fortress in 1592. He added the Ninomaru and Sannomaru baileys, but there was never a large main keep that you see at other castles. It did however have three 2 story and one 3 story yagura. While Mogami Yoshiaki went to the Battle of Sekigahara with Tokugawa Ieyasu, Uesugi Kagekatsu's general Naoe Kanetsugu went to attack Yamagata Castle but, supposedly, he could not find it in the thick fog. Thereafter, the castle was also known as kasumigajo, the castle in the haze. At his peak after the battle of Sekigahara, Yoshiaki controlled land yielding 570,000 koku. Yoshiaki died in 1614 and his successor Iechika died shortly thereafter in 1617. His sucessor Yoshitoshi was reduced to 300,000 koku and later reassigned to Mikawa. The importance of Yamagata Castle to the Tokugawa rule over Eastern Japan declined over time, and with it the size of territory controlled by the lord of Yamagata Castle was also reduced.
Size: 3086px × 2000px
Location: Yamagata City, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan
Photo credit: © Ivan Marchuk / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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