History of Karatsu Castle｜【公式】唐津城

HISTORY

History of Karatsu Castle

The first lord of the castle, Terasawa Shima no kami Hirotaka, was responsible for transporting troops and supplying food during the Nagoya Castle construction and the invasion of Korea. He was trusted by Hideyoshi, and Hirotaka was given the domain of Hata Mikawanokami, lord of Kishidake Castle. In building Karatsu Castle, Hirotaka made major renovations at the mouths of the Matsuura and Kanda Rivers, and completed the castle as a fortress surrounded by the sea and the mouth of the river, which took seven years to complete with the help of Nagoya Castle's construction materials, the cooperation of the Kyushu clans centering on the Satsuma and Higo clans, and masonry techniques of the Anou Shu.

PAST DAIMYO

past daimyo(Japanese feudal lord) of Karatsu Castle

After the first two generations of the Terasawa clan ceased to exist, the Karatsu domain was ruled by the feudal lords Okubo, Matsudaira, Doi, Mizuno, and Ogasawara, after a year of official rule. This was because the shogunate regarded the Karatsu domain as important as a custodian of Nagasaki and a watchdog of the powerful foreign feudal lords in Kyushu.

TERASAWA1593-1647

He served as a vassal of Hideyoshi, and at the time of the invasion of Korea, he built the castle of Nagoya and provided transportation of troops and supplies of food. In 1595, Terasawa Hirotaka replaced Hata Chikashi, who was appointed to the Karatsu domain by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He fought hard in the Battle of Sekigahara as a member of the Eastern Army, and with the addition of 40,000 goku of Amakusa territory, he built Karatsu Castle, divided the castle area, made major repairs to the Matsuura River, planted black pine trees (today's Nijinomatsubara), and laid the foundation of Karatsu as a daimyo (feudal lord) with 123,000 goku.

Okubo1649-1678

The first Tadatomo Okubo, entered the domain in 1649 from Akashi in Harima. He established a system of three village headmen under the headman and implemented the Karatsu clan's unique village headman system and the shoya transfer system, thereby strengthening the control of local villages.

Matsudaira1678-1691

3 generations, 14 years, 70,000 goku.
In 1678, Matsudaira Izumi-no-Mori Norihisa entered the Karatsu domain from Sakura in Shimousa, and in 1682, a famine struck the Karatsu domain, killing over 1,800 people. Noriharu Nodairai II built Muryoken in Ama-machi as a temple for the repose of the souls of the dead, and Norioppu Nodairai III inherited the governorship at the age of five and moved to Toba in Shima the following year, so he never came to Karatsu.

Doi1691-1762

The Doi clan promoted education and encouraged industry within the clan. The encouragement of the first profit made the Confucian school of Confucian scholar Okutoe and the private cram school of Yoshitake Houmei flourish. In addition, the opening of an imperial kiln for Karatsu porcelain, whaling, Japanese paper, and other industries within the domain were encouraged, thereby improving the economy.

Mizuno1762-1817

During the Mizuno clan's reign, seven years of bad harvests, including droughts and floods, hit the domain beginning in 1764. However, the clan reformed its finances by raising taxes, which led to the "Nijinomatsubara Revolt" in 1771, and Tadahuni IV, after moving to Hamamatsu, is known for his "Tempo Reforms" as a senior shogunate official.

Ogasawara1817-1871

The Ogasawara clan, the last feudal lord of the Karatsu domain, monopolized the sale of sumac, paper mulberry, dried abalones, and dried sea squirts, as well as coal and whaling, in order to rebuild the domain's strained finances, and as a result, the economic power of the domain increased. Nagamichi, a son of Nagamasa, was a prominent figure during the final years of the Tokugawa shogunate. Nagamichi was promoted to the rank of "senchu" (chief lieutenant) and was instrumental in the Namamugi Incident and the second conquest of Choshu.

Azuchi Castle, Nagoya Castle

Stone wall leading to Karatsu Castle

Karatsu Castle was built on a hill (Mt. Mitsushima)

jutting out like a peninsula at the mouth of the Matsuura River

by Hirotaka Terasawa Shima no Kami, a general who was promoted

for his distinguished service in the Battle of Sekigahara.

Karatsu Castle is the center of the castle town of Karatsu,

and many stone walls can still be seen today.

The stonewalls of Karatsu Castle are said to have been

constructed by "Anou-shu," who were involved in building

the stonewalls of Azuchi Castle and Nagoya Castle.

Other "gold leaf tiles," said to have been first used by

Oda Nobunaga at Azuchi Castle, were also inherited at Osaka Castle

and Nagoya Castle, built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and were also found at

Karatsu Castle. In Karatsu, many aspects of Azuchi-Momoyama culture

have been handed down over the past 400 years,

including Noh, Joruri, tea ceremony, and Karatsu ware.

Nagoya Castle was built as a base for Toyotomi Hideyoshi's expedition to Korea (during the Japanese Invasion of Korea). Karatsu Castle was built on a peninsular hill (Mt. Mitsushima) at the mouth of the Matsuura River. It is said that Karatsu Castle was completed over seven years from 1602 by Terasawa Hirotaka, a warlord who had been promoted to the rank of general for his distinguished service in the Battle of Sekigahara. It is said that the demolition materials of Nagoya Castle (Karatsu City, Saga Prefecture), which had fallen into disuse after the Bunroku-Keicho period, were used for the construction.

Architectural Techniques of Azuchi Castle

Karatsu Castle was built using materials from the dismantled Nagoya Castle, and many of the field masonry techniques used were created by stone masons from various parts of Kyushu, including the professional Anata-shu masonry workers dispatched from Omi. The stone wall walkway shows the field masonry, hammered-in masonry, and cut-in masonry that were built by the Anata-shu, who remained in the area after Nagoya Castle was destroyed, and other masonry masons from various regions.

Three types of stone wall building

At Karatsu Castle and Stone Wall Path, visitors can see various types of stone wall piling. In some parts of the site, stonewalls called nomen-zumi, uchikometsuke, and kirikometsuke can still be seen. The techniques of the Anata-shu who moved to this area were used to build torii gates, komainu (guardian dogs), and stone walls for terraced rice paddies.

Anego-no-se

When Karatsu Castle was built, Terasawa, the first lord of the domain, made efforts to improve the Matsuura and Machida Rivers to facilitate water transportation and to avoid damage from floods and other disasters. According to one theory, the castle was built using stone walls transferred from Nagoya Castle to prevent invasion from the sea.

The Story of History Told by the Stone Walls

Crest of the Shimazu of the Satsuma Domain

On the stone wall by the gate on the right side of the entrance to the Karatsu Castle Keep, you can see a stone wall engraved with a ten on a circle. This is the family crest of the Shimazu family of the Satsuma Domain, which tells us that this castle was built with the help of various feudal lords in Kyushu after the Nagoya Castle was abandoned.

Certificate of Cooperation

There is a moat called "Higo moat" existing at the southern end of San-no-maru. This name is a sign of respect for Kiyomasa Kato, the lord of the Higo domain, who helped build the castle. In addition to the existing Higo moat, the moats around the castle, such as the Satsuma moat, Choshu moat, Saga moat, and Yanagi moat, were named after the territories of the feudal lords who cooperated with the castle construction.