Komine Castle

Komine Castle (小峰城, Komine-jō) is a Japanese castle located in what is now the city of Shirakawa, southern Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Throughout the middle to later Edo period, Komine Castle was home to the Abe clan, daimyō of Shirakawa Domain. It was also referred to as Shirakawa-Komine Castle (白河小峰城, Shirakawa Komine-jō) or simply Shirakawa Castle (白河城, Shirakawa-jō). The castle is one of the 100 Fine Castles of Japan, and in 2007 was designated a National Historic Site. The castle grounds are also a noted venue for viewing sakura in spring.

History

The construction of Komine Castle began in 1340 by Yūki Chikatomo, is a small hilltop fortification with earthen palisades. The Yūki clan were dispossessed in 1590 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and their territory became part of the holdings of Aizu Domain under the Gamo clan followed by the Uesugi clan.

After the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, Niwa Nagashige was transferred from Tanagura Domain to become daimyō of the newly created 100,000 koku Shirakawa Domain in 1627 and completely rebuilt and expanded Komine Castle between 1628 and 1632. During the remainder of the Edo period, the castle passed through the hands of seven daimyo clans with a total of 21 daimyō (the Niwa, Sakakibara, Honda, three branches of the Matsudaira clan and finally the Abe clan) before reverting to direct control of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1866, on the eve of the Boshin War.

During the Battle of Aizu in 1868, Shirakawa was the site of a major battle between the pro-Tokugawa Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei and the pro-imperial Satchō Alliance. On May 1, 1868 the castle was largely destroyed by the superior firepower of the Satchō Alliance artillery.

Following the Meiji restoration the remaining castle structures were destroyed and the site was transformed into a park. In 1991, a three-story donjon was reconstructed on the foundations of the original donjon, and in 1994 one of the gates was restored. These structures (along with some of the stonework in the moats) suffered significant damage during the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake.

The area was granted government protection as a National Historic Site in August 2008.^[1]

Literature

• Schmorleitz, Morton S. (1974). Castles in Japan. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co. pp. 144–145. ISBN 0-8048-1102-4. 
• Motoo, Hinago (1986). Japanese Castles. Tokyo: Kodansha. p. 200 pages. ISBN 0-87011-766-1. 
• Mitchelhill, Jennifer (2004). Castles of the Samurai: Power and Beauty. Tokyo: Kodansha. p. 112 pages. ISBN 4-7700-2954-3. 
• Turnbull, Stephen (2003). Japanese Castles 1540-1640. Osprey Publishing. p. 64 pages. ISBN 1-84176-429-9. 

External links

Media related to Komine Castle at Wikimedia Commons

• Jcastle Profile
• Japanese Castle Explorer

References

100 Fine Castles of Japan by region
Hokkaidō	Nemuro Peninsula Chashiato Goryōkaku Matsumae
Tōhoku	Hirosaki Ne Morioka Sendai Taga Kubota Yamagata Nihonmatsu Aizuwakamatsu Komine
Kantō	Mito Banna-ji Minowa Kanayama Hachigata Kawagoe Sakura Edo Hachiōji Odawara Tsutsujigasaki Kōfu Matsushiro Ueda Komoro Matsumoto Takatō Shibata Kasugayama
Chūbu	Takaoka Nanao Kanazawa Maruoka Ichijōdani Iwamura Gifu Yamanaka Sunpu Kakegawa Inuyama Nagoya Okazaki Nagashino Iga Ueno Matsuzaka
Kansai	Odani Hikone Azuchi Kannonji Nijō Osaka Chihaya Takeda Sasayama Akashi Himeji Akō Takatori Wakayama
Chūgoku	Tottori Matsue Gassantoda Tsuwano Tsuyama Bitchū Matsuyama Ki Okayama Fukuyama Yoshida-Kōriyama Hiroshima Iwakuni Hagi
Shikoku	Tokushima Takamatsu Marugame Imabari Matsuyama Yuzuki Ōzu Uwajima Kōchi
Kyūshūa	Fukuoka Ōno Nagoya Yoshinogari site Saga Hirado Shimabara Kumamoto Hitoyoshi Funai Oka Obi Kagoshima Nakijin Nakagusuku Shuri
a including Okinawa.