I took a day trip on the train to visit three castles in Aichi Prefecture with connections to Tokugawa Ieyasu. The first was Tahara Castle.
This is the history of Tahara Castle listed on the Jcastle website.
A castle was first built at this site in 1480 by the Toda Clan. Surrounded at that time by inlets of the sea facing the bay, it was strategically located and easy to defend. When Matsudaira Kiyoyasu advanced into Mikawa Province Toda Munemitsu became his vassal, but following his death in 1535 he switched allegiances to the ascendant Imagawa Clan in Suruga and Tōtômi Provinces. In 1547 Matsudaira Hirotada lost Anjōjō to Oda Nobuhide and asked the Imagawa for help. He sent his son, Ieyasu, as collateral to the Imagawa. The Imagawa charged Toda Akimitsu with collecting Ieyasu and delivering him, but instead he delivered him straight to Oda Nobuhide after accepting a bribe. The Imagawa punitively attacked Taharajō in response and occupied the castle. After the Battle of Okehazama the Tokugawa Clan conquered Taharajō and it was used as a satellite castle of Yoshidajō from thereon. In 1590 with the country under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu was transferred to Kantō and Ikeda Terumasa took over Yoshidajō and so Taharajō. After the Toda once again acted as castellans from 1601 to 1664; the Miyake Clan ruled during the most of the Edo period, controlling a fiefdom which at its height was valued at 12,000 koku and extended throughout all of the Irago Peninsula and parts of the Chita Peninsula. The reconstructions of the ôtemon and yagura date to 1990.
This is the gate from the road outside the castle grounds.
The moat
There were two shrine areas. This one is on the right as you enter the gate.
The reconstructed castle area
This doesn't seem to be a big tourist place, and as expected, the signage was all in Japanese.
This is the second of the shrine areas. It was early and the only person I saw at this sight was one man who seemed to be cleaning up leaves.
5 comments:
Another beautiful place to visit.
Hello Pamela: Another beautiful day trip, I could sit on the steps and read is such a peaceful place.
Catherine
This is a particularly beautiful castle and it looks like you picked the perfect day to visit. I love the shrine areas.
It certainly doesn't seem to be a lively tourist spot, but it seems to be an important historical site because it has been well maintained by people.
All the photos look refreshing. Thanks for sharing the photo.
Politics have always been complicated it seems! What a beautiful spot, though.
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