Kubota Castle

Kubota Castle was once the residence of the Satake clan in Hago Province (formerly Dewa Province). The sites of the main and second citadel of Kubota Castle have been developed into a comprehensive urban park called Chiaki Park.

Kubota Castle was built in 1602 by Yoshinobu Satake, the first lord of the Akita Domain, and became the center of the Akita Domain for 12 generations of 267 years.

Chiaki Park, with a total area of 16.29 hectares, is lush with greenery, and the Osumi Yagura of Kubota Castle and the front gate of the castle still retain the atmosphere of the feudal domain era.

The Osumi Yagura is located in the northwest corner of Kubota Castle and was restored to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the city government. It is also selected as No. 9 of the 100 best castles in Japan.

Inside the turret, there is a panel exhibition introducing the history of the Satake clan. The turret is based on the two-story design described in historical documents, and has an observation deck on the top floor.

A turret is a building that served as a watchtower or armory. A total of eight corner turrets existed within Kubota Castle.

In modern times, turrets are classified into two categories: “corner turrets” and “tamon turrets (tamon nagaya). In contrast to the tamon turrets built along the castle walls, such as earthen mounds and stone walls, turrets built at the corners of the walls were called corner turrets.

Omote-mon (First Gate)

This was the main gate of Kubota Castle and was located at the end of the long hill beside the Ninomaru store. This gate was the entrance to the Honmaru and was a very important place in terms of security.

On the south side, there was the “Gobancho Bureau” in charge of guarding the gate, and below the gate, the “Gomotou Gobancho” was placed to guard against intruders, thus providing a tight defense.

The current Omote-mon Gate was reconstructed in 1999 as a two-year project. The reconstruction utilized the results of drawings, documents, and excavations, and reproduced a grand gate befitting a castle of 205,800 koku.

The first floor is covered with a roof blown down from all four sides, and the second floor has an irimoya (hip-and-gable) roof of makabe style, with pierced tiles.

The first floor is mainly made of zelkova wood (the kanbashira and kanoki are approximately 250 years old), and the outside of the first floor is mainly made of hiba (hiba) wood.

The front gate is illuminated at night and beautifully lit from sunset to sunrise.

Gomotogashira Gobanjo

This is the only existing government office building from the era of the feudal government in Kubota Castle. It is estimated to have been built between 1758 (Horeki 8) and 1778 (An’ei 7).

This building served as a station for monotou (footmen’s gang leaders) who were in charge of opening and closing the Ninomon (Nagasakamon) gate in Kubota Castle, guarding the castle grounds, and extinguishing fires.

Outline of Kubota Castle

Kubota Castle was the residence of the Satake clan and was also known as Yadome Castle or Kuzune Castle. In official documents from the late Edo period to the Meiji period, it was sometimes referred to as “Akita Castle,” but it was a different castle from the ancient Akita Castle, and the name “Chiaki Park (ruins of Kubota Castle)” is used today. In addition, plans are underway to restore the wooden structures of the Matsushita Gate and the Black Gate.

Kubota Castle was built as a flat mountain castle on Shinmeizan (40 meters above sea level) located on the left bank of the Asahikawa River. There were almost no stone walls within the castle; instead, earthen mounds (hachimaki-dote) were built.

In addition, there was no castle tower, but rather a turreted throne room called “Dashi Goshoin” and eight other turrets were built.

Kubota Castle had a defensive structure that skillfully utilized the mountains, rivers, and swamps, and also incorporated the style of castles in the western part of Japan.

There is a theory that the castle tower had a “three-story turret” before the fire in 1633, but no proof has been obtained.

In 1880, the castle was almost completely destroyed by fire, and in the process of rebuilding the city, the moat was reclaimed and the present Chiaki Park was established.

The main and second castle grounds of Kubota Castle became Chiaki Park, and the Akita Art Theater Milhous, Akita Central Library Meitokukan, and Akita City Culture Creation Center were built in the third castle grounds.

Among the buildings of Kubota Castle, the Gomotogashira Gobanjo still exists and is designated as a tangible cultural property of the city. The Honmaru Shinpeisumi-yagura (Osumi Tower) and Honmaru Omote-mon Gate have also been reconstructed.

History

Before the Edo Period

The Miura (Kawajiri) clan, under the Ando (Akita) clan, had a residence on Mt. Shinmei, and the shrine was worshipped as the deity of Soja-Daimyojin, Shinmei-gu Shrine, and Betsumiya Setsuya. The castle of the Miura clan was called “Yaruru-nojo” or “Yaruru Castle,” which is another name for Kubota Castle.

The name “Shinmei-yama” also derives from Shinmei-gu Shrine. Even older, there were three mountains at the top of the mountain, Otakesan, Koutakesan, and Koumyozan, which were called “Sanmoriyama” or “Mitakesan.

Edo Period

On September 17, 1602, Yoshinobu Satake, the first lord of the Kubota domain, entered Minato Castle, which was the residence of the Akita clan. The Satake clan had a territory of 540,000 koku, which was too small for the Akita clan’s 50,000 koku castle (25,000 koku in warehouses). Minato Castle was not suitable for defense, which was the reason for the construction of Kubota Castle.
In May 1603, construction of the new castle began. At the same time, the castle town and major roads were constructed.
On August 28, 1604, the main castle of Kubota Castle was completed and the Minato Castle was torn down. The main roads in the surrounding area were also completed.
In 1607, the division of the Uchimachi district was begun, and the San-no-maru and Nakadori blocks were newly built.
In 1619, the division of Uchimachi was expanded and a new district, Kamenomachi, was built.
In 1629, the division of Uchimachi was further expanded and the samurai towns of Narayama, Hodono, Tegate, and Kawaguchi were newly established.
In 1631, roads were improved and the route of the highway was changed.
On September 21, 1633, the main castle was burned down, and the feudal lord used another location as a temporary palace.
On December 15, 1635, repairs were made.
In 1647, the name “Kubota Castle” was used for the first time.
From 1671 to 1699, there was no change in the castle town.
On April 2, 1776 (An’ei 5), there was a big fire and many buildings were destroyed.
In 1778 (An’ei 7), the main building burned down again, and another site was used as a temporary palace.
In 1781, the Honmaru Goten was repaired.
In 1788, the Goyo Bureaus, which had burned down, were restored.
On May 10, 1797, fire broke out again and many buildings were destroyed.

Modern Period

In 1868, the Boshin War broke out. The Kubota clan supported the new government forces and was attacked by the Shonai and Morioka clans (Akita War). Most of the territory became a battlefield, but Kubota Castle escaped the ravages of war as the Shonai Clan withdrew from the area.
On July 25, 1869 (Meiji 2), the location of Kubota Castle was placed under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War (later the Ministry of the Army) due to the repeal of the Imperial Japanese Army’s national register of war.
In 1870 (Meiji 3), the clan government office was moved to the new location.
On March 3, 1871 (Meiji 4), the Kubota clan was renamed the Akita clan and Kubota Castle Town was renamed Akita Town.
On August 29, 1871, the prefecture was abolished.
On April 20, 1872, Akita Prefectural Office was opened in Honmaru, but was later relocated.
On January 14, 1873, Kubota Castle was declared a surviving castle.
On July 21, 1880 (Meiji 13), a large fire destroyed almost all the buildings in the castle.

Modern Times

In 1984, the Satake family donated the land for the park (about 14.6 ha) to Akita City in accordance with the wishes of Yoshiei Satake, the 35th head of the Satake Soke family.
In 1989, a mock reconstruction of the Honmaru Shinheigu Sumiyagura was completed.
On April 10, 1990, the Gomonogashira Gobanjo was designated as a Tangible Cultural Property by Akita City.
In 2001, the Honmaru front gate was restored as a wooden structure.
In 2004, Akita City held a festival to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of Akita City.
On April 6, 2006, Kubota Castle was selected as one of the 100 best castles in Japan.
On March 25, 2008, Kubota Castle was designated as a place of scenic beauty by Akita City.

Structure of Kubota Castle

The Honmaru Palace, the residence of the feudal lord, and the administrative office were located on the highest point of Shinmeizan. Surrounded by tamon nagaya and board fences, the castle had five entrances: Omote-mon (front gate), Uramon (back gate), Obikurinomon (obikurinomon), Uzumimon (burial gate), and Kiridoguchi (doorway).

The Omote-mon gate was also called Ichinomon, and the Nagasakamon gate (Ninomon) existed in front of Ninomaru. Ninomaru was located on the east side of the Honmaru, where an account office, a precinct office, a prayer hall, anrakuin, a time bell, a gold storehouse, and stables were built.

All entrances and exits were concentrated in Ninomaru, and four entrances, Matsushita Gate, Kuromon (Black Gate), Umaya-mon (Unclean Gate), and Domon (North Gate), were established.

Each led to Shimonaka Castle, Kaminaka Castle, Yamanote, and Hachimanyama. Today, the main entrance to Chiaki Park is the former Matsushita Gate, but the Black Gate was used as the official route up to the castle during the feudal domain period.

San-no-maru surrounded Ninomaru, where the residences of the chief vassals were built. The eastern part was called Kaminakajo, the southern part Shimonakajo, and the northeastern part Yamanote (Batejo-ue-cho).

On the west side of Hachiman-yama (northwest of the Honmaru), there existed Sho-hachiman-sha (small Hachiman shrine), Inari-sha, and the separate temple Kinjoin, which were important shrines, not Hachiman Shrine buildings.

Furthermore, on the north side of Hachiman-yama was Kitanomaru, where the Okiya (wood processing plant) and the rice husk storehouse were built. On the west side of the Honmaru was the Nishikurinawa (Sutekurinawa) surrounded by an inner and outer moat, where the storehouse of military equipment was located.

The Honmaru and Ninomaru were surrounded by inner moats (Nishi-Hyogu-kura-mae moat, Minamibori, Higashibori, and Kita-bori), and the San-no-Maru was surrounded by outer moats (Hachimangu-guchi rear moat, Nishi-Hyogu-kura outer moat, East outer moat, and South outer moat).

There were also moats around the Kitanomaru (Kitanomaru Shimobori, Kitanomaru Shimokita no Hoto-bori), O-bori were located between Nakadori-boshi and Kame-no-cho-boshi/Naganoshita, Kamibori between Kame-no-cho-boshi and Tsukiji, and Shimobori between Kame-no-cho-boshi and Narayama. Many of these moats utilized the old Asahikawa river channel.

Today, most of them have been reclaimed, and some of them, the south moat, the east moat, the west hyoguzao outer moat (moat of Anamon), and the south outer moat (moat of Otemon), remain.

The Honmaru, Ninomaru, Kitanomaru, and Nishikurinawa, which served the functions of the castle, were called “Ichinokoro,” and the Sanomaru, where the residences of the chief vassals were built, was called “Ninokoro.

The Nakadori area and Kame-no-machi, where the residences of important vassals and highly stipendiary vassals were located, were called the “san-no-koro”. Other samurai towns without banks or moats were called “outer districts. However, this classification has changed over time.

Houses of daimon and vassals were located in the Hirokoji, Nagano-machi, and Furukawahori-Tanmachi areas near Marunouchi, while the more distant areas, such as Narayama and Hodono, were mainly occupied by vassals of the minor rokuroku.

However, vassals were also assigned to important locations. The residential area for the townspeople, known as the “outer town,” was located on the west side of the castle across the Asahikawa River.

While the inner town was designed with many bends and intersections for defensive purposes, the outer town was divided into a grid pattern for convenience of transportation. Temples were concentrated on the west side of the outer town.