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, also known as Momoyama Castle (??? Momoyama-jo) or Fushimi-Momoyama Castle, is a castle
Japanese castle

were fortresses composed primarily of wood and stone. They evolved from the wooden stockades of earlier centuries, and came into their most well-known form in the 16th century....
 in Kyoto's Fushimi Ward
Wards of Japan

A ku , conventionally translated as ward is a district in a large Japanese city. Wards are used to subdivide each City designated by government ordinance , as well as Tokyo ....
. The current structure is a 1964 replica of the original built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Toyotomi Hideyoshi

was a Sengoku period daimyo who unified Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, after Hideyoshi's castle....
.

The construction of the original castle was begun in 1592, the year after Hideyoshi's retirement from the regency
Sessho and Kampaku

In Japan, Sessho was a title given to a regent who was named to assist either a child Emperor of Japan before his coming of age, or an Japanese empresses....
, and completed in 1594. Twenty provinces
Provinces of Japan

Before the modern Prefectures of Japan was established, the land of Japan was divided into tens of kuni , usually known in English language as provinces....
 furnished workers for the construction, who numbered between 20,000 and 30,000.

Though bearing the external martial appearance of a castle, the structure was intended as a retirement palace for Hideyoshi, and was furnished and decorated as such.






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, also known as Momoyama Castle (??? Momoyama-jo) or Fushimi-Momoyama Castle, is a castle
Japanese castle

were fortresses composed primarily of wood and stone. They evolved from the wooden stockades of earlier centuries, and came into their most well-known form in the 16th century....
 in Kyoto's Fushimi Ward
Wards of Japan

A ku , conventionally translated as ward is a district in a large Japanese city. Wards are used to subdivide each City designated by government ordinance , as well as Tokyo ....
. The current structure is a 1964 replica of the original built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Toyotomi Hideyoshi

was a Sengoku period daimyo who unified Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, after Hideyoshi's castle....
.

The construction of the original castle was begun in 1592, the year after Hideyoshi's retirement from the regency
Sessho and Kampaku

In Japan, Sessho was a title given to a regent who was named to assist either a child Emperor of Japan before his coming of age, or an Japanese empresses....
, and completed in 1594. Twenty provinces
Provinces of Japan

Before the modern Prefectures of Japan was established, the land of Japan was divided into tens of kuni , usually known in English language as provinces....
 furnished workers for the construction, who numbered between 20,000 and 30,000.

Though bearing the external martial appearance of a castle, the structure was intended as a retirement palace for Hideyoshi, and was furnished and decorated as such. It is particularly famous for its tea ceremony
Japanese tea ceremony

What is commonly known in English as the Japanese tea ceremony is called chanoyu or also chado or sado in Japanese....
 room in which both the walls and the implements were covered in gold leaf. The castle was intended to be the site for Hideyoshi's peace talks with Chinese diplomats seeking an end to the Seven-Year War
Hideyoshi's invasions of Korea

Two Japanese invasions of Korea and subsequent battles on the Korean peninsula took place from 1592 to 1598. Toyotomi Hideyoshi led the newly unified Japan into the first invasion with the professed goal of conquering Korea, the Jurchens, Ming Dynasty China, and India....
 in Korea
Korea

Korea is a geographic area composed of two sovereign countries, a civilization, and a former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia....
, but an earthquake destroyed the castle entirely only two years after its completion.

It was rebuilt soon afterwards, and came to be controlled by Torii Mototada
Torii Mototada

was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period through late Azuchi-Momoyama Period, who served Tokugawa Ieyasu. Torii died at the siege of Fushimi where his garrison was greatly outnumbered and destroyed by the army of Ishida Mitsunari....
, a vassal of Tokugawa Ieyasu
Tokugawa Ieyasu

Japanese name|Tokugawa}} was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara  in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868....
. In 1600, the castle fell in a famous and significant siege
Siege of Fushimi

The siege of Fushimi was a crucial battle in the series leading up to the decisive battle of Sekigahara which ended Japan's Sengoku period. Fushimi Castle was defended by a force loyal to Tokugawa Ieyasu's Eastern army, led by Torii Mototada....
 by Ishida Mitsunari
Ishida Mitsunari

Ishida Mitsunari was a samurai who led the Western army in the Battle of Sekigahara following the Azuchi-Momoyama period of the 17th century....
. Torii Mototada
Torii Mototada

was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period through late Azuchi-Momoyama Period, who served Tokugawa Ieyasu. Torii died at the siege of Fushimi where his garrison was greatly outnumbered and destroyed by the army of Ishida Mitsunari....
, in a celebrated act of honor and bravery, defended the castle for eleven days, delaying Ishida's forces and allowing his lord Tokugawa time to build his own army. This had a profound effect on the Battle of Sekigahara
Battle of Sekigahara

The , popularly known as the , was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 which cleared the path to the Shogunate for Tokugawa Ieyasu. Though it would take three more years for Ieyasu to consolidate his position of power over the Toyotomi clan and the daimyo, Sekigahara is widely considered to be the unofficial beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate,...
, which came soon afterwards, and which marked the final victory of Tokugawa Ieyasu over all his rivals.

Fushimijochashitsu
In 1623, the castle was dismantled, and many of its rooms and buildings were incorporated into castles and temples across Japan. A temple in Kyoto, Yogen-in, has a blood-stained ceiling that had been the floor of a corridor at Fushimi Castle where Torii Mototada
Torii Mototada

was a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period through late Azuchi-Momoyama Period, who served Tokugawa Ieyasu. Torii died at the siege of Fushimi where his garrison was greatly outnumbered and destroyed by the army of Ishida Mitsunari....
 and company had committed suicide.

In 1912, the tomb of Emperor Meiji
Emperor Meiji

The or Meiji the Great was the 122nd Emperor of Japan of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 3 February 1867 until his death....
 was built in the original site of the castle. The castle was not rebuilt until 1964, when a replica was created very nearby and primarily in concrete. The new structure served as a museum of the life and campaigns of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, but was closed to the public in 2003.

See also

  • Jurakudai
    Jurakudai

    The Jurakudai or Jurakutei was a lavish palace constructed at the order of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Kyoto, Japan. Construction began in 1586, when Hideyoshi had taken the post of kanpaku, and required 19 months....
     - Hideyoshi's previous luxurious residence from 1587-1594


Literature

  • The website of Samurai Author and Historian Anthony J. Bryant
    Anthony J. Bryant

    Anthony J. Bryant is the author of four books for Osprey Military Publishing on samurai history. He is an amateur History of Japan specializing in Kamakura Period, Muromachi Period, and Momoyama period warrior culture....
    • Anthony J. Bryant is the author of Sekigahara 1600: The Final Struggle for Power, Praeger Publishers;(September, 2005)