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is a Japanese 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 Shizuoka
Shizuoka, Shizuoka

is the capital cities of Japan of Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is a city designated by government ordinance ....
, which is the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture
Shizuoka Prefecture

is a Prefectures of Japan of Japan located in the Chubu region on Honshu. The capital is the city of Shizuoka, Shizuoka....
 in Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
. The sobriquet of this feudal fortress was the "Castle of the Floating Isle."

In pre-modern Japan, Sunpu Castle was the chief fortress in what was then known as Suruga province
Suruga Province

was an old provinces of Japan in the area that is today the eastern part of Shizuoka prefecture. Suruga bordered on Izu province, Kai province, Sagami province, Shinano province, and Totomi Province provinces; and had access to the Pacific Ocean through Suruga Bay....
. The title "Sunpu" is a contraction of Suruga
Suruga Province

was an old provinces of Japan in the area that is today the eastern part of Shizuoka prefecture. Suruga bordered on Izu province, Kai province, Sagami province, Shinano province, and Totomi Province provinces; and had access to the Pacific Ocean through Suruga Bay....
 no Kokufu.

Imagawa Yoshimoto
Imagawa Yoshimoto

was one of the leading daimyo in early Sengoku period Japan. Based in Suruga Province, he was one of the three daimyo that dominated the Tokaido . He was one of the dominant daimyo in Japan for a time, until his death in 1560....
 established his clan at Sunpu during the Sengoku era
Sengoku period

The was a time of social upheaval, political intrigue, and nearly constant military conflict in Japan that lasted roughly from the middle of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century....
; and 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....
 spent his youth in Sunpu as Yoshimoto's hostage.






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is a Japanese 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 Shizuoka
Shizuoka, Shizuoka

is the capital cities of Japan of Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is a city designated by government ordinance ....
, which is the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture
Shizuoka Prefecture

is a Prefectures of Japan of Japan located in the Chubu region on Honshu. The capital is the city of Shizuoka, Shizuoka....
 in Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
. The sobriquet of this feudal fortress was the "Castle of the Floating Isle."

In pre-modern Japan, Sunpu Castle was the chief fortress in what was then known as Suruga province
Suruga Province

was an old provinces of Japan in the area that is today the eastern part of Shizuoka prefecture. Suruga bordered on Izu province, Kai province, Sagami province, Shinano province, and Totomi Province provinces; and had access to the Pacific Ocean through Suruga Bay....
. The title "Sunpu" is a contraction of Suruga
Suruga Province

was an old provinces of Japan in the area that is today the eastern part of Shizuoka prefecture. Suruga bordered on Izu province, Kai province, Sagami province, Shinano province, and Totomi Province provinces; and had access to the Pacific Ocean through Suruga Bay....
 no Kokufu.

Imagawa Yoshimoto
Imagawa Yoshimoto

was one of the leading daimyo in early Sengoku period Japan. Based in Suruga Province, he was one of the three daimyo that dominated the Tokaido . He was one of the dominant daimyo in Japan for a time, until his death in 1560....
 established his clan at Sunpu during the Sengoku era
Sengoku period

The was a time of social upheaval, political intrigue, and nearly constant military conflict in Japan that lasted roughly from the middle of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century....
; and 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....
 spent his youth in Sunpu as Yoshimoto's hostage. The castle city was located at the 19th stage of the Tokaido Road, which ran from Edo
Edo

, literally: Headlands and bays-door, "estuary", ), also Romanization of Japanese as Yedo or Yeddo, is the Geographical renaming of the Capital of Japan Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868....
 (Tokyo) to Kyoto
Kyoto

Sorry, no overview for this topic
.

In 1585, Ieyasu's Sunpu Castle was constructed. later retired to and died in Sunpu after he abdicated his position as shogun
Shogun

is a military rank and historical title for Hereditary Commanders in Chief of the Armed Forces of Japan. The Japanese word for "general", it is made up of two kanji characters: sho, meaning "commander", "general", or "admiral", and gun meaning military troops or warriors....
 in favor of his son, Tokugawa Hidetada
Tokugawa Hidetada

was the second shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa bakufu....
.

Edo period

During the years of the Tokugawa shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the , and the , was a feudalism regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family....
, the bureaucracy expanded on an ad hoc basis, responding to perceived needs and changing circumstances. The bakufu appointed a series of overseers to preserve and defend Sunpu Castle and to serve as administrators for the region. These officials were called the or Sushu Rioban. The commandants of Sunpu were most often taken from the Obangashira.

Shogunal city

During this period, Sunpu ranked with other urban centers, some of which were designated as a "shogunal city." The number of such cities rose from three to eleven under Tokugawa administration.

Meiji period

After the Meiji Restoration
Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to enormous changes in Japan's political and social structure....
, Tokugawa Iesato
Tokugawa Iesato

Prince was the first head of the Tokugawa clan family after the overthrow of the Tokugawa bakufu and figure in Japanese politics during the Meiji period, Taisho period and early Showa period period Japan....
, was briefly established in the han at Sunpu (700,000 koku
Koku

The is a unit of volume in Japan, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres....
), from 1868 until the abolition of feudal domains in 1871.

In 1871, American educator E. Warren Clark
E. Warren Clark

E. Warren Clark was an American educator who taught thousands of young Japanese the rudiments of modern science while employed as a teacher in Japan from 1871-75....
 arrived in Shizuoka to teach science. Shortly thereafter, he directed construction of an American-style house on the grounds of the former castle. In 1873, Clark left Shizuoka for Tokyo. A western-style school, the Shizuhatasha (Shizuhatanoya) was established in the house which had been built for Clark; and a Canadian missionary, Davidson MacDonald, was engaged to run it. McDonald would later help in establishing Aoyama Gakuin University
Aoyama Gakuin University

, abbreviated to AGU is a Japanese Christian university in Shibuya, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.Aoyama Gakuin University is part of a comprehensive educational institute called Aoyama Gakuin, which includes kindergarten, elementary school, junior/senior high school, and women's junior college....
 in Tokyo.

Sunpu Park

Only the moat of the castle remains today, but restoration projects have recreated the turret tower and main gate. What were formerly the castle grounds are called "Sunpu Park."

See also

  • Sunpu Domain
    Sunpu Domain

    The was a Han or Japanese feudal domain that existed briefly during the early Edo period and early Meiji era in what is today the city of Shizuoka, Shizuoka in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan....


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