Minakuchi castle 水口城 minakuchi-jou

partial reconstructed castle

japanische Burg / Japanese castle

Minakuchi / Kōka City / Shiga Prefecture

Minakuchi-jô – Japanese Castle | Hartmut Pohling

The castle of Minakuchi, a former postal station on the Tôkaidô, the overland road between Edo (today Tôkyô) and Kyôto, is built on the orders of TOYOTOMI Hideyoshi, in the hope that this measure will keep the area under control. After the “Battle of Sekigahara” (1600), the complex was destroyed. A new, luxuriously furnished castle was built until 1634 – as a secure resting place for the journey of Shôgun TOKUGAWA Iemitsu to Kyôto. Until the castle was dismantled in the mid 19th century (1871), the Katô family took over its fate.