Komoro Castle
Encyclopedia
Komoro, Nagano
is a city located in Nagano, Japan.As of May 1, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 44,270. The total area is 98.66 km².-Municipal Timeline:*February 1, 1954-Komoro absorbed the villages of Kawanabe, Kitaoi, and Osato from Kitasaku District....
, Nagano Prefecture
Nagano Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Nagano.- History :Nagano was formerly known as the province of Shinano...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, 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 castle was constructed in 1554 by Takeda Shingen
Takeda Shingen
, of Kai Province, was a preeminent daimyo in feudal Japan with exceptional military prestige in the late stage of the Sengoku period.-Name:Shingen was called "Tarō" or "Katsuchiyo" during his childhood...
. In 1590, Sengoku Hidehisa
Sengoku Hidehisa
, childhood name Gonbei was a samurai of the Sengoku through early Edo era. In the Edo era, Hidehisa became first daimyo of Komoro han .Hidehisa is also credited with being the man who captured the infamous Ishikawa Goemon....
became the lord. He was followed by his son, Sengoku Tadamasa. Tadamasa improved the castle, and the tenshu (keep)'s foundation dates from this time. The tenshu itself burned down during the Edo Period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
. Much of what remained of the castle was demolished in 1871, during the Meiji Restoration
Meiji Restoration
The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...
.
Currently, the castle's ruins are open to the public, along with two gates, the Ōtemon
Mon (architecture)
is a generic Japanese term for gate often used, either alone or as a suffix, in referring to the many gates used by Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and traditional-style buildings and castles.-Significance:...
and Sannomon
Mon (architecture)
is a generic Japanese term for gate often used, either alone or as a suffix, in referring to the many gates used by Buddhist temples, Shinto shrines and traditional-style buildings and castles.-Significance:...
, both of which have been declared Important Cultural Properties
Important Cultural Properties of Japan
The term is often shortened into just are items officially already classified as Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan by the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs and judged to be of particular importance to the Japanese people....
. Also located in the castle is an amusement park, a zoo which opened in 1926, and a museum dedicated to Shimazaki Toson
Shimazaki Toson
is the pen-name of Shimazaki Haruki, a Japanese author, active in the Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa periods of Japan. He began his career as a romantic poet, but went on to establish himself as a major proponent of naturalism in Japanese fiction.-Early life:...
.