For other castles named Takamatsu, see Takamatsu castle

Takamatsu castle

Takamatsu Castle may refer to:*Takamatsu Castle situated in Bitchu province, , besieged in 1582...

.

Takamatsu Castle (高松城, -jō) of Bitchu Province

Bitchu Province

was a province of Japan on the Inland Sea side of western Honshū, in what is today western Okayama Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Bizen and Bingo Provinces. Bitchu bordered Hōki, Mimasaka, Bizen, and Bingo Provinces....

 was 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 best-known form in the 16th century...

 located in what is today the city of Okayama

Okayama, Okayama

is the capital city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan.The city was founded on June 1, 1889. As of August 2010, the city has an estimated population of 705,224 and a population density of 893 persons per km². The total area is 789.88 km²....

 in Okayama Prefecture

Okayama Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Okayama.- History :During the Meiji Restoration, the area of Okayama Prefecture was known as Bitchū Province, Bizen Province and Mimasaka Province.- Geography :...

. Like most Japanese castles, it was built in the late 16th century, during the Azuchi-Momoyama period

Azuchi-Momoyama period

The came at the end of the Warring States Period in Japan, when the political unification that preceded the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate took place. It spans the years from approximately 1573 to 1603, during which time Oda Nobunaga and his successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, imposed order...

 of Japanese history.

The castle, of the hirajō (plains castle) type, was built very close to sea level, on somewhat marshy ground, which formed something of a natural moat

Moat

A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that surrounds a castle, other building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive water defences, including natural or artificial lakes, dams and sluices...

; this distinguishes it from the more stereotypical image of a yamashiro (mountain castle), built atop a hill. It was originally built by the Mimura family, and controlled by their vassals, the Ishikawa family. Both families were eliminated as significant powers by the Mōri clan

Mori clan

The Mōri clan was a family of daimyō, descended from Ōe no Hiromoto and established themselves in Aki Province. Their name was derived from a shōen in Mōri, Aikō District, Sagami Province. The generation of Hiromoto began to name themselves Mōri.After the Jōkyū War, Mōri was appointed to the jitō...

, who seized Takamatsu, and all of Bitchu province, in 1575. The Mōri entrusted the castle to their vassal Shimizu Muneharu

Shimizu Muneharu

, also known as , was a military commander during the Sengoku period. He served the Mōri clan as a retainer to Kobayakawa Takakage and took part in the expedition to unify the Chūgoku region. He was lord of Shimizu castle at Bitchu Province, and became the lord of the Bitchu Takamatsu Castle after...

. Shimizu was closely related to the Ishikawa family, and it's possible that he was already lord of Takamatsu shortly before the Mōri attacked, turning to their side upon the defeat of the Ishikawa, in order to maintain his own prestige and power, along with the castle.

In 1582, the castle was besieged

Siege of Takamatsu

In the 1582 siege of Takamatsu, Toyotomi Hideyoshi laid siege to Takamatsu Castle, which was controlled by the Mōri clan. He diverted a nearby river with dikes to surround and flood the castle, leading to a relatively speedy surrender. He also constructed towers on barges from which his...

 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

was a daimyo warrior, general and politician of the Sengoku period. He unified the political factions of 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, named after Hideyoshi's castle...

. After a month or two of siege, Hideyoshi built dikes to divert a nearby river, at the suggestion of his strategist Kuroda Kanbei

Kuroda Kanbei

, other name Kuroda Kanbei , was a Japanese daimyo of the late Sengoku through early Edo periods. Renowned as a man of great ambition, he was a chief strategist under Toyotomi Hideyoshi.-Early Life:...

, and flooded the castle, leading to a quick surrender on the part of Shimizu. The ease with which this was accomplished was brought about in great part due to the marshy condition of the area, and the timing of the siege: the rainy season (tsuyu) exacerbated the flooding to such an extent that it is easy to imagine the fortress truly being literally flooded, and surrender becoming quite inevitable.

Following this siege, and the rise and fall of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the castle came to be controlled by the Hanabusa family, karō

KARO

KARO is a radio station licensed to serve Nyssa, Oregon, USA. The station is owned by the Educational Media Foundation.It broadcasts a Contemporary Christian music format as part of the Air 1 network.-History:...

of the Ukita family. Following 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...

 in 1600, in which the Hanabusa fought alongside the army of Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Ieyasu

 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. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...

, they were awarded hatamoto

Hatamoto

A was a samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as gokenin. However, in the Edo period, hatamoto were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa...

status; ranked higher than most daimyo (feudal lords), the hatamoto were among the shogun's most trusted retainers. Some years later, however, the daimyo residence was moved from Takamatsu to Abe, in what is today Sōja city

Soja, Okayama

is a city located in Okayama Prefecture, Japan.As of April 30, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 67,357, with a household number of 24,623, and the density of 317.72 persons per km². The total area is 212.00 km².The city was founded on March 31, 1954...

.

Today, though some remnants of Hideyoshi's dikes and siege towers remain, signs of the castle itself do not. A stone monument marks the spot where Shimizu Muneharu committed seppuku

Seppuku

is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Seppuku was originally reserved only for samurai. Part of the samurai bushido honor code, seppuku was either used voluntarily by samurai to die with honor rather than fall into the hands of their enemies , or as a form of capital punishment...

, and the whole surrounding area has been made a park, Takamatsu Castle Water-Siege Historic Park (高松城水攻め史跡公園, Takamatsu-jō mizuzeme shiseki kōen). Archaeological markers, such as wooden posts, mark the area where the castle, dikes, and siege equipment were located.

Takamatsu Castle in Popular Culture

Takamatsu Castle was featured in Namco's Soulcalibur as Mitsurugi's stage. There are two versions of the stage, one during the siege, and the other takes place in the winter when the fighting has stopped.