• Japanese: 加世田 (Kaseda)

Kaseda was a city on the western coast of Satsuma province, which today is part of the larger city of Minamisatsuma. Located roughly 45 km from Kagoshima, the city included Fukiage-hama (Fukiage Shore), which faces the Koshiki Islands and the East China Sea.

The city was a notable site in both the Sengoku and Edo periods, the site of Shimazu Tadakuni's retirement in the mid-15th century, and of Kaseda castle, which served for a time as the seat of the Sôshû branch of the Shimazu clan, and became the site of the 1539 battle of Kaseda.

In the Edo period, it was one of a handful of places within Satsuma han where Chinese-language interpreters were stationed, serving both commercial purposes, and to help in case of Chinese castaways or shipwrecks.[1]

References

  1. Ono Masako, Tomita Chinatsu, Kanna Keiko, Taguchi Megumi, "Shiryô shôkai Kishi Akimasa bunko Satsuyû kikô," Shiryôhenshûshitsu kiyô 31 (2006), 244.