Sadowara castle

• Japanese: 佐土原城 (Sadowara jô)

Sadowara castle was an Edo period castle in Hyûga province, is what is today Miyazaki City, Miyazaki prefecture. It was the central castle of Sadowara han.

Sadowara was captured by the Shimazu clan from the Itô clan in the late 1570s. The castle was then held by Shimazu Iehisa, who died there in 1587, and by his son Shimazu Toyohisa, before becoming the seat of Sadowara domain in the early 1600s, with Shimazu Yukihisa (aka Mochihisa) as the first official Edo period lord of the domain.

The castle continued to be held by this Sadowara branch of the Shimazu clan throughout the Edo period.

Today, portions of the Ninomaru Goten (second bailey palace) of the castle have been reconstructed, including an ôhiroma audience hall, shoin study, and sukiya tearoom.

References

• Honjin shoku ha tsurai yo, exhibit pamphlet, Kusatsu: Shiseki Kusatsujuku honjin (2020).