View source for Odawara castle

[[Image:Odawara-jo.JPG|right|thumb|Odawara castle]]
[[Image:Umadashimon.JPG|right|thumb|Reconstructing Umadashimon gate(2008 May)]]
*''Japanese:'' 小田原城 ''(Odawara-jou)''
*''Type: Flatland-Mountain''
*''Founder: [[Omori Yoriharu]]''
*''Year: 15c''
*''Demolished: [[1871]]''
*''Reconstructed: 1960,1971,1997 (''tenshu'', gates)''
*''Location: [[Sagami province]]''

Odawara was among the most major castles in the [[Kanto|Kantô]] during the [[Sengoku period]], base of the [[Go-Hojo clan|Hôjô clan]] until its famous fall in the [[1590]] [[siege of Odawara]].

The base of Odawara castle was a mansion of the [[Kobayakawa clan]] in the [[Kamakura period]]. The Kobayakawa were replaced by [[Omori Yoriharu]] in the [[Muromachi period]]. Odawara castle was built by the [[Omori clan|Omori clan]] during this time. In [[1495]], the castle was then taken by [[Hojo Soun|Ise Shinkurô]] (Hôjô Sôun), and the castle was then expanded over five generations of the Hôjô clan. The castle blocked invasions by [[Uesugi Kenshin]] ([[1561]]) and [[Takeda Shingen]] ([[1569]]).

In 1590, [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]] mobilized 150,000 troops to Odawara, and besieged the castle for 100 days until [[Hojo Ujinao|Hôjô Ujinao]] finally surrendered.

[[Inaba Masakatsu]], son of [[Kasuga no Tsubone]], became lord of Odawara in [[1632]], and had the castle renovated, to become more fully an [[Edo period]]-style castle. The [[Okubo clan|Ôkubo clan]] became lords of Odawara shortly afterwards, serving the shogunate in administering Odawara as part of outer defenses for the greater [[Edo]] area.<ref name=juku>Plaques at Odawara-juku rest station.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/8396933861/sizes/l]</ref> The ''Honmaru'' palace was maintained only for the shogun's use, should he come to stay at the castle for a time, while the castellan's residence and administrative offices were maintained in the ''Ni-no-maru'' palace. Both were surrounded by linked water-filled moats. The ''Ni-no-maru'' palace was particularly lavishly appointed in the 1620s-40s, as it was prepared for the [[1634]] stay of [[Tokugawa Iemitsu]], as he passed through Odawara on his way to Kyoto. The castle suffered considerable damage in a [[1703]] earthquake, and though the ''Ni-no-maru'' palace was reconstructed, it never reached the same heights again. The ''[[tenshu]]'' collapsed in earthquakes several times in the Edo period, but was reconstructed each time.

Around 1850, the castle-town of Odawara boasted a population of some 12,700 people. Roughly 40% of these were samurai, 14% artisans, 38% merchants, and 8% villagers (peasants). According to some surveys, the descendants of roughly 20% of these people still live in or around Odawara.<ref name=juku/>

Most of the castle's structures, including the ''tenshu'', were demolished by the government in the [[Meiji period]], and public facilities were built. A zoo and amusement park were built in 1950, and reconstruction of the ''tenshu'' was completed in 1960. The Tokiwagimon was rebuilt in 1971; other reconstruction efforts are ongoing.

==References==
*[[Nihon no Meijo]]
*Odawara castle official panphlet
*Plaques on-site.
<references/>

==External Links==
*[http://www.city.odawara.kanagawa.jp/kanko/Leisure/Castle/jyousikouen.html Odawara city]
*[http://haku1.hp.infoseek.co.jp/sagami/odawara.html Photos]

[[Category:Castles]]
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