Tottori castle

• Location: Tottori, Inaba Province
• Held by: Nasu no Yoichi, Kajiwara Kagetoki, Ikeda clan, others
• Japanese: 鳥取城 (Tottori-jou)

Tottori Castle was the central castle of Tottori han. It was a yamashiro, or 'mountain-castle', built into the mountain itself, using natural obstacles and defenses to a greater extent than man-made walls. Currently, little remains of the castle aside from parts of the stone wall, and one gate, which is reinforced with iron, and features spikes on the outsides of the doors, to help against attackers.

In the late 12th century, following the Genpei War, the new Shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo granted Tottori han to Nasu no Yoichi, the hero of the battle of Yashima. He lost it soon afterwards to Kajiwara Kagetoki, a spy for Yoritomo, in a hunting competition.

Tottori is perhaps most well-known for its siege in 1581 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, which lasted 200 days. Those inside, led by Kikkawa Tsuneie, eventually were forced to surrender due to starvation, coming just short, according to some accounts, of giving in to cannibalism.

References

• This article was written by User:LordAmeth and contributed to both S-A and Wikipedia; the author gives permission for his work to be used in this way.
• Turnbull, Stephen (1998). 'The Samurai Sourcebook'. London: Cassell & Co.