Kitanosho castle
- Japanese: 北庄城 (Kitanoshou-jou)
Kitanoshô-jô was a castle in Echizen province given by Oda Nobunaga to Shibata Katsuie in 1575 to help prevent the escape of the Asakura clan who had until then controlled the province.
Katsuie and his wife Oichi committed suicide at Kitanoshô and set the tenshu on fire on 1583/4/24, after three days of being besieged by the forces of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. This came shortly after the Shibata forces were pressed back to Echizen in the battle of Shizugatake.[1]
Yûki Hideyasu, second son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, later became lord of Echizen, ruling from Kitanoshô-jô, as part of Ieyasu's strategies to keep the Maeda clan of Kaga province in check. He would become the progenitor of the Echizen branch of the Matsudaira clan.
The castle suffered extensive damage in a fire in 1669, in which the majority of it was lost. Only remnants of the honmaru survive today.
References
- Terada Shôichi (ed.) Meijô wo aruku 2: Kanazawa-jô. Tokyo: PHP Kenkyûsho, 2002.
- ↑ Sansom, George. A History of Japan 1334-1615. Stanford University Press, 1961. p313.
