[Castle name]
Miharu Castle (Maizuru Castle)
Tamura Yoshiaki and Tamura Kiyoaki, who joined Date Masamune, lived in it. At the end of the Edo period, it office of Akita Domain.
[Description]
Miharu Castle used to stand in Miharu Town, Tamura District, Fukushima Prefecture. It is said to be built by Tamura Yoshiaki in the beginning of the Warring States period, but we don’t know the accurate year.
The Tamura family ruled almost all area in Miharu District, but it always fought with the Ashina family from Aizu Kurokawa, the Soma family from Odaka, the Iwaki family from Iwaki District, and the Satake family from Hitachi. Meanwhile, Kiyoaki married off his sole daughter Megohime to Date Masamune and got the support of the Date family.
Masamune fought with the Ashina family, the Nikaido family, the Iwaki family, and the Ishikawa family again and again. In the 13th year of the Tensho period (A.D.1585), he barely defeated the anti-Date allied army in the Battle of Hitotori Bridge. Then he gradually expanded his territory.
Meanwhile, Tamura Kiyoaki died. He didn’t have a son, so his men were split into the Date group and the Soma group. Temporally, Soma Yoshitane was about to become the head, but the anti-Soma group stopped it.
※The ruin of the first keep
After that, Masamune came to Miharu Castle and wiped out the anti-Date group. He had Kiyoaki’s nephew Tamura Muneaki succeed the head to close the trouble. In the 18th year of the Tensho period (A.D.1590), Toyotomi Hideyoshi started Hojo Conquest. Tamura Muneaki didn’t attend it, so he was deprived of their feudal estate and status.
Hideyoshi gave the Tamura estate to the Gamo family. Ones of the retainers of the Tamura family came to serve the Gamo family, other ones came to serve the Date family, and other ones became farmers. After Masamune died, Megohime introduced Muneaki to Katakura Shigenaga to serve him. In the Edo period, Matsushita Nagatsuna got in charge of the castle with 30000 kokus estate.
This time, it was rebuilt into an early modern castle from a middle age style. In the 21st year of the Kan’ei period (A.D.1644), the Matsushita family was deprived of its feudal estate and its status. The next year, Akita Toshisue came from Shishido, Mutsu Province and became the head of Miharu Castle. The Akita family ruled it until the Meiji Restoration.
In the Boshin War at the end of the Edo period, Miharu Domain joined the Oetsu-reppan alliance. However, after Tanagura domain (Tanagura Castle), which was next to Miharu Domain, was defeated, Miharu Domain left the alliance with a support of Kono Hironaka. It secretly guided Tosa Domain army, which was commanded by Itagaki Taisuke.
After that, the domain attended attacking Nihonmatsu Castle as a guide. It successfully avoided a stigma to be a criminal. The castle town was saved to. In the 4th year of the Meiji period, the government decided to remove most of the castles in Japan. Miharu Castle was destroyed, too. Now, there are only a few traces.
On the other hand, regarding of the Tamura family, after the death of Date Masamune, in 1652, Date Tadamune’s third son Muneyoshi received Iwanuma 30000 kokus estate and renamed himself Tamura Muneyoshi to reestablish the Tamura family. Later, he moved to Ichinoseki and established Ichinoseki Domain with 30000 kokus estate. Although the Tamura family was a branch lord of the Date family, it was treated as a Fudai lord by the Tokugawa shogunate.
[Address,access]
O Town, Miharu Town, Tamura District, Fukushima Prefecture 963-771
[Map]
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