Japanese Castle guide in Japan castle Historical site Statue Introduction.

[Castle name]
Shimotsuma castle
where Mr. Yuki’s subordinate betrayed him

[Description]
Shimotsuma Castle is a flatland castle of Mr. Tagaya, located in Shimotsuma City, Ibaraki Province. It is also called Tagaya Castle.
Kansho 1 year (1455), [Tagaya Ujiie] built the castle in Shimotsuma Town.

After that, he accepted the order from [Ashikaga Shigeuji] to built the influence as the vassal of [Yuki Shigetomo]. After that, he ruled this place for generations, and expanded his influence. The power of Mr. Tagaya was more than Mr. Yuki during the period of [Tagaya Ieshige• Tomotsune].

In addition, they left Mr. Yuki and became independent Daimyo. [Yuki Masatomo] was not happy to see that, and finally he became the enemy with Mr. Tagaya. Mr. Yuki deepened the friendship with Mr. Yamakawa, and Mr. Tagaya fought with Mr. Oda of Tsuchiura Castle.
When Entering Sengoku Period, it went into the confusion of [Uesugi Kensin] [Takeda Shingen] [Hojo Ujiyasu]. Mr. Tagaya followed Hojo Ujiyasu at the beginning and then he followed Uesugi Kensin.

Eiroku 4 year (1561), through Uesugi Kensin and Satake Yoshishige, he attacked [Yuki Harutomo] and occupied part of his territory. That time was the height of Mr. Tagaya. During Shigetatsu’s generation, their territories were expanded to 200000 stones.
Tensho 18 year (1590), at the Battle of Odawara, he joined the army of [Toyotomi Hideyoshi] and was relieved of the territory, but since he did not participate in the Battle of Bunroku as he was ill, most of the territories were forfeited and his salary was decreased to 60000 stones.

Keicho 5 year (1600), at the Battle of Sekigahara, the relationship with Mr. Satake was deepened, so he acted together with Mr. Sataka and did not in response to Ieyasu’s request to join the battle, therefore, Mr. Tagaya was replaced. After that, he came Satake Yoshinobu’s vassal and moved to Kubota.

When Mr. Tagaya was replaced, Shimotsuma was ruled by Daimyo and finally in Shotoku 2 year (1712), [Inoue Masanaga] became the castle owner at 10000 stones. After that, it was ruled by Mr. Inoue for 14 generations until the end of Shogunate.

[Address,access]
〒304-0064 2-50 Honjo Town, Shimotsuma City, Ibaraki Province

[Map ]