- Tachibana castle
Infobox Military Structure
name=Tachibana Castle
立花城
partof=
location=Tachibana Mountain , Higashi-ku, Fukuoka,Japan
caption=
type=Kamakura period Japanese castle
built=1330
builder=Ōtomo Sadatoshi
materials=Wood, stone, plaster
height=
used=1330-1586
demolished=c. 1603
condition=Ruins of stone elements ofkeep , wells and waterworks remain
ownership=
controlledby=Ōtomo clan (1330-1569, 1569-1586),Mōri clan (1569),Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1586-1598),Tokugawa Ieyasu /Tokugawa shogunate (1598-c. 1603)
garrison=
commanders=Tachibana Muneshige (c. 1586),Kobayakawa Takakage (c. 1586-1598)
occupants=
battles=Battle of Tatarahama (1569) ,Kyūshū Campaign (1586)
events=nihongo|Tachibana Castle|立花城|Tachibana-jō was aJapanese castle inChikuzen Province , in the north ofKyūshū ; it is located at the peak ofTachibana Mountain , extending in part into the Higashi-ku in Fukuoka. The castle is also known as Rikka-jō, Tachibanayama-jō, or Rikkasan-jō (立花山城, "Tachibana mountain castle").The castle was originally built in 1330, by
Ōtomo Sadatoshi , Constable ("shugo ") ofBungo province , as a show of support to the Tachibana clan. Since it was in a tactically powerful location, looking down upon the port town of Hakata, the castle was fought over throughout the Sengoku period by the Ōtomo, Ōuchi, andMōri clan s.In one of the more significant sieges, the Ōtomo clan lost the castle to the Mōri clan in
1569 , who had become one of the most skilled and powerful clans in the field of naval warfare; their use of Western-style cannon granted them a large advantage in this battle. They abandoned it soon afterwards, however, following a defeat at Tatarahama to an allied Ōtomo-Amago clan force.The castle was besieged once more, in
1586 , this time by theShimazu family ; the castle's lord at the time wasTachibana Muneshige . The Shimazu called off the siege, however, when they learned ofToyotomi Hideyoshi 's intentions to invade Kyūshū. The Tachibana forces were eventually forced to flee during that campaign, toYanagawa castle ; Tachibana castle fell to Hideyoshi, who entrusted it toKobayakawa Takakage .A little over a decade later, at the beginning of the
Edo period , Tachibana was largely destroyed and dismantled, much of the stone going into the construction ofFukuoka castle . Today, remnants of the "honmaru " (central keep), the wells and waterworks survive.References
*"Much of this article derives from a translation of the corresponding article on the [http://ja.wikipedia.org Japanese Wikipedia] ."
*Turnbull, Stephen (1998). 'The Samurai Sourcebook'. London: Cassell & Co.
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