Kofu Castle
| Kofu-jō | ||
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 The west gate of Kofu Castle |
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| Alternative name (s): | Maizuru-jō | |
| Creation time : | 1583 | |
| Castle type : | Hirayamajiro ( hill castle ) | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Construction: | Stone, wood | |
| Place: | Kofu | |
| Geographical location | 35 ° 39 '55 " N , 138 ° 34' 16.8" E | |
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The former castle Kofu ( Japanese 府城 , Kōfu-jō ) is a ruin (also Kōfu shiroato 甲 府城 跡 "Castle ruin Kōfu") in Japanese Kōfu .
The ruins are around 400 years old. Today they are called Maizurujō Kōen ( 舞 鶴城 公園 "Maizuru Castle Park; Maizuru Castle Park") a local recreation area. Restoration and restoration work for tourism purposes began in 1998, as a result of which the Yamanashi Science Museum was relocated from the facility. Now the castle is one of the best places to see Shingen-kō Matsuri . It is open all year round, apart from the areas under construction.
history
Initially, Kofu was one of the most important possessions of the Takeda family . After the defeat of Takeda Katsuyori and the invasion of Oda Nobunaga in 1582, Kai Province came under his control. When Tokugawa Ieyasu died, he took over the government. When Toyotomi Hideyoshi finally unified the country, he ordered the construction of a fortress in the middle of each province to control Japan, which had been highly decentralized until then. Construction began in the year following the invasion of 1583 and was later completed by Toyotomi's adoptive brother, Asano Nagamasa, and his son. After the Battle of Sekigahara , Kofu Castle fell into the hands of the Tokugawa , who owned it until the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate about 300 years later.
In the early Edo period , Tokugawa Tsunatoyo succeeded the fifth shogun and moved to Edo Castle . Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu then became the lord of Kofu Castle. Under his leadership, the castle was extensively repaired and the development of the city advanced. It turned out, however, that Yanagisawa was transferred and master of the Kōriyama Castle in Yamato Province . In the following Kyōhō period, Kai Province, in which the castle was located, came under the control of a follower of the Yanagisawa from Kōfu. At the same time the inner Honmaru Palace and the "Akagenenmon" (Mon means gate, gatehouse) were destroyed by a large fire.
The castle was abandoned in the late Meiji period ; the " renewal movement " ("For the Tennō and a united Japan against the foreign danger") had driven out all administrators of the shogunate, and the castle was an official seat of them. Important buildings in the castle were destroyed around 1877. After that, the castle was used as a test area for industry. In 1897 it was decided to demolish the towers and buildings of the areas "Yakatakuruwa" and "Shimizukuruwa" to make way for the Kofu station . In 1904 the honmaru area was opened to the public as Maizuru Castle Park, and in 1930 government and assembly buildings were relocated, again removing much of the Gakuyakuruwa area of the fort. The western and southern moats were filled in, and the appearance of the complex largely corresponded to that of today.
Two of the towers have been meticulously reconstructed using historical technology, just using wood and stone, and the museum inside shows pictures of the facility and some original artifacts.
