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Iwamura Castle Ruins
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| Another name for Iwamura Castle is "Fog Castle" , which is a
fortified mountain castle that utilizes the steep terrian of nanure. It
is located at 721m above sea level and is one of the three major mountain
castles in Japan. The construction of Iwamura Castle began when Kagekado , the chief vassal of Yoritomo Minamoto , the first shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate , was appointed to the lord of Toyama territory in 1185. Kagekado's eldest son , Kagetomo , moved to Iwamura and changed his surname Kato to Toyama , a place name. After that ,Toyama clan stayed in the castle for generations. Entering the era of turmoil in the Warring States period , Shingen Takeda's vassal , Nobutomo Akiyama , seized Iwamura Castle in 1573 , and entered the castle. However , in 1575 , he was defeated by the Oda army , and after that , the castle owner changed rapidly for 28 years , such as Kawajiri , Ranmaru Mori , Choichi Mori , Tadamasa Mori , and Tomotada Tamaru. After the Battle of Sekigahara in the 3rd year of Keicho(1600) , Ienori Matsudaira became the lord of Iwamura Castle in place of Tamaru family , who belonged to the Western Army. As a castle owner in the Edo period , the Meiji Restoration was reached after Matsudaira family continued for two generations , Niwa family continued for five generations , and Matsudaira , a branch of Daikyu Matsudaira , continued for seven generations. The castle was rebuilt from a medieval castle to a modern castle. The building was abandoned by the Meiji Restoration and was demolished in 1873. (From the explanation board of the Iwamura Board of Education and the Gift Prefectual Board of Education standing on the site of the main enclosure.) |
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