Aizuwakamatsu Castle

Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle 会津若松城
Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan
The reconstructed tenshu (keep)
Type	Hirayamashiro (hilltop castle)
Site information
Condition	The tenshu was reconstructed using concrete in 1965.
Site history
Built	1384
Built by	Ashina Naomori
In use	1384 to 1868
Demolished	1874

Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle (会津若松城, Aizu-Wakamatsu-jō^?), also known as Tsuruga Castle (鶴ヶ城 Tsuru-ga-jō) is a concrete replica of a traditional Japanese castle in northern Japan, at the center of the city of Aizuwakamatsu, in Fukushima Prefecture.

The castle was constructed by Ashina Naomori in 1384, and was originally named Kurokawa Castle (黒川城, Kurokawa-jō^?). It was the military and administrative center of the Aizu region until 1868. It was ruled by Ashina Moriuji until 1561, when he turned his domain over to his son.

Date Masamune, the greatest warlord of the Tōhoku area, had struggled against the Ashina clan for years, and finally captured the castle in 1589 at the Siege of Kurokawa Castle. But soon he submitted to Toyotomi Hideyoshi and gave it up in 1590.

In 1592 a new lord, Gamō Ujisato, redesigned the castle and gave it the name Tsuruga Castle, although the populace also referred to it as Aizu Castle or Wakamatsu Castle.

During the Edo period, it was the seat of the daimyō of the Aizu Han. The founder was Hoshina Masayuki, the son of shōgun Tokugawa Hidetada and the grandson of Ieyasu. He and his successors bore the Matsudaira name. The castle was an important Tokugawa stronghold in the Tōhoku region of Honshū.