Honjō Castle

Honjō Castle 本荘城
Yurihonjō, Akita Prefecture, Japan
Reconstructed gate of Honjō Castle
Coordinates	Coordinates: 39°23′5.49″N 140°2′50.9″E / 39.3848583°N 140.047472°E / 39.3848583; 140.047472
Type	hirayama-style Japanese castle
Site information
Open to the public	yes
Site history
Built	1610
Built by	Tateoka Mitsushige, rebuilt by Rokugō Masanori
In use	Edo period
Demolished	1868

Honjō Castle (本荘城, Honjō-jō^?) is a Japanese castle located in Yurihonjō, southern Akita Prefecture, Japan. At the end of the Edo period, Honjō Castle was home to the Rokugō clan, daimyō of Honjō Domain. The castle was also known as "Tsurumai-jō" (鶴舞城^?) or "Ozaki-jō" (尾崎城^?).

Tateoka Mitsushige, a vassal of Mogami Yoshiaki during the Sengoku Period, erected Honjō Castle in 1610 on a hill in the center of the Yuri region of central Dewa Province as the administrative center of his 45,000 koku domain. However, the Mogami were dispossessed by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1622, with the majority of their holdings going to the Satake clan, who were transferred from Hitachi Province to their new (and much smaller) holdings at Kubota Domain. At that time, Rokugō Masanori, a minor daimyo with many scattered holdings, was also transferred to Dewa Province, and his holdings were concentrated into the compact 20,000 koku Honjō Domain, which his descendants ruled for 11 generations to the Meiji restoration.