Iwatsuki Castle

Iwatsuki Castle
岩槻城
Iwatsuki-ku, Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan
Surviving rear gate of Iwatsuki Castle
Coordinates	Coordinates: 35°57′4.85″N 139°42′36.86″E / 35.9513472°N 139.7102389°E / 35.9513472; 139.7102389
Type	flatland-style Japanese castle
Site information
Open to the public	yes
Site history
Built	Muromachi period
In use	Muromachi period to Edo period
Demolished	1871

Iwatsuki Castle (岩槻城, Iwatsuki-jō^?) is a Japanese castle located in Iwatsuki-ku, Saitama, in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. At the end of the Edo period, Tateyama Castle was home to the Ōoka clan, daimyō of Iwatsuki Domain, however the castle dates from the Muromachi period and was inhabited by many samurai lords over its history. During the Edo period, the name of the castle was written as “岩付城”. It was also known as "White Crane Castle" (白鶴城, Hakutsuru-jō^?) or "Floating Castle" (浮城, Uki-jō^?). The site of the castle is a Saitama Prefectural Historic Monument.

The castle was located in the Kantō Plain near the northern border of former Musashi Province, and made use of a bend in the former location of the Arakawa River as part of its defenses to the north and east, and a swamp to the west and south. Large scale anti-flood construction diverted the main flow of the Arakawa River in the mid-Edo period, and the current location of the castle is some distance from the modern-day river. The main bailey, second enclosure and third enclosure were surrounded by very wide swampy moats, with the castle town located to the southwest.