Sunpu Castle 駿府城 |
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Aoi-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan | |
Reconstructed Tatsumi yagura of Sunpu Castle
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Sunpu Castle from the air
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Coordinates | 34°58′46″N 138°23′01″E / 34.97944°N 138.38361°ECoordinates: 34°58′46″N 138°23′01″E / 34.97944°N 138.38361°E |
Type | Hirayama-style Japanese castle |
Site information | |
Open to the public |
yes |
Condition | ruins |
Site history | |
Built | 1589, rebuilt 1607, 1610, 1635 |
Built by | Tokugawa Ieyasu |
In use | Edo period |
Demolished | 1869 |
Sunpu Castle (駿府城 Sunpu-jō?) was a Japanese castle in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan. The sobriquet of this feudal fortress was the "Castle of the Floating Isle." It was also referred to as Fuchu Castle (府中城 Fuchū-jō?) or Shizuoka Castle (静岡城 Shizuoka-jō?).
During the Muromachi period, the Imagawa clan ruled Suruga province from their base at Sunpu (modern-day Shizuoka City). It is not certain exactly when a castle was built on this site. After Imagawa Yoshimoto was defeated at the Battle of Okehazama in 1560, Suruga Province passed to the Takeda clan, and then to Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had spent his youth in Sunpu as Yoshimoto's hostage.
In 1585, Ieyasu constructed a new Sunpu Castle on the approximate site of the former fortified Imagawa residence. He took up residence at the castle in 1586, along with his favored consort, Lady Saigo, and their two sons, Hidetada and Tadayoshi. Lady Saigo died at Sunpu Castle in 1589. After the defeat of the Late Hōjō clan at the Battle of Odawara by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Ieyasu was forced to change his domains in the Tōkai region with the provinces of the Kantō region, and turned Sunpu Castle over to Toyotomi retainer Nakamura Kazuichi in 1590.