Yamagata Castle

Yamagata Castle 山形城
Yamagata, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan
Restored East Gate of Yamagata Castle
Yamagata Castle from the air, 1972
Coordinates	Coordinates: 38°15′12.84″N 140°19′44.56″E / 38.2535667°N 140.3290444°E / 38.2535667; 140.3290444
Type	flatland-style Japanese castle
Site information
Open to the public	yes
Site history
Built	1592
Built by	Mogami Yoshiaki
In use	Edo period
Demolished	1873

Yamagata Castle (山形城, Yamagata-jō^?) is a flatland-style Japanese castle located in the center of the city of Yamagata, eastern Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. Throughout the Edo period, Yamagata Castle was the headquarters for the daimyō of Yamagata Domain. The castle was also known as "Ka-jō" (霞城^?). The castle grounds are protected as a National Historic Site by the Japanese government

The first castle on this site dates to the middle of the Muromachi period, when Shiba Kaneyori established himself as lord of the surrounding area of Dewa Province and built a fortified residence on the site of what is now the central bailey of Yamagata Castle. He later changed his name to Mogami Kaneyori, and the Mogami clan continued to rule for about 275 years. Mogami Yoshiaki rebuilt the castle in 1592, adding a second bailey and third bailey, and a number of two-story and three-story watchtowers. The castle never had a donjon. After the time of the Battle of Sekigahara, the Mogami ruled over a 570,000 koku domain; however, the clan was dispossessed by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1622. Thereafter the castle and Yamagata Domain passed through a large number of daimyo clans, often for less than a single generation, and its revenues were severely reduced. By the middle of the Edo period, the main bailey was allowed to fall into ruins, the second bailey was used as the residence of the daimyo, and the western half of the third bailey was plowed up for farmland.