Sunomata Castle

Overview

Sunomata Castle (墨俣城, Sunomata-jō) is a Japanese castle in Ōgaki in Gifu Prefecture, at the confluence of the Sai and Nagara rivers. It is also called the Sunomata Ichiya Castle (墨俣一夜城), a name that comes from the legend that it was built in a single night. The castle was constructed in 1567 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, at the time a minor retainer of Oda Nobunaga, while Nobunaga's forces were pressing the Siege of Inabayama Castle. The structure was less a full-sized castle than a border fort: a wooden-walled fortress with simple watchtowers, wooden palisades and dry moats, intended to intimidate, surprise and demoralise the enemy.

History

In 1567, during the Muromachi period (1336–1573), in the tenth year of the Eiroku era (永禄, えいろく), Oda Nobunaga was moving against the Saitō clan stronghold at Inabayama Castle. The task of building a fort at Sunomata, on the front line, fell to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, then a minor retainer in Nobunaga's service.

The work of building at Sunomata was carried out by a band of adventurers under the direction of a local robber baron named Hachisuka Koroku. Hideyoshi used pre-constructed sections to put up the fortress, and it was finished so quickly that it gave the impression of having been done overnight, although the work took several days to complete. The speed was the point. The fort was meant to demoralise the Saitō defenders as much as to house troops.

Hideyoshi's success with the construction of this castle greatly raised his prestige and standing with Nobunaga, and marked the start of his rise to fame. From a minor retainer, he went on to become the ruler of a unified Japan.

What Stands There Today

A faux castle tower was reconstructed in 1991 to serve as a local history museum. The reconstruction is not historically accurate: it was modelled after the nearby Ōgaki Castle rather than after the original Sunomata fort. Inside, the museum contains a model of what the castle actually looked like, along with samurai armour and weapons of the period. The site is also noted as a place to view cherry blossoms in spring.

The Name in Japanese

The castle's name is written 墨俣城. Its kana reading is すのまたじょう, and its romaji is Sunomata-jō.

The name breaks down as follows:

• 墨 — read す (su) in this word. The character means "ink" or "black ink". It is a common kanji, familiar from words such as 墨 (すみ, sumi), "ink stick", and 水墨画 (すいぼくが, suibokuga), "ink-wash painting".
• 俣 — read また (mata) in this word. The character means "fork" or "crotch", and in place names it commonly marks a place where a river splits or two rivers meet. That meaning fits Sunomata exactly: the castle stood at the confluence of the Sai and Nagara rivers. 俣 is a rare kanji in everyday Japanese and appears mostly in place names and surnames.
• 城 — read じょう (jō) in this word. The character means "castle". On its own it is read しろ (shiro), and it appears in the names of castles across Japan, such as 大垣城 (Ōgaki-jō) and 稲葉山城 (Inabayama-jō).

The full name 墨俣城 therefore reads すのまたじょう, Sunomata-jō, literally "Sunomata Castle". The alternative name 墨俣一夜城 (すのまたいちやじょう, Sunomata ichiya-jō) adds 一 (いち, ichi, "one") and 夜 (や, ya, "night"): "Sunomata One-Night Castle".

Visiting and Context

Sunomata lies in Ōgaki, in Gifu Prefecture, at the meeting of the Sai and Nagara rivers. The site is reached from Ōgaki, and the reconstructed tower and its museum sit within the grounds.

The castle belongs to the Muromachi period (1336–1573), and its construction in 1567 falls in the last decades of that period, in the tenth year of the Eiroku era. The story of the one-night castle is one of the best-known episodes in the career of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the site is a natural stopping point for readers following the events of the Sengoku period in the Gifu region. The nearby Ōgaki Castle, after which the 1991 reconstruction was modelled, stands in the same city and gives a sense of what a full-sized castle of the region looked like, in contrast to the simple wooden fort that Hideyoshi's men threw up at Sunomata.