Tsu Castle

Overview

Tsu Castle (津城, Tsu-jō) is a Japanese castle in the city of Tsu, in Mie Prefecture. Its construction began in 1558, in the first year of the Eiroku era, during the Muromachi period. The castle is closely associated with the Siege of Anotsu Castle, and in the Edo period it served as the headquarters of Tsu Domain, the territory of the Sudo clan. The Sudo were daimyō — regional lords — who governed the provinces of Ise and Iga under the Tokugawa shogunate. The castle site is today a Prefectural Historic Site.

History

Tsu Castle was begun in 1558, the first year of the Eiroku era (永禄, Eiroku), a period of near-constant warfare in which regional lords fought to consolidate territory. The castle stood in the province of Ise, on the coast of what is now Mie Prefecture, and it was also known by the older name Anotsu Castle (安濃津城, Anotsu-jō), taken from the ancient name for the surrounding area. That name places it directly in the fighting recorded as the Siege of Anotsu Castle.

In the Edo period, the castle became the seat of the Sudo clan, the daimyō of Tsu Domain. Under the Tokugawa shogunate, the Sudo dominated the provinces of Ise and Iga, and Tsu Castle served as the headquarters of that domain. A domain (藩, han) was the hereditary territory a daimyō governed and administered; the castle at its centre was the lord's residence, his administrative office, and his military stronghold.

The castle's position in Ise gave it strategic weight: Ise faced the sea routes along the coast and lay on the roads connecting the capital region with the east. The Sudo held the domain across the Edo period, and the castle remained the political centre of Tsu.

What Stands There Today

The castle ruins are designated a Prefectural Historic Site. The site preserves the footprint of the former castle grounds in the middle of the modern city of Tsu. The ruins stand as the surviving trace of the fortification begun in 1558 and later rebuilt as the headquarters of Tsu Domain.

The Name in Japanese

The castle's name in Japanese is 津城. It is read つじょう in kana, and written Tsu-jō in romaji. The word breaks down into two kanji.

津 — read tsu in this name. This character means "harbour", "port", or "crossing", a landing place on a shore or river. It is the same 津 that appears in the city's name, Tsu, and it reflects the area's position on the coast of Ise. The older name for the place, Anotsu, is written 安濃津, ending in this same character.

城 — read jō in this name. This character means "castle" or "fortress". On its own it can also be read shiro, and it appears in the names of castles across Japan. When it follows another element in a castle name, it is normally read jō, as here.

So 津城 is literally "the castle of Tsu" — the harbour castle. The alternative name, 安濃津城 (Anotsu-jō), uses the ancient place name 安濃津 plus the same 城, and refers to the same site.

Visiting and Context

Tsu sits in central Mie Prefecture, on the coast of the old province of Ise. The castle's coordinates, 34.7177350, 136.5084740, place the site within the modern city. The ruins are a Prefectural Historic Site, and the castle grounds are part of the urban centre of Tsu.

For readers of Japanese, the castle's name is a useful piece of vocabulary. The character 城, read jō in castle names, appears in the names of fortifications throughout the country, and 津, meaning harbour, recurs in Japanese place names along coasts and rivers. The pairing in 津城 — a place name plus 城 — is the standard pattern for naming a castle after the town or district it guarded. The older name 安濃津城 shows the same pattern applied to an earlier form of the same place name, and the two names together record both the medieval harbour town and the Edo-period domain seat that grew from it.