Yamagata Castle

Overview

Yamagata Castle (山形城, Yamagata-jō) is a flatland-style castle in the centre of Yamagata, a city in eastern Yamagata Prefecture. Its first fortifications date to 1357, in the second year of the Enbun era (延文, Enbun), during the Muromachi period. For the whole of the Edo period the castle served as the headquarters of the daimyō (大名, lord) of Yamagata Domain. The grounds are protected as a National Historic Site, and the castle is listed among the 100 Fine Castles of Japan.

History

The site was fortified in 1357 by the Shiba clan, who held the office of shugo (守護, provincial constable) over the region. The Shiba were one of the great military houses of the Muromachi shogunate, and Yamagata Castle anchored their authority in the north.

Control passed in the sixteenth century to the Mogami, a family that would give the castle its most famous lord. Mogami Yoshiaki (最上義光) is recorded as having died at Yamagata Castle. Under Yoshiaki the castle grew into the seat of a large domain, and the surrounding castle town expanded with it.

In the Edo period the castle became the fixed headquarters of Yamagata Domain, the feudal territory administered from the castle. Each successive daimyō of the domain governed from here, and the castle town that grew around the walls remained the political and commercial centre of the region.

What Stands There Today

The castle site is now open ground at the centre of Yamagata city, known as Kajō Park (霞城公園, Kajō Kōen). The name Kajō — "mist castle" — is an alternative name for the castle itself, and it survives in the name of the park that occupies the old grounds.

The site's status as a National Historic Site reflects the survival of the earthworks and layout of the original flatland castle. Yamagata Castle is also counted among the 100 Fine Castles of Japan, a list maintained to promote awareness of the country's castle heritage.

The Name in Japanese

The castle's name is written 山形城. It is read やまがたじょう in kana, and romanised as Yamagata-jō.

The name breaks down into three kanji:

• 山 — read yama here. It means "mountain". It is one of the most common characters in Japanese place names.
• 形 — read gata here. It means "shape" or "form". On its own the character is read katachi or kei; in this name it shifts to gata, a voiced form of kata, which is a standard sound change when two words are joined.
• 城 — read jō here. It means "castle". On its own it can also be read shiro, and it appears in the name of almost every Japanese castle.

So 山形城 is literally "mountain-shape castle" — the castle of Yamagata. The first two characters, 山形, are the name of the city and prefecture, not a description of the castle's appearance. The final 城 marks it as a fortress, exactly as "-castle" does in English names like "Windsor Castle".

The alternative name 霞城 (Kajō) is built differently. 霞 (read ka here, otherwise kasumi) means "mist" or "haze", and 城 is again jō. The name is usually explained as a poetic reference to the castle's appearance, but the point for a learner is simply that 城 keeps its jō reading in both names.

A note on readings: 城 is read jō in most castle names, but shiro when it stands alone as a common noun. Learners who know the word お城 (o-shiro, "castle") will meet the same character again in names like 山形城, where the Chinese-derived reading jō is used. Recognising which reading a compound takes is one of the recurring challenges of Japanese place names, and castle names are a good place to practise it.

Visiting and Context

Kajō Park sits in central Yamagata, within walking distance of Yamagata Station, which makes the site easy to combine with a stay in the city. The park is a well-known spot for cherry blossoms in spring, when the old moats and embankments are lined with trees.

For learners of Japanese, Yamagata Castle is a useful anchor for two vocabulary sets. The first is castle vocabulary: 城 (shiro/jō), 天守 (tenshu, castle keep), and 城下町 (jōkamachi, castle town). The second is the language of Japanese history: 大名 (daimyō, lord), 藩 (han, domain), and 幕府 (bakufu, shogunate). The castle's own history supplies a concrete example of each — a daimyō, Mogami Yoshiaki, a domain, Yamagata Domain, and a period, the Edo period, in which the shogunate's order shaped who held the castle and why.