The Meiji Restoration

The Meiji Restoration began when Emporer Meiji ascended to the throne and replaced the Tokugawa Bakufu as the ruling power, once restoring the imperial rule which had been absent from Japan for so long. Having learned from history, he then took steps to ensure that no new shogun would rise up to displace him. Having established a new imperial court at Edo, he redubbed the city 'Tokyo'. He then instituted radical changes that effectively ended the old class system and spelled out the end of the samurai. However, some samurai refused to bow out quietly and there were a few rebellions during the 1870's, the last of which ended in 1877.

We should take some time to examine the very last castles built in Japan. While they were technically built during the Edo Period, they are sufficiently different from the "standard" Edo-era castle to be included here. In the last days of the Tokugawa Bakufu, foreign ships had begun to visit Japan frequently. Wary of foreign intrusion, the Bakufu commanded Matumae Suukou and Goto Morimasa to raise new seaside castles (Fukuyama castle and Ishida castle) to defend Japan from these ships. Both of these castles had batteries on the ocean-facing sides. Since Japan had concluded its treaty of peace and amity with USA in 1858, the Bakufu started to build goryoukaku in one of the open northern ports called Hakodate Port. It was a new style of castle, in the shape of a star and looking nothing like the old Feudal castles. In 1863, Matudaira Norikata started to build 'western' castles, which incorporated cannons.

Beyond

Grand Feudal castles, the symbol of the strength of the Bakufu, had become disused by the time of the Meiji Restoration, because of the vast amount of maintenance required. Some of the castles and palaces were put up for auction. Most of them were sold as firewood and destroyed. Ishigaki were torn down and the stones were used for dams and railway construction. Bombings in 1940 caused extensive damage to the precious castles that still remained. The tenshu of Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Okayama, Wakayama, Ohogaki, Nagoya, and Mito castles were all burned down, and the yagura and/or gates of Sendai, Uwajima, Osaka, Iyomatuyama, and Funai castles were also destroyed.

Therefore, the castles that exist today are but a small fraction of all the castles that used to stand tall all across Japan. It is truly miraculous that these castles are still here today. Even those castles which have survived only did so partially, and most of them have been repaired since the Meiji Restoration. However, even those castles which vanished long ago live on in spirit today; many of the old castle towns have developed into today's major cities, and most have retained the basic road layouts that existed back in the days of the castle.