Gassan Castle

Japanese: 月山城 - がっさんじょう

A mountain castle built on Mt. Gassan in Hirose, Yasugi City, Shimane Prefecture, from the Middle Ages to the early modern period. It is also called Toda Castle or Gassan Toda Castle. It was the residence castle of the Sengoku daimyo Amako clan, and is said to have been built by Taira no Kagekiyo at the end of the Heian period. From the mid-Kamakura period, it was ruled by the Toda clan, a branch of the Sasaki clan, the guardian of Izumo Province, but it was probably during the Nanboku-cho civil war that Gassan Castle first played a role as a castle. Due to its location adjacent to Hoki and Mimasaka provinces, it was important politically and militarily, and became a base for controlling the production and distribution of iron in the Chugoku Mountains. It is thought that from the mid-15th century onwards, the Amako clan managed the castle as the deputy guardian of the Kyogoku clan, the guardian of Izumo Province. During the Sengoku period, the Amako clan fought against the Ouchi clan and then the Mori clan, and surrendered in 1566 after being besieged and attacked by the forces of Mori Motohisa. From 1569 to the following year, the Amago clan fought a restoration campaign to recapture the castle, but failed. The Mori clan appointed Motoaki Mori and Hiroie Kikkawa as castle lords, but after the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Tadauji Horio, who was granted 240,000 koku in the two provinces of Izumo and Oki, moved into Gassan Castle. Tadauji maintained the castle, but it was abandoned in the Keicho era (1596-1615) when the Horio clan moved to Matsue Castle. The castle ruins are a nationally designated historic site. The 2.5km-long Todakawadoko ruins are located on the riverbed of the Iinashi River (Tonda River) at the foot of the mountain, and are considered to be relics of a castle town from the Sengoku period to the early Edo period that was destroyed by a major flood in 1666.

Source : Heibonsha Encyclopedia About MyPedia Information

Japanese:

島根県安来市広瀬の月山に築かれた中世から近世初頭にかけての山城。富田(とだ)城・月山富田城ともいう。戦国大名尼子(あまこ)氏の居城で，平安末期に平景清(かげきよ)が築いたとの伝承がある。鎌倉中期から，出雲国守護佐々木氏の一族富田氏が支配したが，月山城が城としての機能を果たすのは南北朝内乱期においてであろう。伯耆国・美作国に隣接するという立地条件から政治的・軍事的に重視されるとともに，中国山地の鉄の生産と流通を掌握するうえでの拠点となった。15世紀中頃以降，出雲国守護京極(きょうごく)氏の守護代として尼子氏が城を管理していたと考えられる。戦国期の尼子氏は大内氏，ついで毛利氏と争い，1566年毛利元就軍の包囲攻撃を受けて開城。1569年から翌年にかけて，城の奪回をめざす尼子氏の復興戦があったが，失敗に終わっている。毛利氏は毛利元秋や吉川(きっかわ)広家らを城主としたが，1600年の関ヶ原の戦ののち出雲・隠岐２国で24万石を与えられた堀尾忠氏(ただうじ)が月山城に入った。忠氏は城の整備などを行ったが，慶長年間（1596年−1615年）堀尾氏が松江城に移ったため廃城となった。城跡は国指定史跡。麓の飯梨(いいなし)川（富田川）の河川敷には2.5kmに及ぶ富田川河床(とだがわかわどこ)遺跡があり，1666年に起きた大洪水によって消滅した戦国期から江戸初期の城下町遺構とされている。

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