140916-0209-PP - Kagoshima Castle

Kagoshima Castle (鹿児島城), also known as Tsurumarujo (鶴丸城), in Kagoshima during summer 1872 (Meiji5).

The base of the Satsuma daimyo, it was constructed by Shimazu Iehisa (島津家久, 1547–1587) in 1601. Considering that one of Japan’s most dominant clans was based here, Tsurumarujo was small and poorly designed. It would have fallen easily during a siege.

This was ostensibly because the Shimazu Clan, who were at the losing side during the Battle of Sekigahara (1600, 関ヶ原の戦い), did not want to give the Shogunate an excuse to attack them.

Tsurumarujo was the site of the Battle of Shiroyama (城山の戦い) during the Seinan Rebellion (西南戦争, 1877); Saigo Takamori (西郷, 1828–1877) fell here. The castle was completely destroyed during the battle.

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