Ibaraki Prefecture

Mito Castle was a hilltop style Japanese Castle located in Mito Ibaraki Prefecture. Today it is very difficult to see that Mito Castle ever existed. Mito Castle never featured large stone walls or a donjon (tower), but it did have a moat and significant earthworks including a significant cutting into the rock on the south eastern side, which today has a train line running through it. Mito Castle was also protected by cliffs on the other two sides plus the Naka River. The first castle built on the site, Baba Castle, was constructed by Baba Sukemoto around 1200AD. In 1416 the castle was captured by the Edo clan, who then enlarged and improved the castle. The name was also changed to Mito Castle. In 1590 Toyotomi Hideyoshi awarded control of Mito Castle to Satake Yoshinobu. In 1609 the Tokugawa clan established control of Mito Castle. In 1625 the castle was upgraded including the construction of a three story turret, which was destroyed by fire in 1764, along with almost all the other buildings. Two years later a new turret was built which was three stories externally and five stories internally. In 1868 a fire, which could have been related to the national conflict at the time, destroyed many of the buildings. In 1871, as a part of the Meiji Restoration Mito Castle was decommissioned. 1945 the main turret was destroyed by fire caused by an Allied bombing raid. |