Komaki Castle

Komaki-jo has a very interesting location. In the middle of a huge plain with no relief whatsoever is a large hill called Mt. Komaki. Komaki-jo sits atop this mountain with an incredible view of the whole area. It's the ideal location for a castle. Unfortunately, the top of the mountain/hill is fair

History

Komaki Castle followed Nagoya Castle (different from modern day Nagoya Castle) and Kiyosu Castle becoming Oda Nobunaga's third castle. After Nobunaga secured Mikawa province (eastern Aichi prefecture) by an alliance with Tokugawa Ieyasu, he set his sights on invading the Mino province (Gifu prefecture). To that end he built Komaki-jo in 1563.

It is said that when Nobunaga decided to build Komaki-jo he sensed that his vassals would object to moving so far from their present home of Kiyosu-jo. So that his people couldn't object, he first suggested that they build a castle on top of Ninomiya mountain in Inuyama. Ninomiya mountain is very steep and it would be a difficult place to build a castle. As soon as they objected the Ninomiya plan Nobunaga suggested Mt. Komaki instead. Having just turned down their lord's first plan, they couldn't object to his second idea too so they moved to Komaki without complaint. Nobunaga stayed in Komaki-jo until he defeated Saito Tatsuoki in 1567 and conquered Mino privince. Nobunaga then moved into Gifu-jo.

Field Notes

Komaki-jo has a very interesting location. In the middle of a huge plain with no relief whatsoever is a large hill called Mt. Komaki. Komaki-jo sits atop this mountain with an incredible view of the whole area. It's the ideal location for a castle. Unfortunately, the top of the mountain/hill is fairly small and most of it is wooded so it's almost impossible to get a picture better than this from the ground. The whole mountain is designated as a National Historic Site.

Loading map...

{"format":"leaflet","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"limit":500,"offset":0,"link":"all","sort":["order"],"order":[],"headers":"show","mainlabel":"","intro":"","outro":"","searchlabel":"... further results","default":"","import-annotation":false,"width":"auto","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"Darkred18.png","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":false,"defzoom":14,"layers":["Esri.WorldTopoMap"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","showtitle":false,"hidenamespace":true,"template":"InfoWindowProfile","userparam":"","activeicon":"","pagelabel":false,"ajaxcoordproperty":"","ajaxquery":"","locations":[{"text":"\u003Cdiv style=\"width:150px\"\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/view/File:KomakijouIshigakiART_(4).jpg\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"KomakijouIshigakiART (4).jpg\" src=\"../images/thumb/7/70/KomakijouIshigakiART_%284%29.jpg/125px-KomakijouIshigakiART_%284%29.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"125\" height=\"94\" srcset=\"../images/thumb/7/70/KomakijouIshigakiART_%284%29.jpg/188px-KomakijouIshigakiART_%284%29.jpg 1.5x, ../images/thumb/7/70/KomakijouIshigakiART_%284%29.jpg/250px-KomakijouIshigakiART_%284%29.jpg 2x\" data-file-width=\"1080\" data-file-height=\"810\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C!--MW-PAGEIMAGES-CANDIDATE-0--\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003C/div\u003E","title":"","link":"","lat":35.29207,"lon":136.91291,"icon":"../images/0/06/Darkred18.png"}],"imageLayers":[]}

Gallery

• 

  donjon
• 

  main keep
• 

  main keep
• 

  Cross Section of an embankment
• 

  Karameteguchi
• 

  Moat and earthen embankment
• 

  Small stone from behind a stone wall.
• 

  View of the keep from near the top
• 

  Bailey 402
• 

  Entrance D
• 

  Otemichi
• 

  Entrance F
• 

  Dry moat between Bailey 402 and Bailey 403a on the left
• 

  Earthen embnakment of Bailey 403a
• 

  Map of the castle
• 

  Map of the smaller baileys around the foot of the mountain
• 
• 

  Pictures of restored ishigaki by ART
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Castle Profile
English Name	Komaki Castle
Japanese Name	小牧城
Alternate Names	Komakiyama-jo
Founder	Oda Nobunaga
Year Founded	1563
Castle Type	Mountaintop
Castle Condition	Reconstructed main keep
Designations	Next 100 Castles, Top 100 Mountaintop Castles, National Historic Site
Historical Period	Pre Edo Period
Main Keep Structure	3 levels, 3 stories
Year Reconstructed	1968 (concrete)
Features	main keep, trenches, stone walls
Visitor Information
Access	Komaki Station (Meitetsu Komaki Line), 10 minutes by bus
Hours	¥200 for both the mogi and Wakishiru Museum; 9:00-16:30; closed year's end
Time Required	120 mins
URL	Castle Website
Location	Komaki, Aichi Prefecture
Coordinates	35.29259, 136.91354
Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"mappingservice":"leaflet","width":"auto","height":"200px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"Castlemarker.png","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":6,"defzoom":14,"layers":["CartoDB.Positron"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","imageLayers":[],"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":35.29259,"lon":136.91354,"icon":"../images/1/1e/Castlemarker.png"}],"imageoverlays":null}
Admin
Added to Jcastle	1999
Contributor	Eric
Admin Year Visited	1996
Admin Visits	April 1996

2.19

(16 votes)

Loading comments...