page_title: Nagoya Castle
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Nagoya Castle / History
context_page_description: Nagoya Castle is a Japanese castle located in Nagoya, central Japan. During the Edo period, Nagoya Castle was the heart of one of the most important castle towns in Japan, Nagoya-juku, which was a post station on the Minoji road linking two of five important trade routes, the Tōkaidō and the Nakasendō. Another way of pronouncing Nagoya Castle is Meijō. This name is used for many city institutions, such as Meijō Park, the metro's Meijō Line and Meijo University, reflecting the cultural influence of this historic structure.
context_section_description: In order to advance into Owari Province, the military governor of Suruga Province, Imagawa Ujichika, built Yanagi-no-maru, a precursor castle at Nagoya, between 1521 and 1528 during the Taiei era for his son, Imagawa Ujitoyo. It was located near the site of the later Ninomaru residence. Oda Nobuhide seized it from Imagawa Ujitoyo in March 1532 (Kyōroku 5), residing there and changing the name to Nagoya Castle. His son, Oda Nobunaga, was supposedly born there in 1534 (Tenbun 3), although this is subject to debate. After he defeated Oda Nobutomo at Kiyosu Castle in April 1555 (Kōji 1), he established his residence there. Around 1582 (Tenshō 10), the castle at Nagoya was abandoned.
  After various upheavals in Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu emerged victorious and decided in November 1609 (Keichō 14) to rebuild the castle at Nagoya. Up until the Meiji Restoration, Nagoya Castle flourished as the castle where the Owari branch, the foremost of the three Tokugawa clan lineages, resided.  Castle construction technology had been extensively developed and consolidated since the construction of Azuchi Castle in 1576 by Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582). One of the main architects who designed and directed the building of the castle was Nakai Masakiyo, who was previously involved in the construction of the Nijō, Fushimi, Edo, and Sunpu castles. He had gathered and refined existing castle and fortification construction technology and techniques and ultimately formulated the standards for the Tokugawa shogunate's castles, as exemplified by Nagoya Castle.
caption: Tokugawa Ieyasu ordered the construction of the castle
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