Sunpu Castle

nihongo|Sunpu Castle|駿府城|"Sunpu-jō" is a Japanese castle in Shizuoka, which is the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan. The sobriquet of this feudal fortress was the "Castle of the Floating Isle."Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS): [http://www.jsps.go.jp/english/e-quart/22/13.html Shizuoka] ]

In pre-modern Japan, Sunpu Castle was the chief fortress in what was then known as Suruga province. The title "Sunpu" (駿府) is a contraction of Suruga no Kokufu.

Imagawa Yoshimoto established his clan at Sunpu during the Sengoku era; and Tokugawa Ieyasu spent his youth in Sunpu as Yoshimoto's hostage. The castle city was located at the 19th stage of the Tokaido Road, which ran from Edo (Tokyo) to Kyoto. [see above] ]

In 1585, Ieyasu's Sunpu Castle was constructed. [JapanVisitor: [http://www.japanvisitor.com/index.php?cID=357&pID=305 Sunpu Park] ] later retired to and died in Sunpu after he abdicated his position as shogun in favor of his son, Tokugawa Hidetada.

Edo period

During the years of the Tokugawa shogunate, the bureaucracy expanded on an ad hoc basis, responding to perceived needs and changing circumstances. [Beasley, William G. (1955). "Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853-1868," p. 326.] The "bakufu" appointed a series of overseers to preserve and defend Sunpu Castle and to serve as administrators for the region. These officials were called the nihongo|Sunpu "jōdai"|駿府城代|"Sunpu jōdai" or "Sushū Rioban". The commandants of Sunpu were most often taken from the Ōbangashira. [Murdoch, James. (1926). [http://books.google.com/books?id=32HnwxdP4pMC&pg=RA1-PA9&dq=sakai+bugyo&sig=8kduK0gPvX1ptCBwZmBDx9NnYR4 "A History of Japan," p. 9.] ]

hogunal city

During this period, Sunpu ranked with other urban centers, some of which were designated as a "shogunal city." The number of such cities rose from three to eleven under Tokugawa administration. [Cullen, Louis M. (2003). [http://books.google.com/books?id=ycY_85OInSoC&pg=PA27&vq=bugyo&dq=++uraga+bugyo&source=gbs_search_r&cad=0_2&sig=Lz-lqppSwmB5wSYUxXfVmEMCrBw#PPA59,M1 "A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internal and External Worlds," p. 159.] ]

Meiji period

After the Meiji Restoration, Tokugawa Iesato, was briefly established in the "han" at Sunpu (700,000 "koku"), from 1868 until the abolition of feudal domains in 1871.

In 1871, American educator E. Warren Clark arrived in Shizuoka to teach science. Shortly thereafter, he directed construction of an American-style house on the grounds of the former castle. [Pedlar, Neil. (1990). [http://books.google.com/books?id=HogToesalAoC&pg=PT126&lpg=PT126&dq=shizuoka+castle&source=web&ots=p0ZxGXneIg&sig=2it-mXrA-fI028GBObhb8zQFnMc&hl=en#PPT126,M1 "The Imported Pioneers: Westerners who Helped Build Modern Japan," p. 123.] ] In 1873, Clark left Shizuoka for Tokyo. A western-style school, the "Shizuhatasha" ("Shizuhatanoya") was established in the house which had been built for Clark; and a Canadian missionary, Davidson MacDonald, was engaged to run it. [Ion, A. Hamish. (1990). [http://books.google.com/books?id=ROMXm882kz0C&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=shizuoka+castle&source=web&ots=lgMY3okxo1&sig=B9DoaAvr_Xyuqy4dHrYsJ_5w_mo&hl=en "The Cross and the Rising Sun," p. 42.] ] McDonald would later help in establishing Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo. [Foreign Ministry of Japan: [http://www.mofa.go.jp/region/n-america/canada/episode.html#4 "Episodes in Japan-Canada Relations."] ]

unpu Park

Only the moat of the castle remains today, but restoration projects have recreated the turret tower and main gate. What were formerly the castle grounds are called "Sunpu Park." [see above}]

Notes

References

* Beasley, William G. (1955). [http://books.google.com/books?id=jjOCAAAAIAAJ&dq=Niigata+bugyo&pgis=1 "Select Documents on Japanese Foreign Policy, 1853-1868."] London: Oxford University Press. [reprinted by RoutledgeCurzon, London, 2001. 10-ISBN 0-197-13508-0; 13-ISBN 978-0-197-13508-2 (cloth)]
* Cullen, Louis M. (2003). [http://books.google.com/books?id=ycY_85OInSoC&dq=++uraga+bugyo&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 "A History of Japan, 1582-1941: Internal and External Worlds."] Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10-ISBN 0-521-82155-X (cloth) -- 10-ISBN 0-521-52918-2 (paper)
* Ion, A. Hamish. (1990). [http://books.google.com/books?id=ROMXm882kz0C&dq=shizuoka+castle&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 "The Cross and the Rising Sun."] Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press. 10-ISBN 0-889-20977-4
* Murdoch, James. (1926). "A History of Japan." London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. [http://books.google.com/books?id=32HnwxdP4pMC&dq=Yamada+bugyo&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 reprinted by] Routledge, 1996. 10-ISBN 0-415-15417-0
* Pedlar, Neil. (1990). [http://books.google.com/books?id=HogToesalAoC&dq=shizuoka+castle&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 "The Imported Pioneers: Westerners who Helped Build Modern Japan."] London: Routledge. 10-ISBN 0-904-40451-X

ee also

* Sunpu Domain

Literature

*cite book | title=Castles in Japan| last=Schmorleitz| first=Morton S.| date=1974| pages= pg. 127-128| publisher=Charles E. Tuttle Co.| location=Tokyo| id=ISBN 0-8084-1102-4