Castle
Japanese Castle
The first castles built were Built along the mountain Crags and cliffs . The first Simple castles Were built with a little stone and wood. During the Nara period Warlords Began To engage In the More battles And their castles started to get stronger.Hundreds of castles, called yamajiro, were built as mountain watchtowers, in the Warring States Period (1467-1573). The castles were small, lacking moats or turrets. The yamajiro were replaced by flatland-mountain castles called hirayamajiro, built on small hills which still had good views of the areas being defended. From these castles, battles were conducted, government was administered and large armies were managed. The first hirayamajiro was Azuchi Castle, built by Oda Nobunga in 1579.After the Meiji Restoration (1868) castles were seen as a reminder of the days of feudalism which had ended with the Meiji seizure of power. In 1873 the new government passed the Castle Abolishment Law, destroying two thirds of the remaining castles by 1875. In recent times, other castles have been lost to fire, earthquakes and to the bombings of World War II. The twelve remaining castles have lost much of their original grounds and outer buildings, but are now protected by Japanese laws. Many of the old castles have been reconstructed, including Osaka-jo in 1931 and Kishiwasa-jo in 1954. Refer Image 4