2. Kumamoto Castle
This picture is Kumamoto castle. This
castle was built by Kiyomasa Kato.
Kumamoto Castle is a castle in Kumamoto, Kumamoto
Prefecture, Japan that has been opened to the public for tours.
A large, and in its day, an extremely well fortified Japanese
castle. The donjon (castle central keep) is a concrete
reconstruction built in 1960, but several ancillary wooden
buildings remain of the original castle. The castle was besieged
during the Satsuma Rebellion, and was sacked and burned
after a 53-day siege.
In nearby San-no-Maru Park is the Hosokawa Gyobu-tei, the
former residence of Hosokawa clan, the Higo daimyo. This
traditional wooden mansion has a fine Japanese garden located
in its grounds.
The signature curved stone walls known as musha-gaeshi, as
well as wooden overhangs were designed to prevent foes from
penetrating the castle. Rock falls were also used as deterrents.
3. Kiyomasa Kato
This picture is Kiyomasa Kato.
Kiyomasa was born in Owari Province to Katō Kiyotada. Kiyotada's
wife, Ito, was a cousin of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's mother.[citation needed]
Kiyotada died while his son (then known as Toranosuke) was still
young. Soon after, Toranosuke entered service with Hideyoshi, and in
1576, at age 14, was granted a stipend of 170 koku. He fought in
Hideyoshi's army at the Battle of Yamazaki, and later, at the Battle of
Shizugatake. Owing to his distinguished conduct in that battle, he
became known as one of the Seven Spears of Shizugatake.[1]
Hideyoshi rewarded Kiyomasa with an increased stipend of 3000 koku.
When Hideyoshi became the kampaku in the summer of 1585,
Kiyomasa received the court title of Kazue no Kami ( ) and junior
5th court rank, lower grade (ju go-i no ge ). In 1586, after Higo
Province was confiscated from Sassa Narimasa, he was granted
250,000 koku of land in Higo (roughly half of the province), and given
Kumamoto Castle as his provincial residence.
In 1592, he joined in the invasion of Korea.
