OKAZAKI CASTLE

Okazaki Castle is also called Ryuga-jo (Ryuga Castle). It was built in 1455 by Saigo Tsugiyori, military commissioner of Mikawa Province. In 1524 the Saigo family yielded possession of Okazaki Castle to Matsudaira Kiyoyasu, grandfather of Iyeyasu. In 1542 Tokugawa Iyeyasu was born in Okazaki Castle. After his father was murdered, when he was held hostage by the Imagawas, Okazaki Castle was occupied by the Imagawa vassal. After Imagawa Yoshimoto was killed in the battle at Okehazama, Iyeyasu was freed and recovered Okazaki Castle.
In 1590 Tanaka Yoshimasa, the then lord of the castle after Iyeyasu's transfer to Kanto province, enlarged the precincts surrounded with moats. For 3 centuries Okazaki Castle, honored as the birthplace of Iyeyasu, was guarded successively by the hereditary vassal daimyos. In the Meiji Restoration Period, the whole Okazaki Castle was demolished, but in 1959 the donjon was reconstructed according to its original model.