Tanaka Castle
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| Tanaka Castle 田中城 | |
|---|---|
| Fujieda, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan | |
 Relocated Honmaru Yagura of Tanaka Castle | |
| Site information | |
| Type | flatland-style Japanese castle |
| Open to the public | yes |
| Condition | partially reconstructed |
| Location | |
  Tanaka Castle 田中城  Tanaka Castle 田中城 | |
| Coordinates | 34°52′19.22″N 138°16′28.57″E / 34.8720056°N 138.2746028°E |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1537 |
| Built by | Imagawa clan |
| In use | Edo period |
| Demolished | 1871 |
Tanaka Castle (田中城, Tanaka-jō) is a Japanese castle located in Fujieda, central Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. At the end of the Edo period, Tanaka Castle was home to a branch of the Honda clan, daimyō of Tanaka Domain.
Tanaka Castle is located on a hill in a marshy area in the middle of the Shida Plain, between the Seto and the Rokken rivers. Originally, the Imagawa clan used the site as a small stronghold, ordering their vassals, the Isshiki clan to construct a fortification in 1537 to protect the western approaches to Sunpu Castle.
However, when Suruga Province came under occupation by the Takeda clan in 1570, Takeda Shingen had the stronghold expanded to guard the western border of Suruga against the increasing strength of Tokugawa Ieyasu in neighboring Tōtōmi Province, and assigned his general Yamagata Masakage as castellan. In 1572, another of Shingen's generals, Inagaki Nobuyasu, replaced Yamagata. The castle withstood an attack by Tokugawa forces in 1582, but was later surrendered after the death of Takeda Katsuyori.
The current layout of Tanaka Castle dates from the period of Takeda rule. As there was no limitation due to geography, the fortifications consisted of three concentric circular moats, each with four gates equipped with a "maru umadashi" style gate, itself surrounded by crescent-moon shaped moats. The outer moat had a diameter of 300 meters.
