Fushimi Castle

Fushimi Castle, also known as Momoyama Castle or Fushimi-Momoyama Castle, is a castle in Kyoto’s Fushimi Ward. The castle was intended to be the site for Hideyoshi’s peace talks with Chinese diplomats seeking an end to the Seven-Year War in Korea, but an earthquake destroyed the castle entirely only two years after its completion.

It was rebuilt soon afterwards but fell in a famous siege by Ishida Mitsunari. Torii Mototada defended the castle for eleven days, allowing his lord Tokugawa time to build his own army. This had a profound effect on the Battle of Sekigahara, which came soon afterwards, and which marked the final victory of Tokugawa Ieyasu over all his rivals.

In 1623 it was dismantled and many of its rooms were incorporated into temples across Japan. Many have blood-stained ceilings that had been the floor of a corridor at Fushimi Castle where Torii Mototada and company had committed suicide in 1912. The castle was rebuilt again in 1964.