Everything about Nagashima totally explained
was a series of fortresses and fortifications controlled by the
Ikkō-ikki, a sect of warrior monks in
Japan's Sengoku period who opposed samurai rule. It was attacked and destroyed by
Oda Nobunaga in the 1570s. This, combined with the destruction of the Ikki's other main fortress, the
Ishiyama Hongan-ji, several years later, ended the threat the Ikko-ikki posed to Nobunaga and other
samurai conquerors.
The fortress was situated on a swampy delta, on the border of
Owari and
Ise Provinces, at the point where three rivers converge, to the southeast of the modern-day city of
Nagoya. Nagashima was in fact a number of smaller fortifications surrounding two primary buildings and not a single fortress. Nagashima Castle was built in
1555 by
Ito Shigeharu, and seized by the Ikkō-ikki shortly afterwards, in much the same way they'd seized a number of other daimyo's holdings. The
Ganshōji fortified monastery formed the second center of Nagashima's defense.
The Oda clan, which controlled nearby lands, was wary of the Ikki's growing power, and engaged them at Ogie Castle in
1569. The Ikki were victorious, and Nobunaga's brother
Nobuoki was killed. Nobunaga returned to lay siege to the Ikki's fortress three times, before finally subduing it in
1574 with the help of the
Kumano Suigun (Navy) under the control of the
Kuki family. He set the wooden structure ablaze, and none of the fortress cathedral's 20,000 inhabitants escaped.
According to the members of the Nagashima Historical Society, none of the main castle of Nagashima survived and its true location is unknown. What is believed to be the most probable location is now the site of a junior high school, which was identified in accordance to written descriptions of the area in the 16th century and what is believed to be an old moat. The reconstucted
keep was destroyed by lightning in
1959, but the Ganshōji was rebuilt a short distance inland. It now contains a stone
stupa erected as a memorial to those killed in the burning of the fortress.
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