is a castle

Japanese castle

' were fortresses composed primarily of wood and stone. They evolved from the wooden stockades of earlier centuries, and came into their best-known form in the 16th century...

 located in Aya

Aya, Miyazaki

is a town located in Higashimorokata District, Miyazaki, Japan.As of 2003, the town has an estimated population of 7,604 and the density of 79.87 persons per km². The total area is 95.21 km²....

, Miyazaki Prefecture

Miyazaki Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. The capital is the city of Miyazaki.- History :Historically, after the Meiji Restoration, Hyūga Province was renamed Miyazaki Prefecture....

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

History

Aya was built from around 1331 to about 1334. Its name derives from the man who over-saw the construction of the castle, who referred to himself only as "Aya" (his real name was Koshiro Yoshito). His family ruled over the castle until the Muromachi period

Muromachi period

The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate, which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi shogun, Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kemmu restoration of imperial...

, when the head of the Itō clan

Ito clan

The ' were a Japanese clan that claimed descent from the medieval warrior Itō Suketoki , who was famous for his involvement in the incident involving the Soga brothers. The family became a moderate power both in influence and ability by the latter Sengoku Period of Feudal Japan...

 took over Aya Castle. The Shimazu clan

Shimazu clan

The were the daimyō of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan.The Shimazu were identified as one of the tozama or outsider daimyō clans in contrast with the fudai or insider clans which were hereditary vassals or allies of the Tokugawa clan,The Shimazu were...

 seized the castle following their victory over the Itō in 1577. The castle was then given to Niiro Hisatoki, one of the retainers for the Shimazu Clan. Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

was a daimyo warrior, general and politician of the Sengoku period. He unified the political factions of Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle...

conquered the castle for a short period ten years later. In 1615, however, the castle was destroyed due to a shogunal decree that every domain could have only one castle.
The castle keep, or tenshu, was rebuilt in 1985 out of wood, and was based on pictures of other castles of the era. It houses a museum that has items pertaining to the castle's history.