[Akita City, Akita Prefecture] The foundation of Akita City is the castle town of Kubota Castle, which was newly built by Yoshinobu Satake.

Akita City "began in 1602, when Yoshinobu Satake moved to another country," says the Akita City website.

Yoshinobu Satake came to Akita in 1602. He was ordered by Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu of the Edo shogunate to move from Hitachi Province (Ibaraki Prefecture), where he had lived for many years, with his family and followers. The Satake clan was favored by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and had a large amount of power in Hitachi Province, boasting about 540,000 koku. However, at the Battle of Sekigahara (1600), he took an ambiguous attitude of not supporting either Hideyoshi or Ieyasu, and the victorious Ieyasu felt bad about it. I decided to go to Akita (Dewa Province) in the northern country.

Construction of Kubota Castle began immediately after Akita was transferred.

At that time, Akita was ruled by a powerful family called the Akita clan, but at the same time that the Satake clan was ordered to move to Akita, they were also ordered to move to Hitachi province to replace the Satake clan. The Akita clan built a minato castle at Tsuchizaki Minato (present-day Tsuchizaki Minato, Akita City) as their base, and Yoshinobu also initially moved into the minato castle.

However, it seems that Minato Castle was too small for the vassals of the Satake clan, who were feudal lords with an income of over 500,000 koku, to live in, so Yoshinobu immediately decided to build a new castle in a place called Kubota. Construction of the castle began in 1603 and continued until around 1631.

Kubota Castle did not have a castle tower from the beginning. The moat renovates the natural river

At that time, the center of what is now Akita City was Tsuchizaki Minato at the mouth of the Omonogawa River, and Minato Castle was also located in this area. However, Yoshinobu built a castle a little further away in a place called Kubota on the banks of the Asahi River, a tributary of the Omonogawa River, and began building a new town.

The top of a small hill called Shinmeiyama was chosen as the main keep, and for reasons that are unclear, Yoshinobu did not build a castle tower from the beginning. With the Honmaru in the center, the Ninomaru is located on the southeast side, and an inner moat surrounds the Honmaru and the Ninomaru. Sannomaru is located on the north side of the main enclosure, surrounded by an outer moat on the east side, and a wetland created by the Asahi River on the northwest side. Wetlands had become natural strongholds. The moat is said to have been converted from a natural river into a moat through years of construction work. Another feature of Kubota Castle is that there are no stone walls.

Construction of the castle town began at the same time as Kubota Castle was built.

Yoshinobu built a town around Kubota Castle built a samurai town called Uchimachi around the castle, and had the townspeople live on the west side of the castle, on the opposite bank of the Asahi River . Machinin-cho is Tomachi , and it is said that merchants were invited from Tsuchizaki Minato to build the town. The town was organized by occupation and had a very orderly structure.

Temples are located further outside the outer town. Many of the temples were located in Tsuchizaki or relocated there, but there were also temples that accompanied the Satake clan from Hitachi Province.

Kubota Castle and castle town, where most of the buildings were destroyed in a huge fire during the Meiji period.

The Akita domain (Kubota domain) was one of the few in the Tohoku region to join the new government army during the Boshin War (1868-1869) during the Meiji Restoration. Each domain in the Tohoku region, including the Aizu domain, the Shonai domain, and the Nanbu domain, formed the Ouetsurepandomei to oppose the new government. The Akita clan initially joined the alliance and fought against the government forces, but later withdrew and joined the new government forces.

The new government army won the Boshin War, but many castles, towns, and villages were destroyed in the battle. Kubota Castle is said to have sustained almost no damage despite being attacked by allied forces. However, in the great fire that occurred in 1880 (Meiji 13), Kubota Castle and all the buildings in the inner town were completely destroyed, leaving behind the Gomonogashira guardhouse and the back gate. Additionally, in 1886 (Meiji 19), the Tawaraya Fire destroyed most of the buildings in Teramachi and Sotomachi. Since then, it has suffered many fires, and unfortunately there are very few old buildings left in Akita City.

After the great fire, Kubota Castle Park , and some buildings have been restored.

Senshu Park is a redesigned Japanese garden built on the site of Kubota Castle.

This is a park built on the site of Kubota Castle. In 1896 (Meiji 29), the ruins of Kubota Castle, where most of the buildings including the main castle were destroyed by fire, were turned into a park designed by Nagaoka Yasuhei, a pioneer of modern park design, as a Japanese garden. I am. Senshu Park's Senshu is a combination of Akita's ``autumn'' and ``thousand'', which means long lasting (chokyuu), and was named by Ryochi Kano, a Chinese scholar from Akita Prefecture.

Inside the park, the stone steps of the main enclosure, the ruins of the gate, the gatehouse, and part of the moat remain, as well as the Osumi Yagura and the front gate, which have been restored. It is known as a famous cherry blossom viewing spot, and admission is free.

Chiaki Park＜Information＞

• Facility name: Senshu Park
• Location: 1-1 Chiaki Park, Akita City, Akita Prefecture
• Phone number: 018-888-5753
• Free admission
• Open all year round
• URL: Chiaki Park
• access:
  • Railway: Approximately 5 minutes' walk from Akita Station on the Akita Shinkansen/Ou Main Line to Pocket Park, and approximately 15 minutes to Ninomaru.
  • Car: Approximately 15 minutes by car from Akita Expressway Akita Chuo IC

Google Map

Omonogashira Gobansho, the only building from the Edo period remaining in Senshu Park

Omonogashira Gobansho (Omonogashira Gobansho) the only building from the Edo period that still exists . It is thought to have been built in the middle of the Edo period, and was a post for the ashigaru who were in charge of extinguishing fires within Kubota Castle. a cultural property designated by Akita City .

Gomonogashio Gobansho <Information>

• Facility name: Omonokami Gobansho
• Location: Inside Chiaki Park　
• Phone number: 018-888-5753

Kubota Castle lookout point. Restored “Kubota Castle Osumi Yagura”

Kubota Castle Osumi Yagura (Kubota Castle Osumi Yagura) was a turret located at the northwest corner of Kubota Castle, and served as a lookout point and armory. When restoring this turret, it was built as a two-story building based on historical materials, and an observation room with a panoramic view of Akita city was built on the upper floor.

Kubota Castle Osumi Yagura <Information>

• Facility name: Kubota Castle Osumi Yagura
• Location: Inside Chiaki Park
• Phone number: 018-888-5753
• Opening hours: 9:00-16:30 (until 19:00 on summer holidays for municipal elementary and junior high schools)
• Admission fee: 100 yen (free for high school students and under)
• Closed: December 1st to March 31st of the following year

The front gate of Kubota Castle, restored based on illustrations etc.

Kubota Castle Front Gate is a reconstruction of the main gate of Kubota Castle's main enclosure. The two-story gate was rebuilt with a tiled roof based on historical materials and drawings.

Kubota Castle Front Gate＜Information＞

• Facility name: Kubota Castle front gate
• Location: Inside Chiaki Park
• Phone number: 018-888-5753
• Free tour

``Former Kurosawa Family Residence'', a very valuable samurai residence that still retains its appearance from the Edo period

The former Kurosawa family residence was the residence of a senior samurai of the Akita clan, and is a nationally valuable residence with most of the buildings from the Edo period remaining intact. In the Akita domain, samurai residences were the property of the domain and were allocated according to social status. They often moved due to promotions, transfers, or the circumstances of the domain, and this mansion also changed to the Haga family, the Akada family, the Yoshinari family, and the Hirai family, and the Kurosawa family had lived there since 1829.

The Kurosawa family residence was located in 3-chome Nakadori, Akita City, but was moved to Hitotsumori Park in 1985. The former Kurosawa residence a nationally designated important cultural property .

Former Kurosawa Residence＜Information＞

• Facility name: Former Kurosawa residence
• Location: Hitotsumori Park, 297-99 Ishizuka Yachi, Narayama, Akita City, Akita Prefecture
• Phone number: 018-831-0285
• Opening hours: 9:30-16:30
• Vacation days: December 29th to January 3rd
• Admission fee: 100 yen (free for high school students and under)
• URL: Former Kurosawa Residence
• access:
  • Railway/Akita Shinkansen/Ou Main Line From Akita Station, take a route bus and get off at Oto Iriguchi bus stop, then walk for about 25 minutes, or get off at Yokomori 2-chome bus stop, and walk for about 15 minutes.
  • Car: Approximately 10 minutes from Akita Minami IC on the Akita Expressway or approximately 15 minutes from Akita Chuo IC

Google Map

“Jositei Garden” was built outside Kubota Castle as a resting place for the feudal lord.

Joshitei Garden, a villa of the Satake clan , the former lord of the Akita domain, is a garden maintained by Yoshikazu Satake, the 9th lord of the Akita domain. Since 2014, restoration work has been carried out based on historical materials and the park opened in 2017. It has been designated as a national scenic spot

Jositei Garden＜Information＞

• Facility name: Former Akita feudal lord Satake clan villa (Jositei) garden
• Address: 2-73 Asahikawa Minamicho, Akita City, Akita Prefecture
• Phone number: 018-834-6300
• Opening hours:
  • April to November/9:00 to 16:30
  • December-March/9:30-16:00
• Admission fee: 210 yen (free for high school students and below)
• Closed: December 29th to January 3rd
• access:
  • Railway: Approximately 10 minutes by bus from Akita Station on the Akita Shinkansen/Ou Main Line, then get off at Karamiden or Ogida bus stop, then approximately 5 minutes on foot.
  • Car: Approximately 15 minutes from Akita Expressway Akita Chuo IC or Akita Kita IC

Google Map