Sendai Castle Ruins

The Origins of Sendai Castle

▶ When it was built
Sendai Castle was constructed by Date Masamune, the first lord of the Sendai Domain. The castle layout was planned in December 1600, immediately after the Battle of Sekigahara, and construction began in January of the following year. The castle is said to have been essentially completed in 1602.

The main keep area of Sendai Castle was a mountain castle that made skillful use of the natural terrain: a cliff overlooking the Hirose River on the east side, the forested area known as Oura-bayashi on the west side, and the Tatsunokuchi Gorge on the south side.

After Masamune’s death, the second domain lord, Date Tadamune, built the Ninomaru at the foot of the mountain. From the completion of the Ninomaru in 1639 until the end of the Edo period, it served as the center of domain administration.

After the abolition of the han system and establishment of prefectures in the Meiji period, Sendai Castle came under the control of the Meiji government. In 1871, military facilities were placed in the Ninomaru, but most of the buildings were destroyed in a fire in 1882. The structures in the main keep area are also said to have been dismantled in the early Meiji period. Today, the Ninomaru has become part of Tohoku University’s Kawauchi Campus, and the Sannomaru has been transformed into the Sendai City Museum.

▶ Why it was built here
Even after the Battle of Sekigahara, it was necessary to prepare for battles with the Uesugi clan, which remained hostile to the Tokugawa. For this reason, the Sendai (Aobayama) area, which had both hilly land suitable for building a mountain castle that would be “easy to defend and difficult to attack” and a plain where transportation and the development of the castle town could be expected, was chosen as an appropriate site for the castle.

▶ Location and extent of Sendai Castle
Sendai Castle is located to the west of the city center of Sendai, and its castle grounds are centered on Aobayama Hill and the river terrace area at the foot of the hill along the Hirose River.

Through the restoration work on the stone walls of the main keep area, which began in 1997, and the excavation surveys at the site of the Great Hall, its historical value increased, and it was designated a National Historic Site in August 2003.

▶ The formation of the castle town
Along with the construction of Sendai Castle, development of the castle town also began. The castle town spread east of the castle across the Hirose River, with the Oshu Kaido running north to south and Omachi-dori extending east to west as its main axes. Samurai residences of senior retainers were placed near the castle, merchant districts along the highways, and samurai residences in the surrounding areas.