Utsunomiya Castle

The picture of Utsunomiya Castle was taken from a moving car on the 6th of February 2010. The castle is famous as a resting place of the shogun when he visited Nikko. It was burned down during the Boshin War and reconstructed in 2007. It is possible to see the fortifications made by Fujiwara Hidesato in the Heian period about 1062. The castle was under the control of the Utsunomiya clan who continued to rule for about 500 years. During the Sengoku period many battles were fought around its precincts. During one such battle Hojo attacked and burned a large portion of the caste and since then it became heavily fortified with high walls and a deep moat around it. After the defeat of the Utsunomiya by Hideyoshi, the land including the caste was taken away in 1597.