Castle Towns

Castle towns were constructed as a result of the building of the more permanent castles in Japan, and surrounded the structures. These villages can mostly be traced back to the 14th and 15th centuries, when fighting in Japan was at its peak, and were often used as a tool of the Daimyo to assert dominance over neighboring areas. This meant that they were the Daimyo’s administrative centers, and where they lived, and were defended and assisted by samurai who also helped to control surrounding territory. The towns also, “monopolized local and regional military and administrative functions and prevailed in commerce and crafts as well” (Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia 168). In addition, a normal castle town was relatively small, with only the complex itself and surrounding living quarters for the many samurai and other workers (peasants, etc.), and had concentrations of the population in central spots called “joka machi” which housed nearly all samurai along with close to ten percent of the population of the domain.

In the end, very few Daimyo survived the fighting of the 16th century, resulting in the disintegration and lessening of these Japanese castle towns. The castles along with the towns built around them also disappeared due to the government rule of “one domain, one castle” which allowed for Daimyo to possess and maintain only one castle. The number of Daimyo in Japan dwindled greatly all the way to 200-250, and after all feudal domains were abolished in 1871, the whole idea and system crumbled.