Hamamatsu Castle

Hamamatsu Castle (Hamamatsu-jō) is a reconstructed hirayama-style Japanese castle. It was the seat of various fudai daimyō who ruled over Hamamatsu Domain, Tōtōmi Province, in what is now central Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is also called Shussei Castle (Shussei-jō) The origins of Hamamatsu castle is unclear; however, it appears that a fortification was built on this site by Imagawa Sadatsuke, the 4th head of the Enshū Imagawa clan from around 1504-1520. The early castle was called Hikuma Castle (Hikuma-jō) and was entrusted to Imagawa retainer Iio Noritsura.

After the fall of the Imagawa Yoshimoto at the Battle of Okehazama, Iio Tsuratatsu rebelled against Imagawa Ujinao, but was defeated. However, the greatly weakened Imagawa clan was unable to withstand the combined forces for Tokugawa Ieyasu from Mikawa and Takeda Shingen from Kai. The former Imagawa territories in Tōtōmi were divided between the Tokugawa and Takeda in 1568, with Tokugawa Ieyasu obtaining Hamamatsu. He relocated his headquarters from Okazaki Castle to Hamamatsu in 1570, and spent the following 17 years there.