大日本国郡名所　越後左志郡高田

About this print

This nishiki-e shows Takada, in Joetsu, Niigata Prefecture. Joetsu was formed in 1971, when the cities of Takada and Naoetsu merged. It is one print from Dai Nihon Kokugun Meisho (Famous Places in the Provinces of Great Japan), a series showing famous places across the country, published in 1868 (Meiji 1). The artist, Hashimoto Gyokuransai Sadahide, was an ukiyo-e artist known for scenes of Yokohama and for bird's-eye views looking down from high above. The title places Takada in a district whose name cannot be read with certainty, and no such district appears to have existed in Echigo. Takada was in fact in Kubiki District. The name may be a mistake for Koshi District, around today's Nagaoka, whose name looks similar in writing, but this is uncertain.

Takada grew as a castle town after Takada Castle was built in 1614 as the residence of Matsudaira Tadateru, the sixth son of Tokugawa Ieyasu. The castle was a tenka bushin, a national project for which many lords were made to supply labor, and it is said to have been built in about four months.

None of the Edo-period castle buildings survive, but the three-tiered turret was rebuilt in 1993. The castle site, a prefectural historic site, is now Takada Castle Site Park. On spring nights about 4,000 cherry trees are lit by paper lanterns, a scene counted among Japan's three great night cherry blossom views.

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