鳥取市街（旧城址ヨリ望ム）

About this photo

This photo shows the town of Tottori, seen from the site of Tottori Castle. The Japanese title means "viewed from the old castle site." It appears in Tottori-ken Annai (Guide to Tottori Prefecture), published by the prefecture's Home Affairs Department in 1922 (Taisho 11).

Tottori Castle began as a mountain castle on Mount Kyusho, and in the Warring States period it was the scene of Hashiba Hideyoshi's siege by starvation. In the Edo period Ikeda Mitsumasa enlarged it as the castle of the Tottori domain, rated at 320,000 koku (a measure of rice yield), and the Ikeda family held it until the Meiji era. A castle town grew up at its foot. The castle buildings were torn down in 1879 (Meiji 12).

The Tottori Earthquake of 1943 and the Great Tottori Fire of 1952 did heavy damage to the town and changed it greatly. The castle site became a National Historic Site in 1957. Its stone walls survive, and the Giboshi Bridge and the Naka no Gomon gate have been rebuilt.

Glossary