In the center of Yamagata City is Kajo Park. It is the site of the former Yamagata Castle, and just inside, an equestrian statue of Mogami Yoshiaki greets you.
The beginnings of Yamagata Castle
Yamagata Castle was first built in 1357 by Shiba Kaneyori, who came to Yamagata as the shogunate's commissioner for the Dewa region. The Mogami clan are his descendants.
The castle is also called "Kajo," the Castle of Mist, and is counted among Japan's 100 Fine Castles.
Mogami Yoshiaki: the fierce general of Dewa
Mogami Yoshiaki, the 11th head of the Mogami clan, greatly expanded the castle's defenses during the Sengoku period, built its third enclosure, and laid out the castle town. The framework of today's central Yamagata City took shape at this time.
In 1600, the same year as the Battle of Sekigahara, Yamagata was invaded by the Uesugi army (the Keicho Dewa Campaign). Having withstood this battle, Mogami Yoshiaki was granted 570,000 koku after the war and became the first lord of the Yamagata Domain.
Then, in 1614, Yoshiaki ended his life at Yamagata Castle. His is said to have been a life full of upheaval.
Knowing the foundations of a land changes where you stand
In Otemachi, Yamagata City, there is the Mogami Yoshiaki Historical Museum, where you can see materials about the Mogami clan and the warlord who laid the foundation for Yamagata's prosperity. It opened in 1989, and admission is free.
I paint in Yamagata. When I learn when, and by whose hands, the land I live on was shaped, the same scenery looks a little different.
Knowing the history under your feet is also, I think, the work of taking on the place where you are now as your own.
In Mermaid nao's commissioned art, too, I sometimes include in the colors and forms the land and places where you have put down roots.
Sources
Wikipedia (Yamagata Castle)
Mogami Yoshiaki Historical Museum (Facility guide)
skyticket travel guide (The great castle built by Yamagata's hero Mogami Yoshiaki: highlights of Kajo Park)
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