Samurai Castles: Evolution and Overview

An overview and look into the evolution of the iconic castles of the Samurai. This video will first dive into into early fortifications built in Japan and go on through all of the advancements throughout the years leading up the creation of the famous citadels we know today.

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Sources Used:
"Samurai Castles" by Jennifer Mitchelhill
"Strongholds of the Samurai: Japanese Castles 250–1877" By Stephen Turnbull

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Music:
"While an Angel Falls into a Doze" by Takashi Yoshimatsu

Artwork/Images:
Classical art, which in most cases can be considered public domain.
Art from Osprey Publications.
Tourism Website Photos.
Other modern artist renditions or photos, if you see your work in this video please contact me so that I can give you proper credit!

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Social Media:

#Samurai #Japan #History

[Necrodermis]

Fun fact about Himeji: It has never been through a siege but historians believe its defenses are effective due to the sheer amount of tourists that get lost on a yearly basis regardless of clearly marked routes

[TheIlustrado]

There's only one true castle: Takeshi's Castle 🏯

[kagkarancci]

I once visited Osaka castle, i was fascinated and mesmerized when i was inside, walking around the inner part of the castle and the interiors and towards the top. I was awestruck. Now i wish to visit more in the future especially azuchi or himeji. Or go even north.

[soits]

I am Japanese, I was surprised at the completeness of this video. This video contains a little technical content besides what we learn at school.

[VentiVonOsterreich]

13:50 correction: Medieval siege towers in Europe were extremely rarely ever used for scaling walls, if ever - instead they were used as elevated platforms for archers, crossbowmen or gunners

European castle walls were instead assaulted using battering rams, trebuchets, ladders or the much later cannons, which forced the adaptation of the iconic low-height Star Fortress of the Italian style to be adopted by most of Western Europe to counter artillery and direct assaults, and forcing enemies to resort to digging trenches or other expensive means of capturing the fort

[Sharnoy]

The Shogunate: "Defenders would fling down stones, boiling water or even HOT SAND"
Anakin Skywalker: o_o

[FerretJohn]

One of the more interesting details of the old castles to me is that they weren't built with nails. Iron ore was harder to get on the island so metal was used for more important items like weapons. houses and castles were put together like jigsaw puzzles, this piece fitting seamlessly into that piece, and using wooden dowels to anchor them together

[ericfiedler]

“And jin sakai” i actually laughed out loud. Great video by the way and super happy to see more from you! Keep up the great stuff!

[MrGroConnard]

I love Matsumoto castle, and at night when they light it, it's quite beautiful

[ryanshelefontiuk]

I visited the Kumamoto Castle once, and was thoroughly impressed with the entire area. It was stunning to see such a gigantic structure that was so well preserved, from the entrance, passing up the different areas all the way to the manor, and the castle proper. I only wish I had more time on my trip there to visit more places. But I was also impressed at all of the local locations that still had a lot of the older statues as well. If any of the other castles were like Kumamoto I would happily take another trip to Japan to see them.

[davidcorbett]

My favorite is Matsumoto. Stunning location and background scenery.

[lucth]

My grand mother in law comes from a family, the Yokochi, who lost their castle to the 1 castle per province decree. She's the last of her family, kindda sad.

[anandakang]

I've traveled extensively around Japan and seen tons of castles in my time, each of them unique and appealing in their own unique way. The one that stands out to me is Matsumoto Castle for it ubiquity. I would certainly love to visit the Takeda Castle Ruins one day. Quite happy to see both these castles being featured in your video.

[sevenproxies]

Always loved the stone foundations made completely without mortar.

Some master architect had to go to great lengths to painstakingly fit individual stones to create those foundations and achieving the sharp corners solely by fitting individual stones at hand.

Always struck me as very Japanese, and reminds me of Zen gardens in a way.

[allamaadi]

What a lovingly produced and generous video—was so happy to see it in my notifications

[eddymonies]

I’ve wondered about these since I was a kid playing Age of Empires 2. There was such a huge contrast in the visuals between the Eastern and Western civilization castles and while the practicality of the architecture of the European castles was obvious, it wasn’t as clear for their asian counterparts, though in game they functioned the same and used the same resources to construct. Thanks for shedding light on this!

[langfordmorrow]

I love the diversity of your content, well done

[hobbesrichter]

Excellent and entertaining video! I actually proposed to my wife on the red bridge of Matsumoto Castle seen at 20:17. In addition to being a beautiful and memorable location, the site had special significance to us because my wife's ancestor had been a samurai physician at the castle back in its heyday. It has always been one of my favorite castles since it's one of the few originals remaining tenshu, and now we have an additional reason to go back and visit.

[roarljkjell]

Four years of my early childhood I lived in Himeji. From my home in Shirakuni a little north-east of the center, we could see the Himeji Castle, beautifully lit up at night. To me the Himeji Castle is the most beautiful building in the world.

[Babsza]

These buildings just beautifully compliment the natural scenery !