Okayama

Castle Town: Its Birth, Growth, and Presence

by Jumaidil Awal

Introduction
Okayama-shi as we know it today is a product of a more than four centuries of development. It
takes a long series of both constructions and demolitions by various, succeeding reigns for
Okayama-shi to achieve the shape we see today. It is no wonder that in order to fully grasp the
identity of this city, we need a thorough insight into its history.

This writing aims to provide at least parts of such an insight through a study on ancient maps
and government publications of Okayama city. This brief study has revealed to the writer some
interesting facts on (1) how Okayama's ancient urban planning re ected the social hierarchy of
its people and (2) how Okayama developed from a castle town to a modern city as we know it
today.

The Ancient Urban Planning

Okayama's birth as a castle town was started when Ukita Naoie reigned over and moved to the
area as a daimy. However, due to various wars during the Sengoku period, the area didn't see a
signi cant growth into a castle town until the reign of Ukita Hideie, Naoie's son. After the Ukita's
reign ended, the succeeding clans, i.e. Kobayakawa and then Ikeda, continued to develop the
castle town into its mature form.

At its mature state as a castle town during the Edo period, Okayama's topography, especially the
residence areas of its people, quite signi cantly re ected the social hierarchy of the Edo era.

In order to see this, we need to understand the social hierarchy of Edo-era Japan rst. Under the
de facto government of the shoguns, the hierarchy looked like the following.

1. Daimy
2. Samurai
3. Farmers
4. Artisans
5. Merchants

According to one of Okayama city's publications, the residence arrangement of Okayama castle
town was as shown by Fig. 1. The castle town comprised of six districts:

1. (honmaru, The Inner Citadel),

2. (ninomaru uchiyashiki, The Inner Mansion of the Outer Citadel),
3. (ninomaru, The Outer Citadel)
4. (san no kuruwa no uchi, The Inner Borderline District)
5. (san no soto kuruwa no uchi, The Outer Borderline District)
6. (san no kuruwa, The Outer District)

each with its own speci c group of residents. Fig. 1 also shows us that these districts were
separated from each other by streams from Asahigawa river. We can also see that Honmaru and
the two districts of Ninomaru were further separated from the rest of the castle town by the
presence of citadels.
Fig. 1 Map of ancient Okayama
The Inner Citadel
The Inner Citadel was the residence of the governing, head family of the daimy clan. This
residence held the highest form of formality compared to the rest of the castle. This was also
where the central administrative activities happened.

The Inner Mansion of the Outer Citadel

The Inner Mansion had two sections: (1) the West Section and (2) the Southeast Section. The
West Section was mainly intended for the governing clan's mausoleums, shrines, and the head
family's leisure area, such as Ikeda Mitsumasa's retirement palace, his daughter's mansion, and
the royal horse-riding ground. The Southeast Section was mainly for the residential mansions of
daimy's chief vassals, who were primarily samurai of the highest rank.

The Outer Citadel

The Outer Citadel was a residential complex built for the households of daimyo's chief vassals,
such as the Ikeda, the Tokura and the Hiki clans.

The Inner Borderline District

This complex was developed in two phases: rst, the development of townspeople's (including
artisans and tradesmen alike) residence at its northern half during the Ukita era and second, the
development of samurai's residence at its southern half during the Kobayakawa era.

The Outer Borderline District

This area was primarily a residential area built for the samurai during the Kobayakawa era, except
for the northeastern part, which was primarily inhabited by the townspeople.

The Outer District

This area was primarily a "commoner's town" except for the northernmost part, which was a
residential area of Ikeda's branch family, the district's administrative oce and the sake brewery.
Despite its designation as an area for people of the lowest rank in the social hierarchy, it was in
fact the heart of the castle town's economy.

The Growth into a Modern City

The growth of Okayama can be seen as proceeding through four phases: (1) Sengoku Era to
Tensh Era, (2) Edo Era, (3) Meiji Restoration to World War II and (4) Post-War to the present day.

Sengoku to Tensh Era

During the Sengoku Era, Ukita Naoie seiged the city and established it as the political and
economical capital of Bizen Province. The Ukita clan was practically the sole proprietor of
Okayama throughout the Sengoku and Tensh Eras. This period witnessed the building of
Okayama Castle, the construction of the old Sanyo road, and the initial phase of Okayama's
growth into a castle town.

Edo Era
After the painful defeat of Ukita Hideie in the decisive Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, the
governance of Okayama was taken over by Kobayakawa Hideaki. Kobayakawa made several
additions to both inner and outer areas of Okayama Castle complex, developing the castle town
even further. His additions were mostly aimed at strengthening the military control over the
people. This is unsurprising considering the fact that Kobayakawa actually received his ruling
power over Okayama from Tokugawa Ieyasu who himself established the social hierarchy of Edo
Era. Kobayakawa's reign didn't last long, however, due to his sudden death after being in power
for only two years.

The governance was then taken over by Ikeda Tadatsugu from Himeji. Under the reign of Ikeda
clan, Okayama witnessed its signi cant growth in both economic and sociocultural
developments. This period witnessed the extended development of Okayama Castle, the
establishment of townspeople's residential areas as the centre of Okayama's economic activities,
and the building of Krakuen Garden among others. Ikeda clan kept being the ruler of Okayama
until the Tokugawa Bakufu ended.

Meiji Restoration to World War II

After Meiji Restoration, Ikeda clan submitted the ownership of Okayama castle, and hence
Okayama castle town, to the Emperor under the spirit of hanseki-hokan. In this era, Okayama was
established as the capital of Okayama Prefecture, a railroad was constructed, and two schools,
namely Dairoku Ktgakk and Okayama Ikadaigaku, were founded. This had enabled Okayama
to grow into an important city in the Chgoku region of Japan.

Due to having a Japanese Army military base during World War II, Okayama became one of the
bombing targets of the US Army Air Forces and consequently suered a huge damage. Virtually
the entire Okayama, including Okayama Castle and Krakuen Garden, was burnt to ashes.

Post-War to Present Day

After World War II, Japan thrived to recover from the traumatizing war damage. With emphasis
on economic and education recoveries, all the severely-damaged cities, including Okayama, was
eventually able to stand up once more. The now passive Nihon is focusing most of its resources
into economic and scienti c developments, instead of military one. As a result, all of the
prefectures, including Okayama, could enjoy rapid advances in many sectors.

In Okayama, Sany Shinkansen service was rst operated in 1972 and Seto-hashi Bridge was
opened for public use in 1988. The even more connecting transportation system enabled
Okayama to grow even faster. Okayama achieved the "core city" status in 1996 and the
"designated city" status in 2009.

References
. http://www.city.okayama.jp/museum/okayamajou/jokaku/jokaku.htm
. http://www.city.okayama.jp/contents/000159881.pdf
Honjo, Eijiro. 1928. Changes of Social Classes during the Tokugawa Period. https://
repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2433/125171/1/ecb0031_056.pdf