During the late Heian period and Muromachi period, the area of modern Kuwana was known as Jūraku-no-tsu and was a major seaport on the east coast of Japan, controlled by a guild of merchants. The poet Socho described it in 1515 as a major city with over a thousand houses, temples and inns. The port was protected by three fortifications, which made up what was known as the “Three Castles of Kuwana”. During the Sengoku period, the area came under the control of the warlordOda Nobunaga, followed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who initially installed Nobunaga’s younger son Oda Nobukatsu as ruler as all of Ise Province until the Battle of Odawara, In 1595, Hideyoshi assigned Ujiie Yukihiro a 22,000 koku domain, but he was dispossessed by Tokugawa Ieyasu after the Battle of Sekigahara. Kuwana then came under the control of Honda Tadakatsu, who built a new castle on the riverbank on what was roughly the site of the old Higashi Castle. Under the Honda, Kuwana-juku developed as a prosperous post town on the vital Tōkaidō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto. Kuwana Castle at this point was protected on three sides by a river. It had a six-story donjon 3 three-story yagura,24 two-story yagura, 12 one-story yagura and 46 gates. In 1616, the Honda were transferred to Himeji Domain, and Kuwana domain came under the control of a branch of the Matsudaira clan, who would rule Kuwana throughout the remainder of the Edo period. The castle burned down in a fire of 1701, which also destroyed most of the surrounding castle town. The Tokugawa shogunate did not grant permission for the donjon to be rebuilt, and the rest of the castle was restored on a much smaller scale. During the Bakumatsu period, Kuwana was ruled by Matsudaira Sadaaki, key supporter of the Tokugawa clan in the Boshin War. However, in his absence while fighting the Satchō Alliance in northern Japan, the castle was surrendered to without a battle. It was set on fire by troops of the Meiji government and after the Meiji Restoration, its stone walls were demolished to form part of the breakwater at Yokkaichi Port. In 1928, the inner bailey and a portion of the second bailey were made into a public part, the Kyuka Park and the castle site became a Mie Prefectural Historical Landmark in 1942. The current structures include two reconstructed yagura.
