Karatsu, Saga
Due to its proximity to mainland Asia, Karatsu has long been known as a stopover to Korea and China.Under ritsuryō, the current city area was part of the Hizen Province. In 1591, on the coast of the northern part of the city (formerly the town of Chinzei), Nagoya Castle was constructed. The following year, it became the location from which the Imjin War was launched by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In the middle of 1593, Terasawa Hirotaka created the Karatsu domain and began governing it. In 1602, replacing Nagoya Castle, Karatsu Castle was constructed in what is now the heart of Karatsu. The tower of Karatsu Castle was built in 1966 .
Minowa Castle
Minowa Castle was built in 1526 by Nagano Narimasa from the Nagano clan (themselves retainers of the Uesugi clan) based out of Nagano in Kozuke Province. In 1566 the castle's garrison, led by Nagano Narimori (lord of the castle since Narimasa, his father, had died in 1561) and Kamiizumi Nobutsuna, came under attack by forces of the Takeda clan under control of Takeda Shingen during the Siege of Minowa. During the siege, a sortie out of the castle was led by Nobutsuna, this, however, resulted in a successful assault by the Shingen forces. The entire castle fell, save a small portion still held by Nobutsuna. Shingen was so impressed by Nobutsuna that he let Nobutsuna leave unharmed, even asking Nobutsuna to join him (Nobutsuna declined). Shingen gave one of his generals, Naitō Masatoyo, control of the castle.