Hirosaki is a castle town and was the Tsugaru clan ruled the 100,000 koku tozama han Hirosaki Domain from Hirosaki Castle during the Edo period.
The area around Hirosaki formed part of the domains of the Northern Fujiwara in the Heian period. Minamoto Yoritomo awarded it to the Nambu clan in the early Kamakura period after the defeat of the Northern Fujiwara (1189). During the Sengoku period, a local retainer of the Nambu, Ōura Tamenobu, declared his independence (1571) and seized local castles. He assisted Toyotomi Hideyoshi at the Battle of Odawara in 1590, and was confirmed in his holdings with revenues of 45,000 koku. He also changed his name to Tsugaru. After siding with Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Battle of Sekigahara, his revenues increased to 47,000 koku and he began construction of a castle in Takaoka (present-day Hirosaki). His successor, Tsugaru Nobuhira, completed the castle in 1611, but its massive 5-storey donjon was lost to lightning in 1627. The domain’s revenues increased to 100,000 koku in 1628.
In 1808, Takaoka was renamed Hirosaki. The Tsugaru clan sided with the Satchō Alliance in the Boshin War of the Meiji Restoration, and was rewarded by the new Meiji government with an additional 10,000 koku. However, with the abolition of the han system on August 29, 1871, Hirosaki Domain was abolished, and replaced by Hirosaki Prefecture. The Prefecture was renamed Aomori Prefecture in October of the same year, and the prefectural capital was relocated to the more centrally located Aomori.
Hirosaki – City, Aomori – Prefecture, Japan.
June 2014, Olympus OM-D E-M1
弘前は，津軽氏が治める弘前藩の城下町として栄えた町です。
関ケ原の戦いで東軍，徳川軍に加勢した津軽為信は，1603年（慶長8年），高岡（現・弘前）に築城計画を立てました。2代藩主信枚は築城計画を継ぎ，1610年（慶長15年） に築城工事が開始され，1611年（慶長16年） に完成し，これに伴い寺社・家臣団・商人が移住し城下町を形成しました。1627年（寛永4年） に 5層の天守が落雷により焼失，1811年（文化8年） に至り， 御三階櫓（天守代用）が完成したといいます。
明治維新の廃藩置県で青森県となった後，弘前は国内でキリスト教の布教が早い地方の一つとなり，東奥義塾高校に宣教師が英語教員として招聘され，外人宣教師館も建築されました。弘前は太平洋戦争での空襲免れたため，現在，弘前城および界隈の武家屋敷群とともに，明治時代に建築された洋館等も遺されています。
青森県弘前市
2014年6月撮影，Olympus OM-D E-M1
