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Explore Ogaki  Castle:Castle served important role at battle of Sekigahara

Ogaki Castle, which dates from 1500, played an important role in the events leading up to the decisive Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.In 1600 Ieyasu Tokugawa comprehensively defeated his rivals the Toyotomi clan at nearby Sekigahara.

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 Ishida Mitsunari `s  main base in Ogaki

Ogaki Castle was a strategic place that held the road from Mino (present-day Gifu Prefecture) to Osaka, the capital city, and was easy to defend and difficult to attack. Before the Battle of Sekigahara, Ishida Mitsunari's western army of 100,000 men defended the castle against Tokugawa Ieyasu's eastern army.

Tokugawa Ieyasu tricked

Tokugawa Ieyasu tricked Ishida Mitsunari to lead his army out of the castle and set up a battlefield by pretending to ignore Ogaki Castle and continue westward to Osaka. Ishida Mitsunari, who was inexperienced in military affairs and did not listen to the advice of the rest of the samurai, set up his troops in Sekigahara, giving Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was good at field battles and had a lot of experience in military affairs, a chance. In only 4 hours, Ishida Sansei was defeated and fled.

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After the Battle of Sekigahara

Apart from some stone walls, there is not much left of the original castle, which was besieged and taken by Tokugawa after the Battle of Sekigahara and destroyed in World War II.The small keep in Ogaki Park is a modern reconstruction, built in 1959 and then completely redesigned in 2002 to be more faithful to the pre-war original. The castle keep now houses an interesting history museum, dedicated to the events at Sekigahara. Other exhibits include Edo Period weapons, suits of armor, documents and original roof tiles.

City of Water

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Ogaki is known as the "City of Water" due to the Suimon River and its many castle moats that ring the city.Ogaki is a small, relaxing town only 30 minutes from Nagoya and about 15 minutes from Gifu by JR train.

Ogaki likes to call itself the "City of Water" due to the presence of the Suimon River and the numerous moats that were built to surround Ogaki Castle.The Ibi River, to the east of Ogaki, is a major river and tributary of the Kiso River that flows down to the sea through Kuwana to the south.

Ogaki has a number of natural springs dotted throughout the city where refreshingly cool water gushes to the surface and local residents come to collect it by the bottle.

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