白河小峰城

Shirakawa Komine Castle guards the northern gateway of the Ōshū Kaidō, one of the Five Routes of the Edo period. Originally founded in 1334, it was extensively rebuilt in 1611 by Niwa Nagashige — son of Oda Nobunaga's great general Niwa Nagahide. The domain's most famous later lord was Matsudaira Sadanobu, the reform-minded chief minister known for the Kansei Reforms, who was also a cultured collector of swords and a noted essayist. During the 1868 Boshin War, the Battle of Shirakawa-guchi was a pivotal clash of the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei alliance against the new Meiji government. The castle's wooden tower, destroyed in the earthquake era, was faithfully reconstructed in 1991.