The Tale of Kubota Castle: Lords, Fox, and Medicine

Kubota Castle

(Akita City, Akita Prefecture)

【Tono-sama(殿様)】 refers to a feudal lord in Japan. This title was passed down through generations within historically noble families. Often, these lords claimed descent from emperors’ sons to legitimize their position.

In the 16th century, the Satake clan, which traced its lineage back to a son of Emperor Seiwa in the 9th century, expanded its territory through battles and political strategies in the Hitachi region (now part of Ibaraki Prefecture). Notably, Yoshishige Satake was known as the “demon of the battlefield” due to his fierce fighting style.

However, after the unification of Japan under Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa, all wars were prohibited to maintain peace. In 1604, the Shogun ordered the Satake clan to relocate from Hitachi to Akita, a location far from the government’s capital in present-day Tokyo.

Yoshinobu Satake, the son of Yoshishige, became the first lord (Tono-sama) of Akita and built Kubota Castle. After that Kubota Castle became the home of the Satake clan during the Edo period over 260 years.

When he built the castle, he had a strange visitor. A large fox, claiming to be 300 years old and the leader of the local foxes, appeared before him. The fox explained that its family had lost their home due to the castle’s construction and requested a place to live in exchange for serving Yoshinobu. The lord agreed and granted the fox a piece of land near the castle.

Yoshinobu had to alternate his stays between his homeland of Akita and Tokyo to visit the Shogun’s court every other year. True to its promise, the fox acted as a messenger for the lord. Whenever Yoshinobu needed to send a message to his other residence, the fox delivered it within three days. Tragically, one day the fox was caught in a trap while on its way to deliver a message and was killed by a villager. In honor of the faithful messenger, Yoshinobu enshrined the fox in a shrine within the castle, where it remains to this day.

In the center of the castle stands the statue of Yoshitaka Satake, the 12th and final lord (Tono-sama) of Kubota Castle. The statue was erected by his vassals after his passing to honor Lord Yoshitaka’s virtues. While statues of the first lords are common in other castles, it is unique to have a statue of the last lord.

A chief physician in the Akita domain studied Western medicine to treat the asthma suffered by Lord Yoshitaka Satake. His efforts laid the foundation for the modern formulation of ‘Ryūkakusan’, which is now widely available in drugstores across Japan.