Qualla: Soma Nakamura Castle: The Fortress That Never Fought https://qualla.com/s-ma-nakamura-castle en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:40 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Soma Nakamura Castle: The Fortress That Never Fought https://qualla.com/s-ma-nakamura-castle Soma Nakamura Castle: The Fortress That Never Fought: Introduction https://qualla.com/s-ma-nakamura-castle/ The moats on the north side of Soma Nakamura Castle were engineered to be broken open, flooding the surrounding lowlands into an impassable swamp. The Soma clan had spent generations preparing for an invasion from the Date clan to the north -- fortifying, digging, calculating fields of fire. The attack never came from the north. It never came at all, in fact, until the Boshin War of 1868, when the castle was surrendered to the forces of the Satcho Alliance without a single arrow loosed in its defense. The fortress that the Soma clan spent two and a half centuries perfecting was undone not by siege but by the sweep of history -- and by the time the Meiji government ordered it demolished in 1871, its three-story tower had already been gone for two hundred years, struck by lightning in 1670 and never rebuilt.

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]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/s/p/s-ma-nakamura-castle-wp/xnsp-soma-nakamura-castle-the-fortress-that-never-fough-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Soma Nakamura Castle: The Fortress That Never Fought: A Warrior's Reward, Eight Centuries Ago https://qualla.com/s-ma-nakamura-castle/ The story begins in the twelfth century with Soma Morotsune, a retainer of Minamoto-no-Yoritomo who was rewarded with the district of Namekata in southern Mutsu Province for his service against the Northern Fujiwara at Hiraizumi. Morotsune became the progenitor of the Soma clan, ...

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]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/s/p/s-ma-nakamura-castle-wp/xnsp-soma-nakamura-castle-the-fortress-that-never-fough-a-warriors-reward-eight-centuries-ago.mp3 0:06 2 full Soma Nakamura Castle: The Fortress That Never Fought: Concentric Rings and a Vanished Tower https://qualla.com/s-ma-nakamura-castle/ The castle Toshitane built was a study in concentric defense. The inner bailey sat on a hill rising above the plain between the Koizumi and Udagawa rivers, crowned by a three-story donjon in its southwest corner. Around it wrapped the Second Bailey, divided into northern, eastern...

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]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/s/p/s-ma-nakamura-castle-wp/xnsp-soma-nakamura-castle-the-fortress-that-never-fough-concentric-rings-and-a-vanished-tower.mp3 0:06 3 full Soma Nakamura Castle: The Fortress That Never Fought: Surrender and Demolition https://qualla.com/s-ma-nakamura-castle/ For over two hundred and fifty years, the Soma clan occupied Nakamura Castle through the long peace of the Edo period. Their vassals trained, their horses grazed the surrounding plains, and the Soma Nomaoi -- the ancient mounted warrior festival -- continued each summer in the fi...

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]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/s/p/s-ma-nakamura-castle-wp/xnsp-soma-nakamura-castle-the-fortress-that-never-fough-surrender-and-demolition.mp3 0:06 4 full Soma Nakamura Castle: The Fortress That Never Fought: What Remains in the Quiet Park https://qualla.com/s-ma-nakamura-castle/ Today the castle site is a public park in the city of Soma, in northern Fukushima Prefecture. The moats on the north and east sides still hold water, reflecting the trees that have grown where baileys once stood. The Nakamura Jinja occupies the ground where the daimyo's residence...

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]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/s/p/s-ma-nakamura-castle-wp/xnsp-soma-nakamura-castle-the-fortress-that-never-fough-what-remains-in-the-quiet-park.mp3 0:06 5 full