is a landmark in the city of Odawara in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. History Odawara was a stronghold of the Doi clan during the Kamakura period, and a fortified residence built by their collateral branch, the Kobayakawa clan, stood on the approximate site of the present castle. After the Uesugi Zenshū Revolt of 1416, Odawara came under the control of the Omori clan of Suruga. They were in turn defeated by Ise Moritoki of Izu, founder of the Odawara Hōjō clan in 1495. Five generations of the Odawara Hōjō clan improved and expanded on the fortifications of Odawara Castle as the center of their domains, which encompassed most of the Kantō region. During the Sengoku period, Odawara Castle had very strong defenses, as it was situated on a hill, surrounded by moats with water on the low side, and dry ditches on the hill side, with banks, walls and cliffs located all around the castle, enabling the defenders to repel attacks by Uesugi Kenshin in 1561 and Takeda Shingen in 1569. In 1587, the defences of the castle were greatly expanded by the Odawara Hōjō in anticipation of the coming conflict with Toyotomi Hideyoshi. However, during the Battle of Odawara in 1590, Hideyoshi forced the surrender of the Odawara Hōjō without storming the castle through a combination of a three-month siege and bluff. After ordering most of the fortifications destroyed, he awarded the holdings of the Odawara Hōjō to his leading general Tokugawa Ieyasu. Edo period Odawara Castle After Ieyasu completed Edo Castle, he turned site of Odawara Castle over to one of his senior retainers, Ōkubo Tadayo, who reconstructed the castle in its present form on a considerably reduced scale, with the entire castle fitting inside what was once the third bailey of the Sengoku period Hōjō castle . However, his successor Ōkubo Takachika was dispossessed by the shogunate in 1614. From 1619-1623, the castle was assigned to Abe Masatsugu. After 1623, Odawara Domain reverted to tenryō status and a palace was constructed in the inner bailey to serve as a retirement home of Shōgun Tokugawa Hidetada; however, Hidetada chose to remain in Edo during this retirement. On his death, Odawara Domain was revived as an 85,000 koku holding for Inaba Masakatsu, the eldest son of Kasuga no Tsubone, the wet nurse to Shōgun Tokugawa Iemitsu. Iemitsu visited Odawara Castle in 1634. Under the Inaba clan, the castle was extensively