William Katô Kiyomasa famously killed a tiger with a spear during one of his two invasions of Korea. He clearly was not a man to be trifled with, particularly if one were a tiger. He was born in Owari (now Aichi) and participated in Hideyoshi’s Kyushu Campaign in 1587, for which he was given the northern half of Higo, now Kumamoto Prefecture, and built the castle. The Christian Konishi Yukinaga received the southern half, centered in Yatsushiro. Kiyomasa despised Christians and held a particular grudge against Konishi, so he went to war and disposed of him. He then destroyed Konishi’s castle except for one turret, which he had dismantled and reassembled at his. Thus, it is known as “Uto Yagura” (“yagura” means turret). This means that Uto Yagura is older than the castle itself. Kumanichi reports on plans to again dismantle the turret for restoration, a project projected to take ten years. In the meantime, a special walkway has been prepared in order to view the restoration. SamuraiWiki is self-explanatory. You can read more than you probably want to know about Kato Kiyomasa here: https://samurai-archives.com/wiki/Kato_Kiyomasa
William Katô Kiyomasa famously killed a tiger with a spear during one of his tw…
