Kamitsuma

Kamitsuma in Chikugo was granted to Tsukushi Hirokado during Hideyoshi's redistribution of Kyushu in 1587. Hirokado first occupied Yamashita Castle and established a stronghold at Fukushima, in the area that became the centre of Yame. After Sekigahara in 1600, Tanaka Yoshimasa enlarged Fukushima as a subsidiary castle and laid out its castle town.

Three lines of moats defined the enclosure, while merchant plots developed along the road curving around it. In 1620 the area passed to Arima Toyouji of the Kurume domain and Fukushima Castle was abandoned. The merchant town nevertheless continued to grow as a transport junction and economic centre for the surrounding district. Its short period as a castle town left the framework within which later commerce developed, linking changing military lordship with the durable arrangement of streets and plots.