2022年2月 – 日本200名城バイリンガル (Japan's top 200 castles and ruins)

175.Shozui Castle Part3

Huge ruins appeared from a factory ground.

Later History

After Shozui Castle was abandoned, the Kensho-ji Temple was built on the castle part, while the hall part was turned into the city area. As time passed, people thought Shozui Castle had only the castle part. However, the excavation in 1994 found that the castle part is too new for the castle’s long history. The officials did further research around the area and then found the relics of the hall for the lord under the ground of a factory nearby in 1997. Several excavations found that the hall part was much larger than expected and the ruins are very important to understand the history of the local region as well as the whole country. The ruins were lastly designated as a National Historic Site including both the castle and hall parts in 2001. The hall part is now public-owned and still being excavated.

A factory was once built on the hall part (from the signboard at the site)

The excavation started at the factory ground *(from the signboard at the site)*

My Impression

I can honestly say that I was disappointed when I visited the ruins of Shozui Castle. This was because the ruins at first looked just like an empty space and small castle ruins. However, as I learned about the history of the castle, I understood that the ruins are being developed after the outstanding discovery. I believe that the ruins will become a good historical park with other new findings after a while. If you plan to visit the ruins, I recommend learning about its history in advance. In addition, it’s best to visit the ruins on the days except for the New Year’s holiday season when the office is open, then you can see some of the relics unearthed from the ruins. I couldn’t see them because I visited on a public holiday when the office was closed at that time.

How to get There

If you want to visit there by car:
It is about 15 minutes away from Itano IC on Takamatsu Expressway or Aizumi IC on Tokushima Expressway.
The ruins offer parking lots in the hall part and beside the castle part.
By train, it takes about 15 minutes walking from JR Shozui Station.
If you go there from Tokyo or Osaka, I recommend using a plane or an express bus.

That’s all. Thank you.
Back to “Shozui Castle Part1”
Back to “Shozui Castle Part2”

175.勝瑞城　その３

巨大な遺跡が工場の敷地から現れました。

その後

勝瑞城が廃城となった後、見性寺が城の部分に建てられました。一方、館の部分は市街地となりました。時間が経つにつれ、人々は、その城の部分だけが勝瑞城だったと思うようになりました。ところが、1994年の発掘により、その城の部分は、勝瑞城の長い歴史に鑑みると新しすぎるものだとわかりました。更なる調査が周辺地域で行われ、1997年に近くの工場敷地の地下から、領主の館の遺物が発見されました。それから度々の発掘により、館の部分は想像以上に大きく、この遺跡は、この地域だけではなく、日本全体の歴史にとって重要であることがわかったのです。城跡はついに2001年に、城と館両方の部分を含めて、国の史跡に指定されました。館の部分は現在公有地となり、発掘が行われています。

私の感想

正直言わせていただくと、勝瑞城跡を訪れたとき、がっかりしました。それは、遺跡が最初はただの空き地と小さな城跡のように見えたからです。ところが、この城の歴史を学んでみると、この遺跡が画期的な発見の後、整備中であることを理解できました。きっとこの城跡は、しばらく後には他の新しい発見とともに、よい歴史公園になるでしょう。もし今この城跡を訪れるならば、事前に城の歴史を学んでおくことをお勧めします。また、遺跡から発掘された遺物を見学できるので、現場事務所が開いている年末年始以外の日に行かれた方がよいでしょう。私は、その当時事務所がやっていなかった休日に行ったので、見学できませんでした。.

ここに行くには

車で行く場合：
高松自動車道の板野ICまたは徳島自動車道の藍住ICから約１５分かかります。
城跡には、駐車場が館部分の中と、城部分の脇にあります。
電車では、ＪＲ勝瑞駅から歩いて約１５分かかります。
東京か大阪ら行かれる場合は、飛行機か高速バスを使った方がよいでしょう。

リンク、参考情報

・勝瑞城館跡、徳島県藍住町教育委員会
・「三好一族と阿波の城館、図説日本の城郭シリーズ」戒光祥出版
・「史跡勝瑞城館跡Ⅰ」藍住町教育委員会
・「日本の城改訂版第７８号」デアゴスティーニジャパン

これで終わります。ありがとうございました。
「勝瑞城その１」に戻ります。
「勝瑞城その２」に戻ります。

175.Shozui Castle Part2

The ruins have two parts of “Hall” and “Castle”.

Features

“Hall Ruins” and “Castle Ruins”

Now, the ruins of Shozui Castle have two parts. One of them is the larger part which was used as the hall for the Hosokawa Clan and the Miyoshi Clan. Therefore, people often call it “Shozui Hall ruins”. This area is basically an open space where a lot of relics are buried under the ground. The excavation is still ongoing with the site office. If some relics are found, they are investigated, studied, and finally buried again or taken to preserve them. After that, some exhibitions are built in the present way at the spot where the relics were found.

The aerial photo around the castle

Excavation and Exhibition are on going in Hall Ruins

For example, the replica of the water moats with some bridges were built at the same place and in a similar size to the original ones. Visitors can now see how the hall area was divided by these moats in the past. In addition, the rest house which looks like a hall was built where the relics of the original hall were found. Near the rest house, some trees and rocks were restored where the original Japanese rock garden was built. There are also many signboards which explain what were there and what happened to the castle.

An example of the signboards at the site

Castle Ruins remain as Temple

The other part is the one which was added as the final part for a battle in the final stage of the castle. It looks more likely to be castle ruins, so people also often call itself “Shozui Castle ruins”. However, this part is much smaller than the hall part with about 100 m square (vs 200 to 300 m square for the hall). This is probably because the castle part was built and used in a short time. There is Kensho-ji Temple on the ruins, which was established in the Edo Period, collecting the graves of the Miyoshi Clan. The water moats and some earthen walls surrounding the ruins still remain. The original earthen walls were 14m high from the bottom of the moat (2.5m above the water surface) according to the excavation.

To be continued in “Shozui Castle Part3”
Back to “Shozui Castle Part1”