2023年3月 – ページ 2 – 日本200名城バイリンガル (Japan's top 200 castles and ruins)

3.Matsumae Castle Part2

So much more to see than just cherry blossoms and The Main Tower

Features

How to enter Castle ruins park

Today, the ruins of Matsumae Castle have been developed as Matsumae Park which is also known for cherry blossoms that consist of about 250 kinds and over 10 thousand trees in total. If you visit them even in August, you can enjoy hydrangea blooming there, which usually blooms in June in the mainland of Japan. Of course, you can also enjoy the castle ruins all year round.

The map around the castle

Drivers can enter them from the Matsumae Town area beside the sea in the south by going through the front entrance, and then passing the Third Enclosure, to the parking lot of the Second Enclosure.

The earthen and stone walls of the Third Enclosure

People on foot can enter them from the eastern side through the back entrance to the center.

The Umasaka Route goes from the eastern side of the castle ruins

The restored area around the Outer Back Gate

Ruins of Facilities for coastal defense

This eastern side of the ruins were well developed by Matsumae Town. For example, other entrances of the castle, the Tenjinzaka Gate and the Outer Back Gate were rebuilt. The stone walls of the Second Enclosure and its mud walls on them were partially restored. Part of the Outer Moat in front of them was dug again.

The restored stone walls with mud walls of the Second Enclosure and the Outer Moat

In the Third Enclosure below, you can see some remaining pedestals of the batteries, such as the No.5 Buttery’s with stone walls. If you stand at the ruins of the Drum Turret at the southeastern corner of the Second Enclosure, you will see how good the view of the sea is as well as a good location for spotting ships in the past.

A view of the sea from the buttery pedestal

A view of the Second Enclosure *from the buttery pedestal*

Restored Main Tower and Remaining Main Enclosure Gate

In the Main Enclosure, there is the restored three-level Main Tower. It is actually a modern concrete building, but its external appearance is almost the same as the original one. Only its stone wall base is intact. If you look at them carefully, you can find some dents on it. They are the traces of being shot by guns in the wars during the Meiji Restoration. Its roof is covered with cooper plates to bear the cold climate of Hokkaido, same as the original one.

There are traces of the wars on the stone wall base

You can enter the tower to learn more about the castle and the domain inside. The top floor is also used as the observation platform. However, you may feel like the building is too old.

An exhibition inside the Main Tower building

Many people might only focus on the Main Tower, but there are other interesting things to see in the enclosure. The Main Enclosure Gate beside the tower is the only remaining intact building of the castle, which has been designated as an Important Cultural Property since 1950. The gate was built using wooden materials while its stone walls supporting it look unusually precise as if they were built during the present time.

The gate building is certainly made of wood

The stone walls were built very precisely

Remaining part of Main Enclosure Main Hall

The entrance hall of the Main Hall is preserved in front of the gate. It had once been used as the entrance of a school in the back of the gate, its original position. It was moved to the current position in 1982. This entrance hall is said to be part of Fukuyama-kan, the hall which had existed before the castle was built. The original position is a square with a lawn.

The square which had the Main Hall in the past

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

3.松前城　その２

桜と天守以外にも見どころはたくさんあります。

特徴、見どころ

城跡公園への入り方

現在、松前城跡は松前公園として整備されていて、桜の名所としても知られています。ここには、約２５０種類、合計で１万本以上の桜の木があります。もし８月にここを訪れたとしてもここでは、日本の本州では通常６月に咲くアジサイの花を楽しむことができます。もちろん、城跡は１年中見学することができます。

城周辺の地図

車でここに来られた場合は、南側の海に面した松前町市街地から正面入口を通って城跡に入り、三の丸を通り過ぎて、二の丸にある駐車場に停めることができます。

徒歩で来られた方は、東側から搦手門を通って城跡の中心部に向かうこともできます。

海防のための施設跡

城跡の東側は、松前町によってよく整備されています。例えば、城の他の入口であった天神坂門や搦手二ノ門が再建されました。二ノ丸の石垣やその上の土塀が部分的に復元されました。その手前の外堀も一部再掘削されています。

その下の三ノ丸では、五番砲台などの台座が石垣とともに現存しています。二ノ丸の南東隅にある太鼓櫓跡に立ってみると、素晴らしい津軽海峡の海の景色が楽しめるとともに、海峡を進む船の動向を把握するにも良い場所だっただろうことがわかります。

復元天守と現存する本丸御門

本丸には復元された三層の天守があります。この天守は実際にはコンクリート造りの建物なのですが、その外観はほとんどオリジナルのものと同じです。オリジナルのままなのは、その天守台石垣だけです。その石垣をよく見てみると、いくつも窪みがあるのがわかります。これらの窪みは、明治維新のときの戦いにより、砲撃を受けた痕跡なのです。天守の屋根はオリジナルと同じく、北海道の寒冷な気候に耐えられるよう銅板が葺かれています。

中に入ると、そこは歴史博物館になっていてこの城や松前藩について学べるような展示がされています。最上階は展望台として使われています。しかし、建物自体が老朽化しているように感じるかもしれません。

多くの人たちは天守だけに注目するかもしれませんが、本丸には他にも興味深いものが残っています。天守脇の本丸御門は、この城で唯一健在である建物であり、1950年以来重要文化財に指定されています。この門は当時のことなので木材を使って作られていますが、門を支える石垣はとても精密に組み合わされ、現代になって築かれたかのようです。

本丸御殿の名残り

門の手前にはひっそりと、本丸御殿の玄関部分が保存展示されています。この玄関は、もともとあった場所である本丸御門の裏手の方で学校の門として使われていたのですが、1982年に現在の場所に移されました。この玄関は、松前城が築かれる前からあった福山館の一部であると言われています。もと本丸御殿だった場所は芝生に覆われた広場になっています。

「松前城その３」に続きます。
「松前城その１」に戻ります。

3.Matsumae Castle Part1

A unique castle in the last period of them

Location and History

Castle was built at End of Edo Period

Matsumae Castle was located in the southern edge of Hokkaido Island which was called Ezo until the Edo Period. Only the Matsumae Domain ruled the island in the period because the native Ainu people mainly lived there. There were over 200 domains in Japan throughout the period, which required earning over 10 thousand koku of rice in their territory. However, the Matsumae Domain couldn’t earn enough rice at that time due to the cold climate of the island. So instead, the domain was allowed to trade with the Ainu people exclusively by the Tokugawa Shogunate to maintain it. As a result, the shogunate specially considered it as an independent domain. On the other hand, the domain at first wasn’t allowed to have a castle which needed a higher status that it didn’t have. That’s why the domain had only a hall for the lord, called Fukuyama-kan at its home base of Matsumae until around the end of the Edo Period.

The location of the castle

In 1849, the lord of the domain, Takahiro Matsumae, was suddenly ordered by the shogunate to build a new castle, which was rare in the period. This was because foreign ships often came around Japan, which might have threatened the safety of the country. The homebase of the domain faced Tsugaru Channel between Hokkaido and the mainland of Japan, where these ships could sail. The shogunate expected the domain to build the castle as a base for coastal defense. Takahiro chose a famous scholar of military science, Ichigaku Ichikawa for the location and design of the castle. Ichigaku recommended moving their homebase to another place in Hakodate for the castle. He didn’t think that Matsumae was suitable for the castle because of its location on the halfway point of a gentle slope. However, the domain refused it, saying it was too expensive and they didn’t want to leave the familiar environment of Matsumae. Finally, the castle was built by replacing the Fukuyama-kan hall in 1855, which was eventually renamed Matsumae Castle.

The photo of Takahiro Matsumae, around 1864 (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The relief map around the castle

Castle is mixed with Traditional Japanese style and Modernized features

Matsumae Castle is one of the latest castles to be built using Japanese style, such as having a Main Tower, turrets and gates built with stone walls in several separated enclosures. The castle actually had the Main Enclosure including the three-level Main Tower, its gate and the Main Hall for the lord. The Second Enclosure with several turrets was also built blow the Main Enclosure. The Third Enclosure with the Front Gate was further below. The Inner and Outer Moats were dug between them. On the other hand, the castle had some advanced and specific features. 7 batteries were built towards the sea in the Third Enclosure as a base for coastal defense. The turrets in the Second Enclosure, such as Taiko-Yagura or the Drum Turret, were used as the command posts for the batteries. The stone walls of the castle were built precisely using a method called Kikko-zumi or the Tortoise Shell style. However, those of the Main Tower were not built high at only around 3m, which made it harder to target for ships with guns. The walls of the tower were also built strongly that can withstand gun attacks.

The diorama of the castle, exhibited at the site, adding the red letters

The present restored Main Tower with the original Main Entrance Gate on the right

The Drum Turret on the left and the Main Tower on the right in the old photo of the castle, from the signboard at the site

An example of the stone walls using the Tortoise Shell style method, around the Outer Back Gate

Castle falls twice during Meiji Restoration

The first battle at the castle happened in 1868 during the Meiji Restoration, but not against foreign ships but rather against Japanese troops. The former Shogunate Army led by Takeaki Enomoto escaped from the main land to Hokkaido and captured Goryokaku in Hakodate and they made it their home base. Then, they sent troops led by Toshizo Hijikata and a fleet to Matsumae Castle. The attackers and the defenders in the castle at first fought each other with cannonade. A ship (Banryu-maru) of the fleet had to withdraw being shot by a battery outside of the castle. However, Hijikata also attacked the side and the back of the castle. In fact, the back side was the weakest point of it. This was because the gentle slope, where it was built on, was easy to attack from the back. Moreover, the Matsumae Domain spent a lot of money on the front facing the sea, but only a few on the back. The castle would eventually fall.

The photo of Takeaki Enomoto, in 1868 *(licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

The photo of Toshizo Hijikata, taken by Kenzo Tamoto, in 1868 (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The photo of Banryu-maru, in 1868 (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The spot where Hijikata first attacked, called Umasaka Route, marked by the red circle

In the next year, the warriors of the domain, who managed to escape to Aomori in the main land, tried to retaliate with the help of the New Government Army to get Matsumae Castle back. They equipped stronger guns with a more modernized fleet than the former Shogunate Army. They landed at Hokkaido again and got close to the castle by fighting. When they attacked the castle from the other side of it, the defender of the former Shogunate Army eventually surrendered.

The spot where Matsumae warriors attacked, called Yudonosawazaka Route, marked by the red circle

To be continued in “Matsumae Castle Part2”