177.Hiketa Castle Part2

The great stone walls of the castle, the great view from the castle

Features

Becoming hiking trail now

Now, the ruins of Hiketa Castle has also become a hiking trail. There are two trails to the top of the mountain called the Tanoura Campsite side route and the Hiketa Port side route. If you drive to the castle ruins, it’s better for you to park beside the Tanoura Campsite side route.

The map around the castle

The location map of Hiketa Castle Ruins at the site

The trail is steep, but the top area is relatively flat. That meant it was a good point for a mountain castle as it was difficult to attack but easy to defend. You will first find the Northern Enclosure which has no stone walls. It was thought that the enclosure remained the same as what it had been before the Ikoma Clan came. However, the clan didn’t use it as their castle.

The entrance of the Tanoura Campsite side route
You can see the trail is very steep from above
The Northern Enclosure

Great stone walls of Northern Second Enclosure

You will now see the apex of the castle, the doubled tier stone walls which surrounded the Northern Second Enclosure. The upper tier is 2 to 3m high and the lower tier is 5 to 6m high. So together, they are almost 10m high in total. Though the upper one is unfortunately covered to prevent it from collapsing, even just seeing the lower one is great.

Approaching the Northern Second Enclosure
The upper tier of the stone walls of the Northern Second Enclosure
The lower tier of the stone walls of the Northern Second Enclosure

These stone walls are originally form the Ikoma Clan’s period which can’t be seen in other castles like Takamatsu and Marugame Castles. This is because both castles were improved and developed by other lords after the Ikoma Clan. Only the remaining old stone walls at the foot of Marugame Castle might have been built by the Ikoma Clan.

The old stone walls of Marugame Castle

It was said that this enclosure had the Main Hall for the lord and there was the Main Gate under the enclosure. That is the reason why the great stone walls were built to show the authority of the lord to the visitors. Finally, the original Main Route to the Main Gate is not being used now.

The inside of the Northern Second Enclosure

Great view from Main Enclosure

From the Northern Second Enclosure, other enclosures spread into two directions which look like the letter U. One of them is the Main Enclosure in the south. It is long and narrow and faces the Hiketa Port. It also has some remaining stone walls and the ruins of the base for a Main Tower. Therefore, the enclosure would have stood out in the past. You can see a good view of the port and Hiketa town from the enclosure. That meant people in Hiketa would have looked up at the buildings and stone walls clearly in the past.

The remaining stone walls of the Main Enclosure
A view seen from above the stone walls
The ruins of the base for a Main Tower
A view of Hiketa Port seen from around the base for the tower

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

投稿者: Yuzo

城巡りが好きなYuzoです。日本には数万の城があったといわれています。その内の200名城を手始めにどんどん紹介していきます。 I'm Yuzo, I love visiting castles and ruins. It is said that there were tens of thousands castles in Japan. I will introduce you top 200 castles and ruins of them, and more!

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