その後～Later History – ページ 22 – 日本200名城バイリンガル (Japan's top 200 castles and ruins)

57.Sasayama Castle Part2

Visiting the main portion of the castle

Later History

After the Meiji Restoration, Sasayama Castle was abandoned and all the castle buildings, except for O-shoin or the Large Study Hall out of the Main Hall, were demolished. The hall was used as a school and a community center for a while, however, it was unfortunately burned down by an accidental fire in 1944. After World War II, the Inner Moat out of the double water moats was filled to became a normal park. However, since the castle ruins were designated as a National Historic Site in 1956, the trend changed. Tanba-Sasayama City has been developing the ruins as a historical site such as the hall being restored in 2000 and the moat being dug up again.

The photo of the Large Study Hall, in 1943, private owned (*licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

The Large Study Hall which was restored in 2000

Features

From Main Gate Ruins to Main Portion

Today, the ruins of Sasayama Castle have been developed by Tanba-Sasayama City with the remaining warriors’ houses and the castle town atmosphere. Visitors usually first visit the Main Gate Ruins in the north in front of the Outer Moat. Unfortunately, the gate and its Umadashi system were destroyed, so only their traces remain now.

The ruins of Umadashi system on the Main Route

The aerial photo around the castle

If you walk the path to the center of the ruins passing the Outer and Inner Moats, you will reach the ruins of the Front Gate and Kurogane-mon or the Iron Gate, the entrance of the main portion. These ruins are still surrounded by stone walls of double Masugata system, which you can imagine the main gate had a similar system to it.

The ruins of the Front Gate, which has the first Masugata system behind

Restored Large Study Hall in Second Enclosure

The main portion has the Second Enclosure in the front and the Main Enclosure in the back. You can enter the restored Large Study Hall with the historical museum. You will first get in the museum where you can learn the history of the castle

Then, go in the hall where you can experience what it looked like in the past. The Large Study Hall was used for public ceremonies which has an impressive large hip-and-gable roof above the front entrance. Visitors enter it not from the front but from the side and walk around the corridors surrounding the rooms. There are eight rooms inside such as Honored Guest Room, Dark Room for storing, and Tiger Room for waiting.

Visitors enter the hall form the right side

Here is the inside of the front entrance

There are also the flat exhibitions of the residential area for the lord and the ruins of Uzume-mon or the Small Back Gate behind the hall.

The flat exhibitions of the residential area in the Second Enclosure

Stone Wall Base for Main Tower with Viewing Spot

The Main Enclosure is the highest point of the castle. The inside of it looked to be a square during the Edo Period, but the Aoyama Shrine, which worships the Aoyama Clan, the last lord family of the castle, has been there since its launch in 1882.

The Second Enclosure in the front, the Main Enclosure in the back

The large stone wall base for the Main Tower is at a corner of the enclosure, which is a good viewing spot of the city area. You can also see a triangle-shaped Takashiroyama-Mountain in the distance, where the ruins of Yagami Castle, which was active in the Sengoku Period, is. The stone wall base had a very small single turret for its scale at the edge during the Edo Period.

The appearance of the Main Enclosure during the Edo Period, *exhibited by the historical museum in the Large Study Hall of Sasayama Castle*

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

57.篠山城　その２

城の主要部を訪れます。

その後

明治維新後、篠山城は廃城となり、御殿の一部である大書院（おおしょいん）を除き、全ての城の建物は撤去されました。大書院はしばらくの間、学校や集会所として使われていましたが、残念なことに1944年に失火により焼失してしまいました。第二次世界大戦後には、二重の堀のうち、内堀は公園造成のために埋め立てられました。しかし、1956年に城跡が国の史跡に指定されてからは、風向きが変わりました。丹波篠山市は、2000年に大書院を復元したり、内堀を掘り起こしたりして、城跡を歴史公園として整備しています。

焼失前の大書院の写真*、1943年*、個人蔵 *(licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

特徴、見どころ

大手門跡から桝形が残る主要部入口へ

現在篠山城跡は、現存する武家屋敷群や城下町の街並みとともに、丹波篠山市によりよく整備されています。ビジターは通常、北側にある外堀前の大手門跡から城跡巡りを始めます。残念ながら大手門とその前にあった馬出しは、破壊されてしまっていて、その痕跡のみが残っています。

城周辺の航空写真

外堀と内堀を通り過ぎて中心部に向かう通路を歩いていくと、城の主要部の入口である表門（おもてもん）及び鉄門（くろがねもん）跡に至ります。ここは今でも二重の桝形を形作っている石垣に囲まれています（更に、二重の桝形はもう一つの中門によって仕切られていました）。よって、大手門も似たような仕組みであったのだと想像できます。

復元された二の丸大書院

城の主要部は、前面が二の丸で、後ろの方が本丸となっています。史料館が付属している復元された大書院に入っていきましょう。最初に入る場所が史料館であり、そこでは城の歴史を学ぶことができます。

それから大書院に入りますが、中の様子がどうだったのか実際に見て回ることができます。大書院は過去には公式行事のために使われ、正面玄関の上の印象的で大型の入母屋式屋根が目を引きます。現代のビジターは、その玄関からではなく、側面から大書院に入り、部屋を囲む回り廊下を歩いていきます。部屋は８つあり、上段の間、倉庫として使われた闇がり（くらがり）の間、待機場所となっていた虎の間などです。

大書院の向こう側には、藩主が暮らした住居地区の平面展示、埋門（うずめもん）跡などがあります。

本丸と眺めがよい天守台石垣

本丸は城で一番高い位置にあります。江戸時代の間はその内部は空になっていましたが、最後の城主であった青山氏を祀る青山神社が、1882年の設立以来ここにあります。

大きな天守台石垣が本丸の角地にあり、市街地を望むビューイングスポットになっています。遥かには、三角形の形をした高城山も見えます。そこには八上城（やがみじょう）跡があり、戦国時代に使われていました。天守台石垣の隅には、江戸時代にその大きさに比して随分小さな単層の櫓が建てられていました。

「篠山城その３」に続きます。
「篠山城その１」に戻ります。

197.Shibushi Castle part3

Wonderful molding using natural terrain

Features

Nakanokuo, Pivot of Defense

Over the dry moat, the other major enclosures of Nakanokuo (the enclosure No.4 & 5) and Onokuo (the enclosure No.6 & 15) follow and are all divided by other dry moats crosswise. In particular, you should check out Nakanokuo (the enclosure No.5), over Nakanokuo (the enclosure No.4). To reach the enclosure, you need to go out of the Main Enclosure, go through the right lengthwise dry moat from the front, and enter the second crosswise dry moat. The bottom of the moat is not flat, but has two tiers, so you also need to climb to the upper tier.

The map around Uchijo portion, the red broken line is the route from the Main Enclosure to Nakaokuo (the enclosure No.5)

The second crosswise dry moat has two tiers

Then, you will face huge vertically cut cliff of the enclosure like a thick column and need to walk around to enter. If you were an enemy, you must have been attacked by the defenders from above until then. The entrance path is altered by thick earthen walls as well, just like a palace gate made of soil. This enclosure might have been pivotal to the defense in the castle.

The vertical cliff of Nakanokuo (the enclosure No.5) ‘s side

The earthen walls surrounding the enclosure

Looking down the bottom of the moat from the enclosure

The part of Nakaokuo (the enclosure No.5) of the miniature model exhibited in *Shibushi City Center for Archaeological operations*

Amazing Dry Moats

Both the lengthwise dry moats outside the plateau are amazing. The dry moat on the left side from the front (the western side) is called O-Horikiri or the Large Ditch. It is about 17m deep and was about 7m deeper than now according to the excavation. The collapsing volcanic ash has been filling the bottom of the moat naturally. However, it is still enough for us to understand how great the warrior’s work for the moat was.

The part of the Large Ditch of the miniature model

The dry moat on the right side is also surprising. The cut section of the outside enclosure is still vivid making us understand how hard their work was!

The Back Route of the castle goes beside the cut section and very narrow like the Main Route. It must have been made very defensive like the Main Route.

The part of the Back Route of the miniature model

Later History

After Shibushi Castle was abandoned, the foot of the mountain was used as the warriors’ residences called Shibushi Fumoto. Fumoto refers to a residence area for a unique defense system of the Satsuma Domain led by the Shimazu Clan, called Tojo or the Outer Castles, during the Edo Period. Unlike other domains letting their retainers live together in their home base, the Satsuma Domain sent many of its retainers to their local sites to protect the frontiers of its territory. Shibushi Fumoto was one of the most important among over 100 Fumoto of the domain. You can also walk around the Fumoto area at the same time as visiting Shibushi Castle Ruins. As for the castle ruins, they have been excavated and researched since 2003. As a result, they were designated as a National Historic Site in 2005.

The area around still has an atmosphere of Shibushi Fumoto

My Impression

I have never seen such a large and precise miniature model of a mountain castle like the one of Shibushi Castle (Uchijo portion) in Shibushi City Center for Archaeological operations before. I have certainly seen large and precise miniature models of more modern castles like Himeji Castle because they often had or still have many buildings such as the Main Tower, turrets and gates, and great structures such as stone walls. They would be easy to be copied for a model and the model can be popular with people. On the other hand, making models of a mountain castle should be difficult and may be less popular, so it could be rare, especially realistic ones. However, the miniature model of Shubushi Castle is one of the rarely seen models, worth to see by itself, and helps visitors understand what the real castle was very well.

*The miniature model of Uchijo, exhibited by Shibushi City Center for Archaeological operations*

How to get There

If you want to visit the castle ruins by car, it is about a 15 minute drive away from Shibushi IC on the Miyakonojo-Shibushi Road. There is a parking lot for visitors near the ruins. In addition, Shibushi City Center for Archaeological operations is about 3km away from the ruins and it also has a parking lot.
If you want to use public transportation, it takes about 20 minutes on foot to get there form JR Shibushi Station.
For visitors from Tokyo or Osaka: It may be a good idea to rent a car at Kagoshima or Miyazaki Airports after using a plane.

That’s all. Thank you.
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