特徴～Features – ページ 119 – 日本200名城バイリンガル (Japan's top 200 castles and ruins)

119.Sugiyama Castle Part2

Let us simulate attacking the castle.

Features

Simulation of Attack from Main Entrance to Main Enclosure

Today, the ruins of Sugiyama Castle are well-developed and maintained for visitors as a historic site. The ruins were once covered with a lot of trees and bushes, but most of them were removed. That means you can see the soil-made layout of the castle clearly. Let us simulate attacking the castle as an enemy.

For example, if you approach the castle ruins from the south, you will first stand at the Main Entrance or Oteguchi as the starting point. In fact, you will need to pass through five enclosures to reach the Main Enclosure.

The enclosures between the Main Entrance and the Main Enclosure with numbering, from the location map adding the red colored letters

From Outer Entrance to Umadashi and Southern Third Enclosures

To enter the first enclosure called the Outer Enclosure, you will have to turn left in front of its entrance. Defenders could make a flanking attack on your left side before you turn.

The route to entrance seen from the Outer Enclosure

The route to the Outer Enclosure (the red arrow) and the counterattack from the enclosure (the blue arrow)

After entering the Outer Enclosure, the second one is the Umadashi Enclosure. You will need to go over the dry moat to get to the Umadashi Enclosure. A wooden bridge might have been built on it, but it would have been fallen if a battle occurred. When you cross the dry moat, you would be attacked on your right side from the L-shaped earthen walls of the Southern Third Enclosure.

The dry moat in front of the Umadashi Enclosure

The L-shaped earthen walls of the Southern Third Enclosure

The Southern Third Enclosure seen from the dry moat

The dry moat seen from the Southern Third Enclosure

The route to the Umadashi Enclosure (the red arrow) and the counterattack from the Southern Third Enclosure (the blue arrow)

The Umadashi Enclosure is a small sticking out space from the entrance of the Southern Third Enclosure. The other L-shaped earthen walls of the Southern Third Enclosure also make it possible to defeat the enemy in this area of the castle.

The Umadashi Enclosure and the L-shaped earthen walls seen from the Southern Third Enclosure

The L-shaped earthen walls are nearby on the left if you stand at the entrance of the Southern Third Enclosure

The route to the Southern Third Enclosure (the red arrow) and the counterattack from the Enclosure (the blue arrow)

Strong Defense of Main Enclosure

After that, if you somehow reach the Southern Second Enclosure after the Southern Third Enclosure, you will see the high earthen walls of the Main Enclosure. However, there is no direct route to the Main Enclosure, so you will have to move to the Well Enclosure on the left. (Its enclosure is guarded in a similar way to other enclosures.)

The high earthen walls of the Mani Enclosure seen from the Southern Second Enclosure

The dry moat between the Main Enclosure and the Southern Second Enclosure seen from the Well Enclosure

The routes to the Southern Second and Well Enclosures (the red arrow) and the counterattack from the Enclosures (the blue arrow)

The Well Enclosure leads to the Main Enclosure, which was connected by the wooden bridge over the dry moat. However, you could be counterattacked from the front and from your left side from the Main Enclosure above. The earthen walls of the Main Enclosure are shaped to surround the attacker. Overall, you could suffer damages from the frank attacks as many as the number of the enclosures.

The wooden bridge was built over the dry moat

he L-shaped earthen walls of the Main Enclosure to make a flanking attack enemies in the Well Enclosure

The Well Enclosure seen from the Main Enclosure

The route to the Main Enclosure (the red arrow) and the counterattack from the Enclosure (the blue arrow)

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

119.杉山城　その２

この城への攻撃シミュレーション

特徴、見どころ

大手口から本郭への仮想攻撃

今日、杉山城跡は観光客向けに史跡としてよく整備され、維持されています。城跡は、一時木々や藪に覆われていましが、今ではほとんどが除去されています。そのため、城の土造りの縄張りをはっきりと確認することができます。それでは、敵になったつもりでこの城への攻撃をシミュレートしてみましょう。

例えば、南側からこの城に迫ってみたとします。最初、出発点として大手口に立ってみましょう。実は、ここから本郭に至るためには５つもの曲輪を通り過ぎなければなりません。

外郭から馬出郭、南三の郭へ

外郭と呼ばれる最初の曲輪に入るためには、その入口の前で左に曲がる必要があります。守備側は、攻撃側が左に曲がる前に、左側面に反撃することができます。

外郭に入った後、２つ目の曲輪は馬出郭です。馬出郭に着くには、空堀を越えていかなければなりません。そこには、木橋がかけられていたかもしれませんが、戦いが起きた時には落とされたでしょう。この空堀を渡るときには、南三の郭の屈曲した土塁から右側に反撃されます。

馬出郭は、南三の郭の入口から突き出た小さな空間です。南三の郭土塁の他の屈曲部分から、同じように、この場所にいる敵を撃退できるようになっています。

本郭の堅い防御

その後、南三の郭を通り過ぎて、何とか南二の郭にたどり着いたとします。そこでは、本郭の高い土塁が立ち塞がります。しかも、本郭への直通通路は見当たりません。そこで、左側の井戸郭の方に移動せざるを得ません（この曲輪の入口も他の曲輪と同じように防御されています）。

井戸郭は本郭に通じています。空堀にかかる木橋によって本郭に接続されていたのです。しかし、ここでも前方の本郭の上から、正面と左側面に反撃を受けることになります。本郭の土塁は、攻撃側を包囲するように形作られているのです。結局、攻撃側は、通り過ぎる曲輪と同じ数だけ側面攻撃（横矢）を受け、損害を被ることになります。

「杉山城その３」に続きます。
「杉山城その１」に戻ります。

125.Kozukue Castle Part3

The ruins have become popular since the construction of the road.

Features

Parted Barbican

In fact, the ruins were partly destroyed and divided by the Daisan-Keihin Road. You can look at one of the barbicans over the road from the entrance of the Western Enclosure. You will have to go through the tunnel under the road to get there. The top of it is one of Fujizuka Mounds, called Fuji-sengen, made for worshiping Mt. Fuji since the Edo Period. It might had been a turret base before that. When you walk out of the ruins, you will get back to the city area right away.

The map around the castle

The Daisan-Keihin Road parting the ruins

Later History

After Kozukue Castle was abandoned, the local people have called the ruins Shiroyama or the Castle Mountain. The studies about the castle started as early as in the Edo Period. However, the ruins ironically became popular as a historic site since they were partly destroyed by the construction of the Daisan-keihin Road in 1963. Through that, Yokohama City launched the Kozukue Castle Ruins Forest to preserve them in 1977. People are now interested in what the castle was like in the past.

The ruins of Kozukue Castle and Daisan-Keihin Road

My Impression

I think Kozukue Castle is a good example of how to protect a castle with few defenders. I guess if a battle happened at Kozukue Castle when Hideyoshi invaded, this castle could survive at least over one night unlike Yamanaka Castle and Hachioji Castle.

The large dry moat in front of the Western Enclosure

How to get There

I recommend using a train when you visit the ruins because the park has no parking lot.
It takes about 15 minutes on foot from JR Kozukue Station on the Yokohama Line.

The castle ruins seen from the platform of Kozukue Station

The Yokohama-Kamiasao Road (Kanagawa Prefectural Road 12) goes near the station, so turn right at the Kozukue Station Intersection and go along the street. Then, turn right at the Kozukuetsuji Intersection.

Turn right at the Kozukuetsuji Intersection

Go along the street again, cross the railway and turn left at the first intersection.

Go along the street in the residential area, and when you find the signpost for the ruins on the utility pole on the right, turn right. You will eventually arrive at the entrance of the ruins.

Turn right when you find the signpost on the utility pole (inside the red circle)

That’s all. Thank you.
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