特徴～Features – ページ 47 – 日本200名城バイリンガル (Japan's top 200 castles and ruins)

15.Ashikaga Clan Hall Part2

Ashikaga remains with an atmosphere of the medieval city.

Later History

Even after Ashikaga Clan Hall was turned into Bannaji temple, Ashikaga town continued to prosper more and more as the home town of the Ashikaga Shogunate family. The temple had as many as 12 branch temples outside the square area during its peak. In the Edo Period, the Tokugawa Shogunate helped the town and temples as they had declared the shoguns were a branch of the Nitta Clan, a relative of the Ashikaga Clan, which meant they were descendants of the Minamoto Clan.

The illustration of the main and twelve branch temples, owned by Bannnaji Temple, quoted from the Ashikaga City Website

However, after the Meiji Restoration, the temple declined and lost all the branch temples. This was because of a movement to abolish Buddhism called Haibutsu-Kishaku in the first Meiji Era. Only the main temple in the square area survived. As for castle ruins, it was designated as a National Historic Site of Ashikaga Clan Hall in 1922. Ashikaga City has been developing the area around including the Ashikaga School and Kabasaki Hachimangu Shrine (the former Kabasaki Temple) as a historical site as well as a tourist spot.

Only the main Bannaji Temple remains now

Features

Hall Ruins are surrounded by Earthen Walls and Moats

Today, Ashikaga continues to have an atmosphere of a medieval city. Bannaji Temple as the ruins of Ashikaga Clan Hall is its center. One side block of the hall, which is about 200m long, remains with earthen walls and water moats surrounding it. Ducks and carps swim on and in the moats. The walls might have been higher and the moats might have been wider and deeper when they were used for the hall, but the current state matches the temple now.

The aerial photo around the castle

The remaining earthen walls and water moats around the hall ruins

Main building as National Treasure

The inside of the block has buildings only for the temple, not for the hall. However, you should check out many remaining old buildings. The largest main building was built in 1299 during the Kamakura Period and has been designated as a National Treasure. You can see, on the ridge tiles of its roof, three family crests of the Imperial family in the center, Daigoji Temple which was the head temple of Bannaji on the left, and the Ashikaga Clan on the right. The two highest ridge-end tiles called Shachihoko or the Grampuses have lightning rods to prevent a fire from a stroke of lightning.

The main building as a National Treasure

The three family crests on the ridge tiles

One of the Grampuses with a lightning rod

Temple buildings show help from Goverments

The Bell-Tower of the temple was also built during the Kamakura Period and has been designated as an Important Cultural Property.

The Bell-Tower as an Important Cultural Property

The Sutra Library was built in 1407 during the Muromachi Period by Mitsukane Ashikaga, the head of the Kanto government.

The Sutra Library which is another Important Cultural Property in the temple

The Eastern and Western Gates were also rebuilt during the same period by the administration office, which look like simple gates for the hall.

The Multi-Treasure Pagoda and the Mausoleum were rebuilt by the Tokugawa Shogunate. Overall, you can see the temple had been helped by the successive governments for a long time.

To be continued in “Ashikaga Clan Hall Part3”
Back to “Ashikaga Clan Hall Part1”

15.足利氏館　その２

足利の街は中世都市の雰囲気を残しています。

その後

足利氏館が鑁阿寺になった後でも足利の街は、足利将軍家の出身地としてますます繫栄しました。鑁阿寺はその最盛期には１２もの支院をその区画の外側に持っていました（一山十二坊と呼ばれました）。江戸時代には徳川幕府が町と寺院を保護しました。徳川将軍家が足利氏の親族である新田氏の子孫と称していたからです。つまり、彼らは全て源氏の末裔ということになります。

ところが明治維新後は鑁阿寺は衰亡し、全ての支院を失ってしまいました。明治初期の廃仏毀釈の運動によるものです。四角い区画内の鑁阿寺本体のみが生き延びました。城跡としては、1922年に足利氏館として国の史跡に指定されました。足利市は、足利学校や樺崎八幡宮（元の樺崎寺）を含む地域を史跡及び観光地として整備を続けています。

特徴、見どころ

土塁と堀に囲まれた館跡

現在、足利は中世都市の雰囲気を持ち続けています。足利氏館としての鑁阿寺がその中心となります。館の区画の一辺は約２００ｍあり、土塁と水堀が館跡を取り囲んで残っています。堀にはアヒルや鯉が泳いでいます。かつて館として使われていた時には、土塁はもっと高かったかもしれず、堀は広く深かったかもしれませんが、現在のお寺にはちょうどよい感じです。

城周辺の航空写真

国宝の本堂

区画の内部には、寺の建物だけがあり、館に関するものはありません。しかし、多くの現存の古い建物があり、要注目です。一番大きな建物である本堂は鎌倉時代の1299年に建てられたもので、国宝に指定されています。天辺の棟瓦を見てみると、三つの家紋が掲げられています。真ん中が皇室のもの（皇室の祈願所という意味合いのようです）、左側がかつて鑁阿寺の本山であった醍醐寺のもの、そして右側が足利氏の家紋です。棟瓦の両端の鯱瓦には避雷針が取り付けられていて、落雷による火事を防いでいます。

歴代政権が寺を保護してきた証

この寺の鐘楼も鎌倉時代に建造されたもので、重要文化財に指定されています。

経堂は室町時代の1407年に、関東公方の足利満兼（みつかね）により建てられたものです。

東門と西門も足利荘の公文所により同じ時代に再建されたもので、こういった簡素な門はかえって武士の館のもののように見えます。

多宝塔と御霊屋は、徳川幕府により再建されたものです。こうやって見てみると、この寺が歴代の政権によっていかに保護されてきたのかがわかります。

「足利氏館その３」に続きます。
「足利氏館その１」に戻ります。

196.Sadowara Castle Part3

Please check the availability ahead of time before your visit.

Features

Main Route is partially available

The Main Route to the top is still closed at the middle of the route where it is being repaired as of May 2023. Therefore, you can not go straight through the route, however you can see what it is by walking up the route from the foot to the repaired point and walking down from the top to the point. The route basically goes along another ridge of the mountain and its entrance is on the bottom of a large deep ditch which was surrounded by high vertically cut cliffs on both sides. Today’s visitors can enjoy a great view of the work by the builders, but past enemies must have felt a threat from the defenders. The narrow route continues to go along the ridge on the right, which the defenders would have attacked from in the past and landslides would easily destroy the route from today.

The map around the castle

The route goes along the ridge on the right

Above the repairing point, the route turns right and takes over another ridge to reach the Main Enclosure. The point taking over it is another artificially-made narrow ditch, which was another defensive point.

The Main route reaches the Main Enclosure over this ditch

The other warning display of the repairing point

Later History

During the Meiji Restoration, the Satsuma Domain, a relative of the Sadowara Domain, got the power in the domestic politics. The Sadowara Domain joined the activities because the lords of both domains came from the same Shimazu Clan. The last lord of the domain, Tadahiro Shimazu was planning to move his home base to a more convenient land, Hirose. He started to build a new castle there and abolished Sadowara Castle where its buildings were all demolished in 1869. However, the launch of the castle was stopped before the abolition of the feudal domain system by the central government in 1871.

The photo of Tadahiro Shimazu, from the Miyazaki Prefecture History (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The ruins of Sadowara Castle had been used as fields (probably only in the plain area) for a long time. The excavation of the plain Second Enclosure was done in 1989 and the Main Hall on it was restored in 1993. The excavation of the Main Enclosure on the mountain was also done in 1996. It found that the foundations of the Main Tower Base and some roof tiles with golden leaf which was often used for Main Towers. That resulted in Sadowara Caste being the southernmost castle which had the Main Tower in Japan so far. As a result, the castle ruins were designated as a National Historic Site in 2004.

My Impression

I visited the ruins of Sadowara Castle three times in total. My first visit was several years ago, which I don’t remember very well. The second one was in 2022 just after the closing of both routes to the mountain part due to the natural disaster, which disappointed me. I didn’t know about the news and the vulnerable nature of the mountain on the Shirasu Plateau. I finally reached the top again after hearing the good news of its re-opening. When I was wandering the top around, I found some other parts were still closed and some trees fell beside the road. I realized the difficulty of maintaining the ruins and thought that nature might have even helped the castle prevent enemies from attacking it. Please check if these routes are open if you want to visit the ruins.

Another major enclosure called the South Castle was still closed

How to get There

If you want to visit the castle ruins by car, it is about a 10 minute drive away from Saito IC on the Higashi-Kyushu Expreesway. There is a parking lot in front of the castle ruins.
If you want to use public transportation, you can take the Miyazaki Kotsu Bus bound for Saito Bus Center at Miyazaki Station and get off at the Koryu-Center-mae bus stop.
From Tokyo or Osaka to Miyazaki Station: Take the Miyazaki-kuko Line from Miyazaki Airport after using a plane.

The parking lot in front of the restored Main Hall

That’s all. Thank you.
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