特徴～Features – ページ 71 – 日本200名城バイリンガル (Japan's top 200 castles and ruins)

75.Hagi Castle Part2

There are so many historical attractions in the castle and town.

Features

Going to Main Enclosure through Second Enclosure

Today, Hagi City has a lot of historical attractions. It is said you can even use its old map of the Edo Period when you visit the city. If you want to visit the center of the castle ruins at first by car, you can use the parking lot for visitors in front of the Second Enclosure. The area around it was the Middle Moat in the past, which was buried by the dug up soil when the Hagi Canal was built nearby in 1924. That’s why the Southern Gate Ruins of the Second Enclosure is the north of it and the remaining Asa Mori Clan Residence in the Third Enclosure is the south of it.

The map around the castle

The Southern Gate Ruins of the Second Enclosure

The Hagi Canal near the center of the castle

The Sothern Gate had doubled defensive square spaces surrounded by turrets and stone walls. You can now see their shapes by the remaining stone walls. There are Hagi ware shops and tea rooms inside the gate ruins because the Second Enclosure is divided by private sections.

The statue of Terumoto Mori in the gate ruins

A Hagi ware shop in the Second Enclosure

Beautiful Main Tower Stone Wall Base

You will soon reach the Main Enclosure which has no remaining buildings, but its stone walls and the Inner Moat are still intact. In particular, the stone wall base for the Main Tower, which has corner lines like the Slope of a Folding Fan, looks very beautiful with the background of Shizuki Mountain. The base is about 10m high, and the Main Tower was said be nearly 20m, so the total was about 30m.

The base with the background of Shizuki Mountain

Another old photo of the Main Tower, in the Meiji Period (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

You can see Large Scale of Each Item in Main Enclosure

The Main Enclosure has become part of Shizuki Park. You can enter it by going across the Gokurakubashi Bridge over the Inner Moat and passing the Main Enclosure Inner Gate Ruins. The shape of its interior is square but there is the Shizukiyama Shrine established in the Meiji Era and some buildings, such as tea rooms, which were moved from another area to the park. You can walk up to the top of the Main Tower base. You will see a lot of stone foundations on it and you can imagine how large the tower was.

Going to the top of the Main Tower stone wall base

A view of around the gate from the Main Tower base

You should also check out Gangi, the wide stone steps which are not very conspicuous but have a significant role in history. They are between the gate and the base. This is said to be one of the widest Gangi among Japanese castles. Mud walls were built on these stone walls so that defenders could counterattack through the walls using the steps if enemies would attack the castle.

The top of the stone walls above the steps, the mud walls were built on it

Castle even protests Seashore

I also recommend seeing the castle from the eastern side, for example, the Kikugahama Beach, by going out from the Eastern Gate Ruins of the Second Enclosure. The scenery of the beach with Shizukiyama Mountain is beautiful. Also, if you look at the foot of the mountain, you will find long stone walls still lie along the foot. There were as many as five turrets between mud walls on them in the past.

The Eastern Gate Ruins of the Second Enclosure.

A view of Shizukiyama Mountain from the Kikugahama Beach

The long stone walls built along the seashore

There are now partly restored mud walls. You can also get close to the stone walls and go out to the seashore from the Shioiri-mon Gate Ruins.

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

75.萩城　その２

城も町も見どころが満載です。

特徴、見どころ

二の丸を通って本丸へ

現在、萩市には数多くの歴史的観光地があります。江戸時代の古地図を使って、現在の街並みを巡ることができるとさえ言われています。まず最初に車で城跡の中心部まで行かれるのでしたら、二の丸の手前にある駐車場に停めることができます。駐車場の辺りはかつては中堀であったようで、1924年に萩運河が掘られたときにその残土により埋められてしまいました。そのため堀によって隔てられてはいませんが、駐車場の南の方には三の丸内の厚狭（あさ）毛利家の現存屋敷（長屋）があり、北の方は二の丸南門跡となります。

城周辺の地図

南門にはかつては櫓と石垣に囲まれた、桝形と呼ばれる四角い防御空間が二重に設置されていました。現在では残っている石垣によって、その形はわかるようになっています。門跡の内側の二の丸は民間に売却されているので、萩焼の店や茶室などが営業しています。

美しい天守台石垣

そうするうちに本丸に着きます。本丸には建物は残っていませんが、石垣と内堀が健在です。特に天守台石垣は、その隅石の部分が扇の勾配のようであり、背景の指月山と相まってとても美しく見えます。天守台の高さは約１０ｍあり、天守そのものの高さは２０ｍ近くあったと言われているので、合わせると３０ｍ位あったことになります。

天守の古写真、明治時代 *(licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

規模の大きさがわかる本丸の遺跡

本丸は、指月公園の一部となっています。本丸に入るには、内堀にかかっている極楽橋を渡って、本丸内門から入ります。本丸の内部は基本的には広場になっていますが、明治時代に志都岐山（しづきやま）神社が創建されたのと、その後茶室などのいくつかの建物が別の場所から移転してきています。天守台の上に登ってみることができます。そこには、多くの天守の礎石が並んでいて、かつての天守がどんなに大きかったのか想像できるでしょう。

また、あまり目立たないが重要な役割を果たしたものとして、雁木（がんぎ）と呼ばれる幅広な石の階段にも注目してみてください。天守台と入口の門の中間にあります。この雁木は、日本の城で最も長大なものの一つと言われています。かつて石垣の上には土塀が築かれており、もし敵が城を攻撃してきた場合には、守備兵はこの雁木を登って塀越しに反撃できるようになっていました。

海岸まで防御

また、東の方から城を眺めてみてはいかがでしょう。具体的には、二の丸東門跡から外に出て、菊ヶ浜から見る指月山はとても美しいです。また、山の麓の方を見てみると、長大な石垣が横たわっています。かつては、石垣の上に５基もの櫓が立っていて、その間には土塀も築かれていました。

現在は、その土塀の一部が復元されています。その石垣に近づいて、潮入門跡から海岸に出てみることもできます。

「萩城その３」に続きます。
「萩城その１」に戻ります。

174.Ouchi Clan Hall/Konomine Castle Part2

A good combination of the hall and castle

Features

Hall is restoring little by little

Today, the ruins of Ouchi Clan Hall have been designated as a National Historic Site. They are still in the center of Yamaguchi City, which still have parts of names for its streets like “Oji” or Main Street and “Kouji” or Narrow Street similar to Kyoto. Ryufukuji Temple was built inside the hall ruins by Takamoto Mori who was a son-in-law of Yoshitaka Ouchi to worship Yoshitaka. The main building was moved from another in the Meiji Era, but it is very old (built in the Muromachi Period as old as the Ouchi Clan), and it is also an Important Cultural Property. While several researches and excavations have been done at this site, nothing about the Ouchi Clan’s Main Hall was ever found. This may be because it is still under the temple’s main building.

The aerial photo around the castle

Instead, many other items regarding the hall were found. According to the achievements, some of them were restored at the site. For example, there are two restored gardens inside. One is the pond garden in the southeastern part, and the other is the dry landscape in the northwestern part. The earthen walls were also restored at the northern, western and southern sides of the ruins. The Western Gate and some stone work for the water moat were also restored at the western side.

The restored dry landscape (but it’s very small)

Excavated Tsukiyama Hall Ruins

In north of Ochi Clan Hall Ruins, over the Tsukiyama-Kouji street, there is Tsukiyama Hall Ruins which was built as a villa. The southeastern part of them was excavated and developed as a historical park after a Japanese style restaurant had moved out from there to another site. Ruins of some buildings and dry moats were also found by the excavation team. The ruins were buried again for preservation and there are signboards and marks on the ground where they had been found. Historians speculate Norihiro Ouchi first used the hall as a retreat, then it was used to worship him after he died. That’s probably because the main part of the ruins are now used as Yasaka Shrine and Tsukiyama Shrine.

You can see there was the Eastern Moat in the past by the mark and signboard

The photo of the excavated cross section of the Eastern Moat, exhibited by Yamaguchi City Museum of History and Folklore

Konomine Castle Ruins are accessible

The ruins of Konomine Castle have also been designated as a National Historic Site. The castle was built on Konomine Mountain (at 338m above sea level), about 2km away from Ouchi Clan Hall. You can see the mountain standing out from the city area. You can access it by walking or driving. If you use a car, you can park at the mid slope of the mountain, however, you need to walk on the ridge to the top for about 500m.

The mountain where the ruins are can be seen from the city area

You need to walk on the ridge to the top

You will see some enclosures made of soil on the way there. They were thought to be built by the Ouchi Clan and used by the Mori Clan as well. The top is surrounded by stone walls which the Mori Clan built. They partially collapsed because the clan intentionally destroyed them when the castle was abandoned. You can see a nice view of the city area including the hall ruins. The castle and the hall makes a perfect combination.

The remaining stone walls on the Main Enclosure

A view of the city area from the Main Enclosure, the inside of the red circle is the Ouchi Clan Hall Ruins

A view of Konomine Castle Ruins from Ouchi Clan Hall Ruins

To be continued in “Ouchi Clan Hall/Konomine Castle Part3”
Back to “Ouchi Clan Hall/Konomine Castle Part1”