私の感想～My Impression – ページ 25 – 日本200名城バイリンガル (Japan's top 200 castles and ruins)

15.Ashikaga Clan Hall Part3

The hall survived because it became a temple.

Features

Ashikaga School

The Ashikaga School is next to Bannaji Temple in the southeast. The school teaching Confucianism was said to be moved to the current place during the Muromachi Period and have as many as 3,000 students during the Sengoku Period. Its remaining buildings are few such as the Confucian Shrine and some gates, but other parts including the school buildings, earthen walls and water moats were recently restored. You may feel it is more likely to look like a warrior’s hall than the temple.

The map around the castle

The remaining Nyutoku-mon Gate of Ashikaga School

The restored school building of Ashikaga School

The restored earthen walls and water moats surround the school

Ruins of Kabasaki Temple

The ruins of Kabasaki Temple (the current Kabasaki Hachimangu Shrine) are about 5km away from Bannaji Temple in the northeast. Kabasaki Temple had been originally built by Yoshikane Ashikaga as his retreat, and considered the holy of the hollies for his clan. However, it declined after the Meiji Restoration for the same reason as Bannaji Temple with the only one building remaining. The site was recently excavated and has been developing as a historical site by officials. There, you can see the foundations of its buildings such as the Multi-Treasure Pagoda and the Mausoleum. That’s why there might have been similar scenery to Bannaji Temple in the past. In addition, restored stone steps go down from the ruins to the restored Pure Land style pond garden. The style refers to the builder who wanted to create a Pure Land in his garden so that they could go the real Pure Land after their death. The garden probably shows Yoshikane’s religious faith.

The restored Pure Land style pond garden

My Impression

I had little complex impression about Ashikaga Clan Hall when I visited the ruins. They don’t have outstanding items for a castle, instead, they remained as a temple. If the hall continued to be used as the hall, it wouldn’t have survived until now because of some battles or conversions. Hence, I understood that it is rare to see such many old remaining buildings in one place as the hall was turned into the temple.

How to get There

If you want to visit Ashikaga Clan Hall Ruins by car, it is about a 15-minute drive away from Ashikaga IC on the Kita-Kanto Expressway. There is a parking lot for visitors of the tourist information center in Ashikaga City, called Taiheikikan, near the ruins. It would be better to use a car if you also want to visit Kabasaki Temple Ruins.
If you want to use public transportation, it takes about 10 to 15 minutes on foot from JR Ashikaga Station or Tobu Ashikagashi Station.
From Tokyo to JR Ashikaga Station: Take the Tohoku Shinkansen super express and transfer to the Ryomo line at Oyama Station.
From Tokyo to Tobu Ashikagashi Station: Take the JR Ueno-Tokyo Line from Tokyo Station and transfer to the Ryomo limited express on the Tobu Isesaki Line at Kitasenju Station.

That’s all. Thank you.
Back to “Ashikaga Clan Hall Part1”
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15.足利氏館　その３

寺になったことで館跡として今に残ったのでしょう。

特徴、見どころ

足利学校

足利学校は、鑁阿寺の南西となりにあります。この学校は儒教の教育を行っていましたが、室町時代に現在の地に移転してきて、戦国時代には３千人もの生徒がいたと言われています。現存している建物としては聖廟や門（入徳・学校・杏壇の三門）がありますが、他の校舎などの建物や土塁・堀は最近になって復元されたものです。その姿は、鑁阿寺よりも武士の館のように感じられるかもしれません。

城周辺の地図

樺崎寺跡

樺崎寺跡（現在の樺崎八幡宮）は、鑁阿寺の北東、約５ｋｍの場所にあります。樺崎寺は、もともと足利義兼の隠居所として建てられましたが、足利氏にとって最も聖なる奥の院とされました。しかし明治維新後は、鑁阿寺と同じ理由で衰退し、たった一つの建物が残るだけとなりました。この場所は最近になって発掘され、史跡として整備が進められています。ここでは、多宝塔や御廟などの基礎部分（礎石）を見学することができ、つまりは昔は鑁阿寺と同じような光景であったかもしれないのです。更には、史跡からは復元された石段が、これも復元された浄土式庭園に向かって下っています（ビジターは通れません）。この形式の庭園は、施主がその庭に浄土の姿を再現し、死後に本物の浄土に行けるように願ったことを示しています。この庭園は恐らく、義兼の宗教観を表していると考えられます。

私の感想

足利氏館跡を訪れたとき、少々複雑な思いを持ちました。そこには城として特筆すべきものはありませんが、その代わりに寺として残っています。もしこの館が館として使い続けられていたとしたら、戦いの場となったり用途変更により今に残ることはなかったのではないでしょうか。よって、館が寺に変わったことにより、稀に見るまでに一ヶ所にこのような多くの古い建物が残っているのだと思いました。

ここに行くには

車で行く場合：北関東自動車道の足利ICから約１５分のところです。館跡近くの観光案内所「太平記館」にビジター向け駐車場があります。樺崎寺跡にも行こうとするならば、車を使った方がよいでしょう。
公共交通機関を使う場合は、ＪＲ足利駅か、東武線の足利市駅から歩いて約１０分から１５分かかります。
東京からＪＲ足利駅まで：東北新幹線に乗って、小山駅で両毛線に乗り換えてください。
東京から東武足利市駅まで：東京駅からＪＲ上野東京ラインに乗って、北千住駅で特急りょうもう号に乗り換えてください。

リンク、参考情報

・国宝　鑁阿寺
・「人を歩く　足利尊氏と関東／清水克行著」吉川弘文館
・「下野足利氏シリーズ・中世関東武士の研究　第九巻／田中大喜著」戎光祥出版

これで終わります。ありがとうございました。
「足利氏館その１」に戻ります。
「足利氏館その２」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.
Back to “Sadowara Castle Part1”
Back to “Sadowara Castle Part2”