立地と歴史～Location and History – ページ 29 – 日本200名城バイリンガル (Japan's top 200 castles and ruins)

198.Chiran Castle Part1

This castle was built using features of the Shirasu Plateau

Location and History

Many attractions of Chiran

Chiran area of Minami-Kyushu City in Kagoshima Prefecture has many attractions. First, it is known for Chiran tea leaves, which is planted on Shirasu Plateau enriched with ashes of the volcanic zone in the southern Kyushu Region, largely covering the area. The city recently became the largest producer of Japanese tea in the nation in 2017.

A tea plantation at Minami-Kyushu City *(licensed by Ray_go via Wikimedia Commons)*

Second, the area also became popular with its history of the Kamikaze corps of Chiran Airport. The history is kind of a tragedy, however, because it was on a plateau with good wind direction, the area was suitable for building the airport. It had originally been used for the normal Japanese Army air corps practices, but was eventually turned into a base for Kamikaze due to the crucial situation of the final stage of WWII.

The Triangle Barrack of Chiran Airport for Kamikaze pilots

Thirdly, people often visit Chiran Samurai Residences which are located in the plains at the foot of the plateau. The residences have a traditional atmosphere with many gardens and some remaining buildings. Their main street still looks like the original one in the Edo Period. They were originally built in the 17th Century by the Sata Clan which was a relative of the Shimazu Clan, the lord of Satsuma Province including the Chiran area. The Satsuma Domain led by the Shimazu Clan was based in Kagoshima Castle far from Chiran. Other domains at that time usually brought their retainers together in their home base. However, the Satsuma Domain had a unique system called Tojo or the Outer Castles. It refers to the domain sending many of its retainers to their own sites and letting them govern and protect it by themselves. Chiran Samurai Residences were one of the Outer Castles, which was also called Chiran Roku.

The main street of Chiran Samurai Residences *(licensed by Naokijp via Wikimedia Commons)*

The miniature model of Izumi Outer Castle, a representative one in the Satsuma Domain, exhibited by the Kagoshima Prefectural Center for Historical Material

Castle is built using Shirasu Plataeu

Finally, Chiran Castle may be less popular than the three attractions above, but the Sata Clan had originally lived in the castle before they were moved to the residences at the foot of the plateau. It was a kind of mountain castle which was a common way to live and protect themselves as warriors until the 16th Century during the Sengoku Period. However, the castle was built with a very unique method using the special conditions the Chiran area had. It was located on the edge of the Shirasu Plateau which looks like a cove. A plateau made of volcanic ash is fragile so that its edge can become a cliff. Soil of the plateau is also easy to process, that way, the builders of Chiran Castle made high walls and deep moats easily. As a result, the enclosures of the castle looked like several huge columns at the edge.

The location of the castle

The aerial photo of Chiran Castle Ruins, quoted from the website of Minami-Kyushu City

Chiran Castle had four primary enclosures such as the Main Enclosure in the center and several sub enclosures around. Each enclosure was independent, surrounded by dry moats which were over 25m deep. If enemies wanted to attack the castle even from the plateau which was the same level as the top of the castle, they were prevented by the deep dry moats from attacking directly. They were eventually also counterattacked by the defenders from over 25m above. Some primary enclosures also had artificial defense system for their entrances , called Masugata. It refers to a square space at the entrance, where the route to the inside of the enclosure is not straight intentionally.

The relief map arountd the castle

The layout of Chiran Castle, quoted from the website of Minami-Kyushu City

History of Castle

The castle is said to be first built by the Sata Clan in the 14th Century. After that, the Ijuin Clan took the Chiran area including this castle from the Sata Clan in the 15th Century, but their master, the Shimazu Clan gave it back to the Sata Clan. In 1591, the clan was punished due to being against the Act to Ban Piracy and was banished from the castle again, but came back to the castle in 1610. Finally, the castle was burned down by an accidental fire in the same period and the clan moved to the residences at the foot of the plateau following the domain’s policy. The castle was eventually abandoned. However, the clan seemed to maintain the castle ruins in some ways because ceramic-ware in the Edo Period after the abandonment was found by the excavation team.

To be continued in “Chiran Castle Part2”

198.知覧城　その１

シラス台地の特徴を生かして築かれた城

立地と歴史

知覧の名産名所

鹿児島県に属する南九州市の知覧地区には多くの名産名所があります。まず最初に挙げられるのは知覧茶でしょう。知覧茶は、南九州に分布する火山地帯からの火山灰が広範に降り積もったことで形成されたシラス台地上で栽培されています。南九州市は2017年、日本茶を最も多く産出した地方自治体となりました。

南九州市の茶畑 *(licensed by Ray_go via Wikimedia Commons)*

次には、知覧飛行場での神風特別攻撃隊の歴史も有名になっています。特攻隊の歴史は悲劇の一つと言えるでしょうが、この場所自体は台地上で風向きにも恵まれいて、飛行場の建設に適していました。もともとこの飛行場は通常の陸軍航空隊の練習用に使われていたのですが、第二次世界大戦の戦局の悪化のため、特攻隊基地になってしまったのです。

三番目としては、台地の麓に広がる平地部分にある知覧武家屋敷群が観光名所となっています。この一帯には多くの庭園といくらかの現存建物もあり、昔の雰囲気を残しています。武家屋敷通りはまるで江戸時代そのままのように見えます。この屋敷群は、知覧を含む薩摩国の領主であった島津氏の一族である佐多氏によって築かれました。島津氏による薩摩藩は知覧からは遠くにある鹿児島城を本拠地としていました。当時の他の藩は通常、藩士たちを本拠地があるところに集住させていましたが、薩摩藩は「外城（とじょう）」と呼ばれる独特の仕組みを採用していました。それは、藩士の多くを辺境の地に送り込み、自分たちで統治と防衛を担わせるというものでした。知覧武家屋敷群は外城の一つであり、知覧麓（ちらんろく）とも呼ばれました。

知覧武家屋敷通り *(licensed by Naokijp via Wikimedia Commons)*

*代表的な外城の一つ、出水（いずみ）外城の模型、鹿児島県歴史・美術センター黎明館にて展示*

シラス台地を利用して築城

最後になってしまいましたが、知覧城は上記３つの名産名所に比べたら知られていないでしょう。しかし佐多氏はもともと、台地の麓の屋敷群に移るまではこの城を居城としていたのです。この城は一種の山城であり、戦国時代の１６世紀までは武士たちが住み且つ身を守るために通常取っていた手段でした。ところが、この城は知覧という地域が有していた特殊な条件を使ったとてもユニークな方法で築かれていました。城は、まるで入り江のようにも見えるシラス台地の端に位置していました。火山灰によって成り立つ台地はもろく崩れやすく、その端の部分は崖になります。また、この台地の土は加工しやすく、そのため知覧城の築城者は高い壁や深い堀を比較的簡単に作れたのです。その結果、この城の曲輪群は台地の端にそそり立つ巨大な柱のような景観となりました。

城の位置

知覧城には、中心にある本丸等の４つの主要曲輪とその周りの補助曲輪から成り立っていました。それぞれの曲輪は独立していて、２５ｍ以上の深さの空堀に囲まれていました。もし敵が城の頂上部分と同じ高さの台地上から城を攻撃しようとしても、その深い空堀のために直接攻撃することは不可能でした。２５ｍ以上上の方から反撃を受けてしまうことになります。主要曲輪の中には、桝形と呼ばれる人工的に作った防御システムを持っているものもありました。これは、曲輪の入口のところにある四角い空間で、意図的に曲輪への通路が内部にまっすぐ入らないようにしたものです。

城周辺の起伏地図

城の歴史

この城は最初は１４世紀に佐多氏によって築かれたと言われています。その後、伊集院氏が１５世紀に城を含む知覧地域を佐多氏から奪いました。しかし、主君である島津氏が取り返し、佐多氏に返しました。1591年、佐多氏は海賊禁止令に違反したかどで罰せられ、城からも追放されてしまいました。ところが、1610年にはまたこの城に復帰します。最終的には同じ頃に失火により城が焼け、藩の方針に従う形で台地の麓に移住していきました。知覧城はやがて廃城となりますが、佐多氏は何らかの形で城跡を維持していたようなのです。発掘により、廃城の後の江戸自体の陶磁器が現地で見つかっているからです。

「知覧城その２」に続きます。

97.Kagoshima Castle Part1

The home base of the Shimazu Clan and the final place of Seinan War

Location and History

Castle is built after Battle of Sekigahara

Kagoshima Castle was the home base of the Shimazu Clan during the Edo Period and is also known as the final battlefield of Seinan War which was the last civil war in Japan in 1877. The Shimazu Clan had been a great warlord in the southern part of the Kyushu Region during the Sengoku Period between the middle 15th and the late 16th Centuries. However, in the fateful Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, the West Squad including the clan was completely defeated by the East Squad, led by Ieyasu Tokugawa who would be the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The Shimazu troops with about 1500 soldiers somehow escaped from the battlefield in the Chubu Region (central Japan) to their home base of Satsuma Province in the Kyushu Region. However, only 80 clan members survived.

The location of the castle

The folding screens of the Sekigahara Battle, owned by Sekigahara Town History and Folklore Museum (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The Shimazu Clan was worried that the shogunate would attack Satsuma Province directly. Therefore, the clan decided to build a new castle as their home base, which was stronger than their previous one like a simple hall. It was built at the foot of the Shiroyama Mountain on the west, which would be used as the final place for emergencies. It had the Main and Second Enclosures which were surrounded by stone walls and water moats from the north, the east and the south. The Main Enclosure had the Main Hall for the lord inside and one of the largest castle gates in Japan, called Goro-mon. However, the defense system of the castle was still not as complex as those of other major castles in Japan, such as the Main Tower, several-level turrets, and high, elaborately bent stone walls. This was because the Satsuma Domain led by the Shimazu Clan also had a unique defense system called Tojo or the Outer Castles. It refers to the domain sending many of its retainers to their local sites and letting them govern and protect it by themselves, which was different from other domains bringing their retainers together in their home base.

The miniature model of Kagoshima Castle, viewed from the northeastern direction, exhibited by the Kagoshima Prefectural Center for Historical Material

Thw part of Goro-mon Gate from the miniature model above

Luckily, the shogunate allowed the Satsuma Domain to continue to govern Satsuma Province until the end of the Edo Period. Even in Anglo-Satsuma War in 1863 when the English Navy battleships shot the Kagoshima city area, the castle was not targeted because it didn’t have tall buildings. After the Meiji Restoration, the castle was used as the prefectural office and as a Japanese Army base, but the buildings of the Main Enclosures were unfortunately burned down by an accidental fire in 1874.

The old photo of Kagoshima Castle, taken just before burning down, exhibited by the Kagoshima Prefectural Center for Historical Material

Outbreak of Seinan War

The climax event for the castle finally happened in 1877. Takamori Saigo, one of the Three Greatest Heroes of the Restoration, quit all his government posts, being against the other two, Toshimichi Okubo and Takayoshi Kido, and returned to his home of Kagoshima in 1873. He established his private school called Shigakko in the Second Enclosure of Kagoshima Castle in 1874 to educate young warriors. He tried to control the young people gently, however, as a result, he became the head of the rebellion against the government led by Okubo, which eliminated the privileges of warriors, such as having a sword, and it cut their hereditary salaries in 1876. Several rebellions happened in the same year, followed by the largest Seinan War led by Saigo, which occurred in February of 1877.

The portrait of Takamori Saigo by Edoardo Chiossone (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The portrait of Toshimichi Okubo (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Saigo with his troops decided to go north and capture Kumamoto Castle. He and his crew were at first optimistic as they were professional warriors and accommodated supporters from other areas in the Kyushu Region, with the total of 30,000 at maximum. While the number of the defenders in the castle was only over 3,000 and many of them were drafted farmers. The Saigo troops even expected that the defenders would soon surrender because some of their leaders had come from Satsuma. However, the defenders, led by General Tani, never surrendered and Okubo sent the reinforcement to the castle. It also had many drafted soldiers, but was more well trained than Saigo expected and more equipped and supplied than the Saigo troops. The government even used advanced information technologies such as telegraph the Saigo troops never had. Saigo had to withdraw from Kumamoto Castle in April and tried to stay in other areas in the Kyushu Region, such as Hitoyoshi Castle, but all failed. He finally declared the dissolution of his troops in August. He and his close warriors of only nearly 400 wanted to have their last and desperate battle in their original home base, Kagoshima Castle.

The commanders of Chinzei Chindai led by General Tateki Tani, from Asahi encyclopedia (licensed under Public Domain via Wikipedia Commons)

Last moment of Saigo and Castle

They somehow reached there in the first of September and allocated themselves to the foot area and Shiroyama Mountain. Of course, they were too few to prevent the government troops of as many as 50 thousands from attacking. If it had been in the Sengoku Period, Saigo would have set his stronghold on the mountain, but it was impossible because it could be targeted by cannons. Therefore, he had to stay in the caves in a valley between the mountain and the foot, which would be called the Saigo Caves later on. The government troops completely besieged the Satsuma rebels so that no one could escape. Their full scale attack was done on 24th of September. Saigo was assaulted from his cave, but was shot, and finally killed himself by performing the Harakiri.

The government army fortification around Shiroyama Mountain *(licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

To be continued in “Kagoshima Castle Part2”