立地と歴史～Location and History – ページ 92 – 日本200名城バイリンガル (Japan's top 200 castles and ruins)

39.Gifu Castle Part1

The castle for Nobunaga Oda to unify the nation by force

Location and History

Castle protected by Mt. Kinkazan and Nagara-gawa River

If you go from Nagoya City to Gifu City, the prefectural capital of Gifu Pref. through the Nobi Plain, the first high mountain you will see is Mt. Kinkazan with the Main Tower on the top. This is Gifu Castle. It may have been very common for warriors to build their castle on such an outstanding spot. The Nagara-gawa River also flows on the north and west of the castle as a part of the natural terrain and served as a defense mechanism for the castle.

The location of the castle

*Mt. Kinkazan (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

Nobunaga Oda declares Unify Nation by Force

It is said that the Nikaido Clan first built the castle in the 13th Century, but the details are uncertain. In the mid 16th Century, the Saito Clan improved the castle which until then, was called Inabayama Castle. In 1567, Nobunaga Oda took over the castle from the Saito Clan, and moved his home base from Komakiyama Castle to this castle. At the same time, he renamed the castle Gifu Castle, which comes from the hometown’s name of an ancient Chinese Dynasty, Shou. He also started using his seal of “Tenka-Fubu” or Unify the Nation by Force for his documents. This was seen as Nobunaga’s declaration of his intention for the unification of Japan.

The portrait of Nobunaga Oda, attributed to Soshu Kano, owned by Chokoji Temple, in the late 16th century (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The *seal of Unify the Nation by Force (licensed by 百楽兎 via Wikimedia Commons)*

However, even according to the excavations, it is still not entirely sure what the top of the mountain looked like and if there was a Main Tower or not. Some gates and stone walls were built, but the natural terrain on the mountain was not modified so much. Some historians speculate this is because the mountain was originally a sanctuary spot where its rocky terrain itself could be the object of worship. There was actually an Inaba Shrine on the mountain before the Saito Clan improved the castle. Nobunaga lived on the top of the mountain with his family and relatives, and usually didn’t allow other people to climb on the mountain.

The miniature model of the top of Mt. Kinkazan (Gifu Castle Museum)

Featured Nobunaga’s Palace Residence

On the other hand, at the western foot of the mountain called Keyakitdani, Nobunaga’s residence, which was like a luxurious palace, was built. The residence had four stories covering the terraced terrain with golden foiled roof tiles. The foundation of the residence was built with stone walls, in particular, and its entrance was decorated by huge stone walls. The back of the residence had deluxe artificial gardens also with huge stones. The way of building the castle is said to have led to the next way for building the Azuchi Castle later.

The imaginary drawing of Nobunaga’s residence *(Gifu Castle Museum)*

After Nobunaga died, his relatives continued to govern the castle. In 1600, when Hidenobu Oda, Nobunaga’s grandchild was the lord of the castle, the battle of Sekigahara happened. Hidenobu supported the Western Army led by Mitsunari Ishida, while the Eastern Army under the Tokugawa Shogunate attacked Gifu Castle. Hidenobu was defeated and it is said that the buildings Nobunaga built were burned down during the battle.

The portrait of Hidenobu Oda, owned by Raikoji Temple (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

To be continued in “Gifu Castle Part2”

39.岐阜城　その１

織田信長の天下布武の城

立地と歴史

金華山と長良川に守られた城

名古屋市から岐阜県の県都である岐阜市に向かって濃尾平野を進んでいくと、最初の高い山である金華山とその頂上に天守が見えてきます。これが岐阜城です。このような目立った場所に城を築くことは武士にとって当然だったかもしれません。また、長良川が城の北と西側を流れていて、自然の地形を成すとともに、城の防衛のためにも役立っていました。

城の位置

金華山 *(licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

織田信長が天下布武を宣言

１３世紀に二階堂氏が最初にこの城を築いたと言われていますが、詳細は不明です。１６世紀中頃になって斎藤氏が城を改築し、その頃までに稲葉山城と呼ばれるようになりました。1567年、織田信長が斎藤氏からこの城を奪い、本拠地を小牧山城からこの城に移しました。同時に彼は城の名前を岐阜城と変えました。この名前は、中国古代王朝の周の出身地にちなんでいます。彼はまた、文書に「天下布武」の印章を使い始めました。これは、信長が日本を統一する意思を宣言したものとみなされています。

織田信長肖像画、狩野宗秀作、長興寺蔵、１６世紀後半 (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

天下布武の印 *(licensed by 百楽兎 via Wikimedia Commons)*

ところが、発掘を行っても、山頂がどのようであったのか、また天守があったのかどうか全くはっきりしないのです。いくらか門や石垣が築かれたのは確かですが、山の自然の地形はそれ程改変されませんでした。歴史家は、その理由としてこの山はもともと、それ自身の岩場が聖地として崇拝の対象であったからと推測しています。実際、斎藤氏が城を改変する前は、伊奈波神社が山の上にあったのです。信長は、山の頂上に家族、近親者とともに住み、通常は他人には山に登らせなかったといいます。

注目される信長の居館

一方で、欅谷と呼ばれた山の西麓には、豪華な宮殿のような信長の居館が築かれました。この公居館は、階段状の地形を覆った４階建てで、金箔の瓦が載っていました。その基礎は石垣で作られ、特にその入り口は巨石により飾られていました。このような城の作り方はその後、次に来る安土城につながったと言われています。

信長の死後、彼の一族がこの城を治め続けました。1600年、信長の孫である織田秀信が城主だったとき、関ヶ原の戦いが起こりました。秀信は、石田三成率いる西軍に味方しましたが、徳川幕府方の東軍が岐阜城を攻撃しました。秀信は敗れ、信長が築いた建物はこのとき焼けてしまったと言われます。

織田秀信肖像画、来迎寺蔵 *(licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

「岐阜城その２」に続きます。

40.Yamanaka Castle Part1

The castle for the western defense of the Hojo Clan

Location and History

Western Defense for Hojo Clan

Yamanaka Castle was located on the west of Hakone Barrier, the western gateway of Kanto Region, now in the eastern part of Shizuoka Prefecture. The castle was first built in the middle 16th Century during the Sengoku Period by the Hojo Clan, who owned Kanto Region. The clan aimed to protect their home base, Odawara Castle on the eastern side of Hakone Barrier, by building Yamanaka Castle. This castle was also improved before the ruler, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, attacked the Hojo Clan in 1590.

The location of the castle

Yamanaka Castle was built surrounding the Tokaido Road, one of the major roads in Japan. During that time, if someone walked up the slope on the road from the west, it would require passing through the castle. The road was actually on the Third Enclosures of the castle, and beside the Main Enclosure. The Third Enclosure also had water moats on the west to prevent enemies’ attacks and was for the water reservoir.
On the south of the Third Enclosure, a long defense strongpoint called “Taizaki-demaru” spread with the road parallelly. On the west of the Third Enclosure, the Second Enclosure, the West Enclosure, and the West Turret were added towards that direction. These enclosures were able to work closely to prevent attacks from enemy forces.

The location map of the ruins of Yamanaka Castle (from the signboard at the site)

Hojo’s Unique Methods for building Castle

The techniques used in the castle were unique to the Hojo Clan. All the enclosures were made of earthworks, using natural terrain such as ridges and valleys. They were mainly connected by wooden bridges which could fall down when a battle happened. They were also divided by deep dry moats whose bottoms were left parallel or as latticed ridges. The method for building the moats is called “Une-bori” for the parallel ridges and “Shoji-bori” for the latticed ridges. These dry moat building methods are considered features of the Hojo’s castles. Once soldiers fell into the moat, they couldn’t move from there at all. The area of the castle reached about 200,000 square meters. Hojo thought the castle could make Hideyoshi stuck for a while.

Fall in Battle of Yamanaka Castle

However, the castle was captured by Hideyoshi in just half a day. In the early morning, March 29, 1590, nearly 70,000 soldiers of Hideyoshi’s troop started to attack the castle, while the number of the defenders was only about 4,000. The attackers first charged both the West Turret and the Taizaki-Demaru defense strongpoint, but they suffered a significant number of casualties by the counterattack of Hojo’s guns. If it was a local battle, the attacker might have paused the charge to prevent more damages. However, the commanders forcibly continued to charge, otherwise, they might have been fired by the ruler. That resulted in the success of capturing the castle for Hideyoshi in exchange for a lot of dead soldiers including one of the Hideyoshi’s commander, Naosue Hitotsuyanagi.

The Portrait of Hideyoshi Toyotomi, attributed to Mitsunobu Kano, ownd by Kodaiji Temple (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

This battle lasted for a few hours. It is said that another reason for the short battle was that Hojo’s soldiers were confused because their head, Ujikatsu Hojo, escaped from the castle. Others point out that the Taizaki-Demaru defense strongpoint was unfinished in construction before Hideyoshi’s attack. Anyway, even such a strong castle couldn’t survive without enough soldiers and the right instructions.

To be continued in “Yamanaka Castle Part2”