内容～Content – ページ 210 – 日本200名城バイリンガル (Japan's top 200 castles and ruins)

164.Sumoto Castle Part2

Great stone walls remain on the mountain.

Features

Castle Entrance was strictly protected

Now, the ruins of Sumoto Castle on the mountain are developed for visitors and maintain their original stone walls. If you drive to the ruins, you can easily park near the top of Mikuma-yama Mountain. The mountain has steep slopes in all directions except for the southeast direction where the diving route is on a gentle slope. For the castle, such a slope could be a weak point, so the strongest defense system in the castle was developed in this direction such as the Main Gate. In fact, the parking lot you can park was one of the enclosures called Umaya or the Stable, which protected the gate. You can also see a great view of Kii Channel to the south from here. That’s why this enclosure could have been used as an observation platform.

The map around the castle

From the parking lot to the center of the castle, you will first have to walk on the narrow route along the stone walls of the Eastern Enclosure on the right, and in front of the stone walls of the Southern Enclosure. Then, you will enter the ruins of the Southern Gate of the Eastern Enclosure

The map around the castle

The narrow route to the center of the castle

The entrance is surrounded by the stone walls

The ruins of the Southern Gate of the Eastern Enclosure

If you climb up these stone walls after entering the gate, you can clearly look down the route you passed and understand how such a system protected this spot in the past.

In the case looking down from the stone walls of the Eastern Enclosure

*In the case looking down from* the ruins of the Corner Turret of the Southern Enclosure

The ruins of the Corner Turret of the Southern Enclosure

After that, you can reach the Main Enclosure by passing the Second Enclosure which is also surrounded by the stone walls.

Main Enclosure, symbol of Authority

The Main Enclosure has the greatest and highest stone walls in the castle. It has the front side in the south with the Large Stone Steps and the front entrance called Koguchi. The entrance has a square space inside surrounded by the stone walls, which is also called Uchi-Masugata. You can also climb up the surrounding stone walls and look down the entrance and see the shape of the square space. It is thought that a turret gate building was built on the stone walls, which made the entrance more defensive and displayed the authority of the lord.

The map around the castle

The Large Stone Steps of the Main Enclosure

The Koguchi Entrance of the Main Enclosure

Imitation Main Tower, Symbol of Present Castle

The Main Enclosure also has the imitation Main Tower on the original stone wall base for the Main Tower. It was built to celebrate the enthronization of Emperor Showa in 1928 as a modern observation platform. However, it cannot be used for observation now because it has aged and could prove to be quite dangerous. Therefore, it is used as just a symbol of the castle or a landmark of the city. You can even see a great view of Sumoto city area – the former castle town, and Osaka Bay to the north under the tower. You will once again understand why this was a good location for the castle, which served to protect it and overlook the area around.

The name plate installed when the tower was built

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

164.洲本城　その２

山上に素晴らしい石垣が残っています。

特徴、見どころ

厳重に守られていた城の入口

現在、山上の洲本城跡は観光客向けに整備され、オリジナルの石垣が維持されています。もし車で来られる場合は、三熊山の山頂近くまで登って駐車することができます。三熊山はどの方角も急坂になっていますが、東南だけが緩い坂になっていて、自動車道はそこを通っています。城にとっては、そのような坂は弱点となってしまいます。そのため、大手門など、この城で最も強力な防御システムはこの方角に整備されました。実は、車を停める駐車場は曲輪の一つで、馬屋と呼ばれました（月見台とも呼ばれました）。ここからは、南の方角に素晴らしい紀伊水道を眺めることができます。そのために、この曲輪は見張り台として使われたものと思われます。

城周辺の地図

駐車場から城の中心部にいくには最初、東の丸の石垣を右側に、南の丸の石垣を正面とする細い通路を歩いていかねばなりません。そして、東の丸の南門跡から入っていきます。

城周辺の地図

門から入った後、これらの石垣（東の丸、南の丸隅櫓跡など）に登っていただくと、今通ってきた通路をはっきり見下ろすことができ、かつてはこの地点がどのように防御されていたのか理解することができます。

その後は、同じように石垣に囲まれている二の丸を通れば、本丸に到達します。

城の権威の象徴だった本丸

本丸には、この城で最も素晴らしく、最も高い石垣があります。本丸は南側が正面となっていて、大石段と入口である虎口があります。虎口には内側に四角い空間があり、石垣に囲まれています。この部分はまた、内桝形と呼ばれています。周りを囲んでいる石垣にも上がってみることができ、虎口と四角い空間を見下ろしてその形を確認することができます。かつて石垣の上には櫓門の建物があったと考えられています。虎口はより強力な防御力をもち、城主の権威をも表していたことでしょう。

城周辺の地図

模擬天守は現代の城のシンボル

本丸には、オリジナルの天守台石垣の上に模擬天守も建てられています。この天守は、近代的な展望台として1928年に昭和天皇の即位式（御大典）を記念して建設されました。しかし、老朽化と耐久性に問題があることで、現在では展望のためには使うことはできません。よって、この天守は、城のシンボルか、洲本市のランドマークとしてのみ存在しているのです。天守の下からでも北の方角に、以前城下町であった洲本市域や大阪湾の素晴らしい景色が見えます。この場所が城にとって、防御のためにも周辺地域を見渡す上でもとても良い立地だったことを、改めて理解できることと思います。

「洲本城その３」に続きます。
「洲本城その１」に戻ります。

164.Sumoto Castle Part1

A great castle on Awaji Island

Location and History

Castle built in Independent Awaji Province

Sumoto Caste was located on Awaji Island which is between the main island of Japan and Shikoku Island with two narrow straits. Awaji Island is also surrounded by the Harima Sea, Osaka Bay and Kii Channel. The island was also near Kyoto, which was considered the center of Japan. Awaji was regarded as an important location before the Modern Times, especially for controlling and monitoring water transportation.

The location of the castle

As a result, it became an independent province and was called Awaji Province (what is now part of Hyogo Prefecture). In the 16th Century during the Sengoku Period, the Atagi Clan under the Miyoshi Clan first built Sumoto Castle for commanding navy forces. However, the Atagi Clan surrendered to the ruler, Hideyoshi Toyotomi in 1581. Hideyoshi finally sent his retainer, Yasuharu Wakizaka, to Sumoto Castle in 1585. Yasuharu governed the castle as the lord of the Sumoto Domain for 24 years until 1609 when he was transferred to Ozu Castle.

The portrait of Yasuharu Wakizaka, owned by Tatsuno Shrine (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Yasuharu Wakizawa improved Castle significantly

Sumoto Castle was originally a simple mountain castle made of soil on Mikuma-yama Mountain where the sea area around can be seen from the top. Yasuharu renovated Sumoto Castle by building stone walls and many turrets including the Main Tower on the mountain. These structures came from the typical method for building castles used by Hideyoshi and his retainers. This building method spread across the whole country during Hideyoshi’s unification of Japan. They made their castles stronger which made people recognize their authority. Yasuharu also built his main hall and the castle town at the foot of the mountain. He finally constructed a direct route made with terraced stone walls called Nobori-Ishigaki or the Climbing Stone Walls. The stone walls connected the foot and the top of the mountain. This is one of the few remaining examples of it which some lords, including Yasuharu, developed during the Imjin War in Korea for transmission or defense. He applied it to Sumoto Castle after he returned to Japan. Sumoto Castle was then considered completed.

The relief map around the castle

Castle is once abandoned

However, Sumoto Castle was not used by other lords after Yasuharu was transferred. This was because Awaji Province became part of their territories and they used other castles as their branch castles in the province. Moreover, the castle was once abandoned after The Law of One Castle per Province by the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1615. All the buildings on the mountain were demolished by the Hachisuka Clan which governed Awaji Province and Awa Province (what is now Tokushima Prefecture) at that time. According to a theory, the Main Tower for Sumoto Castle was moved to Ozu Castle by Yasuharu before Sumoto Castle was abandoned. The style of the Main Tower at Ozu Castle matches one of the popular methods for main towers when Yasuharu was at Sumoto Castle.

The location of branch castles in Awaji Island

Stone walls maintained as branch of Hachisuka Clan

In 1631, the Hachisuka Clan restored Sumoto Castle as their branch castle in Awaji Province for reasons unknown. They sent their senior vassal, the Inada Clan to the castle to govern it. However, the center of the castle was set at the foot of the mountain by re-building the main hall for the lord. The mountain part had just the maintained stone walls which the Wakizaka Clan built, with few new gates added. This is probably because Sumoto Castle was a branch of Hachisuka Clan, not their home base called Tokushima Castle, but needed as a place for emergency on the mountain. This unique design was kept until the end of the Edo Period in the middle of the 19th Century.

Part of the illustration of Sumoto Castle and the castle town, in the Edo Period, exhibited by the National Diet Library, Only the stone walls already remained on the mountain

The castle ruins of the foot of the mountain(licensed by Reggaeman via Wikimedia Commons)

To be continued in “Sumoto Castle Part2”