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110.Miharu Castle Part2

The town and castle ruins have distinct tastes.

Features

Features of Miharu Town

If you visit the ruins of Miharu Castle today by train, you will find JR Miharu Station to be the nearest station from the castle, being at the bottom of the valley surrounded by the hills. In this area, the roads, train lines and rivers go through the valleys. Currently you will see many large official facilities and even some farmlands are on the hills. They have the distinct feature of the area. Similarly, we can easily speculate that people of this area in the past would have had access to this unique terrain which were important facilities for a castle.

Around the station surrounded by the hills

The relief map around the castle

The center of Miharu Town originates from the castle town of Miharu Castle. It was divided into 2 sections – the southern town and northern town. The route through the town has a 90 degree angle connecting the southern and northern parts. In the Southern Town, currently you can only see the remaining gate for the Miharu Domain school and the Miharu Primary School standing there. In the past, you would be able to see the Main Gate of the Castle and the Main Hall for the lord at the foot of the mountain.

The map around the castle

The remaining remaining gate for the Miharu Domain school

Route from Southern town

You can now access the ruins of Miharu Castle by climbing up the Castle Slope which is another route to the front of the castle. There, you will see several enclosures along the slope with some of them being used as modern residential area. In order to reach the top of the mountain, you will have to go up on a zigzagged trail. At the peaks of the trail, you will see the gate ruins such as the Second Gate, the Agetsuchi Gate and the Third Gate. This would have been the defense system of the castle. You will soon reach the entrance of the lower tier of the Main Enclosure at the top where the Large Gate once stood. You can only see the stone foundations of the gate from here.

The Castle Slope and the residential area around

The Large Gate ruins in the lower tier of the Main Enclosure

Route from Northern town

The Northern Town has a Back Route to the top of the mountain called the Sanbu-zaka Slope. The trail also zigzaggs along with a lot of empty enclosures which shows the long history of the castle. There, you will see the ruins of the Back Entrance, the ruins of the Turret and the few remaining stone walls which the Gamo Clan built before reaching the other entrance of the lower tier of the Main Enclosure. This is where the Back Gate would had been in the past.

Main Enclosure with Shrine and lots of Trees

The lower tier is an open square now, but the Three Story Turret stood out in the past. The upper tier of the Main Enclosure is next to the lower tier. It is mostly empty now because of the great fire that happened in the Edo Period. You can only see the shrine which worships the Akita Clan at the stone wall foundation. However I can not be certain if the stone walls are from the original castle. There, You will see a view of the other hills around overlooking the castle town. Lots of trees have been planted around the enclosure as a park attraction. Therefore this view is very beautiful during the spring and autumn seasons .

Is this the stone wall base for a Main Tower? but it seemed to be built after the castle was abandoned

The shrine which worships the Akita Clan on the stone walls

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

110.三春城　その２

この町と城跡には独特の味わいがあります。

特徴、見どころ

三春町の特徴

今日、三春城城跡へ電車を使って行く場合には、ＪＲ三春駅が最寄りの駅ということになりますが、駅は丘に囲まれた谷底にあります。この地域では、道路、鉄道、川は谷筋を走っています。そして現在、多くの公的施設と、農地でさえも丘の上にあることに気づきます。これらがこの地域一帯の目立った特徴となっています。過去のこの地域の人々もこの独特の地形を、城のような重要な施設に利用しただろうと想像できます。

城周辺の起伏地図

三春町の中心部は、三春城の城下町に由来しています。そこは２つの部分、南町と北町に分かれています。町を貫く道は、南町と北町をつなぐ所で直角に曲がっています。南町には現在、現存する三春藩藩校の正門と、三春小学校しかありません。過去には、山麓に作った城の大手門と、城主のための御殿がありました。

城周辺の地図

南町からのルート

三春城城跡には、城の正面に行くためのもう一つの道であった城坂を登って行くことができます。そこでは、坂に沿っていくつもの曲輪が残っていて、その中には現代の住居地域として使われているものもあります。山頂にたどり着くためには、曲がりくねった道を登っていかねばなりません。道が曲がる所には、二の門、揚土（あげつち）門、三の門といった門跡があります。これらは城の防御システムでした。そのうちにかつて大門が立っていた山頂の本丸下段入口に着きます。そこには今は門の礎石のみが残っています。

北町からのルート

一方、北町には三部坂と呼ばれる山頂への搦手道があります。この道もまた曲がりくねっていて、道沿いにはたくさんの空の曲輪があり、城の長い歴史を感じます。本丸下段の別の入口にたどり着くまでに、搦手門跡、矢倉跡、わずかに残る蒲生氏が築いた石垣を見ることができます。その入口には過去には裏門がありました。

祠があり木が植えられた本丸

本丸下段は現在広場となっています。過去にはここに三階櫓が立っていました。本丸上段は下段のとなりにあります。江戸時代に起こった大火以来、ほとんどなにもない状態です。石垣の基礎の上に、秋田氏を祀った祠があるのみです。この石垣が、もともと城があったときから存在していたのか、私にはわかりませんでした。そこからは周りの丘や、城下町一帯を見渡すことができます。公園の見所として本丸周辺には多くの木が植えられています。春か秋には、素晴らしい景色を楽しむことができるでしょう。

「二本松城その３」に続きます。
「二本松城その１」に戻ります。

110.Miharu Castle Part1

A castle that struggled to survive

Location and History

Tamura Clan first governed Castle which became branch of Wakamatsu Castle later

Miharu Castle was located in the Tamura District of Mutsu Province (what is now the modern day Miharu Town in Fukushima Prefecture). The area connected the inland and seaside areas, so it was regarded as being important. In the first 16th Century, the Tamura Clan governed the area and built Miharu Castle on the highest hill around the area. In the middle 16th Centrury, the lord of the clan, Kiyoaki Tamura was threatened by other larger warlords such as the Ashina Clan in the west, the Soma Clan in the east and the Satake Clan in the south. Therfore, he decided to form an allegiance with Masamune Date, a great warlord in the north, by marrying his daughter with Masamune. Masamune stayed in Miharu Castle for a while in 1588 before conquering the Tohoku Region and beating the Ashina Clan in 1589. The Tamura Clan succeeded to survive under Masamune. Miharu Castle was developed and it spread to other hills by the clan.

The location of the castle

However, the Tamura Clan was disbanded by the ruler, Hideyoshi Toyotomi in 1590. This is because the lord of the clan, Muneaki Tamura didn’t respond to the call from Hideyoshi who considered the Tamura Clan as an indipendent lord. However the Tamura Clan didn’t feel this way. It may have been the clan’s mistake, but some historians say it might have been a conspiracy of Masamune who should have madiated Hideyoshi and the Tamura Clan because of the clan’s territory including Miharu Castle finally belonging to Masamune.

The family crest of the Tamura Clan called the Tamura Japanese Ginger *(licensed by Fraxinus2 via Wikimedia Commons)*

The portrait of Masamune Date owned by Sendai City Museum (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Miharu Castle became a branch castle of Wakamatsu Castle which became Masamune’s home base. After that, the lords of Wakamatsu Castle were changed to other clans – the Gamo, Uesugi and Kato Clans. Miharu Castle was made stronger by them. They built stone walls and developed a castle town. However, sometimes it was not used and would eventually be abandoned. Finally in 1627, the Matsushita Clan was transferred by the Tokugawa Shogunate to Miaharu Castle. This meant it had been a while since they had been independent . Miharu Castle remained a mountain castle until the end.

Akita Clan maintained Castle as home base of Miharu Domain in Edo Period

After the Matsushita Clan was unfortunately disbanded in 1645, the Akita Clan governed Miharu Castle and the Miharu Domain until the end of the Edo Period. They modernized Miharu Castle. The lord built the Main Hall for him at the foot of the mountain and he usually lived there. There were also the former Main Hall and the Three Story Turret in the Main Enclosure at the top of the mountain. These older buildings were used for ceremonies and became the symbols of the castle. When the great fire burned most of the castle buildings in 1785, the buildings at the foot were restored. Everything on the top was burned by the fire, and only the Three Story Turret was restored in the end.

The place where the main hall for the lord was (what is now Miharu Primary School)

The layout of Miharu Castle ( from the signboard at the site)

Castle survived in Meiji Restoration

In 1868 during the Meiji Restoration, the Boshin War between the New Government and the domains supporting Tokugawa Shogunate finally happened. The Miharu Domain first belonged to the domains, but it secretly surrendered to the New Government which opened Miharu Castle. The domains eventually left. However, the domains who were abandoned felt very angry. The people in Miharu survived and aviided a serious tragedy. Otherwise, they would have been defeated by the New Government such as those in Shirakawa-Komine Castle, Nihonmatsu Castle and Wakamatsu Castle.

Akisue Akita, the last lord of the Miharu Domain (*licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons*)

To be continued in “Miharu Castle Part2”