言語～Language – ページ 94 – 日本200名城バイリンガル (Japan's top 200 castles and ruins)

74.Iwakuni Castle Part1

The castle is reflected by Hiroie Kikkawa’s life.

Location and History

Hiroie saves Mori Clan

Iwakuni is known for its beautiful scenery from Kintaikyo bridge which has five magnificent wooden arches. The bridge over Nishikigawa River also has a good background of a mountain with the Main Tower of Iwakuni Castle. Visitors may think they all remain as they were, however, the castle has many episodes, in fact, and had a tough life.

Kintaikyo bridge with the background of Iwakuni Castle on the mountain

Hiroie Kikkawa was the founder of the castle, who also was a senior vassal and relative of the Mori Clan. The clan governed most of the Chugoku Region with an earning of 1.2 million koku of rice at the end of the 16th Century. However, after the ruler of Japan, Hideyoshi Toyotomi died in 1598, the situation became unstable. Many lords tried to rely on Ieyasu Tokugawa, the largest one in eastern Japan with 2.5 million koku as the next ruler, while others including Mitsunari Ishida still supported the Toyotomi Clan. Mitsunari tried to make the lord of the Mori Clan, Terumoto Mori as their leader because the clan was the largest lord in western Japan. The opinions inside the clan were divided. One is to support Mitsunari and become the next ruler instead of Ieyasu, mainly insisted by Ekei Ankokuji, the other is to support Ieyasu to maintain their territory, objected by Hiroie.

The portrait of Hiroie Kikkawa, owned by Historiographical Institute the University of Tokyo (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The portrait of Terumoto Mori, owned by the Mori Museum (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

When the Battle of Sekigahara happened in 1600, Terumoto became the head of the West Quad which was actually led by Mitsunari, because being a ruler was attractive to him. Hiroie was a cool-headed commander who knew his master couldn’t take over the East Quad led by Ieyasu. Therefore, he contacted Ieyasu secretly and promised that his troops would not do anything in the battle in exchange for maintaining the Mori’s territory. As a result, Ieyasu defeated Mitsunari. However, after the battle, Ieyasu found out the evidence that Terumoto had wanted to be a ruler. Ieyasu decided to take all the Mori’s territory away from Terumoto and give two provinces (Nagato and Suo) of it to Hiroie. Hiroie urged Ieyasu to give the provinces to Terumoto instead of him. In the end, Mori’s territory was formally reduced from a worth of 1.2 million koku to only 370 thousand koku of the two provinces, known as the Choshu Domain.

The Portrait of Ieyasu Tokugawa, attributed to Tanyu Kano, owned by Osaka Castle Museum (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The portrait of Mitsunari Ishida, owned by Hajime Sugiyama (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Iwakuni Castle is built in Hiroie’s new territory

Hiroie had to stand in a difficult position. He was actually the hero of the Mori Clan, but many members of it thought he was a destroyer. He was finally given by the clan a small territory with 30 thousand koku, which was the eastern edge of the Choshu Domain. Hiroie started to build a new castle as his home base in 1601, which would be called Iwakuni Castle. He first built his residence called Odoi beside Nishikigawa River which could be the natural Outer Moat. The residence was also surrounded by the artificial Inner Moat. After that he developed the mountain part of the castle mainly by building the Northern, Main and Second Enclosures on the ridge from the north to the south. They were all surrounded by stone walls and the Main Enclosure had the four-level Main Tower. The castle was completed in 1608.

The range or the Choshu Domain and the location of the castle

The relief map around the castle

Hiroie’s hard decision to destroy Mountain part

However, another difficulty was coming to Hiroie after the Tokugawa Shogunate defeated the Toyotomi Clan in 1615. The Tokugawa Shogunate ordered all the lords in Japan to destroy all the castles except for one castle where the lord lived by issuing the Law of One Castle per Province in the same year. The shogunate tried to prevent any other lords from rebelling based on many strong castles. According to this law, Iwakuni Castle could survive because the castle could be the only one castle in Suo Province and the shogunate still considered Hiroie’s Kikkawa Clan as an independent lord. However, the Mori Clan didn’t allow it as they thought that the Kikkawa Clan was just a retainer of them, not an independent lord. The controversial relation between Hiroie and the Mori Clan since the Sekigahara Battle remained. Hiroie had to choose to destroy the castle considering the future relationship with the Mori Clan.

Intentionally broken stone walls on the mountain

The mountain part was actually destroyed but the residence beside the river survived for living. It was formally called Iwakuni Encampment, not Castle until the end of the Edo Period. Kintaikyo Bridge was first built in 1673 by the third lord of the clan, Hiroyoshi Kikkawa to connect his residence with the castle town which had been built at the opposite side of the river. This bridge could be seen as a symbol of the peace at that time.

The ruins of the Odoi residence at the foot

”Kintaikyo bridge in Suo Province” from the series “Unusual Views of Celebrated Bridges in the Provinces” attributed to Hokusai Katsushika in the Edo Period (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

To be continued in “Iwakuni Castle Part2”

74.岩国城　その１

吉川広家の人生を反映した城

立地と歴史

毛利氏を守った広家

岩国は、５連の木造アーチ橋の美しい景観で知られています。錦川（にしきがわ）にかかる錦帯橋は、岩国城を背景としてとても絵になります。岩国を訪れるビジターは、これらは全て昔のままと思うかもしれませんが、少なくともこの城には多くの逸話があり、試練の歴史を経てきたのです。

吉川広家（きっかわひろいえ）がこの城を築城したのですが、彼は毛利氏の親族で且つ重臣でした。毛利氏は１６世紀の終わり頃において、１２０万石の石高をもって中国地方のほとんどを領有していました。ところが、天下人の豊臣秀吉が1598年に死去したことで政治状況は不安定になりました。多くの大名たちが、２５０万石の石高を持ち東日本で最大の大名であった徳川家康を、次の天下人として頼ろうとしました。一方、石田三成を含む他の大名はまだ豊臣氏を支えていました。三成は、西日本で最大の大名である毛利輝元を、彼のグループのリーダーに担ごうとしました。毛利家中の意見は真っ二つに割れました。一つは三成に加勢し、輝元を家康の代わりに（豊臣家を戴きつつ）次の天下人にするというもので、主に安国寺恵瓊によって主張されていました。広家はそれに反論し、家康に加勢し毛利氏の領土を維持しようとしました。

吉川広家肖像画、東京大学史料編纂所蔵（licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons）

毛利輝元肖像画、毛利博物館蔵 (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

1600年に関ヶ原の戦いが起きたとき、輝元は西軍の総大将となりましたが、実態としては三成が主導していました。輝元は天下人になりたかったのです。広家は、冷静な判断ができる武将であり、主君の輝元は家康率いる東軍を凌駕することはできないとみていました。よって彼は家康に密かに通じ、毛利の領土保全を条件に毛利の軍勢は戦いでは一切動かないことを約束しました。結果、家康は三成を破ったのですが、戦後になって輝元が天下を取ることを欲していた証拠を見つけたのです（広家は家康に、輝元にはその野心はないと伝えていたようです）。家康は、毛利から全ての領土を取り上げ、その中の２ヶ国（長門と周防）を広家に与えることとしました。広家は家康に、その２ヶ国を広家の代わりに輝元に与えるよう嘆願しました。最終的には、毛利の領土が形式上、１２０万石からその２ヶ国わずか３７万石に削減されることで決着しました。それが長州藩となります。

徳川家康肖像画、加納探幽筆、大阪城天守閣蔵 (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

石田三成肖像画、杉山丕氏蔵 (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

新領地に岩国城を築城

広家は、難しい立場に立たされました。彼は実際には毛利家の救世主だったのですが、家中の多くの藩士は逆にぶち壊されたと思っていたからです。彼は最終的に、長州藩の領地の東端にあたる、３万石の石高の小さな領地を主家から与えられました。広家は1601年に本拠地として新しい城を築き始めました。それが岩国城となるのです。まず最初に、自然の外堀ともいうべき錦川沿いに御土居と呼ばれた居館を建設しました。その居館は人口の内堀にも囲まれていました。その後、山城部分の建設を行い、山の嶺の北から南の方角に沿って、北の丸、本丸、二の丸を設けました。これらの曲輪は全て石垣によって囲まれており、本丸には４層の天守がありました。城の完成は1608年となります。

長州藩（現山口県）の範囲と城の位置

城周辺の起伏地図

苦渋の決断により山城部分を破却

ところが、1615年に徳川幕府が豊臣氏を滅ぼした後、広家はまたも困難に直面します。徳川幕府は同年、全ての大名に一国一城令を発布し、大名が住んでいる一城を除き、全ての城を破却するよう命じました。幕府は、多くの強力な城を頼りに、大名たちが幕府に反抗することを防ごうとしたのです。この法令によれば岩国城は、周防国ではただ一つの城となり、幕府も広家の吉川家を独立の大名として認めていたため、存続することが可能でした。ところが、毛利主家は吉川氏を単なる毛利の家臣と考えていたため、それを認めませんでした。関ヶ原の戦い以来の両者の悩ましい関係が続いていたのです。広家は毛利家との将来の関係を鑑み、城を破却することを選びました。

その際、山城部分が実際に破却され、川沿いの居館は残され、江戸時代末期まで公式には城ではなく、岩国陣屋と呼ばれるようになりました。錦帯橋は1673年に、３代目の領主である吉川広嘉（きっかわひろよし）によって、居館と川の反対側にあった城下町をつなぐために架橋されました。この橋は（もともと外敵を防ぐための川に架けられたという意味で）当時から平和な時代のシンボルともいえるものでした。

葛飾北斎「諸国名橋奇覧」より「すほうの国きんたいはし」、江戸時代 *(licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

「岩国城その２」に続きます。

170.Hamada Castle Part3

Castles look very different depending on people’s perspectives.

Features for History Fans

From Approach Entrance to Nakanomon Gate Ruins

For serious history fans, consider getting back to the starting point of the shrine approach. Let us seek together the original route to the Nakanomon Gate Ruins which we talked about above. The foot had the Main Hall and warriors’ houses and turned into residential areas, so you will need to follow narrow paths among the modern houses. Then the large stone walls of the gate will suddenly appear. These walls are original and they look so great, but are partially covered with wiring nets to prevent them from collapsing.

The map around the casltle, the red broken line is the estimated original route

The shrine approach on the left and the residential area on the right

The narrow path among the residential area

the stone walls of the gate suddenly appears

The stone walls are partially covered with wiring nets

After passing the gate ruins, you will go on a promenade along the valley probably similar to the original route while seeing old stone walls around. You will eventually reach the mid slope beside the shrine.

The promenade which is nearly on the original route

You can see some old stone walls beside the promenade

Going through Third and Second Enclosures

Let us pass the gate building and turn left again, but make sure not to go straight, instead, turn right this time. You can begin now to enter the two tiers of enclosures, surrounded by stone walls, which are original. However, these walls were piled up again during the Showa Era. It was said that the stones for the walls had collapsed before the repair. The lower tier is the Third Enclosure, and the upper is the Second Enclosure. The Second Gate was built between them. A square defensive space called Masugata which was also behind the gate where you can still see the same shape. You will finally reach the Main Enclosure as well from the Second Enclosure passing by the First Gate Ruins.

The restored image by CG of the Second Gate, from the signboard at the site

The square defensive space behind the gate

The ruins of the First Gate to the Main Enclosure

My Impression

After visiting the ruins of Hamada Castle, I realized that people would have different impressions from the same place depending on their purposes such as relaxing or learning about history. I think this idea was similar to the people in the past. Records show that after the warriors in Hamada Castle had gone, children played in the remaining Main Tower until it finally collapsed during the earthquake. There were also very different impressions about the castle between the warriors (the high class) and local people (the low class).

The area around the Main Tower base ruins

The restored image by CG of the Main Enclosure, from the signboard at the site

How to get There

If you want to visit Hamada Castle Ruins by car, it is about a 15-minute drive away from Hamada IC on the Chugoku Expressway. There are parking lots in the western and southern sides of the ruins.
By public transportation, it takes about 20 minutes on foot from JR Hamada Station to get there.
If you go there from Tokyo or Osaka, I recommend traveling by plane, using an express bus or combining them with trains.

The parking lot in the western side of the ruins

That’s all. Thank you.
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