中部地方～Chubu Region – ページ 8 – 日本200名城バイリンガル (Japan's top 200 castles and ruins)

128.Yogaiyama Castle Part2

The spot for hikers and history fans

Features

Castle Ruins on Hiking course

Today, the ruins of Yogaiyama Castle are on a hiking course as well as a historical site in Kofu City. The top of the ruins on the mountain is about 250m above the starting point of the trail at the foot. Therefore, you need to prepare for a long hike or a grueling climb to visit the ruins, which takes over 30 minutes to reach the top. The first half of your tour will be a pure hike by climbing a natural zigzagging trail. You may see some stone walls along the route, but they were probably built after the castle period.

Were these stone walls built after the castle period?

You will eventually find some signposts of Vertical Moat or Earthen Walls, which are around the entrance of the castle ruins. These actual ruins are partially covered with bushes, so you may not notice them without the signposts.

These ruins are partially covered with bushes

Original Gate Ruins along Trail

You will also find other ruins such as gates along the trail, however, the trail is not always on the original one. According to previous researches, the castle had 8 gates to reach the Main Enclosure on the top. As long as I checked, there are actually only 4 gate ruins with signposts along the current trail, which still look very defensive. I think they should be the original gates of No.2, No.3, No.6 and No.8.

The map around the castle

On the other hand, there are also other entrances of enclosures, which look like gate ruins without signposts. They are set straight in front of the enclosures, which mean not defensive, so may not be original and built later for hikers. If so, some original gate ruins (probably No.4, No.5 and No.7) are not on the current route probably because they are inconvenient for hikers.

In addition, the No.1 gate ruins seem to be on the route, but without a signpost, which I didn’t notice.

I think this is around the N0.1 Gate Ruins as some stone walls remain

Who built Masugata System of this Castle?

Out of the 4 original gate ruins with signposts, No.2 (with the first signpost of Gate Ruins) and No.3 (with the second one) are so great. They are surrounded by stone walls, forming a square space, called Masugata. The trail also turns right to exit the gate, plus, other enclosures are in the back of the gate and ahead of the route. That meant the defenders would counterattack the front and side of the enemies in the Masugata.

The No.2 Gate Ruins, the trail turns right

The No.3 Gate Ruins, similar to the No.2 Gate Ruins

This structure is seen in other castles using high stone walls, which would be built much later than Yogaiyama Castle. However, it is not uncertain who built or improved this system. If the Takeda Clan built it, it would be very advanced, if Mitsuyasu Kato improved it, he would have applied it from other castles like Kofu Castle to Yogaiyama Castle.

The restored Yamanote-mon Gate of Kofu Castle which has the Masugata system

The miniature model of the Yamanote-mon Gate, exhibited in the Inari Turret of Kofu Castle

Main Enclosure, Largest one in Castle

The No.8 Gate Ruins are the entrance of the Main Enclosure. It is the largest enclosure in the castle on the top of the mountain, surrounded by thick earthen walls. There is only the stone monument for the birthplace of Shingen Takeda in it. There should be a good view point of Kofu city area, but unfortunately trees shut out the view.

The No.8 Gate Rums, the entrance of the Main Enclosure

The earthen walls surrounding the enclosure

The stone monument for the birthplace of Shingen Takeda

Unfortunately, this is not a good view point

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

128.要害山城　その２

ハイカーと歴史ファンのための場所

特徴、見どころ

ハイキングコースを兼ねた城跡

現在、甲府市にある要害山城跡はハイキングコース上にあり、また史跡にもなっています。山の上にある城跡の最高地点は、山麓にある登城口から約２５０ｍの高さのところにあります。したがって、城跡を訪れるには、少々長めで辛いハイキングの準備が必要となります。頂上まで３０分以上の登りとなります。登りの前半は純粋なハイキングで、自然の曲がりくねった山道を進みます。その途中でいくらか石垣を目にしますが、恐らく城があった時代より後に築かれたものでしょう。

そうするうちに、「竪堀跡」「土塁」と書かれた標柱が見えてきます。この辺りが城跡の入口となります。これら実際の遺跡は半ば草木に覆われていて、その標柱がなければ気が付かなかったかもしれません。

コース沿いにあるオリジナルの門跡

更に進んでいくうちにコースに沿って門跡などいくつもの遺跡（または遺跡に見えるもの）があります。しかし、このコースは全部が城があった当時と同じとは限りません。最近の調査によると、この城には頂上にある主郭に至るまで８つの門がありました。私が調べた限りでは、現在のコースに沿って進んだ場合、４つしか「門跡」と書かれた標柱がある場所がありません。確かにその場所は防御力が強いように見えます。その場所は８つの門跡のうち、２、３、６、８番目に当たるようです。

城周辺の地図

一方で、他にも曲輪に入って行く入口があり、それらは門跡のように見えますが、そこには標柱はありません。その入口は曲輪の正面にまっすぐ入るように作られていて、防御には不利です。つまり、城があった頃のオリジナルの入口ではなく、ハイカーのために後から作られたのでしょう。もしそれが合っていれば、オリジナルの入口のうちいくつかは（恐らく４、５、７番目の門跡）は現在のコースとは別の場所にあるのだと思います。ハイキングには不便な場所だからでしょう。

また、１番目の門跡はコース上にあるが、標柱はないようです。そのため、私はそのときは気が付きませんでした。

桝形を築いたのは誰か？

標柱がある４つのオリジナルの門跡のうち、２番目（標柱がある最初の門跡）と３番目（２番目の標柱がある場所）はなかなか見ごたえがあります。これらの門跡は石垣に囲まれ、桝形と呼ばれる四角い空間を形成しています。ハイキングコースは、門から出るのに右に曲がり、それに加えて別の曲輪が背後や進路の先の方に控えています。桝形に敵が入ってきた場合、守備兵は敵の前面と側面に反撃できるようになっていたのです。

このような仕組みは、要害山城からずっと後に築かれた他の城でも高石垣を使って作られています。しかし、この城におけるこの仕組みを誰が築いた、または改修したかはわかっていません。もし武田氏が作ったのであれば、随分先駆けたものだったということになりますが、加藤光泰が改修した結果であれば、甲府城のような他の城から要害山城に応用したということになります。

最大の曲輪、主郭

８番目の門跡は、主郭の入口に当たります。山の頂上にあり、城では最も大きな曲輪で、分厚い土塁に囲まれています。中には、武田信玄の生誕地であることを示す石碑があるだけです。ここからは、甲府市の市街地がよく見えるはずですが、残念ながら木々に阻まれてよく見えません。

「要害山城その３」に続きます。
「要害山城その１」に戻ります。

128.Yogaiyama Castle Part1

The final part of the Takeda Clan for a battle

Location and History

Nobutora Takeda builds set of this Castle and Takeda Clan Hall

Yogaiyama Castle was located in what is modern day Kofu City, the capital of Yamanashi Prefecture which was called Kai Province. The city was also the provincial capital since Nobutora Takeda, the governor of the province, built his official residence there in 1518. During the Sengoku Period, Most local lords didn’t only serve their governor with authority. The situation in Kai Province was the same, Nobutora needed to force the local lords to serve him by power. Otherwise, some local lords or even his relatives tried to take him over. The construction of the residence was done after Nobutora unified the whole of Kai Province. The residence was called Takeda Clan Hall, which was also used as the home base of the clan.

The location of the castle

The portrait of Nobutora Takeda, attributed to Nobukado Takeda, owned by Daisen-ji Temple (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

He built the hall on a square enclosure which was nearly 200m on one side, surrounded by earthen walls and water moats. This was a typical style of the residences for governors in Japan at that time, emulating the style of Shogun’s palace in Kyoto. The completion of the hall meant that his authority was established in the province. He also became a strong warlord of the province. However, this was not enough for him because he was still uncertain the local lords would be loyal to him from then on. Moreover, other warlords in other provinces could have invaded Kai Province at anytime. For these reasons, Nobutora built another castle on a mountain about 2km away from the hall on the north, called Yogaiyama Castle, in 1520. The main purpose of the castle was for emergencies. In case there was a battle happening, he and his family could escape from the hall to the mountain castle.

The miniature model of Takeda Clan Hall, exhibited by Kofu Fujimura Memorial Museum

The aerial photo of the ruins of Takeda Clan Hall and Yogaiyama Castle, exhibited by Kofu Fujimura Memorial Museum, adding the red letters

Castle works very well in battle against Imagawa Clan

The chance to use Yogaiyama Castle came quickly in 1521. The Imagawa Clan, a great warlord in Suruga Province, located in the south of Kai, sent their troops who were led by Masashige Kushima, a retainer of the clan, to invade Kai. Nobutora actually told his wife to escape from the hall to Yogaiyama Castle while he fought with Imagawa’s troops. It was said that his son, Shingen Takeda was born at Yogaiyama Castle during the battle. As a result, Nobutora completely repelled his enemies, making his unification of the province stronger. The network of the hall and the mountain castle worked very well.

The statue of Shingen Takeda in front of Kofu Station

The relief map around the castle

Yogaiyama Castle was made to be the final part for a battle, so it was very practical. The structures of the castle were constructed using natural terrain and partly stonework. A lot of enclosures were built along the ridge of the mountain. They were basically surrounded by earthen walls and had a defensive entrance called Koguchi partly using stone walls. The route to the center of the castle through these enclosures was designed in a zigzagging pattern in order to slow down enemies and prevent them from attacking easily. Vertical moats were dug on slopes of the mountain to avoid enemies moving easily. Some enclosures were also divided by an artificial ditch. The Main Enclosure on the top was the residential area and a rock garden where the lord family used.

The layout of Yogaiyama Castle, from the signboard at the site

The stone walls used for the entrance of an enclosure of Yogaiyama Castle

Castle is abandoned after Kofu Castle is built

Shingen and his son, Katsuyori maintained this castle. However, Katsuyori was unfortunately defeated by Nobunaga Oda in 1582. The castle was owned by the Oda Clan, followed by the Tokugawa Clan and Mitsuyasu Kato under the Toyotomi Clan. It was said that Mitsuyasu improved the castle probably by building stone walls. On the other hand, the Tokugawa Clan and Mitsuyasu built Kofu Castle using high stone walls on a plain land, which was strong enough even in such a location. As a result, Yogaiyama Castle was eventually abandoned in the early Edo Period.

The Portrait of Katsuyori Takeda, ownd by Koyasan Jimyoin (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The portrait of Mitsuyasu Kato, private owned (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

To be continued in “Yogaiyama Castle Part2”