近畿地方～Kinki Region – ページ 20 – 日本200名城バイリンガル (Japan's top 200 castles and ruins)

152.Tsu Castle Part3

You can see part of the castle ruins even in the city area.

Features

Northern side

This side is the most likely to show what the castle looked like because the high stone walls and the Inner Moat remain well. However, the original moat was over twice as wide as the current one.

The aerial photo around the castle

This road seemed to be part of the Inner Moat

Two three-story turrets were built on both edges of the walls in the past, in addition, Tamon-yagura Turret, like a long row house, was also built between them. These structures must have looked great and been a threat to enemies.

The old photo of the two turrets on the stone walls in the past, from the signboard at the site

The stone walls which had the long row house on them in the past

The stone wall base for the Northeast Turret, one of the two turrets

The stone wall base for the Northwest Turret, the other of the two turrets

You can also go and walk on the top of the walls from the inside of the Main Enclosure. There is enough space to walk and rest as it was the ground for those buildings. You can look down the walls and moat and see how tall and large they are.

The Inner Moat seen from the Northwest Turret Ruins

Overlooking the stone walls and the Inner Moat

Later History

After the Meiji Restoration, Tsu Castle was abandoned. The moats were eventually filled and the castle buildings were demolished accordingly. Tsu City became the capital of Mie Prefecture in the first Meiji Era, so the former castle plain land was a likely place to meet the demand of office buildings. The city finally bought some castle ruins area and opened it as a park in 1958. The city is now checking the condition of the remaining stone walls to prevent them from collapsing as they are aging and being damaged by tree roots. They will consider how to preserve and develop them as a historic site.

My Impression

We usually can not see any trace of the castle in the current city area of Tsu. However, when an excavation was done in the former castle area, some castle items were found. Examples of them can be seen in the spot beside a bank head quarters building, over 100m away from the park entrance. There is an exhibition for stone walls at the edge of the Inner Moat, which were excavated nearby. You can really understand the moat was 80 to 100m wide in the past, seeing it. I think this is another way to enjoy visiting castles.

The excavated stone walls of the Inner Moat which are exhibited beside the bank

How to get There

If you want to visit the castle by car, it is about 10 minutes away from Tsu IC on the Ise Expressway. There is a parking lot in front of the main entrance of the park.
By public transportation, it takes about 10 minutes on foot from Tsu-Shinmachi Station.
To get to Tsu-Shinmachi Station from Tokyo: Take the Tokaido Shinkansen super express, transfer to a limited express on the Kintetsu-Nagoya Line at Nagoya Station and transfer to a local train at Tsu Station.

The parking lot in front of the main entrance of the park

That’s all. Thank you.
Back to “Tsu Castle Part1”
Back to “Tsu Castle Part2”

152.津城　その３

市街地でも城跡の一部を見ることができます。

特徴、見どころ

公園の北側

こちら側が、城がどのような姿をしていたのか最もよくわかる場所です。高石垣と内堀がよく残っているからです。しかし、内堀はもとは現状の倍以上の幅がありました。

城周辺の航空写真

過去には２基の三階櫓（丑寅（うしとら）櫓と戌亥（いぬい）櫓）が石垣の両端に建てられていました。加えて、長屋のような多聞櫓が両櫓をつないでいました。これら石垣の上に櫓が備わった姿は、敵にとっては脅威に映ったことでしょう。

本丸の内側からは、石垣の上まで登って行くこともできます。もともと櫓が建てられていた場所なので、歩いたり休んだりするのに十分なスペースがあります。石垣や堀を見下ろしてみると、その規模の大きさを実感できます。

その後

明治維新後、津城は廃城となりました。堀は次第に埋められていき、それに従って城の建物も撤去されていきました。津市は、明治の初期に三重県の県庁所在地になったために、以前城だった平地はオフィスビルの需要を満たすための絶好の立地となりました。最終的には津市が一部の城跡を買い上げ、1958年に公園として整備しました。市は現在、現存している石垣の状態をチェックしているところです。経年劣化と木の根による浸食が進んでいることで、石垣が崩壊する可能性があり、それを防ぐためです。史跡としてどのように保護し整備していくのかこれから検討していくとのことです。

私の感想

現在の津市の市街地では、通常城の痕跡を見ることはできません。しかし、以前城だった場所を発掘調査したときには、城に関係するものが発見されています。公園入口から100ｍ以上離れた場所にある銀行の本社ビルの傍らでその一部を見ることができます。それは、内堀の端の部分にあった石垣で、その近くでの発掘で見つかったものが展示されているのです。これを見ることで、かつては内堀の幅が80ｍから100ｍもあったのだということが実感できます。こういうことも、城巡りを楽しむ一つのやり方だと思います。

ここに行くには

車で行く場合：伊勢自動車道の津ICから約１０分かかります。公園の正面入口の手前に駐車場があります。
公共交通機関を使う場合は、津新町駅から歩いて約１０分かかります。
東京から津新町駅まで：東海道新幹線に乗って、名古屋駅で近鉄名古屋線の特急に乗り換え、津駅で各駅停車に乗り換えてください。

リンク、参考情報

・県指定史跡　津城跡、津市
・「よみがえる日本の城１６」学研
・「築城の名手　藤堂高虎／福井健二著」戒光祥出版
・「日本の城改訂版第５、１１７号」デアゴスティーニジャパン
・「週刊名城をゆく４３／伊賀上野城・津城」小学館
・「三重県指定史跡津城跡保存管理計画」津市教育委員会
・「三重県指定史跡津城跡　石垣測量・変位調査報告概要版」

これで終わります。ありがとうございました。
「津城その１」に戻ります。
「津城その２」に戻ります。

152.Tsu Castle Part2

The castle has become an urban park.

Features

Castle Ruins mainly including Main Enclosure

Today, the ruins of Tsu Castle have been developed as a Castle Park. However, the range of them is limited just including the Main Enclosure, the Western Enclosure as one of the Barbicans, and part of the Inner Moat. The center of the park is like an urban one, not like a historical one, so I will describe the outer block of the park, which still has castle-like items, from one side to the other.

The aerial photo around the castle

Eastern Side

This side was the eastern edge of the Main enclosure, which has the main entrance to the park and an imitation three-story turret built in the present time. It was also one of the original entrances.

The imitation turret beside the entrance

The Inner Moat on this side was filled in, used as roads, a parking lot, another park, and a city area. The road directly leading to the entrance may have been traced from a path of the Eastern Enclosure, the other barbican.

The east of the park has become the road

The stone walls of this side remain, but the upper part collapsed, and the lower part is mortared to prevent it from collapsing.

Southern side

This side has stone walls as well, but their condition is better than those of the eastern side. If you look at the stone walls carefully, you will find the joint of the left and right parts. That means the edge of the left part was the corner of the older Main Enclosure when the castle was called Anotsu Castle. The right part was added by Takatora. This also means the left part is older.

There is the joint of the older part on the left and the newer part on the right

This side has a small entrance between the stone walls, called Uzume-mon or the Small Back Gate. It had been an entrance to the outside of Anotsu Castle. In Takatora’s period, the Inner Moat was in front of it.

The Small Back Gate seen from the inside, the stone wall base for the Small Main Tower on the right

There is also the stone wall base for the Main Tower at the southwestern corner. The base has two tiers, the upper one for the large Main Tower and the lower one for the small Main Tower. The towers were burned down in the Battle of Anotsu Castle in 1600, and Takatora didn’t rebuild them.

The stone wall base for the Main Tower (the front for the Large Main Tower and the back for the Small Main Tower)

The stone wall base for the Large Main Tower seen from the inside

Western side

This side has the Western Enclosure which is the only remaining Barbican beside the Main Enclosure. You can experience how to enter the Main Enclosure in the past. You can first walk across the earthen bridge over the partly remaining Inner Moat from the south. This bridge was originally made of wood.

The earthen bridge going the Western Enclosure

The Western Enclosure seen from outside the Inner Moat

The entrance of the Western Enclosure is surrounded by altered stone walls, which still looks like the original. You will next turn right and go to the Main Enclosure through a gate called Nyutoku-mon. This gate was originally built for the Tsu Domain school located elsewhere and has been relocated to the present location. The area between the Western and Main Enclosures are connected by a spacy Japanese garden. However, they were originally connected by a thin route, which were strongly protected.

There was another entrance of the Main Enclosure before the Japanese garden

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