Anotsu castle – 日本200名城バイリンガル (Japan's top 200 castles and ruins)

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”

Location and History

Field of Anotsu Castle Battle

Tsu Castle is located in what is now Tsu City, the capital of Mie Prefecture which was called Ise Province in the past. Tsu City calls itself the city with the shortest name in the world. Tsu just means port. Originally, the area was called Anotsu, which means the port of Ano. Anotsu was one of the three greatest ports in Japan in the Middle Ages. However, the port declined due to the Meio earthquake followed by a great tsunami in 1498.

The range of Ise Province and the location of the castle

There was also been Anotsu Castle in the plains land around the area, which was the former Tsu Castle. In 1600 before the famous Battle of Sekigahara, a preliminary skirmish happened at the castle, called the Battle of Anotsu Castle. Large troops from the West Squad attacked the castle with few defenders of Nobutaka Tomita belonging to the East Squad. The defenders had to surrender, as a result, the castle went to ruin. The Tokugawa Shogunate, which led the East Squad finally won the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, thought they need a stronger lord and castle around the area. This was because they were still against the Toyotomi Clan which lived in Osaka Castle, not so far from Ise Province in the west.

the Ukiyo-e painting of Nobutaka Tomita rescued by his wife, from an episode in the Battle of Anotsu Castle, attributed to Yoshitoshi Tsukioka, published in 1885 *(licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

Takatora Todo improves Castle as his home base during peacetime

In 1608, the shogunate replaced Nobutaka Tomita with Takatora Todo as the lord of Anotsu Castle. Takatora was not a hereditary feudal lord, which meant he didn’t work under Ieyasu Tokugawa for a long time, who was the founder of the shogunate. He was a well-known master of castle construction through building Uwajima, Ozu and Imabari Castles. He also helped the shogunate build famous castles such as Edo, Nagoya, and Nijo in Kyoto. That’s why he was trusted by the shogunate. They expected Takatora to build a strong castle to stand against the Toyotomi Clan in Osaka Castle in the west. Takatora accomplished this by renovating Anotsu Castle, which was renamed Tsu Castle sometime around the period.

The portrait of Takatora Todo, private owned (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

He also owned Iga-Ueno Castle in Iga Province, which was west of Ise Province and closer to Osaka. He said that Tsu Castle would be his home base during peacetime while Iga-Ueno Castle would be the other one for wartime. However, Tsu Castle was adequately defensive even if it was his peacetime home base in the plains. The castle also reflected Takatora’s concepts of building castles.

Takatora’s concepts of building castles

The Main Enclosure was simply square shaped, which was easy to construct and accommodate large troops. While it may be weak for defense, the enclosure was surrounded by the wide Inner Moat, high stone walls, and many turrets on the walls. The gates of the enclosure were strongly guarded with a square defensive space called Masugata. Moreover, to enter the gates, visitors had to pass other small enclosures called Demaru or the Barbicans in the Inner Moat. The Second Enclosure and the Outer Moat were also built concentrically. Such structures can be seen in other castles which Takatora was involved in, such as Imabari, Nagoya, Nijo, and Sasayama.

The stone walls of the Main Enclosure of Tsu Castle

Tsu Castle in the last stage of the Eco Period, from the signboard at the site

The drawing of Nagoya Castle in Owari Province (exhibited by the National Diet Library)

After the shogunate beat the Toyotomi Clan in 1615, Tsu Castle became the home base of the Tsu Domain which the Todo Clan governed, throughout the Edo Period. The castle town of Tsu Castle prospered as well as being on the Ise-Gingu Shrine pilgrimage road.

To be continued in “Tsu Castle Part2”

タグ: Anotsu castle

152.Tsu Castle Part2