back gate – ページ 2 – 日本200名城バイリンガル (Japan's top 200 castles and ruins)

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”

30.Takato Castle Part1

The stage for the battle of Takato Castle

Location and History

Castle for governing Ina District

Takato Castle was located in Shinano Province (what is now Nagano Prefecture). The Province was very large, so people often considered it as a group of districts. Ina District was the southern part of the province with a long valley terrain from the north to the south sandwiched by mountains. That’s why people also often call the district the Ina Valley. The valley connected the center of the province such as Suwa District and other provinces in the south such as Mikawa Province. That means Ina District was very important for transportation and governance. Takato Castle was on the edge of the mountains on the east of the valley, which was a good location to govern the district.

The ranges of Shinano Province and Ina District (the highlighted part)

The relief map around the castle

Improved by Takeda Clan

The Takato Clan, a local warlord first lived in Takato Castle in the first 16th Century during the Sengoku Period. In 1545, The Takeda Clan of Kai Province from the east capture the castle in the process of invading Shinano Province. Since then, The Takeda Clan sent their relatives as the lords of the castle, such as Katsuyori Takeda who became the last lord of the clan later. They improved the castle during their governance.

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

The foundation of castle was built using only soil. The edge of the mountains where the castle was located was surrounded by the Mibu and Fujisawa Rivers in the north, south and west. The mountains in the east were visible through the Back Gate. The Main Gate was at the western side of the castle, facing a steep slope. In addition, the castle was protected by tripled moats. The Main Enclosure was inside the Inner Moat, the Second Enclosure was inside the Middle Moat, and the Third Enclosure was inside the Outer Moat.

Part of the illustration of Takato Castle in Shinano Province, exhibited by the National Archives of Japan

Battle of Takato Castle happens

In 1582, the Battle of Takato Castle between the Takeda Clan and the Oda Clan happened. Nobunaga Oda, unifying the whole country sent his son, Nobutada Oda with about 50,000 soldiers to Takeda’s territory. On the other hand, Morinobu Nishina, Katsuyori’s little brother was in the castle with only 3,000 defenders. Katsuyori, who was at Shinpu Castle about 70km east of Takato Castle, tried to help his brother, but couldn’t. Because most of his vassals betrayed or escaped before the Takeda Clan was defeated. Morinobu didn’t surrender and had to fight with Oda without help. Nobutada himself instructed his troops and charged into both gates of the castle, while the defenders including women fought a desperate defensive battle. However, they were outnumbered, and the castle finally fell in one day. This battle is regarded as the only resistance during the Oda’s invasion into Takeda’s territory.

The portrait of Nobutada Oda, owned by Sokenji Temple (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The portrait of Morinobu Nishina, owned by Takato Historical Museum (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Maintained by Takato Domain

There was confusion after Nobunaga’s sudden death, a former Takeda’s retainer, the Hoshina Clan got Takato Castle and became the first lord of the Takato Domain in the Edo Period. The castle also became the government building of the domain. The castle for the domain followed the layout of Takeda’s period, but some turrets and plaster walls were built as a castle in the Early Modern Times. The Hoshina Clan accepted the second Shogun’s son named Masayuki as their successor. He also became a senior vassal of the Tokugawa Shogunate and contributed the stabilization of its governance. He was lastly promoted to the lord of Wakamatsu Castle at Aizu Domain. Takato Castle and Takato Domain were followed by the Torii Clan and finally the Naito Clan. The Naito Clan governed them for a long time between 1691 and 1871.

The portrait of Masayuki Hoshina, attributed to Tanyu Kano, owned by Hanitsu Shrine (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

To be continued in “Takato Castle Part2”

127.Shinpu Castle Part2

You can see the completed version of Takeda’s method for building castles.

Features

The ruins of Shinpu Castle is open to the public. Visitors usually enter the ruins from the eastern side using two trails which were either built in the present time. One of them is the very steep approach with stone steps to the shrine on the top of the mountain. The other is the gentle steep footwalk going around the mid slope of the mountain to the south. I recommend using the latter if you want to look around the ruins.

Powerful ruins of Main Gate and Umadashi system

The footwalk goes under the Third Enclosure above the Main Gate. You can walk down from the inside to the outside of the ruins of the gate. The gate ruins are still surrounded by the earthen walls.

The map around the castle

The ruins of the Umadashi system remain outside the gate. Umadashi was Takeda’s unique defense system which is a round shaped stronghold sticking out of a gate. It usually had a convex moon shaped moat in front of it to make it more protective. The defenders could also counter the attackers from the sides. The ruins of Umadashi in Shinpu Castle are very large and you can clearly see the shapes of the stronghold and the moat.

The imaginary drawing of the Umadashi part (from the signboard at the site)

Main Enclosure which worships Takeda

Going back to the footwalk, you can walk up to the Main Enclosure through the Second Enclosure. The Main Enclosure is largest one and on the top of the mountain, which had Katsuyori Takeda’s Main Hall. The excavation team recently found the foundation of the hall gate and the traces of the leveling probably done by Tokugawa.

The only things that remained was the Shinpu-Fujitake Shrine which worships Katsuyori and the shrine which worships the war deaths in the battle of Nagashino on the spacious area.

The steep approach that can be seen from the shrine

The shrine which worships the war deaths in the battle of Nagashino

You can see a good view from there including the Kamanashi-gawa River below and the mountains above.

Also pay attention to Back Gate

You can also walk down to the northern part of the castle from the Main Enclosure. Passing the ruins of the well and the wooden bridge, you will reach the ruins of the back gate called Inui-Mon.

The map of the northern part of the castle

The imaginary drawing of the wooden bridge (from the signboard at the site)

The gate was built in the Masugata style which had a square space sandwiched by two gate buildings, which could prevent enemies from attacking easily. The earthen walls surrounding the space still remain intact and the foundations of the gate were also found.

The Masugata space which is surrounded by the earthen walls

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