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

129.Tatsuoka Castle Part2

The five star pointed shape is still remaining.

Features

Castle Ruins are used as School

Today, the ruins of Tatsuoka Castle are used as the Taguchi Primary School, which are still surrounded by the five pointed star shaped perimeter. Local people often called them “Tatsuoka Goryokaku (which means Pentagonal Style Fort)”. They are also famous for cherry blossoms. Because of the current usage, the facilities for visitors, such as the information center called “Goryokaku deai-no-yakata”, are located outside of the ruins.

The aerial photo around the castle

Visitors usually go to the Main Gate Ruins first which have the most precise stone walls in the castle, such as the Tortoise Shell and Hanedashi styles. The restored wooden bridge is over the water moat, where you can feel a traditional atmosphere. There are also two other gate ruins you can pass, one is Kuro-mon and the other is the side gate.

The water moats and stone walls around the Main Gate

Walking around Castle Ruins

You can easily walk around the perimeter of the ruins because they are not so large. You will see the moats expire and the stone walls look rough as you go to the back. This is because the construction of the castle, in fact, ended halfway through due to the lack of budget or because of another priority. Please make sure that you don’t walk across the route around the ruins because it is private property.

Only one remaining building

You can also enter the inside of the ruins except for the facilities and playground of the school. If you look around the inside, you will see the five pointed star shape is basically made out of soil. There is the only one remaining building in the castle, called the Kitchen House. It was originally used as part of the Main Hall, then turned int o a school house, a warehouse, and finally moved to the current position as a historical item. Only group tours which has a previous booking can enter this building. Therefore if you want to see it you have to be part of a group.

The ruins are surrounded by the earthen walls inside

View of Castle Ruins from Observation Platform

Tatsuoka Castle was designed flat, so today’s visitors might not be able to grasp its shape. Therefore, I recommend you consider visiting the Goryokaku observation platform, located on a mountain in the northside, about 500m away from the ruins. In fact, that spot is the ruins of another castle called Taguchi Castle in the Sengoku Period, where you can see several enclosures made of soil.

The relief map around the castle

Of course, you can also see a nice view of the five pointed star shape clearly. This has probably been the best spot to overlook the area around. You could easily target Tatsuoka Castle if you were an artillery man attacking the castle during the end of the Edo Period.

A view of Tatsuoka Castle Ruins from the observation platform

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

2.Goryokaku Part2

A major tourist spot in Hakodate City

Features

Entering Center of Ruins by going across Moats

Today, the ruins of Goryokaku have been designated as a National Special Historic Site and are one of the most popular tourist spots in Hakodate City. They are also famous for cherry blossoms. There are two entrances after crossing the bridges over the water moats, which are two of the three original entry ways. People usually enter the front entrance which has a good view.

The aerial photo around the castle

The original third entrance doesn’t have its bridge now

You need to go across two bridges to reach the front gate. The first bridge goes to the only ravelin before the second one for the gate. Gorgeous stone walls incorporating the Hanedashi system surround the area because it was also the original front side.

The stone walls of the ravelin which has the Hanedashi system

After going through the gate, you can see a “blindfold” wall called Mikakushi-rui, which made sure visitors could not see inside and the defenders could protect the castle from enemies attacks easily. There are three behind the original entrances.

Unique blindfold walls

The blindfold wall behind the front gate

The blindfold wall for the third gate ruins also remains

Restored Hakodate Magistrate’s Office

If you go around the wall, you will see the restored Hakodate Magistrate’s Office building in the center. Actually, one third of it was restored using the original methods in 2010 based on old photos, remaining documents, and excavation discoveries. The other two thirds are flatly exhibited on the ground.

The rest of the original office is flatly exhibited

You can enter the building to see what it was like in the past. About half of its interior is a large hall which was used for official ceremonies and the magistrate’s working room. The rest is the officers’ rooms which exhibit the history of the office and Gryokaku. An interesting point is three empty jars buried under the entrance step, which were unearthed in the excavation. Their purpose is unknown, but some speculate they were used to make a resonant sound when people walked on the step.

An officers’ room which is now used for exhibitions

Walking around Bastions

You can also climb up or down or walk around the five large-scale bastions basically made of soil. In fact, it is uncertain if they had cannons inside or on the bastions from the first stage of Goryokaku. This may be one of the reasons that one of the bastions has a slope the escaping force built and used to carry cannons to the top of it. There are also ruins of a powder magazine inside another bastion, which are thought to have been built by the force as well.

The slope which was used to carry cannons to the top of the bastion

There is a warehouse, which is the only remaining original building of Goryokaku, next to the administrative office and the rest house, which are built like original warehouses. The remaining one is only open to the public during certain periods. Two barrels of a gun are exhibited beside these buildings. One of them belonged to the Choyo which was sunk by the escaping force in the Battle of Hakodate, but pulled from the sea later. The other one was used by the force in another position other than Goryokaku in the battle.

The administrative office and the rest house looking like original buildings

The barrel of a gun which belonged to the Choyo

The barrel of a gun which was used in another position of the escaping forceThe barrel of a gun which was used in another position of

To be continued in “Goryokaku Part3”
Back to “Goryokaku Part1”

3.Matsumae Castle Part2

So much more to see than just cherry blossoms and The Main Tower

Features

How to enter Castle ruins park

Today, the ruins of Matsumae Castle have been developed as Matsumae Park which is also known for cherry blossoms that consist of about 250 kinds and over 10 thousand trees in total. If you visit them even in August, you can enjoy hydrangea blooming there, which usually blooms in June in the mainland of Japan. Of course, you can also enjoy the castle ruins all year round.

The map around the castle

Drivers can enter them from the Matsumae Town area beside the sea in the south by going through the front entrance, and then passing the Third Enclosure, to the parking lot of the Second Enclosure.

The earthen and stone walls of the Third Enclosure

People on foot can enter them from the eastern side through the back entrance to the center.

The Umasaka Route goes from the eastern side of the castle ruins

The restored area around the Outer Back Gate

Ruins of Facilities for coastal defense

This eastern side of the ruins were well developed by Matsumae Town. For example, other entrances of the castle, the Tenjinzaka Gate and the Outer Back Gate were rebuilt. The stone walls of the Second Enclosure and its mud walls on them were partially restored. Part of the Outer Moat in front of them was dug again.

The restored stone walls with mud walls of the Second Enclosure and the Outer Moat

In the Third Enclosure below, you can see some remaining pedestals of the batteries, such as the No.5 Buttery’s with stone walls. If you stand at the ruins of the Drum Turret at the southeastern corner of the Second Enclosure, you will see how good the view of the sea is as well as a good location for spotting ships in the past.

A view of the sea from the buttery pedestal

A view of the Second Enclosure *from the buttery pedestal*

Restored Main Tower and Remaining Main Enclosure Gate

In the Main Enclosure, there is the restored three-level Main Tower. It is actually a modern concrete building, but its external appearance is almost the same as the original one. Only its stone wall base is intact. If you look at them carefully, you can find some dents on it. They are the traces of being shot by guns in the wars during the Meiji Restoration. Its roof is covered with cooper plates to bear the cold climate of Hokkaido, same as the original one.

There are traces of the wars on the stone wall base

You can enter the tower to learn more about the castle and the domain inside. The top floor is also used as the observation platform. However, you may feel like the building is too old.

An exhibition inside the Main Tower building

Many people might only focus on the Main Tower, but there are other interesting things to see in the enclosure. The Main Enclosure Gate beside the tower is the only remaining intact building of the castle, which has been designated as an Important Cultural Property since 1950. The gate was built using wooden materials while its stone walls supporting it look unusually precise as if they were built during the present time.

The gate building is certainly made of wood

The stone walls were built very precisely

Remaining part of Main Enclosure Main Hall

The entrance hall of the Main Hall is preserved in front of the gate. It had once been used as the entrance of a school in the back of the gate, its original position. It was moved to the current position in 1982. This entrance hall is said to be part of Fukuyama-kan, the hall which had existed before the castle was built. The original position is a square with a lawn.

The square which had the Main Hall in the past

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