earthen wall – ページ 3 – 日本200名城バイリンガル (Japan's top 200 castles and ruins)

197.Shibushi Castle part2

You can experience a castle on the Shirasu Plateau well after looking at a great miniature model.

Features

Great miniature model of Castle Ruins

Today, only the main portion of the ruins of Shibushi Castle called Uchijo has been developed for general visitors. The ruins had been reclaimed by nature after its abandonment, so the officials installed wooden footpaths and guide signboards so that visitors can walk safely and not to lose their way.

The map around the castle

A wooden path installed in the castle ruins

A guide signboard installed in the castle ruins

In addition, I recommend visiting Shibushi City Center for Archaeological operations to see the great miniature model of the Uchijo portion before visiting the real Uchijo. It is a 1/200 scale model which is about 2m long and 1.25m wide, very large for a miniature model, but it is also precisely crafted. You can see how deeply and vertically the dry moats are cut and how the many enclosures equipped with buildings and fences are built by looking at it. If you also check the point of the Main Route and the Back Route of the model, you will understand how they worked well when you visit the real site.

The miniature model of the Uchijo, exhibited in Shibushi City Center for Archaeological operations

Going beside outstanding Turret Place to Main Route

The ruins of Uchijo are on the mountain behind Shibushi Primary School. If you drive to the ruins, you can park at a parking lot for visitors on the opposite side of the school. From the parking lot, go straight on the street beside it, if you want to visit the Main Route of the ruins. Otherwise, if you turn left at the intersection in front of the parking lot, you will reach the Back Route. The signpost leads you to the very narrow path to the Main Route between the school and old houses.

The ruins has 6 major and many other small enclosures and the first major one called Yaguraba or the Turret Place stands out with its vertical cliff on your right side before the Main Route entrance. Even today’s visitors may be scared to see it. There is no telling how enemies in the past felt.

The map around the Uchijo portion, the red broken line is the route from the parking lot to the Main Route, and the blue broken line is the route to the Back Route

the ruins of buildings on the Turret Place

The *Turret Place* part of the miniature model

Main Route on Bottom of Moat

The Main Route climbs up the zigzagged path on the bottom of a deep dry moat to the center of the castle. The path is always surrounded by several high enclosures where the defenders would have attacked enemies. All the enclosures have a similar vertical cliff and defensive entrance called Koguchi to which you need to climb another very steep, unstable and zigzagging path. If you get out of the path, you will be stuck in the rough slope with bushes and the fragile soil made of the volcanic ash. These structures were all created artificially by processing the natural Shirasu plateau.

The entrance of the Enclosure No.2 on the right of the Main Route

The Main Route goes on the bottom of the moat

the Main Route part of the miniature model

Main Enclosure with view of Shibushi Port

After walking in the dry moat for a while, you can enter the Main Enclosure on your left. The enclosure has two tiers which are squares with no buildings but surrounded by earthen walls, same as the others. The front lower tier seemed to be used as a lookout, so it is thought to have had a tall turret. You can still actually see a view of Shibushi Port with the Sunflower ferry anchored. This may also prove the relation of the castle and the trading at the port in the past.

A view of Shibushi Port from the enclosure

The Main Enclosure part of the miniature model

Looking down at the Main Route from the enclosure

The upper tier is the highest in the castle, where a large building like a residence was built. It might have been used for the lord of the castle when a battle happened or other cases. There is only a small shrine in the back of the enclosure, with a huge deep dry moat behind it.

The earthen walls surrounding the Main Enclosure

The small shrine in the back of the enclosure

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

15.Ashikaga Clan Hall Part2

Ashikaga remains with an atmosphere of the medieval city.

Later History

Even after Ashikaga Clan Hall was turned into Bannaji temple, Ashikaga town continued to prosper more and more as the home town of the Ashikaga Shogunate family. The temple had as many as 12 branch temples outside the square area during its peak. In the Edo Period, the Tokugawa Shogunate helped the town and temples as they had declared the shoguns were a branch of the Nitta Clan, a relative of the Ashikaga Clan, which meant they were descendants of the Minamoto Clan.

The illustration of the main and twelve branch temples, owned by Bannnaji Temple, quoted from the Ashikaga City Website

However, after the Meiji Restoration, the temple declined and lost all the branch temples. This was because of a movement to abolish Buddhism called Haibutsu-Kishaku in the first Meiji Era. Only the main temple in the square area survived. As for castle ruins, it was designated as a National Historic Site of Ashikaga Clan Hall in 1922. Ashikaga City has been developing the area around including the Ashikaga School and Kabasaki Hachimangu Shrine (the former Kabasaki Temple) as a historical site as well as a tourist spot.

Only the main Bannaji Temple remains now

Features

Hall Ruins are surrounded by Earthen Walls and Moats

Today, Ashikaga continues to have an atmosphere of a medieval city. Bannaji Temple as the ruins of Ashikaga Clan Hall is its center. One side block of the hall, which is about 200m long, remains with earthen walls and water moats surrounding it. Ducks and carps swim on and in the moats. The walls might have been higher and the moats might have been wider and deeper when they were used for the hall, but the current state matches the temple now.

The aerial photo around the castle

The remaining earthen walls and water moats around the hall ruins

Main building as National Treasure

The inside of the block has buildings only for the temple, not for the hall. However, you should check out many remaining old buildings. The largest main building was built in 1299 during the Kamakura Period and has been designated as a National Treasure. You can see, on the ridge tiles of its roof, three family crests of the Imperial family in the center, Daigoji Temple which was the head temple of Bannaji on the left, and the Ashikaga Clan on the right. The two highest ridge-end tiles called Shachihoko or the Grampuses have lightning rods to prevent a fire from a stroke of lightning.

The main building as a National Treasure

The three family crests on the ridge tiles

One of the Grampuses with a lightning rod

Temple buildings show help from Goverments

The Bell-Tower of the temple was also built during the Kamakura Period and has been designated as an Important Cultural Property.

The Bell-Tower as an Important Cultural Property

The Sutra Library was built in 1407 during the Muromachi Period by Mitsukane Ashikaga, the head of the Kanto government.

The Sutra Library which is another Important Cultural Property in the temple

The Eastern and Western Gates were also rebuilt during the same period by the administration office, which look like simple gates for the hall.

The Multi-Treasure Pagoda and the Mausoleum were rebuilt by the Tokugawa Shogunate. Overall, you can see the temple had been helped by the successive governments for a long time.

To be continued in “Ashikaga Clan Hall Part3”
Back to “Ashikaga Clan Hall Part1”

15.Ashikaga Clan Hall Part1

The hometown of the Ashikaga Clan

Location and History

Seiwa-Genji family develops and settles in Ashikaga Manor

Ashikaga Clan Hall was located in modern day the center of Ashikaga City in Tochigi Prefecture. In fact, it has now become Bannaji Temple, a famous old one itself. It may not have looked like a typical castle that we usually imagine, but it was said that the ruins remain the first formation of a Japanese warrior’s hall with defense systems.

The Ashikaga Clan is more popular as the shoguns of the Ashikaga Shogunate during the Muromachi Period in the 14th and 15th Centuries than as a local lord. As a matter of fact, the history of the clan started in the 12th Century at Ashikaga Manor (similar to the current Ashikaga City) in Shimotsuke Province (presently Tochigi Prefecture) they developed. Yoshikuni Minamoto, who was the ancestor of the clan and a member of the Seiwa-Genji family line, one of the descendants of the Imperial Family, first settled there.

The range of Ashikaga City and the location of the castleKabasaki-Hachimangu Shrine[/leaflet-marker

Before the Kamakura Shogunate was established, warriors needed to formally donate their developed land to high-class nobles as a manor to keep their own territories, otherwise, they were not guaranteed by any public institutions. That’s why Yoshikuni settled and developed their territory which would be called Ashikaga Manor by making great effort. Since then, they have called themselves the name of the land “Ashikaga” as their family name. Yoshikuni’s son, Yoshiyasu Ashikaga was said to be the founder of the clan and first built Ashikaga Clan Hall followed by his son, Yoshikane, the second generation of the clan.

The portrait of Yoshikane Ashikaga, owned by Bannaji Temple (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Typical Residence of Early Samurai

The features of the hall include earthen walls and the outside water moats which surround the area. They form a square, so historians call such typical warriors’ halls “Hokan” or the Square Hall. One side of the square is around 200m long. This style of halls was used for a long time until the 17th Century during the Sengoku Period, such as Takeda Clan Hall and Ouchi Clan Hall. Lords and warriors usually lived in their halls which could provide relief in case of an emergency like a battle. Therefore, Ashikaga Clan Hall can be considered one of the earliest castles built by warriors in Japan.

The remaining earthen walls and water moats of Ashikaga Clan Hall

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

The ruins of Ouchi Clan Hall (the current Ryufukuji Temple)

Yoshikane contributed the launch of the Kamakura Shogunate at the end of the 12th Century by Yoritomo Minamoto, the head of the Minamoto Clan and the first Shogun of the Samurai government in Japan, as a relative of Yoritomo. He was also a religious person who built a private building for worshiping Buddhist images, which would be the origin of Bannaji Temple. Furthermore, he established Kabasaki Temple for his retirement and was said to be one of the founders of the Ashikaga School which was one of the highest academies in the Middle Ages of Japan, which would have made Ashikaga a medieval cultural city.

The remaining Gakko-mon or the School Gate of Ashikaga School

Ashikaga Clan survives in Kamakura Period and becomes Shoguns in Muromachi Period

Yoshikane’s son, Yoshiuji became a senior vassal of the Kamakura Shogunate even though the shoguns of the Minamoto Clan died off and the Hojo Clan got the power as the regent. The Ashikaga Clan also got new territories such as in Mikawa Province (now part of modern day Aichi Prefecture). That’s why Yoshiuji usually lived in Kamakura, the capital of the shogunate, where his clan set the government office for controlling their territories. Even their original home base, Ashikaga Manor was governed by the administration office, not by the lord of the clan. Therefore, Yoshiuji turned his father’s hall in Ashikaga (Ashikaga Clan Hall) into Bannaji Temple in 1234 to pray for his father’s happiness in the next world and for his clan’s prosperity.

The portrait of Yoshiuji Ashikaga, owned by Bannaji Temple, drawn in the Edo Period (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Kannno Mountain (now called Iwai Mountain) where the administration office of Ashikaga Manor was built

The Ashikaga Clan survived all through the Kamakura Period while many other senior vassals of the shogunate were defeated by the Hojo Clan. Many of the Ashikaga’s lords came from the mothers that came from the Hojo Clan, that way, they could keep the second position in the shogunate. It was also said that many warriors wanted the Ashikaga Clan to change the country as a follower of the Minamoto Clan. Takauji Ashikaga, the lord of the 5th generations after Yoshiuji, was born from the mother who did not come from the Hojo Clan. These may be the reasons why he defeated the shogunate together with Emperor Godaigo and Yoshisada Nitta, another descendant of the Minamoto Clan.

The portrait of Takauji Ashikaga, owned by Jodo-ji Temple (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The portrait of Emperor Godaigo, owned by Shojokoji Temple (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The portrait of Yoshisada Nitta, owned by Fujishima Shrine (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

To be continued in “Ashikaga Clan Hall Part2”