タグ: earthen wall

101.Shinori-Tate Part2

A relaxing place for visitors

Features

Hakodate City partially restores Hall

Today, the ruins of Shinori Tate have been developed by Hakodate City. They are a relaxing place on the hill above the Shinori Fishing Port in the south. They still have the square space in its center, but with no buildings, which is surrounded by the earthen walls and dry moats outside. They are also covered with lawn, which look beautiful.

The ruins of Shinori Tate are above the town

There is the memorial monument of the battle between the “Japanese” and the Ainu people and a rest station in front of the ruins entrance. The entrance at the western side of the ruins, have double of the dry moats. If you want to enter the ruins, you can go across the bridge over the first moat and the earthen bridge over the second moat. They were restored by the city in the present time to show the late stage of the hall.

The aerial photo around the castle

The memorial monument in front of the ruins entrance
The rest station
The ruin entrance where you can see the double moats over there
The bridge over the first moat
the earthen bridge over the second moat

Center of Ruins

The center of the ruins is a square surrounded by the earthen walls, which just looks like one of the Japanese style castles’ enclosures which developed after Shinori Tate was built. According to the excavation team, there were three generation houses. The second or third ones were probably rebuilt after the hall was first captured by the Ainu people. How the first-generation houses were built is marked on the ground. The place of the former well is surrounded by four-sided plates. Many Chinese ceramic ware and Japanese potteries were found during the excavation. There are also two monuments of the hall, which were built by local people who first tried to preserve the ruins in the Taisho Era, about 100 years ago.

The center is surrounded by the earthen walls
The fat exhibition of the houses
The ruins of the well
The two monuments of the hall

Enjoying Great View

I recommend you stand or sit on the southern side of the earthen walls. You can enjoy a great view of the Tsugaru Channel on the front and a distant view of Hakodate Mountain on the right. If the weather is fine, you can also see the mainland over the channel. It must be a good experience for you to relax and refresh. If you have time, you should consider walking the path outside the earthen walls on the bottom of the dry moats. For example, the eastern side of the moats uses a stream, so you can see the hall was built using natural terrain as well.

The view of the Tsugaru Channel and the Shinori Fishing Port
The distant view of Hakodate Mountain
The bottom of the southern dry moat
The eastern dry moat using the stream
The northeastern corner of the earthen walls

To be continued in “Shinori-Tate Part3”
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128.Yogaiyama Castle Part2

The spot for hikers and history fans

Features

Castle Ruins on Hiking course

Today, the ruins of Yogaiyama Castle are on a hiking course as well as a historical site in Kofu City. The top of the ruins on the mountain is about 250m above the starting point of the trail at the foot. Therefore, you need to prepare for a long hike or a grueling climb to visit the ruins, which takes over 30 minutes to reach the top. The first half of your tour will be a pure hike by climbing a natural zigzagging trail. You may see some stone walls along the route, but they were probably built after the castle period.

The entrance to the castle ruins
Were these stone walls built after the castle period?
The natural zigzagging trail

You will eventually find some signposts of Vertical Moat or Earthen Walls, which are around the entrance of the castle ruins. These actual ruins are partially covered with bushes, so you may not notice them without the signposts.

Around the entrance of the castle ruins
These ruins are partially covered with bushes

Original Gate Ruins along Trail

You will also find other ruins such as gates along the trail, however, the trail is not always on the original one. According to previous researches, the castle had 8 gates to reach the Main Enclosure on the top. As long as I checked, there are actually only 4 gate ruins with signposts along the current trail, which still look very defensive. I think they should be the original gates of No.2, No.3, No.6 and No.8.

The map around the castle

Getting close to the No.2 Gate Ruins
Here are the No.6 Gate Ruins

On the other hand, there are also other entrances of enclosures, which look like gate ruins without signposts. They are set straight in front of the enclosures, which mean not defensive, so may not be original and built later for hikers. If so, some original gate ruins (probably No.4, No.5 and No.7) are not on the current route probably because they are inconvenient for hikers.

This entrance seems to be not original

In addition, the No.1 gate ruins seem to be on the route, but without a signpost, which I didn’t notice.

I think this is around the N0.1 Gate Ruins as some stone walls remain

Who built Masugata System of this Castle?

Out of the 4 original gate ruins with signposts, No.2 (with the first signpost of Gate Ruins) and No.3 (with the second one) are so great. They are surrounded by stone walls, forming a square space, called Masugata. The trail also turns right to exit the gate, plus, other enclosures are in the back of the gate and ahead of the route. That meant the defenders would counterattack the front and side of the enemies in the Masugata.

The No.2 Gate Ruins, the trail turns right
The enclosure in the back of the gate
The enclosure ahead of the route.
The No.3 Gate Ruins, similar to the No.2 Gate Ruins
The trail turns right again

This structure is seen in other castles using high stone walls, which would be built much later than Yogaiyama Castle. However, it is not uncertain who built or improved this system. If the Takeda Clan built it, it would be very advanced, if Mitsuyasu Kato improved it, he would have applied it from other castles like Kofu Castle to Yogaiyama Castle.

The restored Yamanote-mon Gate of Kofu Castle which has the Masugata system
The miniature model of the Yamanote-mon Gate, exhibited in the Inari Turret of Kofu Castle

Main Enclosure, Largest one in Castle

The No.8 Gate Ruins are the entrance of the Main Enclosure. It is the largest enclosure in the castle on the top of the mountain, surrounded by thick earthen walls. There is only the stone monument for the birthplace of Shingen Takeda in it. There should be a good view point of Kofu city area, but unfortunately trees shut out the view.

The No.8 Gate Rums, the entrance of the Main Enclosure
The inside of the Mai Enclosure
The earthen walls surrounding the enclosure
The stone monument for the birthplace of Shingen Takeda
Unfortunately, this is not a good view point

To be continued in “Yogaiyama Castle Part3”
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154.Tamaru Castle Part3

Tamaru Castle shows Nobukatsu’s early way of life

Features

Going to Second Enclosure

The Second Enclosure, the south of the Main Enclosure, also has both stone walls and earthen walls. The earthen walls have the alternating entrance which is very old and thought to be used as the back gate

The map around the castle

The exit of the Main Enclosure to the Second Enclosure
Going to the Second Enclosure
The Main Enclosure on the right, the Second Enclosure on the left, which is partially made of soil.
The inside of the Second Enclosure
The stone walls surrounding the Second Enclosure
The Back Gate Rins at the Second Enclosure, which are surrounded by earthen walls

In addition, you can see the private rooms for the lord, called Okushoin, which had been located in the Third Enclosure, and restored near the town hall.

Later History

After the Meiji Restoration, Tamaru Caste was abandoned and all the buildings of the castle were sold or demolished. The ruins have been public owned since 1928 and designated as a Prefectural Historic Site of Mie since 1953. Tamaki Town is researching the ruins to be designated as a National Historic Site in the future.

Shiroyama-Inari Shrine in the Northern Enclosure

My Impression

Before Nobukatsu was fired by Hideyoshi, he owned Owari Province which was originally the Oda Clan’s home base as the lord of the clan. Historians say his rejection to leave the province was the cause for his loss. However, I speculate Hideyoshi would have taken the province away from Nobukatsu no matter what he said like Hideyoshi had done against the Hojo Clan in Odawara Castle. Hideyoshi wanted to provide more territories to his relatives.

The present Odawara Castle

After that, Nobukatsu became a monk, changing his way of life. I think he probably stopped being a warrior. In his last territory, Obata, he was not allowed to build a castle for the small territory, contrasted by the large Rakusanen Garden. Tamaru Castle and the garden shows the transition of Nobukatsu’s way of life symbolically.

The Rakusanen Garden
The stone walls of Main Enclosure seen from the Second Enclosure in Tamaru Castle
The grave of Nobukatsu Oda in Kanra Town, Gunma Prefecture

How to get There

If you want to visit the castle ruins by car, it is about 10 minutes away from Tamaki IC on the Ise Expressway. You can use the parking lot of Tamaki Town Hall.
By public transportation, it takes about 10 minutes on foot from JR Tamaru Station.
To get to Tamaru Station from Tokyo: Take the Tokaido Shinkansen super express, transfer to the Kansai Line at Nagoya Station and transfer to the Kisei Line at Kameyama Station.

Tamaki Town Hall

That’s all. Thank you.
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