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

79.Imabari Castle Part3

This castle is beautiful and firmly built.

Features

Walking outside Inner Moat after getting out of Back Gate

The castle park also has the back gate called Yamazato-mon which was restored in 1990. To get out of the castle area, you have to go down a few stone steps, pass another Korai-mon style gate, and go across a narrow earthen bridge. The earthen bridge was originally wooden made which would have been fallen if a battle happened. The area around the gate is sunken, on the other hand, the area over the bridge extends upward.

The aerial photo around the castle

Seeing Yamazato-Yagura Turret connecting the gate from outside of the Inner Moat

The Korai-mon style gate and the earthen bridge

After you go out of the park, you can try walking around the Inner Moat. The moat is about 50 to 70m wide and the stone walls inside are 9 to 13m tall. They look like a floating fortress!

Seeing the castle from the Second Enclosure side

Imabari Port, Source of Inner Moat

After looking around, you can check out how the sea water gets inside the Inner Moat of the castle. You can also see the water reservoir near the main entrance of the park. If you go along the waterway towards the source, you will reach the Imabari Port which was the castle port. It was located at the edge of the Middle Moat in the past. Because of that source, the surface level of the Inner Moat is changing depending on the tide.

The water reservoir at the Inner Moat side

The water reservoir at Imabari Port side

Later History

After the Meiji Restoration, Imabari Castle was abandoned and all the castle buildings were eventually demolished or burned. The Main Enclosure was turned into the Fukiage Shrine in 1872 before the Fukiage Park was established including the Second Enclosure in 1914. That’s why the main portion of the castle inside the Inner Moat still remains, while the outside of the moat was all turned into the city area. Since the castle ruins were designated as a Prefectural Historic Site of Ehime in 1953, Imabari City has been developing and restoring them as a historical park as mentioned above.

The main portion of the castle as the park

Bugu-Yagura Turret, the other restored turret

My Impression

After walking around the Inner Moat to see the great view of the moat and the high stone walls, I noticed Imabari Castle was quite practical. Why did Takatora Todo make the Inner Moat around 50m wide and the stone walls around 10m high? I speculate that the defenders on the stone walls were able to hit the attackers outside the Inner Moat effectively by guns and arrows. On the other hand, the guns and arrows from the attackers could not be useful. I think Takatora built this castle that way. Imabari Castle was beautiful as well as so strong.

The height of the stone walls and the width of the Inner Moat may have been the best to protect the castle

A view of the castle from the Imitation Main Tower

How to get There

If you want to visit there by car, it is about 15 minutes from Imabari-Kita IC on the Nishi-Seto Expressway or about 20 minutes from Imabari-Yunoura IC on the Imabari-Komatsu Expressway. There is a parking lot beside the main entrance of the park.
By public transportation, you can take the Setouchi Bus bound for Imabari-Eigyosho from Imabari Station and get off at the Imabari-jo-mae bus stop or it takes about 30 minutes on foot from the station to get there.
From Tokyo or Osaka to Imabari Station: I recommend traveling by plane and when you get there you can take the bus or train to get to Imabari station.

The parking lot beside the main entrance of the park

That’s all. Thank you.
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130.Takashima Castle Part2

The Main Enclosure of the castle was developed as a park.

Features

Main Enclosure as Park and rebuilt Main Tower

Now the ruins of Takashima Castle became the modern day Takashima Park. The park includes the Main Enclosure and the water moat of the northern and eastern sides of it. Other enclosures were turned into the city area. Suwa Lake is now about 400m away from the park, so it is difficult to imagine “the floating castle”. The stone walls of the enclosure and the moat are original, and some buildings such as the Main Tower were rebuilt.

The aerial photo around the castle

The rebuilt Main Tower is actually a modern building which looks similar to the original one. The building has a cooper plate roofing, not wooden strip roofing from the original, but they probably resemble each other. The inside of the tower is used as a historical museum and an observation platform. You can see a view of Suwa Lake in the distance from the top. You may also have a feeling of the passage of time.

Three Entrances of Main Enclosure

The Main Enclosure has three entrances. The Kabuki-mon Gate was rebuilt on the heavy stone walls at the northern side of the enclosure. It was also the front gate of it, connected to the Second Enclosure, and only high class people were allowed to use the gate.

The Kawado-mon Gate is at the western side of the enclosure. The remaining building was actually used as the back gate of the Main Hall at the Third Enclosure, and moved to the present position. When the castle was beside the lake, it was possible to take a ship to the lake from this gate.

The ruins of Tsuchido-mon Gate is at the southern side of the enclosure. It was the side gate for people who couldn’t use the front gate, Kabuki-mon.

The Main Hall for the lord was inside the enclosure where a Japanese garden and Suwa-Gokoku Shrine are now.

The Japanese garden in the Main Enclosure

Remaining items and Rebuilt ones

The remaining stone walls surrounding the Main Enclosure still look great today. Three turrets were originally on the stone walls, and only one of them, the Sumi-yagura or the Corner Turret was rebuilt.

The rebuilt Corner Turret on the remaining stone walls

You can see the combination of the Main Tower, the Kabuki-mon Gate, and the Sumi-yagura Turret with the water moat and bridge at the northern side of the enclosure. In my opinion, this is the best spot to take photos.

A view of the northern side of the Main Enclosure

To be continued in “Takashima Castle Part3”
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130.Takashima Castle Part1

A castle once at lakeside

Location and History

Suwa Area and Suwa Clan with Long History

Suwa Area of Nagano Prefecture is famous for its tourist spots like Suwa Lake and Suwa-taisha Shrine which are related to Takashima Castle. The shrine is said to have originated from a god in the oldest remaining history book called Kojiki. The god was also supposed to be the origin of the Suwa Clan that had been the lord of Suwa District of Shinano Province (same as now Suwa Area) and “Ohori” or the highest rank of the saints in Shinto at the shrine until the first 16th Century during the Sengoku Period. They still lived in other mountain castles.

The aerial photo around Suwa Lake

Suwa-taisha Shrine (licensed by Saigen Jiro via Wikimedia Commons)

Invasion by Shingen Takeda

Shingen Takeda, one of the greatest warlords of Kai Province next to Shinano Province, aimed to invade the province. He defeated the Suwa Clan in 1542 and governed Suwa District. The Takeda Clan was also defeated by Nobunaga Oda in 1582. However, there was a confusion in the district when Nobunaga was killed in the same year. People in the district invited one of the Suwa Clan’s relatives who remained as Ohori at Suwa-taisha Shrine as their new lord, Yoritada Suwa.

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

The portrait of Shingen Takeda, owned by Jimyo-in Temple (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Takayoshi Hineno built Takashima Castle

When Hideyoshi Toyotomi gained the power at the end of the 16th Century, he sent his retainer, Takayoshi Hineno to Suwa District. Yoritada Suwa was regretfully transferred to another province however. Takayoshi built a new castle alongside Suwa Lake called Takashima Castle bringing advanced techniques for that time from western Japan. The castle had four enclosures in a line facing the lake. Only one route was accessible to the enclosure at the edge of the castle. That means the castle could be very defensive.

The layout of Takashima Castle (licensed by Fraxinus2 via Wikimedia Commons)

The Main Enclosure was surrounded by stone walls which must have been very difficult to build them on the lakeside. They were actually built on wooden rafts in order to be stable even on the soft ground. The Main Enclosure also had the three-story Main Tower which was rare for eastern Japan at that time. The tower had a wood strip roofing different from other castles which usually used roof tiles. This is because the wooden tiles made the weight of the tower lighter on the soft ground and were more durable against the cold climate of the area.

The Main Enclosure surrounded by the stone walls

The old photo of the original Main Tower, exhibited by Suwa Takashima Castle

Suwa Clan revived and maintained Castle

In 1601 after the Tokugawa Shogunate gained the power instead of the Toyotomi Clan, the Suwa Clan came back to Suwa District. They supported the Shogunate very well in the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Yoritada Suwa’s son, Yorimizu became the lord of Takashima Domain and lived in Takashima Castle. In the peaceful time during the Edo Period, a view of the castle with Suwa Lake became a popular attraction in the area, called “the floating castle of Suwa”. Some Ukiyo-e artists such as Hokusai Katsushika drew paintings of the scenery for their Ukiyo-e or woodblock prints. On the other hand, the reclamation of Suwa Lake was done to make more farms and to prevent floods through the Edo Period. Takashima Castle was moving away far from the lake.

The Suwa Clan’s family crest, Suwa Kajinoha or Paper mulberry leaves of Suwa (licensed by Mukai via Wikimedia Commons)

”Suwa Lake in Shinano Province” from the series “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji” attributed to Hokusai Katsushika in the Edo Period (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

To be continued in “Takashima Castle Part2”