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

195.Nobeoka Castle Part3

A pleasure of visiting castle and castle ruins is …

Features

Main Enclosure, Final Strongpoint of Castle

You can next walk on the stone steps beside the stone walls to the Main Enclosure. The route turns left, enters a square space surrounded by other stone walls and turn left again to enter. This square space is called Masugata for protecting the entrance of the enclosure, where the gate buildings were also built on the walls. The inside of the Main Enclosure is an empty square now like the Second Enclosure, so it has a good view point of the city area. It must also have been the final strongpoint of the castle, which could use the 1,000 Murder Stone Walls to repel enemies.

Walking on the stone steps to the Main Enclosure

The map around the castle

The top of the hill next to the Main Enclosure is the Main Tower Enclosure or Base which actually didn’t have the Main Tower. The enclosure is small which could rather have been used as a lookout. There is a bell tower which the keeper still rings the bell 6 times a day at designated times. It has been done for over 140 years since 1878 after the former Drum Turret was burned down during the Seinan War in 1877. It is simple thing, but it is very rare to continue to do so without any holidays. The Three-level Turret was built below the enclosure probably as the substitute of the Main Tower. However, it unfortunately burned down in 1682 and only its stone wall base remains now.

Bell Tower still announces Time

The bell tower in the Main Enclosure, quoted from the Nobeoka City website

The ruins of the Three-level Turret *(licensed by PIXTA)*

If you have time, I recommend visiting the western side of the Second Enclosure which was also surrounded by great stone walls. These stone walls were built for preventing enemies from attacking the castle and the Inner Moat was built outside of it as well. However, the outside area was turned into modern residences just across a narrow path. Therefore, you can see the great stone walls close by and an interesting contrast with many houses.

Stone Walls close to Residential Areas

The aerial photo around the castle, the stone walls of the Second Enclosure are close to residence areas

My Impression

I didn’t know about Mototane Takahashi who built the castle and the story of the 1,000 Murder Stone Walls at all before I visited the castle ruins. I think one of the pleasures of visiting castle ruins is that it will make you interested in what you really see and think much more than just reading about them or watching media.

How to get There

If you want to visit the castle ruins by car, it is about a 10 minute drive away from Nobeoka IC on the Higashi-Kyushu Expressway. There are several parking lots for visitors around the ruins.
If you want to use public transportation, it takes about 20 minutes on foot to get there form JR Nobeoka Station. You can also take the Miyazaki-kotsu bus bound for Kyushu-Hokenfukushi-Daigaku from the station and get off at the Shiyakusho-mae bus stop or take the Machinaka-junkan bus on the Uchimawari Line from the station and get off at the Kyuden-mae, Shiyakusho-nishi bus stop.
For visitors from Tokyo or Osaka: Get the JR Line at Miyazaki Airport after using a plane.

That’s all. Thank you.
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57.Sasayama Castle Part2

Visiting the main portion of the castle

Later History

After the Meiji Restoration, Sasayama Castle was abandoned and all the castle buildings, except for O-shoin or the Large Study Hall out of the Main Hall, were demolished. The hall was used as a school and a community center for a while, however, it was unfortunately burned down by an accidental fire in 1944. After World War II, the Inner Moat out of the double water moats was filled to became a normal park. However, since the castle ruins were designated as a National Historic Site in 1956, the trend changed. Tanba-Sasayama City has been developing the ruins as a historical site such as the hall being restored in 2000 and the moat being dug up again.

The photo of the Large Study Hall, in 1943, private owned (*licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

The Large Study Hall which was restored in 2000

Features

From Main Gate Ruins to Main Portion

Today, the ruins of Sasayama Castle have been developed by Tanba-Sasayama City with the remaining warriors’ houses and the castle town atmosphere. Visitors usually first visit the Main Gate Ruins in the north in front of the Outer Moat. Unfortunately, the gate and its Umadashi system were destroyed, so only their traces remain now.

The ruins of Umadashi system on the Main Route

The aerial photo around the castle

If you walk the path to the center of the ruins passing the Outer and Inner Moats, you will reach the ruins of the Front Gate and Kurogane-mon or the Iron Gate, the entrance of the main portion. These ruins are still surrounded by stone walls of double Masugata system, which you can imagine the main gate had a similar system to it.

The ruins of the Front Gate, which has the first Masugata system behind

Restored Large Study Hall in Second Enclosure

The main portion has the Second Enclosure in the front and the Main Enclosure in the back. You can enter the restored Large Study Hall with the historical museum. You will first get in the museum where you can learn the history of the castle

Then, go in the hall where you can experience what it looked like in the past. The Large Study Hall was used for public ceremonies which has an impressive large hip-and-gable roof above the front entrance. Visitors enter it not from the front but from the side and walk around the corridors surrounding the rooms. There are eight rooms inside such as Honored Guest Room, Dark Room for storing, and Tiger Room for waiting.

Visitors enter the hall form the right side

Here is the inside of the front entrance

There are also the flat exhibitions of the residential area for the lord and the ruins of Uzume-mon or the Small Back Gate behind the hall.

The flat exhibitions of the residential area in the Second Enclosure

Stone Wall Base for Main Tower with Viewing Spot

The Main Enclosure is the highest point of the castle. The inside of it looked to be a square during the Edo Period, but the Aoyama Shrine, which worships the Aoyama Clan, the last lord family of the castle, has been there since its launch in 1882.

The Second Enclosure in the front, the Main Enclosure in the back

The large stone wall base for the Main Tower is at a corner of the enclosure, which is a good viewing spot of the city area. You can also see a triangle-shaped Takashiroyama-Mountain in the distance, where the ruins of Yagami Castle, which was active in the Sengoku Period, is. The stone wall base had a very small single turret for its scale at the edge during the Edo Period.

The appearance of the Main Enclosure during the Edo Period, *exhibited by the historical museum in the Large Study Hall of Sasayama Castle*

To be continued in “Sasayama Castle Part3”
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17.Kanayama Castle Part3

This castle might have become more popular.

Features

Living and Religious places in Castle

The enclosures on the upper tiers were used as another pivot point as well as a place for living. The team found traces of kitchen stoves and a well, which were restored with a hut on the Southern Upper Tier Enclosure at the same time as the stone walls. The Southern Enclosure on the top of the tiers is used as the rest house, which is another viewing spot.

The map of the main portion of the castle

The restored hut on the Southern Upper Tier Enclosure

The Southern Enclosure and the rest house on it

To reach the Main Enclosure on the top of the mountain, you will pass and see a larger pond being covered with stone mounds as well, called Hi-no-ike or the Sun Pond. This is actually not a reservoir but a well, which had been famous as a holy place since the Ancient Times before the castle was built. That’s why people in the castle used it for religious services.

Main Enclosure is used as Shrine

Around the top of the mountain is the Main, Second, Third Enclosures, but you can not access the two of the latter because they are privately owned. You will eventually go to the Main Enclosure on the top, which is now used as Nitta Shrine. As for the castle ruins, you can walk around the enclosure, called Musha-bashiri or the Defense Passage, and see the partially remaining original stone walls which are also uncertain as to who first built them.

The Second Enclosure is not allowed to enter

The remaining stone walls behind the Main Enclosure

The Defense Passage around the Main Enclosure

Later History

After Kanayama Castle was abandoned, the Tokugawa Shogunate banned people from entering its mountain area to provide Matsutake mushroom to the shoguns during the Edo period. In fact, the Matsutake produced at the mountain was served to the Imperial Families until 1964.

A view of the Eastern hiking course, there are still Japanese red pines that could provide Matsutake mushroom, but they can’t produce it now because of aging

The shogunate also conserved the former area of the Nitta Manor by building religious facilities such as Serada Toshogu Shrine, Kinryuji and Daikoin Temples as they had declared the shoguns were a branch of the Nita Clan, which meant they were descendants of the Minamoto Clan. Even the shogunate needed the authority to govern the whole country. As for castle ruins, Kanayama Castle ruins were designated as a National Historic Site in 1934. Ota City has been excavating and developing them as a historical site since 1995.

My Impression

When the Yura Clan was banished from Kanayama Castle, only the lord’s mother, Myoinni was against the idea of Hojo Clan keeping the castle. Even after she gave it up, she joined Maeda’s troops to attack the Hojo Clan in 1590 when she was already 77 years old. That caused the Yura Clan to survive while the Hojo Clan to decline in the end. I guess if she and the Yura Clan could still stay in the strong Kanayama Castle even with only a few defenders, there might have been a dramatic event at the castle when Hideyoshi invaded the Kanto Region like Nagachika Narita fought with Mitsunari Ishida at Oshi Castle.

The ruins of Ushiku Castle *(licensed by Monado via Wikimedia Commons)*

How to get There

I recommend using a car when you visit the castle ruins because there are no buses that go directly to the ruins available. It is about a 10-minute drive away from Ota-Kiryu IC on the Kita-Kanto Expressway. There are several parking lots at the foot, halfway up, and at the top of the mountain.
If you want to use public transportation, it takes around 1 hour from Ota Station. It would be better to take a taxi from the station.
From Tokyo to Ota Station: Take the JR Ueno-Tokyo Line from Tokyo Station and transfer to the Ryomo limited express on the Tobu Isesaki Line at Kitasenju Station.

That’s all. Thank you.
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