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

91.Shimabara Castle Part1

A castle sharing the fate of the Shimabara Rebellion

Location and History

Matsukura Clan builds Castle as their Home base

Shimabara Castle is located in the Shimabara Peninsula, the western part of the Kyushu Region. The Arima Clan basically governed the area around the peninsula in the Middle Ages. Harunobu Arima, the lord of the clan in the late 16th Century, was known as a Christian feudal lord. Because of that, Christianity spread around the peninsula greatly. However, he was punished by the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1612. His son was also transferred to another place in 1614. After that, Shigemasa Matsukura was appointed to the lord of the Shimabara Domain by the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1616. He first lived in Hinoe Castle, where the Arima Clan lived, but soon decided to build a new castle as his home base, known as Shimabara Castle and completed in 1624.

The location of the castle

The replica of the statue of Harunobu Arima, exhibited by Arima Christian Heritage Museum, the original statue is owned by Daiunji Temple

The Shimabara Domain was a relatively a small domain which earned 43,000 koku of rice. However, the castle was said to be worth that of a domain with 100,000 koku of rice. That meant the people in the Shimabara Domain suffered high taxes and worked hard to build the castle. The castle had three enclosures in a line from the south to the north. The Main and Second Enclosures were in the Inner Moat and both were connected by only the roofed Passage Bridge called Roka-bashi. If enemies from the outside wanted to attack the Main Enclosure, they had to first enter the entrance of the Second Enclosure.

Part of Illustration of Shimabara Castle and environs with my comments, owned by Kumamoto Prefectural Library, exhibited by Shimabara Castle

High Stone Walls and Five leveled Main Tower

All the enclosures were also surrounded by zigzagging high stone walls allowing the defenders to eliminate blind spots and make a flank attack. In particular, the Main Enclosure had the Main Tower and eleven turrets. The Main Tower had five levels and was built in a typical method called Multi-storied type. Other Main Towers in other castles usually had decorations such as gables and bell-shaped windows. The Main Tower of Shimabara Castle simply had square floors diminishing towards the top with minimal roofing. This method made building the tower more efficient and also easy to protect.

The restored Multi-storied type Main Tower

Shimabara Rebellion occurs due to Matsukura Clan’s oppression

Shigemasa oppressed the people in his territory with heavy taxes to have more income. After the Tokugawa Shogunate banned people from being Christians, he tortured them if they didn’t convert. His way seemed to be loyal to the shogunate. After he died in 1630, his son, Katsuie rapidly followed in his father’s footsteps. People, including the Christians in Shimabara Peninsula, were angry and started the Shimabara Rebellion in 1637. They first attacked Shimabara Castle. They were professionally trained by the masterless warriors who were former retainers of the Arima Clan. Katsuie was not in the castle but in Edo, however, his retainers repelled the uprising army. The castle ironically proved its strength by fighting against the citizens.

The figures showing Matsukura Clan’s oppression, exhibited by *Arima Christian Heritage Museum*

Otemon Battle in Shimabara Uprising, exhibited by Shimabara Castle

The uprising people were defeated after they were besieged in Hara Castle for three months. The shogunate banned the Matsukura Clan from ruling over the Shimabara Domain. Katsuie Matsukura was executed due to his misgovernment. After that, several clans governed the domain and Shimabara Castle by the end of the Edo Period. In 1792, when the Matsudaira Clan governed, a great natural disaster known as Shimabara Taihen happened. An earthquake and eruption from Mt. Unzen caused the collapse of Mt. Mayuyama in front of it. The debris flowing from the mountain killed a lot of people and the castle was also partly destroyed by the earthquake.

Part of the folding screens of Shimabara Rebellion, owned by Asakura City Akizuki Museum, from the exhibition of Arima Christian Heritage Museum

A drawing of Shimabara Taihen, exhibited by Shimabara Castle

To be continued in “Shimabara Castle Part2”

188.Hara Castle Part3

The ruins became a world heritage.

Features

Natural Terrain supporting Castle

You can also walk on the promenade along the seaside from the parking lot and look up at the steep natural cliff under the Second Enclosure. Surprisingly, this cliff was created by the great pyroclastic flow from Mt. Aso over Ariake Sea about 90,000 years ago.

The steep cliff under the Second Enclosure

Later History

After the Shimabara Rebellion, the shogunate settled Buddhist farmers in the Shimabara Peninsula. That’s why there have been very few Christians in the area until now. The ruins of Hara Castle were designated as a National Historic Site in 1938. However, the details of the castle have recently been revealed since the excavation started in 1990. As a result, they have been on the World Heritage List as Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region since 2018.

My Impression

After the Shimabara Rebellion, it is said that the governance of the lords under the shogunate became relatively gentle and they sometimes overlook underground Christians who were harmless. I think the precious sacrifice of the uprising people in the Shimabara Rebellion was not for nothing. Many details about the rebellion and Hara Castle are still unknown, so I hope that the facts of them will become clearer little by little in the future.

The ruins of the Turret base at the Main Enclosure

The cross-shaped monument at the Main Enclosure

How to get There

If you want to visit the ruins by car, it is about 75 minutes away from Nagasaki IC on the Nagasaki Expressway.
You can park in the parking lots for visitors beside a spa facility called Harajo Onsen Masago.
If you want to use public transportation, you can take the Shimatetsu Bus from Shimabara Station on the Shimabara Railway and get off at the Harajo-mae bus stop.
If you go there from Tokyo or Osaka, I recommend going to Nagasaki Airport by plane. After that, you can take the shuttle bus to Isahaya Station and transfer to the Shimabara Railway at the station.

The spa facility called Harajo Onsen Masago

A view of Mt. Unzen from around the parking lot

Links and References

・A World Heritage City Minamishimabara

That’s all. Thank you.
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188.Hara Castle Part2

You can see the extensive castle ruins.

Features

Large hills and valleys in Castle Ruins

Today, the ruins of Hara Castle are still large with a perimeter of about 4km. The Main Enclosure has mainly been public owned and developed for visitors. The many other areas of the ruins, including the Second and Third Enclosures, are private owned and used as fields. If you walk around and look over the ruins, you can find the large hills and valleys and picture the castle remains. Generally, enclosures of many castles in Japan usually worked closely with each other. However, looking at the enclosures of Hara Castle, they seemed to work independently like a modern fortress. This may be the reason why that the uprising army fought had as equals with the shogunate.

The Main Enclosure has been developed as a historic site

The Second and Third Enclosures have become fields

Looking up the ruins from the bottom of a valley

Walking around Second and Third Enclosures

If you drive to the ruins, you will park at the parking lot between the Second and Third Enclosures beside the sea. You will have to walk for about 800m from the parking lot to the Main Enclosure. During the walk, you can see how large the castle was. If you turn right at the first intersection after passing the ruins of the Main Gate, you will reach the monument of Shigemasa Itakura at the Third Enclosure. He was shot and killed here in the first phase of the Shimabara Rebellion.

The map around the castle

The first intersection from the parking lot to the Main Enclosure

Going back to the route leading to the Main Enclosure, you will see the spacious Second Enclosure on the left and its Barbican on the right. Locals say the bones of as many as 20,000 uprising people are still buried under the fields.

The Second Enclosure Barbican is the right side of the valley

One of the Greatest Main Enclosure Entrances

As you approach the Main Enclosure, you will see its great stone walls still surrounding it. However, they were to be excavated after being almost buried by the shogunate. Even historians did not expect the castle had to have such great stone walls. Of course, the stone walls were much higher before the destruction.

The map around the Main Enclosure, the red line shows the estimated route in the entrance

The stone walls of the Main Enclosure, which were discovered by the excavation

Its entrance, called Koguchi, was also excavated and has been developed for visitors. In fact, this is where the bones of the killed uprising people, which were buried with the stone walls, were found. It had large connected square spaces, called Masugata, forming a maze protecting the entrance. Historians speculate that visitors in the past had to turn 5 to 10 times in the entrance to enter the enclosure. The excavation discovered that the Koguchi entrance of Hara Castle was one of the largest examples of those ever found in Japan.

The replica of the excavation site, exhibited by Arima Christian Heritage Museum

The ruins of the Uzumi-mon Gate inside the entrance

Inside of Main Enclosure has become Square

The inside of the Main Enclosure is basically a square now. There are the ruins of the Main Enclosure Gate, the Turret base, and the Ikejiri-guchi Gate along the perimeter. There are also the monument of the Shimabara Rebellion, the statue of Shiro Amakusa, and so on. This enclosure stands on the steep cliff by the sea, so you can enjoy a great view of Ariake Sea, and Mt. Unzen in the distance.

A view of Ariake Sea from the Main Enclosure

A view of the ruins and Mt. Unzen from the Main Enclosure

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