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

135.Masuyama Castle Part2

You can learn a lot about mountain castles there.

Features

Going to Castle Ruins through Uranagi Route

Today, the ruins of Masuyama Castle have been well developed for visitors. There are two trails to visit the ruins, but I highly recommend using the Uranagi Route. This is because there is an information center called Masuyama Jinya with a parking lot near the route. If you park there and walk to the entrance of the route, you will see an interesting modern facility. In fact, the Wada-gawa River which flowed around the castle was turned into the Wada-gawa Dam. You will walk through the crest of the dam looking at Masuyama Lake on the right and a hydroelectric plant on the left. Part of the ruins of the castle town is under the lake now.

Masuyama Castle[/leaflet-marker]

The information center called Masuyama Jinya

Featured Horikiri and following Enclosures

By now, you should be able to see the ruins at an altered gate called Kaburagi-mon beside a large signboard. The Uranagi Route goes up on a slope and eventually goes in a valley between the ridges on both sides. You will first see the enclosure called the F Enclosure whose name originates from the numbering system which historians used. it is therefore not known what the original name was. You should check out the ridges that are cut artificially, called Horikiri, in front of the enclosure which prevented enemies from attacking the ridges.

The Kaburagi-mon at the entrance of the Uranagi Route

The Horikiri in front of the F Enclosure

Above the F Enclosure, there is the Umanosego Enclosure which is shaped like a horse’s back. This is where the Uranagi Route and Nanamagari Route meet. The enclosure was an important spot for controlling visitors or enemies.

The map around the F Enclosure and the Umanosego Enclosure (from the location map at the site)

First Enclosure, pivot point of the defense

After that, the First Enclosure stands out in front of you. The cliff around the enclosure is cut vertically, which is called Kirigishi, however, it is impossible to climb it. Unfortunately, you will also have to walk around the cliff to reach the entrance of the enclosure. This location would have been where enemies were counterattacked from above. From there, you will see the remaining well called the Matabe-Shimizu which still filled fresh water to this day located near the entrance.

The map around the First Enclosure (from the location map at the site)

From the inside of the enclosure, you can see a good view of the area around the castle as well as a view of the route you went through. That means this enclosure would have been the pivot point of the defense.

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

135.Masuyama Castle Part1

An important mountain castle in Ecchu Province

Location and History

Ecchu Province in Sengoku Period

Masuyama Castle was a large mountain castle which was located in Ecchu Province (what is now modern day Toyama Prefecture). In the first 16th Century, Ecchu Province didn’t have a strong warlord, but was divided between the Jinbo Clan, the Shina Clan, the Ikkoshu Sect and others. The province had the Toyama Plain in the center, which was surrounded by hills in the south, the east and the west. They built a lot of mountain castles on the area of the hills to maintain their territories. Masuyama Castle was called one of the three greatest mountain castles in Ecchu Province followed by Moriyama Castle and Matsukura Castle.

The location of the castle

Masuyama Castle was located on the western edge of the hills sticking out of the Toyama Plain from the south. The Wada-gawa River flowed alongside the edge, so it could be a natural water moat. There were a lot of enclosures on the hill such as the First Enclosure and the Second Enclosure.

The relief map around the castle

The map around the castle

Defensive system of Masuyama Castle

To protect these enclosures, the castle had several defensive systems using natural terrains like ridges, cliffs and valleys. For example, some ridges were cut artificially to look like a trench, called Horikiri. Some cliffs were cut vertically, called Kirigishi. Some valleys were used as the dry moats called Karabori.

A typical defensive system of mountain castles (from the signboard at the site)

The soldiers could also get water from several wells easily in order to survive a long siege. Other castles such as Kameyama Castle were built on the hill next to Masuyama Castle so that they could work closely with each other. Even the castle town was developed on the foot of the mountain castle at its peak.

The imaginary drawing of Masuyama Castle

Kenshin Uesugi attacked it three times

It is uncertain when the castle was first built, but the Jinbo Clan owned the castle in the middle of the 16th Century during the Sengoku Period. In 1560, a great warlord by the name of Kenshin Uesugi invaded Ecchu Province and supporting the Shina Clan from Echigo Province (The east of Ecchu Province). The Jinbo Clan was sieged in Masuyama Castle to protect themselves. Kenshin wrote in his letter that Masuyama was an essentially dangerous place and impenetrable with lots of defenders. Kenshin attacked Masuyama Castle three times, and finally captured it in 1576.

上杉謙信肖像画、上杉神社蔵 (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

After Kenshin died in 1578, Narimasa Sassa under the Oda Clan took over Masuyama Castle from the Uesugi Clan in 1581. After that, the Maeda Clan supporting the ruler, Hideyoshi Toyotomi and the Tokugawa Shogunate later owned the castle. Some senior vassals from the Maeda Clan stayed in the castle. That meant Masuyama Castle was always an important castle to rule that area. However, the castle was finally abandoned in 1615 due to the Law of One Castle per Province created by the Tokugawa Shogunate. It was said that a wife of the senior vassal who was called Sho-hime was also a daughter of Toshiie Maeda, the founder of the Maeda Clan who managed the castle around the end of its history.

The portrait of Narimasa Sassa, owned by Toyama Municipal Folk Museum *(licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

The portrait of Toshiie Maeda, the founder of the Maeda Clan, private owned (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

To be continued in “Masuyama Castle Part2”

39.Gifu Castle Part2

Please pay attention to both the top and foot of the mountain.

Features

The map around the castle

To Castle Ruins on Top

Now, the area around Mt. Kinkazan has become one of the most popular tourist spots in the Gifu Prefecture. You can easily go to the top of the mountain by the Kinkazan Ropeway. If you want to climb up there, it is common to use the Nanamagari Trail which was the Main Route for the castle. The tail is relatively gently sloped, so it takes around one hour to reach the top, climbing to about 300m from the ground.

A view of the Main Tower from the city area

The top is actually also a tourist spot where the ropeway terminal, a restaurant, a zoo, and the imitation Main Tower stand. The routes around the top have also been paved in a modern style. However, you can see rocky surfaces made of chert everywhere on the top. As for the ruins of the castle, there are the ruins of the First Gate where the huge stones for the gate collapsed. After seeing the defensive trenches called “Horikiri”, next comes the ruins of the Second Gate. Their plaster walls have been rebuilt recently, but some of the stone walls are original. You should check out the two steps of stone walls under the route from the Second Gate to the Main Tower. The method for building the stone walls is very old, so it is thought that they were built by Nobunaga.

The defensive trenches called “Horikiri”

The stone walls under the route to the Main Tower

A Great View from Main Tower

The imitation Main Tower was built in 1956, based on the drawings of the Three-Story Turret in Kano Castle. The turret was burned in the Edo Period, but there was a rumor that it might have been moved from the Gifu Castle. The interior of the tower is used as a museum which exhibits the history of the castle and Nobunaga. The top floor is also a sightseeing tower where you can see a great view of the area around, including Nagara-gawa River. The stone wall base of the tower looks very old. In fact, the stones are original, but the style is not, as the stones were re-piled when the tower was rebuilt.

A view from the Main Tower (Nagaragawa River side)

*A view from the Main Tower (Mountain side)*

You can also climb down on another tail, for example, from the ruins of the Back Gate. The gate also used huge stones of which you can see the remains on the route. After going down for a while, you can also see the huge, holy rock called “Eboshi-iwa”. The Inaba Shrine was originally located around the rock.

You can see rocky surfaces made of chert here and there

Ruins of Nobunaga’s Residence

At the foot of the mountain, I recommend that you visit the ruins of Nobunaga’s palace residence, because, in fact, it might have been the center of the castle. At the entrance, you can see the remains of the alternate huge stones which were 1.7m high in the past. Walking up the stairs around the terraced stone walls, there is an empty spacious space where the main building was constructed. In the back of it, there were also buildings for the tearoom and sightseeing with an artificial water garden using huge stones. Another pond garden was next to it, and an artificial river flew from the fountain between them. Moreover, these gardens were connected to the main building by the air corridors. Nobunaga seemed to use his palace residence for official ceremonies and for hosting important visitors.

The stairs to the ruins of the main building

The imaginary drawing of around the gardens *(Gifu Castle Museum)*

The imaginary drawing of the residence (from the signboard at the site)

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