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

Features

Outside of Main Enclosure

The Main Enclosure is only connected to the Second Enclosure by the earthen bridge which is the same as the past. It looks like a castle island floating on the moat which must have had a defensive design.

The aerial photo around the castle

The earthen bridge to the Main Enclosure

However, if you go around the back side, you will find its back entrance ruins with stone steps, where a bridge to the outside was built. The bridge can not be seen in the drawing of the castle submitted to the shogunate. The reason for it could be that it was built after the drawing had been submitted or it was removed from the drawing intentionally.

The back entrance ruins of the Main Enclosure

The bridge in the back was not seen in the drawing (the upper right part)

The high stone walls surrounding it also look technical as they are curved elaborately to counterattack the enemies’ sides. They also use the lips as their base which is a rare case in Japanese castles. Some historians think that the reason may be to support the sandstones used for the walls which are weaker than the other types of stones. That’s why the stone walls were partially repaired in the present time, using granite to make them durable.

These stone walls were built on the lips

The white stones seem to have been used for the repair

Inside of Main Enclosure

The inside of the Main Enclosure has the reconstructed Main Tower, a gate, a corner turret and white walls. They have different designs from the original ones compared with those in the drawing. For example, the current Main Tower has three levels with many decorations while the original one had five levels with a simple roofing. In case like the current Main Tower of Kishiwada Castle, which was rebuilt but has a different design, should be called “reconstructed”. The enclosure also has a modern Japanese dry garden, called Hachijin-no-Niwa or the Garden of Eight Battle Formation, which was built in the same period as the current Main Tower and was designated as a National Scenic Beauty in 2014. The builders might also have created the Main Tower freely without its original design as a modern building.

The reconstructed buildings in the Main Enclosure

The tower is used as a historical museum inside and an observation platform on the top floor. The floor has a good viewing spot where you can enjoy the scenery of the area around including Osaka Bay. However, you can’t see anything on the outside from the enclosure except for the platform due to the high white walls on the top of the stone walls.

A view of the city area towards Osaka Bay from the platform

*This is also not a good view point because of the walls*

Later History

After the Meiji Restoration, Kishiwada Castle was abandoned and all the castle buildings were demolished. The castle land excluding the Main and Second Enclosures was turned into the city area. There was probably no other way to use it, other than modernizing the city of Kishiwada. After a long time, people in Kishiwada wanted to rebuild the Main Tower of the castle though they needed donations for it. As a result, it was finally completed in 1954 as the three-level Main Tower, but actually a modern concrete building has become a symbol of the city. Some people had argued that it should have been a five-level wooden one which was the same as the original tower, but there was a budget problem and the former lord, the Okabe Clan supported the original reconstruction plan. Kishiwada City is currently struggling to consider the earthquake-resistance measures of the reconstructed Main Tower due to its old age and the stricter regulations than before. It is also continuing to repair the remaining stone walls by replacing collapsed sandstones with new granite stones.

My Impression

I think the more you visit the current Kishiwada Castle, the more you will be interested in its history. The castle started out as a small one facing the sea, and it developed into the only one in Izumi Province, and finally became the symbol of the city. However, the only thing I would ask the city to improve on the castle would be to open the views from the Main and Second Enclosures. Currently, visitors can’t see the views below from them because of the walls or hedges probably for the safety reasons. I think the city will be able to replace them with other fences which can provide the views so that visitors can fully understand how the castle was developed more.

How about using this fence, partially used in the Second Enclosure, more?

*This is a good view point because of the fence*

That’s all. Thank you.
Back to “Kishiwada Castle Part1”
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Location and History

City is known for Kishiwada Danjiri Festival

Kishiwada City is known for Kishiwada Danjiri Festival which is held in the city every September. Danjiri means traditional Japanese floats which are pulled around the city area in the festival. The city originates from the castle town of Kishiwada Castle. It is said that the festival also came from a celebration event which a lord of the castle, Nagayasu Okabe held for building a new Inari Shrine in the castle in 1703. The reconstructed Main Tower of the castle can be seen among the city area, for instance, from a train you ride on the Nankai Line between Osaka and Kansai Airport or Wakayama City. However, the scenery of the castle was different from the current one before its long history.

A scenery of Kishiwada Danjiri Festival (licensed by Kounosu via Wikimedia Commons)

*The portrait of Nagayasu Okabe, owned by Senkoji Temple (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

Rulers take over Castle from Local Lords

Osaka Prefecture was roughly divided into three provinces in the past; Settsu, Kawachi and Izumi. The Kishiwada area belonged to Izumi Province which was the southern part of the prefecture and had the border with Kii Province in the south. It is still unknown when and how the castle was first built, but historians speculate that a local clan, the Kishiwada Clan had the old Kishiwada Castle sometime during the Middle Ages and moved to the current Kishiwada Castle in the first 15th Century during the Sengoku Period. The castle was followed by other local clans, the Matsura and the Terada Clans. They were able to maintain their castle and territory by serving the persons of power of the time such as the Hosokawa and the Miyoshi Clans.

The range of Izumi Province and the location of the castle

However, the situation didn’t allow them to do so when the rulers as Nobunaga Oda and Hideyoshi Toyotomi processed their unification of Japan in the late 16th Century. They used Kishiwada Castle as the front line against a group of local lords called Saika-shu which owned Kii Province. They also sent their retainers to the castle to govern it directly. For example, Kazuuji Nakamura who worked under Hideyoshi became the lord of the castle and repelled the attacks from the Saika Goup in 1584. Kishiwada Castle was originally a simple soil-made castle on a hill beside Osaka Bay. It is thought that Kazuuji improved it by building the Main Tower and high stone walls. That’s also why the castle managed to survive until today while the other castles in Izumi Province were all abandoned by the rulers.

*The portrait of Kazuuji Nakamura, owned by Tokyo University (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons*)

Development of Castle and Town

Hideyoshi replaced Kazuuji with Hidemasa Koide, a relative of Hideyoshi in 1585. Hidemasa developed the castle town and the Kishu Road through the town below the Second Enclosure in the west. The tide had actually reached there until then. The Main Gate was also moved from the eastern side to the northern side near the town. It is also thought that he improved or replaced the Main Tower in the Main Enclosure, which had five levels according to the drawing submitted to the Tokugawa Shogunate later on. The shogunate replaced the Koide Clan with Yasushige (Matsui) Matsudaira in 1619, who completed the castle and town. He built new stone walls outside the town in the west to expand it. The castle had probably been small with only the Main Enclosure in the east and the Second Enclosure in the west, but it became larger by adding several enclosures and moats around.

The miniature model of Kishiwada Castle, viewed from the south, the Main Gate (called the Northern Main Gate) is in the red circle, exhibited by Kishiwada Castle

The Main Tower in the drawing, exhibited by the National Archives of Japan

*The remaining stone walls of the castle town (licensed by Hironoyama via Wikimedia Commons)*

*The portrait of Yasushige Matsudaira (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

The castle was finally followed by Nobukatsu Okabe in 1640 and his clan governed the castle and the area around as the Kishiwada Domain until the end of the Edo Period. The clan originally came from Suruga Province which is the modern day central part of Shizuoka Prefecture. They served the Imagawa, the Takeda and finally Ieyasu Tokugawa who was the founder of the shogunate. Their government was basically stable in the peaceful Edo Period like the launch of Kishiwada Danjiri Festival. However, the Main Tower was unfortunately burned down by an lightning fire in 1827. After that, the domain planned to restore the tower with the permission from the shogunate, but the periods of warriors and castles ended by the Meiji Restoration before it was done.

*The portrait of Nobukatsu Okabe, owned by Senkoji Temple (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

*The illustration of Kishiwada Cassle in Iaumi Province, exhibited by the National Archives of Japan*

To be continued in “Kishiwada Castle Part2”

タグ: Kishiwada city

161.Kishiwada Castle Part3