Law of one castle per province – ページ 2 – 日本200名城バイリンガル (Japan's top 200 castles and ruins)

179.Kagomori Castle Part1

A castle located around the border between provinces

Location and History

Area of Border Dispute

The ruins of Kagomori Castle are now located in Matsuno Town in Ehime Prefecture, near the Kochi border. Similarly, the castle was located in Iyo Province which was near the border of Iyo Province and Tosa Province in the past. This location was often tense because it was important to the lords of both provinces in order to maintain their territories.

The range of Iyo Province and the location of Kagomori Castle

It is often said The Watanabe Clan owned the castle since the 12th Century. The clan eventually followed the Saionji Clan which governed the southern Iyo Province, and became one of the fifteen commanders of Saionji. Kanesada Ichijo, the lord of Tosa Province in the first 16th Century, sent one of his relatives, to the Watanabe Clan to become their adopted heir. In fact, this was his preparation for the invasion of Iyo Province. The adopted Noritada Watanabe did nothing for his master, Kinhiro Saionji when Kanesada actually invaded the Iyo Province in 1567. Kinhiro got angry and decided to attack Noritada in Kagomori Castle before Noritada could surrender. This event happened at the castle near the border.

The portrait of Kanesada Ishijo, owned by Ryushu-ji Temple *(licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

Castle is built on U shape Ridge

Kagomori Castle was built on a mountain where the ridge looked like the letter U. A lot of its enclosures were in a line on the long and narrow ridge. The Main Enclosure was on the center of the U shape, in the northernmost section. Nine enclosures were from the western edge of the U shape which was the next to the Main Enclosure. Another three enclosures were east of the Main Enclosure. In addition, the two Kojo Enclosures and the Sinjo Enclosure were in the eastern edge of the U shape. There were 16 enclosures in total, though each of them was small. They were basically made of soil, divided by artificial ditches, and the slope of the mountain which was intentionally cut vertically. Moreover, the mountain was surrounded by rivers in three directions except for the south. Overall, the castle can be seen as a stronghold using natural terrain.

The relief map around the castle

During the unification of Japan by Hideyoshi Toyotomi in the 1580s, his retainer, Katsutaka Toda became the lord of the southern Iyo Province which included Kagomori Castle. Katsutaka became the leader, and then, Takatora Todo became the next leader in 1595 after Katsutaka died. Kagomori Castle continued to be an important castle near the border of Tosa Province even during the unification of Japan. This is because the governance of Japan was still unstable. The lord of Iyo Province needed to keep monitoring the movements of the Chosogabe and Yamanouchi Clans.

The portrait of Takatora Todo, private owned (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Castle is improved during Unification of Japan

Kagomori Castle had basically been a simple mountain castle, but was eventually improved with the latest technology from Katsutaka or Takatora. For example, stone walls were built around the Main Enclosure. The enclosure originally had the Main Hall for the lord, and a building like the Main Tower was added. The excavation team managed to find large sized rooftiles including grampuses at the site, which could have been used for the Main Tower. According to Takatora’s biography, the Main Tower of Kagomori Castle was moved to his home base, Uwajima Castle and used as a turret. However, this is still not entirely proven, but Kagomori Castle might have looked like a modern castle.

The partially remaining stone walls at the Main Enclosure of Kagomori Castle

In 1615, Ieyasu Tokugawa, who was the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, defeated the Toyotomi Clan in Osaka Castle. After that, the authority of the shogunate was established. The shogunate ordered all of the lords in Japan to follow one castle rule, the Law of One Castle per Province to make its government more stable. Because of the new law, Kagomori Castle, which was owned by the Date Clan after Takatora was moved to another province, was eventually abandoned.

To be continued in “Kagomori Castle Part2”

183.Kurume Castle Part1

An important castle in the Chikugo Province

Location and History

Debatable ground among Great Warlords

Kurume Castle was located in the Chikugo Province which is now the southern part of Fukuoka Prefecture, in the Kyushu Region. In the late 16th Century, during the Sengoku Period, two great warlords got the power in the northern Kyushu Region. One of them was the Otomo Clan in the Bungo Province, in the east of Chikugo Province. The other was the Ryuzoji Clan in the Hizen Provence, in the west of Chikugo Province. As a result, Chikugo Province was scrambled by the two warlords. During that period, a fortress, called Sasahara Castle, was built in the same place as the later Kurume Castle. The lords of the castle changed quite often because of the context.

The range of Chikugo Province and the location of the castle

Hidekane Mori and Arima Clan complete Castle

During the unification of Japan by Hideyoshi Toyotomi, Hidekane Mori was promoted as the lord of the castle in 1587. He renovated the castle, which was renamed Kurume Castle. However, he was fired after losing the battle of Sekigahara in 1600. Instead, the Tanaka Clan was transferred from Okazaki Castle to Yanagawa Castle in the Chikugo Province. Kurume Castle became a branch of Yanagawa Castle and was eventually abandoned in 1615 due to the Law of One Castle per Province by the Tokugawa Shogunate. The castle was revived in 1621 by the Arima Clan, the lord of the Kurume Domain, after the Tanaka Clan was also fired because they had no successors. The Arima Clan completed Kurume Castle and governed the domain until the end of the Edo Period.

The portrait of Hidekane Mori, owned by Gensaiji Temple (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Kurume Castle was located beside the Chikugo River flowing from the north to the west of the castle. The eastern side of the castle was surrounded by tripled water moats tripled such as the Chikuzen-bori Moat. The castle town was built in the south of the castle. Four enclosures divided by water moats; the Outer, Third, Second, Main Enclosures were built in a line next to the castle town towards the north. If enemies wanted to capture the castle, they had to first attack the castle town one enclosure at a time. Only the Main Enclosure was made with high stone walls while the others were made with soil. The Main Enclosure was on a hill at in the northernmost part of the castle and had the Main Hall and seven turrets to protect it. These turrets all had three stories and were connected by two-story row-style turrets, called Tamon-Yagura, which looked very spectacular.

The illustration of Kurume Castle, exhibited by *the National Diet Library of Japan*, adding my own comments

Shinto affects Domain and Castle

The governance of the Kurume Domain was generally stable in the peaceful time of the Edo Period. Shinto, one of the major religions in Japan, spread during this period. One of its main doctrines was to respect the Emperor, which led to the movement for imperialism and exclusionism. The movement eventually resulted in the one against the Tokugawa Shogunate at the end of the period. Many Shinto believers lived in Kurume, and communicated with others in other areas. For example, Hikokuro Takayama, who was a famous loyal supporter of the Emperor, visited Kurume three times and died there in 1793. Maki Izumi, who was the priest of the Kurume Suitengu Shrine, joined the Kinmon Incident in Kyoto in 1864.

The statue of Hikokuro Takayama in Kyoto (taken by あじのすけ from photoAC)

However, the Kurume Domain didn’t play a major role in the Meiji Restoration during which the New Government defeated the shogunate. This is because the domain had an internal conflict between its supporters. The domain even had complains about the New Government changing its policy to open the country. The government punished the lord of the domain and occupied Kurume Castle in 1871, which was the last time the castle was occupied.

The old photo of Kurume Castle *(licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

To be continued in “Kurume Castle Part2”

87.Hizen-Nagoya Castle Part3

Was only Hideyoshi to the blame for the war?

Features

Let’s walk around “Back side of Castle”

You can also look down and admire the Yugeki-maru Enclosure and the Second Enclosure to the west from the Main Enclosure. The former one was used as the accommodation for the envoys from the Ming Dynasty. Its name “Yugeki” comes from the position of one of the envoys. The latter has the ruins of many stone steps called Aisaka, which were used by the soldiers to quickly climb up or down the stone walls.

The map around the Second Enclosure

Tthe Yugeki-maru Enclosure seen from the Main Enclosure

Tthe Secpmd Enclosure seen from the Main Enclosure

the ruins of many stone steps called Aisaka in the Second Enclosure

If you want to go there from the Main Enclosure, you need to go out from the Back Gate ruins and walk around passing through the Mizute Route and the Funate Route.

The route from the Main Enclosure to the Second Enclosure written on the picture of the miniature model of Hizen-Nagoya Castle exhibited by the Saga Prefectural Nagoya Castle Museum

the Back Gate ruins of the Main Enclosure

Below the Mizute Enclosure around the Mizete Route

The entrance of the Second Enclosure, around the Funate Route

If you look up the stone walls of the Main Enclosure from these enclosures, you can see the stone walls were destroyed like a V letter very well. This is because the officials restored them just after they were destroyed intentionally.

Looking up the Main Tower base of the Main Enclosure from the Yugeki-maru Enclosure

The stone walls are preserved as just after being destroyed

Later History

After Hizen-Nagoya Castle was abandoned, all the buildings were demolished. It is said that part of them was used for the construction of Karatsu Castle. Many parts of the stone walls were destroyed intentionally as mentioned above. Historians speculate the destruction occurred for the following reasons:
It may have been due to the Law of One Castle per Province by the Tokugawa Shogunate; the Shogunate might have broken the stone walls so they could not to be used by rebels against the Shogunate (like Shimabara Rebellion); or it might have been done to show a good partnership to the Korean envoys.
The ruins have been designated as a National Special Historic Site since 1955.

The destroyed stone walls of the Yugeki-maru Enclosure

My Impression

Many Japanese people now tend to avoid thinking of the invasion of Korea by Hideyoshi Toyotomi. They also think the war was caused by Hideyoshi’s own crazy idea, considering the current relationship with Korea. However, I think many Japanese people wanted to get more territory at that time. Even Hideyoshi was not able to build such a huge-scale castle without the people’s cooperation. I also think we cannot build a real friendship with foreign countries without sharing real history.
If you have time, I recommend visiting some of the ruins of other lords’ military positions around the castle. I regret I was only able to go to one of them after visiting Hizen-Natgoya Castle.

The ruins of the military position of Hideyori Mori

How to get There

I recommend using a car when you visit the ruins.
It is about 30 minutes away from Karatsu IC on the Nishi-Kyushu Expressway.
You can park at the parking lot of Saga Prefectural Nagoya Castle Museum.

The Saga Prefectural Nagoya Castle Museum

Links and References

・Saga Prefectural Nagoya Castle Museum

That’s all. Thank you.
Back to “Hizen-Nagoya Castle Part1”
Back to “Hizen-Nagoya Castle Part2”