タグ: Law of one castle per province

58.Akashi Castle Part1

The castle made the Shogunate governance stable.

Location and History

Node of Land and Sea Transportation

Akashi City is located in the southern part of Hyogo Prefecture alongside Seto Island Sea. The city is connected to Kinki and Chugoku Regions, as an important point for land transport. The area is also close to Awaji and Shikoku Islands, where people got on board ships to the islands in the past. People can go across the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge to get to the islands now.

The location of the castle

The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge (licensed by Tysto via Wikimedia Commons)

Castle to monitor Lords in western Japan

In 1615, Tokugawa Shogunate defeated the largest rival, Toyotomi Clan. It also ordered other lords to have no other castles than one castle where they lived (Law of One Castle per Province).
Its governance got stable, but it was never satisfied with that. The Shogun, Hidetada Tokugawa told one of the hereditary feudal lords, Tadazane Ogasawara to build a new castle around the Akashi area.

The portrait of Hidetada Tokugawa, owned by Saifuku-ji Temple (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)
The portrait of Tadazane Ogasawara, owned by Fukuju-ji Temple (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The purpose of the castle was to monitor the non-hereditary feudal lords in western Japan, who would be against the Shogunate. Himeji Castle was already being used for that purpose, but the Shogunate thought it was not enough. The new castle was named “Akashi Castle”. Akashi Castle was built using natural terrain such as the edge of the hill and the plain areas. The hilly area in the north had the main portion of the castle such as the Main Enclosure and the Second Enclosure, which provided much defense. The area originally had a natural pond called Ko-no-ike which was also used as a moat. The plain area in the south had the Main Hall for the lord and the houses for the retainers. The area was guarded by gates such as the Main Gate, and the water moats surrounding the area tripled.

The relief map around the castle

Part of the illustration of Akashi Castle in Harina Province, exhibited by the National Archives of Japan

Castle was built by Rush work

The construction for the castle was rapidly completed within one year in 1619. This was due to the construction using moved buildings and waste materials from abandoned castles by the Law of One Castle per Province. Four three-story turrets were built in each corner of the Main Enclosure. These turrets were connected by the plaster walls which surrounded the enclosure. The large stone wall base for a Main Tower was also built, but the Main Tower itself was never built. The main portion of the castle including the Main Enclosure was covered by the high stone walls.

The two out of the four three-story turrets remain

After the completion of the castle, Tadazane was promoted to be the lord of Kokura Castle in 1632, getting more earnings than when he was at Akashi Castle. For about 50 years after that, several lords governed the castle before the Matsudaira Clan came to the castle in 1682. The clan governed the castle until the end of the Edo Period. No war happened during that time, but they often had to repair the buildings which were not new ones when the castle was first built.

To be continued in “Akashi Castle Part2”

105.白石城（Shiroishi Castle）

復元された白石城天守（The restored Tenshu of Shiroishi Castle）

Location and History

白石城は、宮城県南端の白石市にあります。この地域は、江戸時代にはまた仙台藩の南端にもあたりました。この城は、中世初期には築かれたと言われています。それ以来、この城の城主は何度も入れ替わりました。その位、この地域は重要な所だったのです。戦国時代の終わりには、ついには伊達氏がこの城を手に入れました。伊達氏は、重臣の片倉氏をこの城に据えました。この城の天守を含む構成は、この時期に整備されました。
The Shiroishi castle is located in Shiroishi city, in the southern tip of Miyagi prefecture. The area was also in the southern tip of the feudal domain of Sendai in the Edo period. It is said that the castle was built in the early Middle Ages. Since then, the lords of the castle were changed several times because of the importance of the area. Finally, the castle belonged to the Date clan at the end of the Civil War period. They placed their senior vassals, the Katakuka clan, as the lord of the castle. The structures of the castle, including the keep tower “Tenshu” were developed then.

白石市の宮城県内での位置（The position of Shiroishi City in Miyagi pref.）
仙台藩は宮城県より大きな領地でした。（Sendai Domain had a larger territory than Miyagi pref.）

しかし、徳川幕府が確立されると、幕府は各藩主に本拠地の城以外は一切認めないとの命令を下しました（一国一城令）。この命令によれば、白石城は撤去されるべき存在でした。ところが、この城は例外として生き残ることができたのです。それは恐らく伊達氏の強い影響力によるものだったのでしょう。片倉氏は、江戸時代を通じてこの城と周りの地域を支配しました。二番目の城としての立場が考慮されてか、天守は「天守」とは呼ばれず、「大櫓」と呼ばれました。何度か災害や火災には遭ったのですが、城は再建と修理により維持されました。しかしついには明治維新後に、城は石垣をも含めて解体され売却されてしましました。
But, after the Tokugawa Shogunate was established, it ordered all of the domain lords to restrict all castles to no more than the one in their home ground (The law of one castle per province). According to this order, the Shiroishi castle was to be demolished. However, the castle remained as an exemption probably because of Date’s strong influence. Katakuka governed the castle and the surrounding area all through the Edo period. Considering the spot of the second castle, the keep tower was not called “Tenshu” but “Oyagura” which means large turret. Despite several disasters and fires, the castle was kept through reconstruction and maintenance. After the Meiji restoration, the castle was demolished and sold, including its stone walls, in the end.

奥州仙台領白石城絵図部分、江戸時代（Part of the illustration of Shiroishi Castle in Oshu-Sendai Domain in Edo Period）｜出典：国立公文書館

Features

白石城には今、木造復元された天守と大手門があります。この復元は、発掘の成果や古絵図から考証されました。
Shiroishi castle now has a restored wooden Tenshu and main gate “Otemon”. The restoration was planned from excavation, old paintings and drawings.

復元された大手門（The restored Otemon）

特に天守の場合には、石垣までもが復元されました。「野面積み」という自然石を積み上げる、築城時と同じ方法により作られたのです。
Especially in the case of Tenshu, even its stone walls were restored. They are made in the original way from piled-up field stones called “Nodurazumi”.

復元された石垣（The restored stone walls）taken by あけび from photo AC

実は、日本の建築基準法はこの天守のような新築の巨大な木造建築を認めていません。しかし今回のケースは例外として認められたのです。ビジターは天守の中にも入ることができます。
Actually, Japan’s Building Standard Act prohibits the building of such a new large wooden building like the Tenshu, but the act allowed it to be built as exemption at this time. Visitors can enter the inside of Tenshu.

天守の内部、二階部分（The inside of Tenshu, the second floor）

この建物は明らかに伝統的な木造建築であるのですが、最近の建物の中にいるようなくつろいだ雰囲気を感じます。これは多分、部屋の中が明るく、階段も広く急でない作りになっているなどの理由によるのでしょう。設計者や大工の人たちが、細かいところで快適さが増すよう配慮しているように思います。
Though it is certainly a traditional wooden style building, you may feel relaxed like in a modern style building. This is probably because the inside is bright, the stairs are wide and not steep and so on. It seems like designers and carpenters made details more comfortable.

今風に作られた階段（The modernized stairs）
天守の三階部分（The third floor of Tenshu）
天守からの眺め、左下は大手門（A view from Tenshu, Otemon at the lower left）

Later Life

空になった城跡は公園となり、いつしか桜の名所として知られるようになりました。しかし白石市の人々は長い間、城を再建するよう行政側に強く求めてきました。予算や細部をどう作り込むかなどいくつか問題はありましたが、市の市長は１９８８年に再建することを決断しました。
The vacant castle ruins were turned into a park which has became famous for cherry blossoms for some time, but the people in Shiroishi city had urged officials to rebuild the castle for a long time. Though there would be problems like the budget ,the way of making details and so on, the mayor of the city decided to do that in 1988.

復元された白石城天守（The restored Tenshu of Shiroishi Castle）

この再建においてもっと重要なトピックの一つは、城が伝統的な木造による工法で復元されたことでした。この出来事は、日本における城を維持する方法に新しい流れを導いたと言われています。城の復元は１９９７年に完成しました。
One of the most important topics about the rebuild was that the castle would be restored by the traditional wooden construction. It is said that the event led to the flowing of new methods for castles’ maintenance in Japan. The restoration was completed in 1997.

大手門の内側（The inside of Otemon）taken by あけび from photo AC

My Impression

新しくも伝統的で大型の木造城郭建築を見ることは、とてもよい経験になると思います。白石市から１３０ｋｍほど離れた白河市の白河小峰城には、もう一つこのような建築物があります。距離はありますが、新幹線を使って両方回ってみるというのもよいかもしれません。
It is a very good experience for visitors to see new traditional large wooden castle buildings. There is another such building in the Shirakawa-Komine castle in Shirakawa city about 130km away from Shiroishi city. But it may be a good idea to plan a tour of both castles by using Shinkansen.

福島県白河市にある白河小峰城（Shirakawa-Komine Castle in Shirakawa City, Fukushima Pref.）



How to get There

ＪＲ白石駅から歩いて１０分か、または新幹線の白石蔵王駅から車で５分です。
東京から白石駅まで：東北新幹線で福島駅まで行き、東北本線の普通列車に乗り換え
東京から白石蔵王駅まで：東北新幹線で直通です。
10 minutes walk from the JR Shiroishi train station or 5 minutes drive from the Shiroishi-Zao shinkansen station.
From Tokyo to Shiroishi st.: Take the Tohoku Shinkansen super express to the Fukushima station and transfer to the Tohoku local line.
From Tokyo to Shiroishi-Zao st.: Take the Tohoku Shinkansen super express direct to the station.