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

27.Ueda Castle Part2

Features

Introduction

This article will start from Ueda Station which the bullet trains stop and it is a very popular destination. The center of Ueda Castle has become Ueda Castle Ruins Park, about 1km away from the station. However, the castle was larger than the park, which means we will see other attractions of the castle on the way from the station. Atter arriving at the park, we will next see the main enclosure with the remaining turrets and natural hazards for the castle such as “Amagafuchi”. We will finally visit some sites regarding the battles of Ueda; Toishi Castle Ruins and Kangawa River, which are little far away from Ueda Castle.

Attractions in the Town

Let us first go along the street in front of the station after you exit the Oshiro-guchi exit of the station.

Turn left at the “Chuo-Nichome” intersection, then you will walk on the Ote-dori Street.

You will soon see the street winding down, which is the ruins of the main gate. This spot is said to have been one of the battle grounds during the battles of Ueda. It used to be surrounded by stone walls and moats, forming a defensive square space, called Masugata during the Edo Period. However, it was also said that the gate didn’t have buildings because of the cancelation of the reconstruction by Tadamasa Sengoku.

The ruins of the main gate; I recommend crossing the street to access the small park. Please be careful when crossing the street since there are no traffic lights

The display of the third enclosure which had the main gate; The sign says this is the 3rd enclosure of Ueda Castle where The Battle of Ueda took place

There are the ruins of the residence for the lords of the Ueda Domain since Nobuyuki Sanada was in power, which is now used as a high school. Its front gate and earthen walls and water moats have survived. However, if you look at the corner of the earthen walls, you will notice the corner lacks an edge. The reason for this will be explained in the later parts.

The ruins of the residence (the remaining gate); Unfortunately, the gates were closed that day because it was a holiday. Normally the gates are open for high school students

The remaining earthen walls and water moats; When it’s spring, or summer you will see lotus flowers on the water

As we continue to walk towards the park, there are the ruins of another residence, called Naka-yashiki. It has been turned into an elementary school, where only the base of the residence has survived. Historians point out that the residence might have been used by Masayuki Sanada, the founder of the castle.

When you get close to the park, you will also find the ruins of the domain school, called “Meirindo”.

Visiting the Second and Main Enclosures

Let us go across the bridge over the moat to enter the eastern entrance of the second enclosure, which is also the park entrance.

If you look at the inside, you will see the turrets of the main enclosure on the left over there. Visitors can go straight there through the second enclosure today. However, visitors in the past were not able to do so due to the Masugata system at the entrance. In addition, there was a large moat, called “Sanjikken-bori” and the waiting area for the warriors, called “Musha-damari”, in the enclosure to avoid the visitors from walking straight. The officials are currently researching the areas in order to restore the Musha-damari in the future.

The entrance which had the Masugata system; The front used to be the old location for the Masugata. In the back where you see red cones will be the future location of the Musah-damari

The Musha-damari area which is being researched

The displays about the future restoration

The eastern entrance of the main enclosure has become a viewing spot of the castle. There is the restored turret gate between the remaining southern turret on the left and northern turret on the right.

The southern turret on the left, the turret gat on the center, and the northern turret on the right; The sign on the left have cutouts for faces where visitors can stick their head out and pretend to be a samurai

There is also the largest stone of the castle beside the gate, called “Sanada-ishi(stone)”. its name came from a folklore which says when Nobuyuki Sanada wanted to leave the castle with this stone, but it was too heavy for him to carry. However, historians speculate that the stone walls including it were built by Tadamasa Sengoku.

If you enter the gate, you will eventually see the Sanada Shrine in the front. The shrine worships not only the Sanada Clan but also the Sengoku and Matsudaira Clans.

You can also see the other remaining western turret in the back of the shrine. It was once the only remaining building of the castle. It looks like it is still hanging on the cliffs. If you stand by the turret, the view with the cliffs opens up so that you will better understand the location of the castle.

Let us next got to the center of the main enclosure. There were no buildings in the center from the beginning.

Autumn leaves in the enclosure; In the Spring, visitors will be able to see cherry blossoms instead of the Japanese maple tree

There were 7 turrets around the enclosure. In fact, there were 2 turrets at the northeastern corner of the enclosure. These two were built close to each other but unfortunately, they didn’t survive. The method was not effective for the defensive system. In addition, no one knows their original names.

The ruins of the first turret at the comer

The ruins of the second turret at the comer

There was one turret at the northwestern corner of the enclosure. The rooftiles with golden leaves were found in the moats nearby. That means there might have been the main tower there during the Sanada Period.

The rooftiles were found around the corner

Let us go out of the enclosure and walk around it in order to solve the question of why there were two turrets at the northeastern corner. We will go through the western entrance of the enclosure. It also had the Masugata system. If you walk along the water moat of the enclosure, you will notice the enclosure is the highest enclosure in the castle.

The western entrance of the main enclosure

The water moat of the main enclosure at its northwestern corner

When we arrive at the northeastern corner of the moat, you will find the corner of the main enclosure lacks an edge. This system is called “Sumi-otoshi” which means “lack of the corner”. It is said that the system originated from a tradition that misfortunes come from the northeastern direction. People believed that the shape of the northeastern corner would avoid the misfortunes. The system is one of the features of Ueda Castle. The lacking of the edge of the corner of the residence ruins we saw also came from it. If you look at the illustration of the castle during the Edo Period, you will notice several areas lacking edges at the same direction.

The “Sumi-otoshi” system at the northeastern corner of the main enclosure

Part of the illustration of Ueda Castle in Shinano Province, exhibited by National Archives of Japan

The remaining Natural Hazards

Let us next visit where we can see the castle was built using natural hazards. We will walk down from beside the bridge we first entered to the bottom of the dry moat under the bridge. The bottom has been converted to a good straight pavement which originates from a railway during the Showa Era. If you turn right at the edge of the pavement, you will come the cliff area of the southern part of the castle. The cliffs faced a branch of Chikuma River, called “Amagafuchi”. They are about 12m high and 3 layered. The layers have different terrains which were made from volcanic activities and river flows, which make the cliffs vulnerable.

The tunnel under the bridge to the entrance of the park

The cliffs on the southern part of the castle

We will eventually arrive at a large square where the branch of Chikuma River flowed. You will be able to see the entire cliff area from there. It was said that after the great flood in 1732, the main flow of Chikuma River might have flowed there, too. The Ueda Domain built the remaining stone walls covering the cliffs in order to maintain them and protect the shore. The river was moved to its original position and the Amagafuchi area turned dry due to the modern constructions during the Taisho Era.

For example, if you look at the stone walls under the southern turret of the main enclosure, you will notice they have three tiers. The upper tier was first built as the turret base. The lower tier was built next as the shore protection. The middle tier was finally built in order to maintain the cliffs. However, the surface of the cliffs is not flat, so the builders were not able to cover all of them. In addition, the builders also had to rebuild the walls several times because they kept collapsing. The original cliffs are partially covered with mortar by the recent repairs.

We will next walk towards the western part of the cliffs. You can see the western turret of the main enclosure is still errected alone on the cliffs.

Three are other natural hazards around the castle such as the former large moats. One of them is the ruins of Hiro-hori, which means “large moat” outside of the ruins of the western entrance on the second enclosure. However, the moat has been turned into a baseball field.

The other moat was outside of the northern entrance of the second enclosure. The entrance still has stone walls. The walls were restored recently using the few remaining original stones.

The northern entrance of the second enclosure; You’ll notice the stone walls have a blue color because of recent modern construction

The moat was called Hyakken-bori, which means “180m wide moat”. (Hyaku = 100, ken = 1.8m, a traditional Japanese measurement unit, and bori = moat) It has become a huge playground. These grounds had originally been rivers and were turned into the moats.

The places related to Battles of Ueda

Let me introduce other few places related to the battles of Ueda. One of them is the ruins of Toishi Castle. The site is about 7km away from Ueda Castle, so it may be better for you to use a car to get there. Nobuyuki Sanada used Toishi Castle during the first battle of Ueda. His brother, Nobushige used it as well during the second battle of Ueda. The castle has always been important, even before their time. For example, Shingen Takeda wanted to capture the castle where Yoshikiyo Murakami lived. However, Shingen was defeated badly, this was often referred to as “Toishi-kuzure” which means “collapsing at Toishi”. After that, Yukitaka Sanada, who was the founder of the clan and began working under Shingen, managed to quickly capture the castle by conspiracy. This incident enabled the clown to prosper later on.

Toishi Castle was very large, in fact, it was the aggregate of 4 smaller castles: Komeyama, Toishi, Honjo and Masugata. This time, let us visit one of them, the small Toishi Castle because it is the highest of the 4 smaller castles where we would see Ueda Castle clearly.

The explanation of the 4 smaller castles on the signboard at the site; On the map, you’ll noticed dotted lines that show you the hiking trail

From the parking lot at the foot of the mountain, we will next enter the imitation turret gate to go on the trail.

After climbing for a while, we will arrive at the fork to the Komeyama Castle and Toishi Castle. This is where you turn right.

We need to continue to climb long steep slopes to get there. The slopes were probably part of the castle’s defensive system.

We will eventually see something like a gate and steps which are made of stones. They are likely to have been an entrance of the mountain castle.

We will soon get there.

We have reached the top!

Can we see Ueda Castle from the top?

I think Ueda castle is in the area covered with trees in front of the chimney of the waste treatment facility.

The area around Ueda Castle; It’s hard to see, but in the distance, you will see a chimney with smoke coming out, this is basically Ueda Castle Park

We will finally visit the area around Kangawa River where the severe battle happened during the first battle of Ueda. There is also Shinano-Kokubunji Temple where Nobuyuki Sanada of the Eastern Allies along his father, Masayuki of the Western Allies met during the second battle of Ueda.

The stone monument of the meeting between Nobuyuki and Masayuki

We have reached Kangawa River but unfortunately it’s getting dark. The river flows from the area near Toishi Castle to Chikuma River. That meant it was one of the most important defensive lines for Ueda Caste although it looks nothing special now.

That’s all. Thank you.

Back to “Ueda Castle Part1”

53.Nijo Castle Part2

The eastern main gate is the only gate which visitors can use. It looks strict outside, however, if you enter inside, there will be an open space with the remaining guardhouse alongside. This is probably because this gate was the front gate of the castle, which was mainly used when ceremonies were held.

Later History

After the Meiji Restoration, Nijo Castle was used as a villa of the imperial family. For example, a party for the enthronement ceremony of the emperor Taisho was held there. The castle has become a historical site since 1934, named Former Imperial Villa Nijo-jo Castle. The site also became a World Heritage in 1994, as one of Cultural assets of the ancient capital of Kyoto.

The picture of the enthronement ceremony of the emperor Taisho (licensed by Ninijo via Wikimedia Commons)

The eastern main gate with the signpost of the historical site

Features

Gorgeous Second Enclosure

The eastern main gate is the only gate available to visitors. It looks strong on the outside, however, if you enter inside, there will be an open space with the remaining guardhouse alongside. This is probably because this gate was the front gate of the castle, which was mainly used when ceremonies were held.

The aerial photo of Nijo Castle, the eastern main gate is located at the lower right of the map (Google Map)

The inside of the gate, the guardhouse is in the back

If you turn right at the first corner of the tour course, you will see the Kara-mon Gate (which means Chinese-style gate). It was built with the high sophistication, as the front gate of the second enclosure main hall. It also has lots of golden decorations, which attracts many tourists, particularly those from overseas.

The route from the eastern main gate to the main hall through the Kara-mon Gate has been the official one since the beginning. The main hall has been intact since it was renovated for the Kanei Royal Visit in 1626. That’s why it was designated as a National Treasure in 1952, with its gorgeous pictures on its movable sliding doors inside.

Unfortunately, we can not take pictures inside the hall. Therefore, let me explain to you about each hall while looking at the aerial pictures of the six halls. The hall basically consists of 6 buildings. The first one is the largest one (located on the bottom right of the picture), called “To-zamurai” (which means gate guardians). It was used as the entrance and the waiting rooms, including the special room for the imperial envoys in the back. The hall next to it is called “Shikidai” (which means retainers’ rooms). It was the place for the agency service between the visitors and the shogun. The service was done by Roju (the members of the shogun’s council of elders) who had their rooms in the back.

The aerial photo of the main hall (Google Map)

The third hall is O-hiroma (which means large hall), where the visitors officially met the shogun. In fact, The Returning of the Power to the Emperor was officially announced there in 1867. The three buildings above were like the government office. The others in the back were like the shogun’s residences.
The fourth hall, called “Sotetsu-no-ma” (which means cycad room), was the connecting hall to them. The name originates from the cycad trees, presented from the Saga Domain. They were planted outside near it. Surprisingly, the trees are still alive there today.

The “Sotetsu-no-ma” hall in the left, the “O-hiroma” hall in the right, and the cycad trees are in the front

The fifth one is called Kuro-shoin (which means black library), where the shogun worked and met people in private. The famous picture of The Returning of the Power to the Emperor demonstrates the event in this room. The shogun (Yoshinobu Tokugawa) told the internal retainers about his decision in the picture.

The picture of the announcement of Returning the Power to the Emperor, owned by the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The last one is called Haku-shoin (which means white library). It was used as the shogun’s private room.

Is the Main Enclosure a Castle-like Place?

The main enclosure may be more likely a castle than the second enclosure. You can go there by crossing the bridge over the inner moat. The bridge used to have the second floor with roof overhead for the Kanei Royal Visit. The floor was demolished, but it is kept in a storage room, in case they want to restore in the future. If you go over the bridge, you will enter the remaining turret gate of the enclosure.

The bridge used to have the second floor with roof overhead

The inside of the gate is still surrounded by stone walls, which looks stronger than that of the second enclosure. The square inside the walls is one of the castle’s defense systems, called Masugata.

If you go to the center of the enclosure, the atmosphere around it will feel elegant. This is due to the place being developed as a garden for the former imperial villa. The remaining main hall of the enclosure is not the original of the castle but it came from the residence of the Katsura-no-miya imperial family in the Meiji Era. The emperor Taisho often stayed there when he was the prince.

The current main hall of the main enclosure

You can climb the main tower base, which had the real tower in the past. The emperor climbed the tower twice during the Kanei Royal Visit. The experts of the advisory panel for the site are now discussing how to restore the tower in the distant future.

The tour course will eventually guide you to the exit of the enclosure through the western entrance which is the opposite side of the turret gate. This entrance also looks impenetrable with a square space even through it doesn’t have buildings there anymore.

There are other defensive systems around the main enclosure. For example, the passage in front of the bridge and the gate, you first passed through, is separated by two gates, one in the north, one in the south.

In addition to the two gates mentioned above, there are two additional gates, which were built on the northern edge of the inner moat and on the southern edge of it. These gates were used to protect the castles from enemies’ attacks and to monitor regular visitors.

Furthermore, there are also two remaining storehouses on the western side of the enclosure. They were used to stock rice in preparation for a long siege. Three of the ten storehouses still remain in the castle today.

One of the remaining storehouses (in the northern side)

Another remaining storehouse (in the southern side)

If you have time, I recommend you visit the southwestern side of the enclosure. You may enjoy seeing beautiful flowers such as plum blossoms in the spring, hydrangea flowers in the summer, etc.

Let’s walk around Nijo Castle!

Many tourists may see only the inside of Nijo Castle. However, this article will guide you to other perspectives of the site. Let us walk around the perimeter of Nijo Castle, which is about 1.9 km long. Let’s start from the eastern side of it, where many tourists gather, finishing to the northern side.

The eastern side is always crowded with tourists

If you walk along the northern side, you will see the northern main gate, another highly sophisticated one, following the eastern main gate. It was probably used to communicate with the shogunate government office of Kyoto, which was located across the road. In fact, it is uncertain when it was built, that means it might be the oldest building in the castle.

If you go further, the smaller square is attached the larger square by a protrusion shown in the picture below.

The protrusion between the small square and the large square

You can also walk on the special pathway, which was partially developed on this side, to see the stone walls and moats of the castle more closely.

If you go to the western side, you will see the ruins of the western gate. It was the side entrance of the castle, which people usually used, but you cannot use it now because there is no bridge over the moat. It looks smaller and more defensive than the other highly sophisticated gates of the castle. Unfortunately, you cannot get close to the gate ruins even from the inside When Yoshinobu Tokugawa, who was the last shogun, escaped from this castle, he used this same gate, not the front gate, in order to avoid confrontations.

You will eventually see the other remaining “southwestern corner turret” at the corner between the western and eastern sides. It has quiet environment, compared to the southeastern corner turret.

You will also see water flowing out from the moat of the eastern side. This water comes from a natural spring of this site. In fact, this site had been an ancient pond, called “Shinsenen”, before the castle was built. The current Shinsenen was downsized and is next to the castle. The castle benefits from nature of Kyoto.

Where are the Old Nijo Castle Sites?

After walking around the current Nijo Castle, let us now go to the ruins of the old Nijo Castles. However, there are only a few of them remaining because they were all demolished. Basically, there is the only stone monument at each site.

Yoshiteru’s Nijo Castle, marked by the red box, Yoshiaki’s Nijo Castle, marked by the blue box, Nobunaga’s Nijo Castle, marked by the green box, and Hideyoshi’s Myokenji Castle, marked by the brown box (Google Map)

Yoshiaki’s Nijo Castle Ruins have a few other things. Some of the stone walls were excavated when the subway constructions were done. They are now exhibited on three sites. One is near Sawaragi-guchi entrance of Kyoto Gyoen National Garden, and another is in the current Nijo Castle.

The stone walls, exhibited near Sawaragi-guchi entrance of Kyoto Gyoen National Garden

The stone walls, exhibited in the current Nijo Castle (*licensed by Tomomarusan via Wikipedia Commons)*

The other one is exhibited, about 10km away to the west of Nijo Castle, in Kyoto Bamboo Park. These stone walls have a distinct feature, which came from stone Buddha statues, collected by Nobunaga Oda.

The stone Buddha statues, which were used as the stone walls, are now exhibited in the Kyoto Bamboo Park

According to a Portugal missionary, Luis Frois, who was in Japan at that time, wrote that Nobunaga ordered his servants to carry these statues using ropes which made them look like prisoners. People in Kyoto were very afraid to see this because the people worshiped the Buddha statues. Some of the statues, which are exhibited in the park, were actually destroyed intentionally.

Some of the statues were actually destroyed intentionally

Even current Japanese people would be relieved to see that these statues survived despite the harsh treatment they were given.

My Impression

Looking at the histories of all the different Nijo Castles, there were some cases where the castles fell or their masters abandoned them. That may mean that Kyoto is easy to attack but difficult to protect. On the other hand, Kyoto must also have been an attractive place to stay for the masters. I think that the world was not built in a day and therefore, Nijo Castle was not built by one castle.

The garden of the second enclosure in the left and the Kuro-shoin hall in the right

That’s all. Thank you.

Back to “Nijo Castle Part1”

178.Noshima Castle Part3

If you have enough time to go there, it may be better to use a bike. This is because the ruins are near the cycling route on Shimanami Ocean Road.

Features

Walking around Second Enclosure

The second enclosure is elevated from the third enclosure and surrounds the main enclosure like passages. It was thought that it was used for residence and lookout point. You can walk around it and see other attractions below. For example, you will see the Funadamari beach which you saw from the boat off the beach. You can sea an artificial ditch which divides the shore and the passage on the beach.

The map around the castle

The Funadamari beach, seen from the second enclosure

You will also see the enclosure on the northeastern cape, called Yabitsu (directly means “arrow chest”). it was said that the navy soldiers practiced shooting arrows towards Ushima Island from across the sea.

The Yabitsu Enclosure, *seen from the Kareiyama Mountain*

Main Enclosure, Enjoyable place both Now and in Past

You will finally arrive at the main enclosure on the top, where you can see an amazing 360degree view! The past soldiers also must have been able to monitor everything that happened in the strait. According to the excavations, there were lookout towers and lots of earthenware dishes called Kawarake. Kawarake dishes were disposable ones which were used for parties or ceremonies. That meant the navy members enjoyed their parties on the top with such beautiful scenery.

Going up to the main enclosure on the right

The view from the north side of the enclosure (the Seto Inland Sea)

*The view from the east side of the enclosure (the Ushima Island)*

*The view from the south side of the enclosure (the Taizaki Island)*

*The view from the west side of the enclosure (the Oshima Island)*

*The main enclosure, seen from the Kareiyama Mountain*

In addition, the island has mysterious large holes (about 1m in diameter and 2m in depth) at its seaside. Historians speculate they might have been water tanks. However, my guide said it was interesting if they were used as baths.

The replica of the large hole, exhibited by Murakami KAIZOKU Museum

Later History

The island was used as fields during the Edo Period after the navies withdrew, but it eventually became deserted as mentioned above. In 1931, the officials started to plant cherry trees on the island. Since then, it became a popular spot for cherry blossoms where other boat tours for the locals were held every spring. However, the trees were all cut down recently because their roots had destroyed the castle ruins. Only their remaining stumps are now used as benches there. On the other hand, the ruins have been designated as a National Historic Site since 1953. In addition, they have been getting popular more and more throughout the country as a castle of the Murakami Navies.

My Impression

I had a special experience by visiting Noshima Castle Ruins because I have not visited any castles by boats. The boat tour made me understand how the castle was used and protected carefully. The experience also taught me that there were people who lived in very different ways from others through the history of Japan. Maybe there are also similar people even in the present time. Someday, I hope there will be regularly scheduled ships that tourists can use to visit the castle ruins, if it gets more and more popular.

Murakami KAIZOKU Museum is another attraction before or after visiting the castle ruins

How to get There

Basically, I recommend using a car to get there. For people from the mainland, it takes about 5 minutes from Kita-Oshima IC on the Nishi-Seto Expressway. For people from Shikoku Island, it takes about 15 minutes from Minami-Oshima IC on the Nishi-Seto Expressway. The parking lots at the Miyakubo fishing port or the Murakami KAIZOKU Museum are available.

If you have enough time to go there, it may be better to use a bike. This is because the ruins are near the cycling route on Shimanami Ocean Road. For example, if you are in Imabari City on Shikoku Island, you can rent a bike at Imabari Station and ride it on the road right away.