main enclosure – ページ 14 – 日本200名城バイリンガル (Japan's top 200 castles and ruins)

197.Shibushi Castle part2

You can experience a castle on the Shirasu Plateau well after looking at a great miniature model.

Features

Great miniature model of Castle Ruins

Today, only the main portion of the ruins of Shibushi Castle called Uchijo has been developed for general visitors. The ruins had been reclaimed by nature after its abandonment, so the officials installed wooden footpaths and guide signboards so that visitors can walk safely and not to lose their way.

The map around the castle

A wooden path installed in the castle ruins

A guide signboard installed in the castle ruins

In addition, I recommend visiting Shibushi City Center for Archaeological operations to see the great miniature model of the Uchijo portion before visiting the real Uchijo. It is a 1/200 scale model which is about 2m long and 1.25m wide, very large for a miniature model, but it is also precisely crafted. You can see how deeply and vertically the dry moats are cut and how the many enclosures equipped with buildings and fences are built by looking at it. If you also check the point of the Main Route and the Back Route of the model, you will understand how they worked well when you visit the real site.

The miniature model of the Uchijo, exhibited in Shibushi City Center for Archaeological operations

Going beside outstanding Turret Place to Main Route

The ruins of Uchijo are on the mountain behind Shibushi Primary School. If you drive to the ruins, you can park at a parking lot for visitors on the opposite side of the school. From the parking lot, go straight on the street beside it, if you want to visit the Main Route of the ruins. Otherwise, if you turn left at the intersection in front of the parking lot, you will reach the Back Route. The signpost leads you to the very narrow path to the Main Route between the school and old houses.

The ruins has 6 major and many other small enclosures and the first major one called Yaguraba or the Turret Place stands out with its vertical cliff on your right side before the Main Route entrance. Even today’s visitors may be scared to see it. There is no telling how enemies in the past felt.

The map around the Uchijo portion, the red broken line is the route from the parking lot to the Main Route, and the blue broken line is the route to the Back Route

the ruins of buildings on the Turret Place

The *Turret Place* part of the miniature model

Main Route on Bottom of Moat

The Main Route climbs up the zigzagged path on the bottom of a deep dry moat to the center of the castle. The path is always surrounded by several high enclosures where the defenders would have attacked enemies. All the enclosures have a similar vertical cliff and defensive entrance called Koguchi to which you need to climb another very steep, unstable and zigzagging path. If you get out of the path, you will be stuck in the rough slope with bushes and the fragile soil made of the volcanic ash. These structures were all created artificially by processing the natural Shirasu plateau.

The entrance of the Enclosure No.2 on the right of the Main Route

The Main Route goes on the bottom of the moat

the Main Route part of the miniature model

Main Enclosure with view of Shibushi Port

After walking in the dry moat for a while, you can enter the Main Enclosure on your left. The enclosure has two tiers which are squares with no buildings but surrounded by earthen walls, same as the others. The front lower tier seemed to be used as a lookout, so it is thought to have had a tall turret. You can still actually see a view of Shibushi Port with the Sunflower ferry anchored. This may also prove the relation of the castle and the trading at the port in the past.

A view of Shibushi Port from the enclosure

The Main Enclosure part of the miniature model

Looking down at the Main Route from the enclosure

The upper tier is the highest in the castle, where a large building like a residence was built. It might have been used for the lord of the castle when a battle happened or other cases. There is only a small shrine in the back of the enclosure, with a huge deep dry moat behind it.

The earthen walls surrounding the Main Enclosure

The small shrine in the back of the enclosure

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

196.Sadowara Castle Part2

Visiting the castle ruins might be lucky to you.

Features

Limited Opening Days and Routes to Top

Today, the ruins of Sadowara Castle consist of two parts, the restored Main Hall in the Second Enclosure at the foot and the remaining foundations on the mountain including the Main Enclosure. The Main Hall is used as a museum called Kakushokan or the Crane and Pine Hall, where you can learn about the history of the castle and see restored or excavated items. However, as of May 2023, please make sure it is basically open only on weekends and public holidays probably for its operational purposes.

Kakushokan, the restored Main Hall at the foot

In addition, the routes to the mountain part is not always open as well because of occasional damages caused by natural disasters. For example, there are two routes to the top, however, only one route is available as of May 2023. This is because the harsh weather from Typhoon No.14 in 2022 caused landslides to the mountain that made all the routes impossible to be used. Officials have been restoring the routes and just opened one of them back in January 2023. Such a situation has often been happening to the mountain, so the officials even now struggle to maintain the mountain part. That may also have been the reason why the Sadowara Domain closed the part when they built the Main Hall at the foot.

The relief map around the castle

Going on Middle Route to Top

The only open route to the top is called Nakanomichi or the Middle Route, which was considered the back route. The top is only 40m above from the foot, not far from it, however, it is not easy to access, which meant it had a very defensive design in the past. The Middle Route goes on a valley between ridges of the mountain. It is very steep and is unstable on the feet, so if it rains a lot, it could be dangerous. The ridges have enclosures and their sides are cut vertically by processing the soil of the Shirasu plateau. If you were an enemy, you would have been attacked from above of both sides.

The map around the castle

The route is sandwiched by enclosures on both sides

The sides of the enclosures are cut vertically

Slightly remaining Main Tower Base in Main Enclosure

You will eventually reach a fork in the route at he top area, which surrounds the Main Enclosure. The enclosure also has steep cliffs on its side, which was probably cut vertically by the builders. If you take the route on the right, you will arrive at the back entrance of the enclosure.

While if you take the left one, you will enter the main entrance of it.

A small enclosure in front of the main entrance of the Main Enclosure

The Main Enclosure now looks like two connected squares and the ruins of the Main Tower base is in the back one. The base ruins have only the foundational stones lining up on the ground. Their upper part was probably destroyed intentionally by the lord of the castle when they closed the mountain part. That makes it difficult to find out who and when the base was first built.

The ruins of the Main Tower base (in the back square)

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

17.Kanayama Castle Part3

This castle might have become more popular.

Features

Living and Religious places in Castle

The enclosures on the upper tiers were used as another pivot point as well as a place for living. The team found traces of kitchen stoves and a well, which were restored with a hut on the Southern Upper Tier Enclosure at the same time as the stone walls. The Southern Enclosure on the top of the tiers is used as the rest house, which is another viewing spot.

The map of the main portion of the castle

The restored hut on the Southern Upper Tier Enclosure

The Southern Enclosure and the rest house on it

To reach the Main Enclosure on the top of the mountain, you will pass and see a larger pond being covered with stone mounds as well, called Hi-no-ike or the Sun Pond. This is actually not a reservoir but a well, which had been famous as a holy place since the Ancient Times before the castle was built. That’s why people in the castle used it for religious services.

Main Enclosure is used as Shrine

Around the top of the mountain is the Main, Second, Third Enclosures, but you can not access the two of the latter because they are privately owned. You will eventually go to the Main Enclosure on the top, which is now used as Nitta Shrine. As for the castle ruins, you can walk around the enclosure, called Musha-bashiri or the Defense Passage, and see the partially remaining original stone walls which are also uncertain as to who first built them.

The Second Enclosure is not allowed to enter

The remaining stone walls behind the Main Enclosure

The Defense Passage around the Main Enclosure

Later History

After Kanayama Castle was abandoned, the Tokugawa Shogunate banned people from entering its mountain area to provide Matsutake mushroom to the shoguns during the Edo period. In fact, the Matsutake produced at the mountain was served to the Imperial Families until 1964.

A view of the Eastern hiking course, there are still Japanese red pines that could provide Matsutake mushroom, but they can’t produce it now because of aging

The shogunate also conserved the former area of the Nitta Manor by building religious facilities such as Serada Toshogu Shrine, Kinryuji and Daikoin Temples as they had declared the shoguns were a branch of the Nita Clan, which meant they were descendants of the Minamoto Clan. Even the shogunate needed the authority to govern the whole country. As for castle ruins, Kanayama Castle ruins were designated as a National Historic Site in 1934. Ota City has been excavating and developing them as a historical site since 1995.

My Impression

When the Yura Clan was banished from Kanayama Castle, only the lord’s mother, Myoinni was against the idea of Hojo Clan keeping the castle. Even after she gave it up, she joined Maeda’s troops to attack the Hojo Clan in 1590 when she was already 77 years old. That caused the Yura Clan to survive while the Hojo Clan to decline in the end. I guess if she and the Yura Clan could still stay in the strong Kanayama Castle even with only a few defenders, there might have been a dramatic event at the castle when Hideyoshi invaded the Kanto Region like Nagachika Narita fought with Mitsunari Ishida at Oshi Castle.

The ruins of Ushiku Castle *(licensed by Monado via Wikimedia Commons)*

How to get There

I recommend using a car when you visit the castle ruins because there are no buses that go directly to the ruins available. It is about a 10-minute drive away from Ota-Kiryu IC on the Kita-Kanto Expressway. There are several parking lots at the foot, halfway up, and at the top of the mountain.
If you want to use public transportation, it takes around 1 hour from Ota Station. It would be better to take a taxi from the station.
From Tokyo to Ota Station: Take the JR Ueno-Tokyo Line from Tokyo Station and transfer to the Ryomo limited express on the Tobu Isesaki Line at Kitasenju Station.

That’s all. Thank you.
Back to “Kanayama Castle Part1”
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