Main tower – ページ 4 – 日本200名城バイリンガル (Japan's top 200 castles and ruins)

50.Hikone Castle Part2

There are so many attractions to see in this castle.

Features

Entering Sawayama Route

Today, Hikone Castle site has well been developed for visitors inside the Middle Moat (the second moat from the Inner Moat). There are three routes over the moat same as the past (Sawa-guchi, Kyobashi-guchi and Funamachi-guchi). Out of them, the Sawaguchi Route is the most popular as it is close from Hikone Station and to the front entrance of the castle. If you choose the route, you will first see the remaining the Sawaguchi-Tamon Turret on the left with a distant view of the Main Tower. The entrance to the castle consists of this turret and the other restored turret on the right. After entering, you will also see the remaining Stable which in the only remaining case in castles in Japan.

The aerial photo around the castle

The Sawaguchi-Tamon Turret on the left with a distant view of the Main Tower

Lots of Exhibition of Hikone Castle Museum

You can go across the bridge over the Inner Moat to enter the Front Gate Ruins as the front entrance of the castle. Inside the ruins, there is the Hikone Castle Museum which looks like the past Main Hall for the lord at the same place. The museum stores over 90,000 items about the Ii Clan and Hikone Domain and exhibits about 100 items of them.

You can see the items such as the unique Ii Clan’s Red Armor, swords, tee things, Noh masks and the remaining Noh stage. In the back of the museum, you should check out the restored part of the lord’s private quarters and Japanese Garden. They were restored in traditional methods using wooden materials based on the records and excavations.

The Red Armor which was said to be used by Naomasa Ii, exhibited by the *Hikone Castle Museum*

A tea jar called “Setotetsuyu-Shijiko” or “The Seto iron glaze jar with four handles”, exhibited by the Hikone Castle Museum

The remaining Noh stage, exhibited by the Hikone Castle Museum

the restored chamber of the lord’s private quarters, exhibited by the Hikone Castle Museum

The Japanese Garden, exhibited by the Hikone Castle Museum

Strong Line of Defense around Large Ditch

Let us next climb up the mountain to the center of the castle. After walking the long, wide stone steps, you will see a huge scale deep ditch with a bridge over it. You will need to go to the Taiko-maru Enclosure on the right side of the ditch to the center. However, you will first have to go on the bottom of the ditch, turn left to the other Kanenomaru Enclosure on the left, and go across the bridge to reach the enclosure. If you were an enemy, you would be counterattacked from both sides of the ditch, and the bridge would be fallen. The remaining Tenbin-Yagura or the Balance Turret also stands behind the bridge to protect the enclosure. It is said that this turret was built by moving the Main Gate of Nagahama Castle.

The stone steps to the center of the castle

The Large Ditch in front of the Balance Turret

The area around the Large Ditch drawn in the signboard at the site, with the additional red arrow which indicates the route

Turning left to the Kanenomaru Enclosure

Crossing the bridge to the Balance Turret

Looking down the bottom of the ditch from the bridge

Looking down the bridge from *the Balance Turret*

Contrasting Exterior and Interior of Main Tower

After passing the Taiko-maru Enclosure, you will reach the remaining Taiko-mon Yagura or the Drum Gate Turret, as the entrance of the Main Enclosure. There is only the Main Tower in the enclosure, but it looks very elegant.

The remaining Main Tower in the Main Enclosure

This is because this three-level tower has a lot of decorations such as Chinese styled gables with gold work, hip-and-gables, gable ends, bell-shaped windows and the decorated veranda.

Bell-shaped windows and the decorated veranda

You can enter the tower to look around from the first to the top which is the third floor. The interior of the tower is practical in contrast with its exterior. You can find many hidden loopholes for guns which would be used by breaking the outside walls. The holes have been left hidden because no battles occurred. It was also found that the tower was built by moving the four-level Main Tower of Otsu Castle and reducing to three levels.

The iron doors of the Main Tower Entrance

You can’t go out to the veranda at the top floor of the tower

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

50.Hikone Castle Part1

The home base of the Ii Clan, a senior vassal of the shogunate

Location and History

Shogunate sent Ii Clan to Important Military Base

Hikone Castle is located near Biwa Lake in Shiga Prefecture and considered as one of the most popular historical sites in Japan. It has its Main Tower which is one of the twelve remaining and the five national-treasure Main Towers in Japan. It also has five castle buildings which are designated as Important Cultural Properties. The main portion of the castle also remains in a good condition with the buildings above, stone walls, and other structures. Because of it, the castle site has been designated as a National Special Historic Site since 1956.

The remaining Main Tower of Hikone Castle, as a National Traesure

The Western Enclosure Three-level Turret of Hikone Castle, as an Important Cultural Property

After the Battle of Sekigahara between Ieyasu Tokugawa and Mitsunari Ishida in 1600, Ieyasu got the power as the ruler of Japan. Ieyasu promoted his senior vassal, Naomasa Ii to the lord of the territory beside Biwa Lake, which Mitsuanri had owned. Naomasa first lived a mountain castle called Sawayama Castle Mitsunari lived. However, Naomasa thought it was not enough because he needed a stronger and more convenient castle. The Toyotomi Clan was still at Osaka Castle and there were many lords in western Japan, who thought their master was Toyotomi, not Tokugawa. They might have gotten together and attacked the Tokugawa Shogunate which Ieyasu established in eastern Japan. Naomasa’s territory was located in the area which could avoid the attack to eastern Japan.

The location of the castle

The portrait of Naomasa Ii, owned by Hikone Castle Museum (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Castle is built as Construction Order by Shogunate

After Naomasa died in 1602, his young son, Naotsugu conducted the new castle’s location with Ieyasu. They finally decided to build it on a low mountain at 50m high near Biwa Lake, which would be called Hikone Castle. The castle was built as a construction order by the shogunate with help of over 10 other lords. In order to hurry to complete the construction, they used waste materials from other abandoned castles like Sawayama Castle. However, the construction continued long since 1603, as the scale of castle was huge.

Hikone Castle was built from the top to the foot of the mountain

The Main Tower, Main Hall and other turrets were built together, surrounded by stone walls, on the ridge of mountain to make it easy to protect. Deep ditches were dug around both edges of the ridge to avoid enemies’ invasions to the center of the castle. Moreover, five long-line stone walls were built along the slopes of the mountain to prevent the enemies from moving smoothly.

The main portion of the castle on the mountain, from the signboard at the site

The large ditch in front of the Taiko-yagura Turret

The long-line stone walls behind the Main Gate

The mountain was surrounded by tripled water moats and the Main Gate was built behind them. The gate was open to the southwest direction towards Osaka Castle where the Toyotomi Clan lived. Seri-kawa River flowed out of the moats in this direction, so it could have been the forth moat.

The illustration of Hikone Castle and Town, *exhibited by Hikone Castle Museum*

The past Main Gate drawn in the signboard at the site

It becomes Castle for Peaceful Time

The castle was completed in 1622, about twenty years after its launch. However, the situation dramatically changed in 1615 during the construction. The Tokugawa Shogunate defeated the Toyotomi Clan in that year. After that, the construction was done only by the Hikone Domain building houses for living and government. As a result, the new Main Hall for the lord was built at the foot of the mountain on the opposite side of the Main Gate. The gate to the hall was called the Front Gate just like a new Main Gate. The castle town was also developed around the castle. They were either connected to Biwa Lake through waterways or ponds for water transportation.

Fortunately, no battles happened at Hikone Castle throughout the peaceful Edo Period. The lord of the castle, Ii Clan also played an important role in the central government as the head of hereditary feudal lords. Out of ten, five heads of the shogun’s council of elders came from the Ii Clan and it happened once in 265 years during that period. The most famous one is definitely Naosuke Ii at the end of the Edo Period. He decided to open more doors to foreign countries by signing the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between the US and Japan in 1858. However, he was unfortunately assassinated by the opposite Ronin outside the Sakurada-mon Gate of Edo Castle in 1860. This incident decreased the power and authority of the Tokugawa Shogunate and would be a trigger of the Meiji Restoration.

The portrait of Naosuke Ii, owned by Hikone Castle Museum (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

To be continued in “Hikone Castle Part2”

142.Naegi Castle Part1

A rare castle which was built and maintained on the rocky mountain

Location and History

Castle monitoring Nakasendo Road

The Nakasendo Road is known for being one of the major roads in Japan and was designated as one of the Five Major Roads in the Edo Period. In particular, the road was the most useful one when large amount of troops moved between western and eastern Japan before the period. The area of what is now Nakatsugawa City in the eastern part of Gifu Prefecture had Nakatsugawa Post Town in a basin at the center with the road going to mountain areas in the east. That’s why the warlords in the Sengoku Period wanted to own the area to monitor this important spot on the road. Naegi Castle was built on Takamori Mountain beside Kiso River which was sandwiched by the castle and the town. That meant the castle was the most suitable for monitoring what happened on Nakasendo Road.

The location of the castle

The relief map around the castle

”Nakatsugawa” from the series “Kiso-kaido Road” attributed to Hiroshige Utagawa in the Edo Period (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Toyama Clan builds and somehow maintains Castle till end

In the 16th Century during the Sengoku Period, The Toyama Clan was one of the local warlord families in the area, which was called the eastern Mino Province. It is said that the clan first built the castle in the first part of the16th Century as a branch castle of their home base, Iwamura Castle. However, the clan was affected by other larger warlords such as the Takeda and Oda Clans which also wanted to own the area. For example, both the Takeda and Oda Clans battled each other between 1572 and 1582, gaining and losing this castle.

The Portrait of Katsuyori Takeda, the lord of the clan at that time, owned by Koyasan Jimyoin (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The portrait of Nobunaga Oda, the lord of the clan at that time, attributed to Soshu Kano, owned by Chokoji Temple, in the late 16th century (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

After the declines of both, the Mori Clan, under the ruler Hideyoshi Toyotomi captured the castle. Tomomasa Toyama, with his father Tomotada, the lord of the castle at that time, had to escape from the castle to Ieyasu Tokugawa at Hamamatsu Castle. In 1600 when the Battle of Sekigawara occurred, Tomomasa succeeded in getting Naegi Castle back with Ieyasu’s approval. After Ieyasu established the Tokugawa Shogunate, the Toyama Clan governed the castle again as the Naegi Domain until the end of the Edo Period.

The portrait of Tomomasa Toyama, the founder of the Naegi Domain, owned by Naegi Toyama Historical Museum (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

Castle on Rocky Mountain, Main Tower on Huge Rock

Naegi Castle had a very special location as far as permanent castles in Japan go. The mountain the castle is located on has a rocky terrain and steep cliffs. It was good for the defenders to make very difficult to attack, but if the lord of the castle wanted to develop it, there would be few spaces to do so. Generally, buildings or inter routes of castles were built on stone walls surrounding natural terrain or stone wall bases at that time. However, in the case of Naegi Castle, it was difficult to cut the rocky surface for buildings or routes. As a result, they were built on bases mixed with natural rocks and stone walls or filled valleys. Even if more buildings were needed, they were built on natural rocks directly. For example, the Main Tower of the castle was built on the huge rock on the top of the mountain.

The base of the Large Turret of Naegi Castle, which is mixed with natural rocks and stone walls

The huge rock as the base of the Main Tower of Naegi Castle

Traditionally, when Japanese people wanted to build a building on natural rocks, they used a method called Kake-zukuri. The method is to build the foundation by combining many columns and horizontal beams like lattices on a steep rock or cliff. Buildings using this method have still been seen in some old shrines and temples like Kiyomizu-dera Temple in Kyoto. It is said the reason for using this method is that the mountains themselves, which have the rocks or cliffs, are the objects of worship. When many castles were built during the Sengoku and the first part of the Edo Period, the method was applied to castles. Naegi Castle is a good example, and another case in Sendai Castle is known.

The Main Hall of Kiyomizu-dera Temple, built using the Kake-zukuri method

The Naegi Domain earned only 10 thousand koku of rice which was a minimum amount for an independent lord. Because of this, their castle buildings had wood shingle roofing and wood siding or mud walls, not roof tiles and plaster walls which were too expensive for them. However, they built and maintained these buildings under such severe conditions even during the long lasting peace of the Edo Period. This was because staying there to be ready for any emergency was their most important duty.

The imaginary drawing of Naegi Castle, from the signboard at the site

To be continued in “Naegi Castle Part2”