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

181.Kokura Castle Part1

The top floor of the Main Tower hanged out, which was called Western Style. This was because its balcony and handrails were covered by black outer walls to prevent damage from bad weather and strong wind.

Location and History

Castle is built as Bridgehead in Kyushu

Kokura Castle is located in the Kokura area of Kitakyushu City at the northern edge of the Kyushu Region. For example, if you visit the region using a Shinkansen super express, the first station will be Kokura Station near the castle. The area was more well known as the entrance of the region, which had Kokura Port facing the Kanmon Strait, sandwiched by Kyushu Island and the main island of Japan. That’s why warlords, who wanted to invade the region from the mainland, tried to build a bridgehead in this area. Certain records say that Motonari Mori, who was a great warlord of the Chugoku Region, built it in 1569, which would be the former Kokura Castle. After the ruler, Hideyoshi Toyotomi invaded the region in 1587, he gave the castle to his trusted vassal, Katsunobu Mori. However, Katsunobui was eventually fired because he was against Ieyasu Tokugawa, who would become the next ruler, in the decisive battle in 1600.

The range of Buzen Province and the location of the castle

Tadaoki Hosokawa renovates Castle

Instead, Tadaoki Hosokawa (also known as Sansai after his retirement), who had greatly supported Ieyasu in the battle, was assigned as the lord of Buzen Provence including the Kokura area and would be the founder of the Kokura Domain. He first lived in Nakatsu Castle, which the former lord of the castle, the Kuroda Clan had built, but soon started to renovate the castle in Kokura in 1602 as his new home, which would be what we call Kokura Castle.

The portrait of Tadaoki Hosokawa, owned by Eisei Bunko Museum (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The former castle and the port was along the large estuary of Murasaki River, like a bay, when Tadaoki greatly developed the area. The area was broadly separated into the Western and Eastern Enclosures, binding the river. The Western Enclosure was also divided by water moats into smaller sub enclosures, such as the Main Enclosure, for the lord and warriors. The Eastern Enclosure became the castle town for people like merchants, craftsmen and monks. Furthermore, the whole area was surrounded by other natural or artificial rivers as the outermost moat whose perimeter was about 8km. Tadaoki thought if a large enemy force attacked the castle, he would flood the enemy by breaking the banks of the rivers.

the whole Kokura Castle drawn in “the illustration of Kokura Samurai residences”, from the signboard at the site, adding the English comments

Sunatsu River, the western part of the outermost moat

Characteristic Main Tower

The main portion of the castle was surrounded by high stone walls. In particular, the stone wall base for the Main Tower was built at the northeastern corner of the Main Enclosure and was 18.8m high. The Main Tower itself was 22.8m high, so 41.6m in total. The tower had 4 levels and 5 floors inside because they were no roofs between the fourth and fifth floors. Also, the existing roofs were very simple without any decorations except for the top. It is a method called Soto-siki (meaning multi-storied type). This method made the builders efficient and made the tower easier to protect. The defenders would actually look out over the surronding area and counterattack the enemies at any direction from the tower. In addition, the tower had one more feature called Nanban-zukuri (meaning Western Style) or Kara-zukuri (the Chinese Style). It refers to some of the levels or floors hanging out over the other levels of the tower. In the case of Kokura Castle, it was the top floor because its balcony and handrails were covered by black outer walls to prevent damage from bad weather and strong wind. This Kokura style would be later emulated by other castles like Tsuyama and Takamatsu Castles.

The restored image by CG of the main portion of Kokura Castle, exhibited by Kokura Castle Tower

The miniature model of the original Main Tower of Kokura Castle, exhibited by Kokura Castle Tower

The old photo of Tsuyama Castle including its Main Tower, in the early Meiji Period, taken by Kunitada Matsudaira (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The old photo of the Main Tower of Takamatsu Castle

Prosperity and Destruction of Ogasawara Clan

The castle and the domain were followed by Tadazame Ogasawara Ogasawara in 1632 after the Hosokawa Clan was transferred to Kumamoto Castle of the Kumamoto Domain. The Ogasawara Clan was a hereditary feudal lord family of the Tokugawa Shogunate, so it was expected to monitor non-hereditary feudal domains in the Kyushu Region. While the government of the Kokura Domain became stable, its castle town commercially prospered, especially around Tokiwa Bridge which connected the Western and Eastern Enclosures over the Murasaki River. The bridge was also the starting point of the Nagasaki Road where many passengers came and went between the main land and the region. the lords in the region and the Korean Envoys also used the road when they went to Edo.

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

The diorama of the town around Tokiwa Bridge, exhibited by Kokura Castle Tower

The current Tokiwa Bridge, it was restored using wooden materials

The figures of the Korean Envoys, exhibited by Kokura Castle Tower

Meanwhile, a bad sign for the castle occurred in 1837. The Main Tower was unfortunately burned down by an accidental fire though it had survived through some lightning strikes. The tower was not rebuilt by the domain after that. Next, a severe event happened to the castle at the end of the Edo Period. The Choshu Domain at the edge of the mainland over the Kanmon Strait rebelled against the shogunate twice. The Second Conquest of Choshu was planned by the shogunate in 1866. The shogunate ordered the Kokura Domain and its allies to attack the Choshu through the Kokura Route, one of the four battlefields.

A Kawaraban newspaper called the scenes of the Battle of Kokura in Kyushu, exhibited by Cultural Heritage Online

The battles on the Kokura Route started in June. Against all odds, the Choshu troops landed on the Kokura area and counterattacked the shogunate side instead. Moreover, all the allies withdrew after they heard about the death of the shogun, Iemochi Tokugawa, by illness on the 20th of July. The Kokura troops, which were left alone, finally fired at the castle by themselves on the 1st of Aug and continued to fight against the Choshu like a guerrilla army. However, the fall of the castle and the Choshu capturing it became a symbol of the shogunate’s big failure in the battles which would accelerate its destruction and the Meiji Restoration by the New Government including the Choshu Domain.

To be continued in “Kokura Castle Part2”

191.Nakatsu Castle Part3

Nakatsu City planned to replace old stones with new ones to re-pile the walls because it didn’t think the stones were original. The construction was just on the point of starting.

Features

Many Shrines in Main Enclosure

There are now many shrines in the Main Enclosure such as Nakatsu Shrine, Nakatsu Grand Shrine, and Okudaira Shrine. An interesting one among them is Kii Shrine, which worships a local warlord, Shigefusa Kii who was invited but murdered in the castle by Nagamasa Kuroda, Yoshitaka’s son. A tradition says Nagamasa established the shrine because he was feared by a ghost of Shigefusa’s revenge and regretted his action.

The map around the Main Enclosure

Kii Shrine, quoted from the Tourism Nakatsu Yabakei website

*The portrait of Shigefusa Kii, owned by Tentokuji Temple (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

Third and Second Enclosures

The Third Enclosure is next to the Main Enclosure, but has become the city area.　It has the Main Gate Ruins to the center of the castle, where the past visitors had to pass one more gate, Kuro-mon to reach the Shiki-mon Gate of the Main Enclosure. You can still see part of the great stone walls of the Main Gate among the modern residences.

The map around the castle

The remaining stone walls of the Main Gate, the front part was first built by the Kuroda Clan and the back part was added by the Hosokawa Clan to make a defensive square space called Masugata

*The inside of the gate was like this illustration, the remaining part is marked white, the Kuro-mon Gate and the Shiiki-mon Gate are below it, from the signboard at the site*

The other neighboring Second Enclosure has become a park where you can see some remaining stone foundations of Samurai residences.

Fukuzawa’s Old House

Another recommendation you can visit is the old house of Yukichi Fukuzawa, about 1km away from the enclosure in the east. He bought this house when he was 16 years old and lived in it until 19. He came from a lower warrior class in the Nakatsu Domain, so the house can be seen as an example of those which lower class warriors lived in. The house is well maintained, for instance, the thatched roof of it is supported by wooden bars. A storehouse made with thick earthen walls also remains beside the house, where Yukichi studied on its second floor.

Later History

After the Meiji Restoration, Nakatsu Castle was abandoned and all the castle buildings, except for the Main Hall in the Main Enclosure, were demolished. The hall was used as a government office for a while, but was burned down in 1877 by a disturbance during the Seinan War. After that, the castle ruins were used for the several shrines and the Imitation Main Tower was built in 1964. A recent topic about the castle ruins was that there was an internal controversy among the officials of Nakatsu City when it was planning to repair the stone walls opposite the riverside in the Main Enclosure in 2002. The department in charge planned to replace old stones with new ones to re-pile the walls because it didn’t think the stones were original. The construction was just on the point of starting. However, the Cultural Heritage Division argued that the wall might be original and should be preserved. As a result, the stone walls were repaired using the old stones, as it had been discovered that they were the original ones used when Yoshitaka Kuroda first built the castle. The city announced that they are the oldest remaining stone walls in the Kyushu Region.

The repaired stone walls which use the original stones

My Impression

When I visited the current Nakatsu Castle, I was little confused that the site was mixed with the original items and many ones added later such as the Imitation Tower and the shrines. However, as I learned about history of the castle and people in Nakatsu, I understood that these items came from how they made great efforts on maintaining the castle and ruins. I also understood that running castle buildings can be difficult for private sectors which need profit to continue operating. Please give it your consideration to visit Nakatsu Castle when you travel around Nakatsu City.

The Imitation Main Tower seen from the riverside

How to get There

If you want to visit there by car, it is about a 15 minutes drive away from Sadanomi IC on the Nakatsu-Hita Road. There are several parking lots around the park.
By public transportation, it takes about 15 minutes on foot to get there from JR Nakatsu Station.
From Tokyo or Osaka to Nakatsu Station: Take the express bus to Oita Station from Oita Airport after using a plane, and get the train on the Nippo Line from the station.

Links and References

・Nakatsu Castle Official Website

That’s all. Thank you.
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191.Nakatsu Castle Part2

Basically, newer stone walls use more processed stones. However, in the case of those in Nakatsu Castle, it looks like it is the other way around.

Features

Private Company runs Imitation Main Tower

Today, the ruins of Nakatsu Castle have been developed as a tourist attraction called “Nakatsu Castle Park”. This is because the ruins have an outstanding five-level Main Tower on a corner of the stone walls in the Main Enclosure. However, the tower is an imitation, which was built at the place where another original turret had been built. A company, which the former lord of the castle, the Okudaira Clan ran, built it to boost tourism. Because of its origin, it mainly exhibits the history of the Nakatsu Domain under the clan’s rule as the Okudaira Clan Historical Museum. However, when the museum lost money, the clan sold it to another private company. This current castle is considered the only one which a private company runs, so they may approach you. If you want to know much about Yoshitaka Kuroda who was the founder of the castle, you can visit the Kuroda Kanbe Museum which Nakatsu City owns, in front of the tower.

The Imitation Main Tower of Nakatsu Castle

A view of Nakatsu River from the top of the tower

An exhibition of the Kuroda Kanbe Museum

Several kinds of Stone Walls from Kuroda and Hosokawa Periods

The historical items of the castle mainly remain in the Main Enclosure, such as the stone walls and water moats. If you look at the northern side of the stone walls, they are divided into the older part on the right and the newer one on the left. You can clearly see the joint which was the corner of the older part. Basically, newer stone walls use more processed stones. However, in the case of those in Nakatsu Castle, it looks like it is the other way around. The stones in the new left stone walls are natural while those in the older ones are more processed. The reason for it was that the founder, Yoshitaka Kuroda brought the stones from an ancient mountain castle, Tobarusan-jo nearby to build the new castle rapidly.

The aerial photo around the castle

The newer stone walls from the Hosokawa Period on the left and the older stone walls from the Kuroda Period on the right

Did the stone walls base for the tower come from the Kuroda Period?

The Main Enclosure is still beside the Nakatsu River but the concrete bulkhead with a promenade is between them now. It may be a good idea to walk on the promenade to see the river and the castle. The stone walls, which use the ancient mountain castle’s stones, lie along the riverside. They were probably built there with castle buildings on them to consider the scenery of the castle from the river. However, you can see modern residence or shrine buildings on them now, which are an interesting contrast. There are the stone walls of the Water Gate at the edge of the enclosure, which makes us understand the castle was directly connected to the river in the past.

Other stone walls from the Kuroda Period lie along the riverside

There might have been a large turret like a Main Tower on this stone wall base

Some modern residences are on the stone walls

The ruins of the Water Gate *(licensed by Mukai via Wikimedia Commons)*

There are another type of stone walls which Yoshitaka originally built opposite the riverside. They are long but not so high, built using smaller natural stones than the Hosokawa Clan’s period. They were recently repaired with the water moat in front of them, where you can walk along.

The stone walls and the water moat opposite the riverside

The Nakatsu City Historical Museum and the promenade are over there

New and Old Entrances of Main Enclosure

In addition, you can see the cut sections of the stone walls at the main entrance of the Main Enclosure with the shrine gate. This is because the entrance was built by breaking part of the stone walls in the Meiji Era and the gate was built in the Showa Era.

The front entrance of the Main Enclosure

The cut section of the stone walls, the lower part was first built by the Kuroda Clan and the upper part was added by the Hosokawa Clan

The stone walls on the other side of the entrance had once been destroyed but was restored

There are the ruins of Shiiki-mon Gate, the original main entrance, near the current one, which are still surrounded by stone walls. The gate also had a fan-shaped space for defense, surrounded by other stone walls in the back. However, the stone walls were partially removed.

The remaining part of the fan-shaped space inside the gate

The inside of the gate was like this illustration, the remaining part is marked red, from the signboard at the site

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