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

96.Obi Castle Part3

The completed castle on the Shirasu plateau

Features

Samurai Residence street and Domain school

If you walk around the eastern part of the main portion, there is the Samurai Residence street which still has its original atmosphere with stone walls, white mud walls, hedges and traditional gates. Though many of the residential buildings inside were turned into modern facilities, restaurants or residences, some of them remain as they were, for example, a former senior vassal, Ito’s residence being used as a hotel.

The map around the castlle

The former residence of Ito Denzaemon, used as a hotel

There is also the restored domain school building, called Shintoku Hall, one block north from the street, which provided talented people, including Jutaro Komura who was the plenary power of the Japanese side to sign the Treaty of Portsmouth to end the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. The stone walls around it are original, so when they needed to be re-piled for repairing, all stones should be numbered and re-piled to the original positions exactly as historical items.

The restored building of the domain school

The picture of Jutaro Komura (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The stone walls of the domain school, being repaired

Walking on former Castle Town

Visiting the former castle town below the castle ruins is also recommended, which is surrounded by the winding Sakatanigawa River. The town also has a similar atmosphere to the Samurai Residence street and looks more casual. For example, Ushiromahi or the Back Town street has waterways with varicolored carps swimming. Honmachi-Shonin (or the Main Town Merchant street) has old merchant houses where you can enjoy eating and shopping.

Finally, if you look at the castle ruins from the western side of the town along the river, you can see the castle was built on the edge of high and vertical cliffs which originate from the Shirasu plateau. Part of the cliffs are covered with concrete to avoid them from collapsing. Modern-day people are still struggling to maintain the castle ruins on the cliff, so the Obi Domain by the Ito Clan must have made much greater efforts to do it.

The cliffs along the river, where the castle ruins are

Part of the cliffs are covered with concrete

Later History

After the Meiji Restoration, most of the castle buildings were demolished. However, the layout of the castle and town including their street plans continued being used to the present time. Nichinan City launched the restoration project in 1974. After that, the area of castle ruins and town were designated as the first Preservation District for Groups of Historic Buildings in the Kyushu Region in 1977, followed by the restoration of the Main Gate in 1978 and the hall in Matsu-no-maru Enclosure in 1979. That’s why we can enjoy the well-balanced remaining and restored items in this site.

The castle town also has great stone walls

My Impression

I think Obi Castle is the completed castle on the Shirasu plateau. Building castles on the plateau was easy thanks to its nature, while maintaining them could be very difficult. Natural hazards, such as harsh weathers and earthquakes, often caused collapsing of cliffs in these castles. Because of that, other castles of the same type like Sadowara, Shibushi, Chiran were abandoned in the peaceful Edo Period. However, the Ito Clan, the lord of the castle, didn’t have any substitute land. That’s why the clan’s Obi Domain continued to build their castle and town all through the period which we can enjoy to visit right now.

The stone walls of the former Main Enclosure

The earthen walls of the former Main Enclosure

How to get There

If you want to visit the castle ruins by car, it is about a 45 minute drive (through Miyazaki Prefectural Road 28) away from Tano IC on the Miyazaki Expressway. There is a parking lot for visitors in front of the castle ruins.
If you want to use public transportation, it takes about 15 minutes on foot to get there form JR Obi Station.
For visitors from Tokyo or Osaka: It may be a good idea to rent a car at Kagoshima or Miyazaki Airports after using a plane.

The parking lot in front of the castle ruins

That’s all. Thank you.
Back to “Obi Castle Part1”
Back to “Obi Castle Part2”

96.Obi Castle Part2

A perfect harmony of artifacts and nature

Features

Main Gate, Face of Castle

Today, many tourists visit the Obi Castle ruins and the former castle town. Because of the nature of the Shirasu plateau, the enclosures of the castle were naturally made independently. Many of them were turned into a shrine, schools, playgrounds, and residential areas. The remaining enclosures, which were the main portion of the castle, are open to visitors.

The aerial photo around the castle

Tanoue Hachiman Shrine, the former Hachiman Shrine

A playground which was around the Middle Castle

Obi Second Primary School was the enclosures which were collectively called the Second Enclosure

Visitors usually first walk on the Main Route to the restored Main Gate on the original stone walls, which is a popular image for the ruins. In fact, the details of the original gate were unclear, but people restored it using a traditional method and Obi Cedar wooden materials. That’s why the gate matches the original items as if it is also original. The inside of the gate is a square defensible space surrounded by great stone walls, called Masugata, which builds up the gate’s character.

The Masugata system inside the Main Gate

The Masugata system of the Main Gate seen from the top of the earthen walls of the Third Enclosure

Third Enclosure, protected by Earthen walls and Dry moats

The Main Gate is the entrance of the very large third enclosure which is surrounded by earthen walls and dry moats except for the gate. If you enter the gate and go to the inside of the enclosure, you will see the 4m high earthen walls which are the older part of the castle. According to the signboard at the site, the walls were originally about 16m high, from the bottom of the dry moat in front of them.

The earthen walls of the Third Enclosure, seen from its inside

The dry moat of the Third Enclosure, seen from its outside (in front of the Main Gate)

Main Enclosure, surrounded by Stone walls

There are high and long mud walls on top of stone walls opposite the earthen walls, which surround the main enclosure. The enclosure also has long and wide stone steps and another Masugata system. Many tall Obi Cedar trees planted around make them look more majestic. Overall, you will understand that the castle was built by combining the older earthen walls and newer stone walls over time.

The stone walls surrounding the Main Enclosure

The Obi Cedar trees around look majestic

The Main Enclosure includes the Obi Castle Historical Museum where you can learn the history of the castle, and Obi Primary School, which visitors can not enter. The Matsuo-no-maru Enclosure is next to and little above the Main Enclosure, which has a rebuilt traditional hall. The hall was not original for the castle, but was built using designs of other remaining halls including a traditional Japanese steam bath.

The Obi Castle Historical Museum (licensed by Kthrk25 via Wikimedia Commons)

Former Main Enclosure, with wonderful Obi Cedar trees

The former Main Enclosure is at the highest spot in the castle. You can walk up long stone steps and will see it is also surrounded by great stone walls and has another Masugata system. This enclosure had once been destroyed by the earthquakes in the early Edo Period, but the Obi Domain seem to have rebuilt this enclosure firmly. However, since then, the inside of it has been having no buildings as the Main Hall for the lord was moved from it to the new Main Enclosure.

The Masugata system of the former Main Enclosure

Instead, there are plenty of Obi Cedar trees growing on the ground with a moss-like carpet, which looks amazing! If they started to be planted when the enclosure was rebuilt, they may be nearly 350 year old.

The Obi Cedar trees in the former Main Enclosure

The enclosure also has the restored back gate where you can go out from to visit other attractions of the castle.

You can go out of the back gate to the Second Enclosure area

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

96.Obi Castle Part1

The castle the Ito Clan managed to maintain

Location and History

Shimazu Clan first owns Castle

The Obi area of Nichinan City, in the southern part of Miyazaki Prefecture, is popular for tourism. It is sometimes called a little Kyoto in the Kyushu Region. It has an old atmosphere of castle and town, which has been designated as a Preservation District for Groups of Historic Buildings since 1950. It also provides its local specialties such as Obi cedar trees and a traditional Japanese spirit, Shochu, made from sweet potatoes. In fact, they originally came from the long and severe history of Obi Castle and the Obi Domain.

The range of Nichinan City and the location of the castle

Obi cedar trees in the former Main Enclosure of Obi Castle

It is said that a local clan first built Obi castle in the 14th Century, but its details are uncertain. During the Sengoku Period, from the late 15th Century to the end of the 16th Century, the southern part of Hyuga Province (currently Miyazaki Pref.) became the site of the battle over the province between the Ito Clan from the north and the Shimazu Clan from the south. The Shimazu Clan owned the area at that time, so they improved Obi Castle in 1458 to prevent the area from being invaded by the Ito Clan.

One of Southern Kyushu type castles

The castle was originally one of the Southern Kyushu type castles. They were built processing the natural Shirasu plateau, which was made of volcanic ash caused by ancient eruptions. Its soil is fragile and can be easily collapsed vertically to make cliffs. Warriors in the area often used this geographical feature to build their castles, because it was easy for them to process the natural terrain for strong defensive systems. For example, they built deep dry moats, high walls under enclosures, and narrow defensive gates by cutting the soil. Some popular examples of those were the Chiran, Shibushi, Sadowara and Obi Castles. In addition, in the case of Obi Castle, Sakatanigawa River winded and surrounded the plateau as a natural moat.

The ruins of Chiran Castle *(licensed by PIXTA)*

*The miniature model of Shibushi Castle, exhibited by Shibushi City Center for Archaeological operations*

The relief map around the castle

Ito Clan’s success and failure

The Ito Clan started to attack the Obi Castle in 1484, before the long battle over the castle. The lord of the clan in the middle of the 16th Century, Yoshisuke Ito was so aggressive that he was able to capture the castle and send his son, Suketake to it as its lord in 1569. He was just at his peak, having owned 48 castles in the Hyuga province. However, his glory didn’t last long, he was losing the 48 Castles one by one including Obi Castle, triggered by the defeat at the Battle of Kizakihara against the Shimazu Clan in 1573. The Shimazu’s force made the Ito family flee from the Hyuga Province to the Bungo Province in the north in 1577, which was called the Collapse of Ito. They finally lost all that they once had and eventually became wanderers. Yoshisuke died while drifting in 1585.

*The portrait of Yoshisuke Ito, from the Sakai City History Volume 1 (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

*The portrait of Suketake Ito, owned by the board of education of Nichinan City (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)*

Ito Clan returns and governs Castle long

After this misfortune, Yoshisuke’s son, Suketake was occasionally hired by Hideyoshi Hashiba, who would be the ruler, Hideyoshi Toyotomi later in 1582, who was very fortunate for Suketake. When Hideyoshi invaded the Kyushu Region, which was almost completely controlled by the Shimazu Clan in 1586, Suketake supported Hideyoshi to guide the region. The Shimazu Clan eventually surrendered to Hideyoshi. Suketake finally returned to Obi Castle as its lord in 1588 due to his contribution to Hideyoshi after over 100 years of battle with the Shimazu Clan.

The Portrait of Hideyoshi Toyotomi, attributed to Mitsunobu Kano, owned by Kodaiji Temple (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The Ito Clan somehow managed to maintain their territory of the Obi area while the ruler of Japan changed from the Toyotomi Clan to the Tokugawa Shogunate. As a result, the Obi Domain led by the Ito Clan, continued to exist until the end of the Edo Period for nearly 300 years. However, it was not that simple. The Satsuma Domain led by the Shimazu Clan secretly sent Ninja to Obi to research what Obi Castle was like. They still seemed to want to take the castle away from the Ito Clan, if the situation changed. Meanwhile, the Ito Clan also seemed to recognize Obi as their final ground, improving the castle and town the hard way. For instance, the Main Enclosure on the top collapsed due to earthquakes in the late 17th Century because the plateau under it was weak. The Obi Domain rebuilt the new Main Enclosure below the former one and fortified both of them by building great stone walls. It also introduced planting cedar trees and sweet potatoes for people and industrialization to be sustainable.

To be continued in “Obi Castle Part2”