196.Sadowara Castle Part3

Please check the availability ahead of time before your visit.

Features

Main Route is partially available

The Main Route to the top is still closed at the middle of the route where it is being repaired as of May 2023. Therefore, you can not go straight through the route, however you can see what it is by walking up the route from the foot to the repaired point and walking down from the top to the point. The route basically goes along another ridge of the mountain and its entrance is on the bottom of a large deep ditch which was surrounded by high vertically cut cliffs on both sides. Today’s visitors can enjoy a great view of the work by the builders, but past enemies must have felt a threat from the defenders. The narrow route continues to go along the ridge on the right, which the defenders would have attacked from in the past and landslides would easily destroy the route from today.

The map around the castle

The guide plate of the Main Route
The entrance of the Main Route
The route goes along the ridge on the right
The route is not availabe from here

Above the repairing point, the route turns right and takes over another ridge to reach the Main Enclosure. The point taking over it is another artificially-made narrow ditch, which was another defensive point.

The Main route reaches the Main Enclosure over this ditch
The other warning display of the repairing point

Later History

During the Meiji Restoration, the Satsuma Domain, a relative of the Sadowara Domain, got the power in the domestic politics. The Sadowara Domain joined the activities because the lords of both domains came from the same Shimazu Clan. The last lord of the domain, Tadahiro Shimazu was planning to move his home base to a more convenient land, Hirose. He started to build a new castle there and abolished Sadowara Castle where its buildings were all demolished in 1869. However, the launch of the castle was stopped before the abolition of the feudal domain system by the central government in 1871.

The photo of Tadahiro Shimazu, from the Miyazaki Prefecture History (licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons)

The ruins of Sadowara Castle had been used as fields (probably only in the plain area) for a long time. The excavation of the plain Second Enclosure was done in 1989 and the Main Hall on it was restored in 1993. The excavation of the Main Enclosure on the mountain was also done in 1996. It found that the foundations of the Main Tower Base and some roof tiles with golden leaf which was often used for Main Towers. That resulted in Sadowara Caste being the southernmost castle which had the Main Tower in Japan so far. As a result, the castle ruins were designated as a National Historic Site in 2004.

The Main Enclosure on the mountain

My Impression

I visited the ruins of Sadowara Castle three times in total. My first visit was several years ago, which I don’t remember very well. The second one was in 2022 just after the closing of both routes to the mountain part due to the natural disaster, which disappointed me. I didn’t know about the news and the vulnerable nature of the mountain on the Shirasu Plateau. I finally reached the top again after hearing the good news of its re-opening. When I was wandering the top around, I found some other parts were still closed and some trees fell beside the road. I realized the difficulty of maintaining the ruins and thought that nature might have even helped the castle prevent enemies from attacking it. Please check if these routes are open if you want to visit the ruins.

Another major enclosure called the South Castle was still closed
Some bamboo trees lay down

How to get There

If you want to visit the castle ruins by car, it is about a 10 minute drive away from Saito IC on the Higashi-Kyushu Expreesway. There is a parking lot in front of the castle ruins.
If you want to use public transportation, you can take the Miyazaki Kotsu Bus bound for Saito Bus Center at Miyazaki Station and get off at the Koryu-Center-mae bus stop.
From Tokyo or Osaka to Miyazaki Station: Take the Miyazaki-kuko Line from Miyazaki Airport after using a plane.

The parking lot in front of the restored Main Hall

That’s all. Thank you.
Back to “Sadowara Castle Part1”
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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
The interior of the hall

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 entrance of the Middle Route
Climbing the steep route on the valley
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.

The fork on the mountain
Looking up at the Main Enclosure
The route around the Main Enclosure
The back entrance of the enclosure

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

The route on the left from the fork
A small enclosure in front of the main entrance of the Main Enclosure
The main entrance

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 Main Enclosure (the front square)
The ruins of the Main Tower base (in the back square)
The foundational stones of the base

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