Consider walking to the Second Enclosure. You can go down and up the stairs from the Main Enclosure to the Second Enclosure over the dry Inner Moat. There was the roofed Passage Bridge connecting both enclosures in the past, which was the only entrance to the Main Enclosure. If you look back to the Main enclosure from somewhere around the Inner Moat, you can find the stone walls are arranged elaborately to protect the castle. The Second Enclosure is now used as the Shimabara Cultural Hall.
Going to the Second EnclosureThe former entrance of the Main EnclosureLooking up the Main Enclosure from the bottom of the Inner Moat
Later History
After the Meiji Restoration, Shimabara Castle was abandoned and all the its buildings were demolished. The Main Enclosure once became fields and the Third Enclosure was used for schools. In 1957, the castle ruins were turned into Shimabara Castle Park. The Main Tower and the turrets were rebuilt between 1960 and 1980. The park became the new Shimabara Castle again. Shimabara City has been developing the castle as a tourist center of the city.
The stone wall base for the Main TowerThe rebuilt Ushitora TurretThe rebuilt Western Turret
My Impression
When I visited Shimabara Castle, I felt both the strength of the castle and its historical atmosphere. I recommend walking in and out of the remaining stone walls to understand how wisely they were built. Shimabara City has been damaged by natural disasters such as the Mt. Unzen eruption in 1991, yet it has also received gifts from of nature such as hot springs. The city is known as a city of water. You can enjoy visiting the castle as well as food and drinks made with water.
The great and heavy stone walls of Shimabara CastleLooking the Inner Moat from the Main EnclosureYou can glance at Mt. Unzen behind Mt. Mayuyama
How to get There
If you want to visit the ruins by car, it is about 60 minutes away from Isahaya IC on the Nagasaki Expressway. You can park in at the parking lots for visitors in the castle. If you want to use public transportation, it takes about 10 minutes on foot from Shimabara Station on the Shimabara Railway. If you go there from Tokyo or Osaka, I recommend going to Nagasaki Airport by plane. After that, you can take the shuttle bus to Isahaya Station and transfer to the Shimabara Railway
Shimabara City, which owns Shimabara Castle, is located on the skirts of Mt. Unzen. If you walk around the city area, you will notice the particular geography. The hill called Moritake, where Shimabara Castle was built, was created by the explosion of Mt. Mayuyama about 4,000 years ago. You can feel the power of nature there. If you also walk around the castle, it conserved its appearance with the great stone walls surrounded by the Inner Moat and some restored castle buildings. In particular, the high stone walls remain in good condition, so you can see the line of the walls is folded like a folding screen. The castle may be compact, but strongly built, looking like a battleship.
walking on the slope of the skirt from the city area to the castleThe remaining high stone wallsShimabara Castle looks like a battleship
Collaboration of remaining Stone Walls and rebuilt Buildings
The area inside the original Inner Moat, including the Main and Second Enclosures, is designated as a historic site by Nagasaki Prefecture and is developed as a historical park. If you drive to the castle site, you can easily enter the Main Enclosure by crossing the earthen bridge, built in the present time, and park inside it.
The aerial photo around the castle
The entrance of the Main EnclosureThe inside of the Main Enclosure
Great View from rebuilt high Main Tower
The rebuilt five-level Main Tower stands out with its 33-meter height, the third tallest existing Main Tower in Japan. It is actually a modern building used as a museum and observation platform. Inside the tower, you can learn more about the history of the castle and the Shimabara Rebellion. On the top floor, you can enjoy see a great 360-degree view of the city. For example, Mt. Aso on Kyushu Island over Ariake Sea in the east. The Main, Second and Third Enclosures form in a line in the north. You can also see Mt. Mayuyama with Mt. Unzen behind it in the west.
The rebuilt Main TowerA view of the eastern side from the towerA view of the northern side from the towerA view of the western side from the tower
Exhibition of rebuilt Turret
The Main Enclosure has more attractions. The three rebuilt turrets also have distinct exhibitions. For example, one of the turrets, called Tatsumi Turret, is used as an art gallery dedicated to a local famous sculptor, Seibo Kitamura. You can see his representative statue works such as the Peace Statue (the reduced version of that in Nagasaki Peace Park) inside. You can even see his other works outside such as the statues of Shiro Amakusa, who led the Shimabara Rebellion, and a young Nobunaga Oda, who was a great warlord in central Japan.
Going to the rebuilt Tatsumi TurretThe Peace StatueThe statue of Shiro AmakusaThe statue of young Nobunaga Oda
A castle sharing the fate of the Shimabara Rebellion
Location and History
Matsukura Clan builds Castle as their Home base
Shimabara Castle is located in the Shimabara Peninsula, the western part of the Kyushu Region. The Arima Clan basically governed the area around the peninsula in the Middle Ages. Harunobu Arima, the lord of the clan in the late 16th Century, was known as a Christian feudal lord. Because of that, Christianity spread around the peninsula greatly. However, he was punished by the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1612. His son was also transferred to another place in 1614. After that, Shigemasa Matsukura was appointed to the lord of the Shimabara Domain by the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1616. He first lived in Hinoe Castle, where the Arima Clan lived, but soon decided to build a new castle as his home base, known as Shimabara Castle and completed in 1624.
The location of the castle
The replica of the statue of Harunobu Arima, exhibited by Arima Christian Heritage Museum, the original statue is owned by Daiunji Temple
The Shimabara Domain was a relatively a small domain which earned 43,000 koku of rice. However, the castle was said to be worth that of a domain with 100,000 koku of rice. That meant the people in the Shimabara Domain suffered high taxes and worked hard to build the castle. The castle had three enclosures in a line from the south to the north. The Main and Second Enclosures were in the Inner Moat and both were connected by only the roofed Passage Bridge called Roka-bashi. If enemies from the outside wanted to attack the Main Enclosure, they had to first enter the entrance of the Second Enclosure.
Part of Illustration of Shimabara Castle and environs with my comments, owned by Kumamoto Prefectural Library, exhibited by Shimabara CastleThe ruins of the roofed Passage Bridge
High Stone Walls and Five leveled Main Tower
All the enclosures were also surrounded by zigzagging high stone walls allowing the defenders to eliminate blind spots and make a flank attack. In particular, the Main Enclosure had the Main Tower and eleven turrets. The Main Tower had five levels and was built in a typical method called Multi-storied type. Other Main Towers in other castles usually had decorations such as gables and bell-shaped windows. The Main Tower of Shimabara Castle simply had square floors diminishing towards the top with minimal roofing. This method made building the tower more efficient and also easy to protect.
The zigzagging high stone wallsThe restored Multi-storied type Main Tower
Shimabara Rebellion occurs due to Matsukura Clan’s oppression
Shigemasa oppressed the people in his territory with heavy taxes to have more income. After the Tokugawa Shogunate banned people from being Christians, he tortured them if they didn’t convert. His way seemed to be loyal to the shogunate. After he died in 1630, his son, Katsuie rapidly followed in his father’s footsteps. People, including the Christians in Shimabara Peninsula, were angry and started the Shimabara Rebellion in 1637. They first attacked Shimabara Castle. They were professionally trained by the masterless warriors who were former retainers of the Arima Clan. Katsuie was not in the castle but in Edo, however, his retainers repelled the uprising army. The castle ironically proved its strength by fighting against the citizens.
The figures showing Matsukura Clan’s oppression, exhibited by Arima Christian Heritage MuseumOtemon Battle in Shimabara Uprising, exhibited by Shimabara Castle
The uprising people were defeated after they were besieged in Hara Castle for three months. The shogunate banned the Matsukura Clan from ruling over the Shimabara Domain. Katsuie Matsukura was executed due to his misgovernment. After that, several clans governed the domain and Shimabara Castle by the end of the Edo Period. In 1792, when the Matsudaira Clan governed, a great natural disaster known as Shimabara Taihen happened. An earthquake and eruption from Mt. Unzen caused the collapse of Mt. Mayuyama in front of it. The debris flowing from the mountain killed a lot of people and the castle was also partly destroyed by the earthquake.
Part of the folding screens of Shimabara Rebellion, owned by Asakura City Akizuki Museum, from the exhibition of Arima Christian Heritage MuseumThe ruins of Hara CastleA drawing of Shimabara Taihen, exhibited by Shimabara Castle
