Akashi Castle

 

Akashi castle is an Edo Period castle built to protect the approaches to Osaka from the west.

Most of the Tozama Lords, the daimyo that had fought against the Tokugawa and were therefore still considered a possible threat, lived in the west, and so the Tokugawa placed allies in strategic positions around the country.

At the entrance to what is now a huge park in front of the castle is a statue of Ikujiro Nakabe, a local politician from the Meiji era who had nothing to do with the castle. The statue was erected in 1928 but was subsequently melted down for weapons during WWII and then remade later. As well as being involved in national politics he also founded fishing companies and whaling companies that operated in the Antarctic.

The castle was constructed between 1615 and 1617 and took about a year to build. Thanks to the One Domain One Castle decree of 1615 many castles were dismantled and come of the materials and structures were recycled in the construction of Akashi Castle

It was quite a large castle with a total of twenty yagura, towers, and 27 gates.

Within the park are several gardens that are now named the Musashi Gardens after the famed samurai swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. He was involved in the design of the castle and the surrounding area, and several gardens in nearby temples are attributed to him, but these gardens in the park were named after him after a very successful TV drama series on Musashi.

A base for a Tenshu, keep, was  constructed but no keep was built.

The main structures were 4 3-storey towers on each corner of the inner bailey.

The castle was built by Ogasawara Tadazane, but the Ogasawara were transferred to the Kokura Domain in 1632.

A succession of Fudai Daimyo, vassals of the Tokugawara before Sekigahara, or relatives of the Tokugawa, were given the Akashi Domain after the Ogasawara.

The castle was mostly demolished in 1874, but the two corner turrets on the south remained and are now Important Cultural Properties.

A large park and sports facilities now occupy most of the site. The stadium is built over what was probably a garden by Miyamoto Musashi.

Many events and festivals take place in the park.

It is a popular spot both for Cherry Blossom and Autumn Leaves viewing.

It is free to enter and a ten alk from JR Akashi Station.

Shorenji Temple Takahashi

 

When I first came to Japan I was quite intrigued by temples and even large houses that had walls that reminded me of Japanese castles. I later learned that surrounding some castles some buildings would have been incorporated into a defensive system, and that some temples were actually armed institutions, but mostly it was due to steep slopes requiring retaining walls.

However, Shorenji Temple in Takahashi was built as a defensive structure but masqueraded as a temple because of the laws at the time.

During the Edo Period the Tokugawa Shogunate decreed that each domain could only have one castle and that all samurai must reside in the castle town built around the castle.

Also the decrees governing repairs to castle were very strict and in most cases severely limited the daimyo in what they could do.

Shorenji Temple was re-constructed on this sitein 1657 as a defensive structure to protect the southern approach to Bitchu Matsuyama Castle, but as it was a temple they seem to have gotten away with it. It was originally founded in 815 and was located in a different area. The Kannon Hall has a ceiling and door that came from a boat used by the Lord of Okayama Castle in the invasion of Korea in 1592.

The previous post in this series was on Tairyuji Yakushi Temple next door.

Tsuwano Castle

 

Tsuwano Castle, celebrating the 700th anniversary of its founding this year, 2024, is now mostly ruins.

It is situated on a mountaintop, 200 meters above the town of Tsuwano which was built as a castle town in the early Edo Period.

There are no roads up to the ruins, but three walking trails or a chairlift.

Even after taking the chairlift there is still some walking to the first part of the ruins.

The original castle was started in 1282 shortly after the first Mongol Invasion and was meant to protect against further possible invasions. The Yoshimi Clan controlled the area for more than 300 years.

In essence it was a large fortified mountain ridge with fortifications spread over two kilometers along the ridge.

In the mid 16th century the region was invaded by Sue Harukata and he unsuccessfully besieged the castle for more than 100 days.

In the meantime, the Mori Clan took advantage and attacked the Sue and defeated them at the Battle of Itsukushima

Following the Battle of Sekigahara the Yoshimi were removed from the area and Sakazaki Naomori took over the domain.

It was he were remade the castle into the form it is today and started the construction of the castle town.

He reduced the size of the castle to its central section and modernized it by building most of the stonework that you see today.

In 1619 sakazaki was replaced by the kamei Clan and they held the castle and domain until 1868.

In 1686 the tenshu, keep, was destroyed by a fire caused by lightning and it was never replaced. The Daimyo lived and administered the domain from buildings at the base of the mountain, two of which are still standing.

During the Boshin War the Imperialist forces led by Choshu marched through the valley and the Kamei samurai stayed within the castle and allowed them to pass.

The castle was dismantled in 1874, shortly before the government ordered castles to be dismantled.

Even if you have not much interest in castle ruins, Tsuwano Castle is well worth a visit for the amazing views.

During the late autumn when the weather phenomenon known in Japanese as unkai occurs the castle ruins are above the surrounding valleys filled with clouds much like the much more famous Takeda Castle in Hyogo.

Down below the castle to the south is the Washibara Hachimangu Shrine which has the only purpose-built yabusame, horseback archery, grounds in Japan.

The previous castle I posted on was Hiroshima Castle. The previous post on Tsuwano I posted was on the garden at Yomeiji temple.

Hiroshima Castle

 

Hiroshima is one of the better-known Japanese cities to people outside Japan because of its unfortunate history, but the city did not begin to be formed until after the construction of Hiroshima Castle.

Situated on a sandbar island in the middle of the wide-open delta of the Ota River, the area was renamed Hiroshima by the great warlord Mori Terumoto after he chose the site for his new castle.

From his base in Koriyama Castle about 45 kilometers north of Hiroshima in the Chugoku Mountains, Mori Motonari oversaw the rise of his clan to dominance of almost all of the Chugoku region and even part of Kyushu.

His grandson, Terumoto, took over the clan following Motonari's death, and after initially opposing Hideyoshi eventually became his vassal and one of Hideyoshi's Council of Five Elders.

Realizing that his old base, Koriyama Castle, was no longer suitable as a modern headquarters he chose the site for his new castle in 1588 and construction began the next year. He moved into the castle in 1591 but it would not be completed until 1599.

Hiroshima Castle is a Flatland-style castle with a moat system that included the river as a major outer defense, and a wide inner moat. The inner moat remains, but the other moats were filled in during the early 20th century.

Following the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 Tokugawa Ieyasu stripped the Mori Clan of most of their lands except for their most westerly holdings in what is now Yamaguchi.

Control of the castle was given to Fukushima Masanori, but he was removed 19 years later and then the Asano Clan controlled the domain for more than two centuries until the Meiji Period.

Most castles were dismantled following the Meiji Restoration,  but Hiroshima Castle wasn't, and like many of the castles that were kept by the new government it became a military base. In fact it was the General Headquarters for the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-5.

It continued to be a military base all during WWII, but being less than a kilometer from the epicenter of the atomic blast, all the wooden structures were destroyed.

In 1958 the tenshu was reconstructed in concrete, though it may possibly be replaced with a wooden one in the future.

In 1993 the main gate and several yagura of the Ninomaru section of the castle were rebuilt using traditional materials and methods.

The Ninomaru structure and the tenshu both contain exhibits relating to the castle's history.

The rest of the grounds are now a park that contains three trees that survived the atomic blast. Also, the Gokoku Shrine was moved to within the castle.

The previous castle I posted on was Fukuoka Castle.