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.

Fukuoka Castle

 

Fukuoka Castle is said to have been the biggest castle in Kyushu, though I believe that means covering the largest area.

Much of the former castle is now Maizuru Park, a huge park with multiples sports grounds and stadiums within it.

The park is also home to numerous gardens planted with different seasonall plants and trees like a Cherry garden, Plum Garden, Iris Garden, and an Azalea Garden.

I visited a little after the peak of the cherry blossoms around the inner area of the castle ruins and on an overcast day.

Other than extensive walls, the most impressive of the remaining original structures is the Tamon Yagura Turret featured in the first few photos.

The castle was constructed between 1601 and 1607 for Kuroda Nagamasa who had been given the domain and nearby Najima Castle which he decided was too small and inconvenient for the building of a catle town.

One of the men responsible for the construction, Noguchi Kazanari, also worked on Osaka Castle and Edo Castle.

When Kato Kiyomasa, the famous Daimyo from Kumamoto, visited he was so impressed with the extensive stonework he named it Seki Castle, literally stone castle.

Covering 47,000 square meters, and with an impressive 47 yagura, much of the stone was quarried on nearby islands, though stones from the dismantled Najima castle and even stones from the fortifications built in preparation for the Mongol Invasion were also used.

Also impressive was the moat system which included a 600 meter wide section to the west that was mostly mud flats at low tide, now turned into Ohori Park.

There are conficting theories on whether a Tenshu, main tower or keep, was actually built. A base was but there seems to be no evidence that one existed, although that may be because in his hatred of Chrsitianity, Kuroda Nagamasa destroyed all documents with the word "tenshu" because it also meant "Christian God".

Like many castle in Japan, in 1871 when the han system was abandoned most of the buildings of the castle were dismantled or destroyed but a couple have recently been returned to ther original site from temples where they had been reassembled.

Maizuru Park and the Fukuoka Castle Ruins are free to enter

The previous post in this series was on Ohori Park, previously the very wide moat that protected the castle from the wesr.

Karatsu Castle

 

Karatsu Castle is situated on a spit of land on the west bank of the Matsuura River as it reaches the sea.

I arrived in Karatsu by walking down the Matsuura River and approaching the castle it became clear how the builders had used the river mouth and sea as a moat to offer protection.

Karatsu castle was built by Terasawa Hirotaka between 1602 and 1609. He used a lot of the construction materials from Nagoya castle about 20k away which was built by Hideyoshi as his base  for invading Korea.

Teraswa had his domain taken by the shogunate, partly it seems for not suppressing the Shimbara Rebellion. A series of different clans had the domain until the mid 18th century when the Ogasawara took over and held it until domains were abolished in 1871.

Interestingly, it is considered almost certain that the castle never had a tenshu, or keep. A base for one had been built but there is no evidence one was actually constructed.

The current keep, was built in the style of keeps of the period, and along with  most of the yagura were reconstructed in 1966.

Sections of the outer bailey can be found southwest of the main castle. After settling into my hotel I went to the beach to the West of the castle for some other fine views.

The previous post was on Kakurinji Temple, a few kilometers down the river.

Jozan Inari Shrine

 

Jozan Inari Shrine is tucked away at the northern end of the grounds of Matsue Castle and consequently is missed by most visitors.

It was a favorite spot of Lafcadio Hearn who lived literally a stone's throw away across the moat and visited here often.

Jozan Inari Shrine is the origin of the  Shikinen Shinkosai Festival, one of the top three boat festivals in Japan wherein a procession of brightly decorated boats transport the kami of the shrine 10 kilometers downriver to Adakaya Shrine. The festival only takes place every ten years and the next will be in 2029. Some of the boats are stored at Adakaya Shrine which is worth visiting for the unusual straw "serpents"

The shrine was established in 1638,  a couple of decades after the castle was built when the grandson of Ieyasu, Matsudaira Naomasa, took over the domain.

He had a vision that said Inari would protect not only the castle but also his Edo estate.

Though there are many different Inari's, its primary feature was as a kami of rice, although later it became very much associated with business success. In this case Inari was very much seen in Matsue as a kami to protect the home from fire.

The aroach to the shrine is like many others, and lacks the "tunnel" of red torii seen at many Inari shrines.

However, if you venture behind the main buildings you will find thousands of fox statues....

The previous post was on the Western-style Meiji-era guesthouse in the castle grounds.