Japanese Castle Ruins
Castles Without Original or Rebuilt Keeps
(click on the pictures to enlarge)
22) Edo (Chiyoda) Castle Ruin
Another heavily-visited castle in Japan, though for reasons of accessibility. Situated like the crown jewel in the very center of Tokyo, the ancient stone walls contrast sharply with the modern buildings, providing an incredible blending of past with present. Originally constructed in 1457 it served as the military capital during the Tokugawa Shogunate. The Meiji era saw it transformed into the Imperial Palace, the role it maintains today.
Edo Castle offers pretty spectacular views, quite different from any other castle besides, perhaps, Osaka. I really love how the old and new seem to merge in the reflection on this castle’s expansive moats.
I also run and bike here . . . it’s the only place in Tokyo where you can go more than a hundred meters without hitting a crosswalk and signal lights! The path around Chiyoda runs for 5 kilometers.
23) Azuchi Castle Ruin
The ultimate dream of Japan’s original unifier, Oda Nobunaga, Azuchi Castle was designed and built to impress! It was built in 1579 but destroyed just three years later following Nobunaga’s assassination at Honnoji Temple. This was a massive fortress, built astride three main routes leading to Kyoto, the Imperial Capital. The keep was huge—more palace than castle—and was topped by an eight-floor construction, one level of which was octagonal, another supposedly covered in gold.
Ignore the preservation work going on at Soken-ji Temple half-way up the massive, terraced approach to Azuchi Castle, what you first notice about this fortress is the sheer amount of stone in evidence. Miles and miles of it!
The main central staircase—wide enough for ten men to march in column—just keeps going up and up, through one stone-clad terrace after another. It just gets more and more impressive the farther you climb!
Reaching the stone base of what would have been a truly massive keep. The area was so overgrown it was difficult at times to imagine, but you get the distinct impression Azuchi would have been a truly awe-inspiring sight in its heyday.
The final stairs leading up into the inner bailey—completely taken up by the massive central structure, now long gone.
It’s difficult to imagine the size of the wooden building that would have topped this stone base. The foundation stones give some idea, but it would have been simply massive, required to support the weight of an eight-story structure.
Oda Nobunaga’s “tomb” is included within the first bailey. Not really his final resting place, it is more of a cenotaph memorial to the great unifier of Japan.
The original Soken-ji Temple was build within the walls of Azuchi. Funded by Nobunaga himself, it was reportedly intended to be a place where he could be worshipped. Having burned down as well, only this gate and a single, three-story pagoda survive today. After the fire, Soken-ji was moved to its current location along the main central staircase of the castle entrance.
24) Fukuoka Castle Ruin
Though multiple iterations of fortification have graced this site throughout history, the current version dates to 1601. The alternative names Maizuru Castle and Seki Castle likely refer to previous versions of the fortress on Fukusaki Hill. While the current castle features no tenshu, both the scale and design of the castle grounds are impressive nonetheless.
Was fairly disappointed with the pictures from Fukuoka Castle. Unfortunately they don’t do the site justice.
Once again . . . can’t recommend strongly enough Japanese castle-hunting in the Autumn!
The prolonged donjon and the long, thin hall it once supported, seem fairly unique to me and would have presented a visually impressive image from outside and below the outer walls.
Fukuoka Castle has several of these fairly complicated entrances designed to confuse attackers who managed to breach the gates. Of course, one has to imagine the wooden gate complex built atop and around this stone-lined entryway.
The road leading up to the castle’s main entrance.
25) Takamatsu water castle ruin
Our first Shikoku castle, it was really my first “water” castle. Built in 1590 and sometimes referred to as Tamamo Castle, much of what would be inner baileys are instead a vast moat, making the main bailey all but inaccessible except by crossing a narrow wooden bridge. Two yagura, or turrets remain, but you have to use your imagination for the tenshu, long ago destroyed.
The only way to reach the first and main baileys of Takamatsu Castle.
View from the donjon base, looking toward the castle’s sea gate.
Another photo from the donjon, looking down upon the wooden access bridge and into the second bailey.
26) Oka castle ruin
Another accidental discovery, this one highlighting the wonders of modern navigation technology. Driving from Kumamoto to Beppu in Kyushu, I see the Japanese character for castle, 城, pop up on the screen . . . and like a moth drawn to flame, found myself drawn to incredible Oka Castle. U-shaped, following a steep ridge line, the logistics involved it its construction must have been staggering! Built in 1185, it would have truly been something to see in its heyday.
Looking from one end of the U-shaped castle walls across gorge to the other side.
27) nagashino castle ruin & battlefield
Probably the second most famous battle in Japanese history after Sekigahara, Nagashino marked the destruction of the powerful Takeda Clan in 1575. That this great defeat was brought about at the hands of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu made it one of those legendary encounters between giants that are sprinkled throughout military history.
15,000 Takeda troops—the majority of which appear to have been cavalry—laid siege to Nagashino Castle, built to overwatch the confluence of the Kansagawa and Uregawa rivers and guard the main east-west road through the mountains. Torii Suneemon, an ashigaru foot soldier, escaped the castle, evaded enemy patrols, and reached the allied Oda-Tokugawa army which then marched to relieve the defenders. The battle which transpired just west of the siege lines resulted in the first documented use of volley-fire by massed firearms in world history, a development that literally blew away the finest cavalry force Japan had ever seen.
Nobunaga’s 3,000 picked arquebusers all but destroyed the flower of Takeda’s army, which was forced to lift the siege and withdraw. Nagashino Castle itself had been garrisoned at the time by a mere 500 elite troops, led by the redoubtable Okudaira Nobumasa, who was greatly rewarded for his defense of the stronghold. As for Suneemon, he was captured trying to return to his comrades in the castle and crucified just across the river, in full view of the garrison. His family, however, would be elevated to the rank of samurai in honor of his sacrifice.
Nagashino Castle was so heavily damaged during the siege that it was abandoned shortly after the garrison was relieved and never repaired. All that remains today are remnants of the packed-earth donjon and the dry moat which protected it. There being no evidence of masonry anywhere, it would appear that Nagashino Castle’s strength lay in its position atop a triangle of cliffs that overlooked the Kansagawa and Uregawa Rivers.
What would have served as a donjon or base for the tenshu at Nagashino is pictured above. It doesn’t appear that the castle was overly large, but due to the steepness of the cliffs above the two rivers, a small garrison could concentrate on defending the only approachable side of the castle and thus hold off a much larger force. Okudaira’s intrepid defenders held out under siege and multiple assaults for weeks until the Oda-Tokugawa relief army finally arrived.
The Nagashino donjon lies center-left here and the enclosed main bailey in the open area to the right.
Apologies … this is the only photo in my entire gallery not taken by me or my wife, but I couldn’t get across the river to get the shot and felt it needed to be included for perspective. Nagashino Castle would have towered atop the cliffs barely visible behind the heavy foliage of the arrow-shaped landscape. The castle grounds would have extended just beyond the multi-colored pennants in the distance.
Rammed-earth construction leaves its mark much longer than might otherwise be expected, and castle ruins of this type are found all over Japan and Korea. They were generally topped by wood and plaster walls and towers that acted in much the same way as the later, stone-clad castles. Artist depictions of Nagashino Castle seem to vary greatly and so it is difficult to ascertain at this point whether the walls at the time of the battle were stone-clad or not.
In truth, as with so many places of historical significance, there’s no longer much to see at Nagashino. Still, I’m terribly thrilled to have once again walked ground of such historical significance.
28) Ki (Kinojo) Castle Ruin
I may need to build a separate section for Korean-style fortifications in Japan, but for now, since this is the only one I have visited, I’ll just include it here. Kinojo was built in the late 660s after the unsuccessful attempt by Yamato Japan to intercede on behalf of it’s Korean ally Baekje. Fearing attack by the Silla-Tang alliance, 12 castles were immediately ordered constructed in Kyushu and Western Honshu. Kinojo is one of these and its layout reflects the castle-building style and expertise imported from the fallen Kingdom of Baekje, making it quite unique among Japan’s extant castle ruins.
A true fusion of 7th Century Baekje castle design and construction with extant Yamato Japanese styles, Kinojo offers an interesting glimpse into a period of important military transition for early Japan.
Kinojo is an active archeological site and thus far only one gate (pictured above) and the wall lengths to either side have been preserved or—when necessary—reconstructed. Still, a visit to the 1400 year-old Japanese castle made the long trip to Soja well worth the effort!
Reflecting Korean castle design philosophy, Kinojo is missing the layered, bailey system and central tenshu of Japanese castles, even those rammed-earth and timber specimens which predate Kinojo. This is clearly a Korean castle, laid out and likely constructed—at least in the initial phases—by refugee Baekje stone-masons and castle builders. This model is on display in the small but very well done visitor’s center near the castle.
As in Korea, attempts were made to make the top of the masonry walls easier for defenders to traverse. Here, restoration efforts have attempted to replicate that effort. This design tendency would evolve into the smooth, paved wall tops found in later Korean fortifications and Japanese castles.
Funny, but the walk here immediately reminded me of Namhansanseong just south of Seoul. Which makes sense, as that fortification too was initially designed by the Kingdom of Silla, a 7th Century contemporary and rival to Baekje.
A fascinating design feature no doubt learned the hard way through two centuries of castle-building on the Korean Peninsula. The hole pictured here allowed water pooling against the inside of the castle wall—an especially poignant concern during the annual monsoon season—to exit the wall without undermining its foundation. Both Korean and Japanese future castle builders would pay significant attention to water management.
These pictures highlight the interesting fusion of castle-building methods in evidence at Kinojo. Baekje had long since ceased using rammed earth and timber for fortifications, preferring dry masonry techniques. Here at Kinojo, however, you see a combination of the two, with a masonry base topped with both rammed earth and timber ramparts and towers. The section pictured above right, however, provides incentive for further research as instead of topping the masonry wall (as in the left photo), it would appear the rammed earth sections are intermittent throughout, though this may simply reflect the methodology behind the reconstruction project begun just a few years ago.