Seek and ye shall, or shall not find

Article posted on Wednesday, January, 11th, 2012 at 8:00 pm

This actually came as a bit of a shock when I first saw it. Had I not specifically been looking for it, I no doubt would have missed it. Have a close look at the photo, can you see what it is?

For those unable to make out what is written, the sign post indicates that this is the main entrance to the National Historic Site of Tsuwano castle. I don’t think the problem is that my visit happened to co-incide with garbage day, and that some Tsuwano resident plonked their weekly collection of refuse square in front of the sign making it hard to read. I feel, and kind of strongly, that they could have made the entrance a little more obvious – a bit more welcoming wouldn’t have hurt either.

So how is it that a National Historic Site (also a Hyakku Meijō listed castle) gets away with such poor promotion & presentation? Good question. To be fair, this isn’t the only entrance – there are several hiking paths up the mountain. Aside from those there is one other, perhaps one that many have come to believe is the main entrance. There is a ski-lift-type contraption to convey the tourist types to the top.

The joke is on me as it turns out. I later learned that the Hyakku Meijō stamp for this castle is to be found at the chair-lift building. Either at the top or at the bottom, does anyone know? Woe is me.

Saga Castle History Museum

Article posted on Friday, August, 26th, 2011 at 1:06 pm

It is such a pleasing thing to see more and more castle buildings being rebuilt using traditional methods and materials.

You may recall that I recently touched upon this in the post: The Rebuilding Phase. That post was all about the Tenshus (main towers) though. What I’ll be talking about today is the rebuilt Goten (palace) of Saga castle.

A scale model of the rebuilt Saga Castle History Museum. To the right is the Shachi-no-mon, the castle's only surviving structure from the Edo period.

The history of the Hon-maru Goten (本丸御殿)

It should be understood how truly rare it is that a castle be built in the early 1600′s and maintain its form throughout its active life; it was only natural that they evolve. And of course, most castles have felt the burn of… um, fire. Anyway, buildings were lost, alright? I didn’t do it.

It was in 1835, during the reign of the 10th successive lord of Saga domain, that saw most of the buildings of the castle reduced to ash once-again. Three years later, many of the lost buildings had been rebuilt.

Day at the museum

It clearly has the same appearance, and occupies the exact same location as the old Hon-maru Goten, but it’s best to arrive thinking that this is the Saga Castle History Museum and not some authentically restored palace.

Yes, the museum is of wooden-construction and has more tatami mats that you can poke a stick at, but it is very-much a modern building. I suppose electricity, plumbing and even air-conditioning are to be expected nowadays.

Regarding the historical exhibits, they tend to focus on the mid-to-late 1800's. Saga-han’s cannon building prowess receives a great deal of attention, as does the domain’s involvement in the Boshin War. I wonder if the blame for this shouldn’t be squarely put on the epic fires this castle has (barely) endured.

Well, that's about it

On its own, perhaps the Saga Castle History Museum won't make it on anyone must-see list. It just doesn't have that Wow-factor. Having said that, watch me get excited in this (year-old) video. Is it catching?

And for those who just can’t get enough, the palace/museum room-by-room:

Chikuzen Matsuo castle

Article posted on Saturday, August, 20th, 2011 at 6:48 pm

I had a pleasant, little surprise the other day. Myself, the wife & the kids were out shopping. And as we were walking out of one particular shop, I was handed a bag with a book inside. The book was Sengoku no Shiro (戦国の城), and I was pretty damned happy.

Within the book’s pages are detailed articles on more than a dozen castles. And despite Himeji castle being on the book’s cover, most are obscure, mountain castles. One of those obscure, mountain castles is Matsuo castle (which is known in the book as Koishiwara castle), and it just so happens that it’s just a short(-ish) drive away. So, drive away I did.

Before we get to the video, just a word on my speaking proficiency which you’d think would be kind of alright. You’ll have to excuse my verbal trips & blunders. I happened to get myself a little tongue-tied on more than one occasion. Anyway, without further ado.

Ancient castles – translated from Sengoku no shiro

Article posted on Thursday, August, 4th, 2011 at 10:45 am

I’m very excited to introduce what is the first ever guest post on the Japanese Castle Explorer blog. Paula Curtis of the Shinpai deshou blog, has a strong interest in Japanese castles and has kindly offered the following translation. I would urge everyone to learn more about what the Shinpai deshou blog is all about by clicking on the relevant icons found in the box below. Enjoy!

This is an excerpt translated from Sengoku no shiro 戦国の城 (Sengoku castles) by Owada Tetsuo 小和田哲男. I am not a professional translator, just a castle enthusiast and soon to be medieval specialist, so any mistakes or awkwardness in translation are my own. Kanji for certain keywords not readily available in standard dictionaries have been added in, as well as footnotes and links for clarity.

Paula Curtis

Ancient Castles

Were the beginnings of castles highland settlements and moated settlements?

…In recent years, because of excavations of Yayoi period (300 BC- 300 CE) villages, structures that one ought to call the very first castles are being revealed. Now, it has become mainstream to urge scholars to consider Yayoi villages the oldest form of castles (not the existing kōgishi 神籠石 [1] and Tōhōku jōsaku 城柵 [2]). In this case, villages were highland settlements (高地性集落 ) and moated settlements (環濠集落).

First, as the name suggests, highland settlements were villages created on top of hills or mountains. However, they weren’t just settlements in high places. People established a village by digging continuous with the land on long, narrow plateaus, or digging along a succession of peaks on a mountain, thereby strengthening their defenses. At the Kannonjiyama site in Osaka prefecture, the ruins of roughly 173 buildings were confirmed in the village, and at the Fukikoshibara site in Yamaguchi prefecture, the remains of 10 buildings were also found.

Remains of a highland settlement in Hofu City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. (Image credit: Hofu City Website)

Until recently, it was believed that these highland settlements appeared in mid-Yayoi period. However, in the Seto inland area as well as the Kinki region, early Yayoi highland settlements have been found, and it’s been surmised that these settlements began from a rather early stage.

A moated settlement. (Image credit: 水野誠人)

Moated settlements were what brought highland settlements down to level land. They didn’t just dig moats, but examples of defense with fence lines (柵列) also appear, and these settlements completely assume the shape of a castle. There’s a great number of moated settlements that have been found which were built right around the time of Himiko [3] in the 2nd century. In one such example, the Ōzuka site in Kanagawa prefecture, there’s roughly 90 residential structures enclosed by a moat totaling 65 meters in length. The width of the moat is about 4 meters, and brings to mind the moats of medieval clan mansions. At the Yoshinogari site in Saga prefecture, in addition to moats, pillar holes of watchtowers have been found, and it is also said to have possibly been one of the “provinces” of the Yamataikoku (the ancient country of Wa, domain of Queen Himiko).

In Yoshinogari as well as the moated settlement of the Ikegamisone site in Osaka prefecture, storehouses and residences have been discovered outside of their moats. Such a placement outside of the moats would have meant that the moat wasn’t necessarily serving a defensive purpose, and some archaeologists do not see these moated settlements as simply defensive establishments, but a place of commerce for ancient peoples—in other words, some think they may have been ancient markets.

Next sections on ancient castles:
Kōgoishi and Korean-style mountain castles
Castle construction in the time of Emperor Tenji and Chinese style castles
Tōhoku jōsaku

Nagoya Castle – Colourised

Article posted on Friday, April, 15th, 2011 at 1:20 pm

Here’s another postcard of Nagoya castle. What a fine scene it presents; all of the buildings are positively gleaming as though they’ve just been flossed. Disregarding the fact that the postcard looks obviously old, there are clues that suggest it dates from the early 1900′s.

The first thing to stand out are all those buildings. None of the buildings shown below escaped WWII bombing. And when rebuilding was completed in 1959, it was only the main tower and its attached, supporting tower that rose again. Also, I see the famous Golden Shachi on the roof are caged.

As vivid & pristine the artificially-coloured image is, there is something horribly wrong with it, and I’m not talking about the JCE watermark. I wonder if anyone can spot it?

Some relevant links:

• The first Nagoya postcard: Nagoya Castle: by the moat
• Nagoya castle & WWII bombing: The flames and the aftermath
• A brief article all about Shachi: Shachi is life
• Nagoya castle pictures & information: Nagoya castle profile

Showa no Daishuri

Article posted on Thursday, March, 17th, 2011 at 12:23 pm

Happening right now at Himeji castle is a major restoration that will see every square inch of its external surface renewed. This means 80,000 roof tiles will be replaced and seven square kilometres of its white-plastered walls will have its plaster reapplied. This mountain of work is slated for completion in around three years. That’ll be March 2014.

This… event is known in Japanese as Heisei no Daishuri (平成の大修理), which translates to the Heisei great repairs. Heisei, being the name of the current period (1990 – ). These actually aren’t the castle’s first great repairs of the modern era. Way back in the Shōwa period (1926 – 1989) there was another, and it was even greater.

Thirty years hard labour

Several turrets & the stone foundations they stood upon collapsed; heavy rain had brought the mighty fortress of Himeji to its knees. A budget & a complete repair plan was speedily put in place.

It all began in 1934 with work commencing on the Hishi Gate (菱の門), the I-no Gate (イの門) and the Taikaku Turret (帯廓櫓). Work on these outer building continued on for many, many years, only being interrupted during the final stages of World War II. 1956 would see the Shōwa great repairs begin proper when surveys began on the central building complex.

Scaffolding was slowly built up and eventually enveloped the main tower, the two lesser main towers and their connecting turrets. It was designed from the outset to withstand typhoons. Always a good idea in land prone to natural disasters as Japan is. A 200-metre-long ramp was also set up which linked the central tower to the third enclosure, the San-no-maru (三の丸). The large third enclosure would be ideal for the storage of materials both old & new and the ramp provided a direct path to transport them.

In February 1957, the tent-like scaffolding was completed. It had required the efforts of 11,350 people & came at a cost of ¥35,000,000. To help put this in perspective, a starting salary for a university graduate at that time was ¥12,000 per year.

Un-building the towers

Disassembly of the main buildings started in April 1957. As you may well easily imagine, each & every item was numbered, measured, photographed and their positions recorded. A very important judgement was also made, if it could be reused. New materials could have been used for the eventual putting-back-together, but whatever could be salvaged would be salvaged.

The removal of each pillar & crossbeam was a long & tricky process. With each one removed, an imbalance was introduced to the remaining structure. Such was the level of caution, only two beams per day were being removed. This work was finally completed on the 31st of January, 1958.

The foundations

A great deal of investigation went into the now, load-lightened stone foundations. What was determined was that it couldn’t reliably carry the weight of the building it was built to bear. Well, didn’t that cause a fuss. The solution was found in modern engineering techniques, which is to say in the use of concrete.

Something of great historical importance came out of all this. Sections of Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s Himeji castle were unearthed. These remnants dated from the 1580′s. But even these were built atop fortifications from centuries earlier. Setting to one side this amazing discovery, concrete was poured into the base to ensure a steady footing. Ahh… the sweet smell of progress.

Hunt for a new pillar

Examination of the disassembled framework found that one of the two central pillars was rotten and wouldn’t be able to be re-used. The hunt was on for a replacement. A deadline of July 1959 was set. Forests in Shikoku, Kyūshū, Gifu, Nagano, Mie, Wakayama and the castle’s home prefecture of Hyōgo were scoured for a 25-metre replacement. A tall order indeed.

In the heart of Hyōgo Prefecture, a candidate Shinbashira (心柱) was discovered, the vital statistics: 650 years old, 27 metres tall, a basal diameter of 1.26 metres. Hello ladies. The majestic tree was brought down, but its core was found to be rotten at its base. They searched on.

The pristine forests of Ise was home to the next candidate. The idea of removing a centuries-old tree from the precincts of the sacred shrines of Ise was not-at-all welcomed by those in charge. Permission was given though, and it was repaid with disaster. Miscalculations caused the tree to fall awkwardly, the fall rendering it unusable.

Yet again, in Gifu, a tree was successfully felled but then broke in half while it was being transported out of the forest. That happened on the 7th of June, 1959 and time had all but run out.

Two halves

A suitable specimen had proved impossible to acquire. So, in the end it was decided to have a join in the West pillar. This thought really should have occurred earlier as there always was a join. Well, since the time of Ikeda Terumasa (池田輝政) in the early 1600′s there was.

Smooth sailing

Everything then proceeded without delay. Reassembly of the main tower’s frame was completed in April, 1960. The lessor main towers’ frames were completed in September, 1961. The final tasks were the laying of the roof tiles & the application of the fire-resistant, white-plaster walls. Oh, there was one more thing that needed doing, the removal of the skeletal shroud that hung over the central buildings.

June 1st, 1964

A fresh-faced & rejuvenated Himeji castle was presented to the world. There were of course celebrations all round. One of the no-doubt countless items produced to commemorate the efforts of the workers & engineers of the Shōwa no Daishuri was this first-day-of-issue stamp.

It is a fine momento, but I wonder if it really encapsulates the sweat and tears involved.

The flames and the aftermath

Article posted on Friday, February, 25th, 2011 at 12:57 pm

The flames

May 14th, 1945 – The main tower of Nagoya castle together with the Hon-maru Palace went up in flames.

Below is surely one of the last photos to be taken of the original Tenshu (main tower) of Nagoya castle. The tower (built in 1612), adorned with Japan’s most famed shachi (follow the link for an explanation), and the Hon-maru palace (built in 1615) were also lost. How amazing that that frightening moment in time has been preserved.

The aftermath

I don’t know the exact date that the following photo was taken, but it does appear that a clean-up has taken place. Clearly visible are the stone foundations of the main tower (Tenshu-dai – 天守台), the lesser-tower & the connecting walk way. You’ll notice the two thick-walled and shallow basements. The Hon-maru palace was located in the upper-left section of the image.

About the only good news to come out of all this was that over 1,000 of the Palace’s sliding doors, stunningly decorated with priceless paintings, managed to survive. They’d been tucked away within the castle grounds, in the Nogi storehouse (乃木倉庫). Good on ya Nogi!

The human loss and World War II itself are deserving of unending attention, but I hope you’ll understand that my focus here is Japanese castles. I wouldn’t be able to do justice to the topic in any case.

For the post When did castles lose their Tenshus?, I did some research and was a little surprised to learn that during World War II just seven castles had lost their main towers due to Allied bombing. I say just, but happily it was limited to those seven; it could easily have so been much higher.

During an NHK documentary on Japanese castles, an elderly Japanese gent recalled the time he was witness to bomb that had entered through a window on the top floor of Himeji Castle. Of course it didn’t explode. It turned out to be a dud, so it rattled around the room before finally coming to rest.

It sounds all a bit fantastical, but what am I going to say, that he’s a liar? Anyway, Himeji got lucky, and just to recap, the unlucky seven were:

• Mito Castle
• Nagoya Castle
• Ōgaki Castle
• Wakayama Castle
• Okayama Castle
• Fukuyama Castle
• Hiroshima Castle

Odawara Castle at twilight

Article posted on Thursday, February, 10th, 2011 at 9:59 pm

I don’t have a great deal to say about Odawara castle, though it is a castle of great significance. It was here that Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeated the last of his enemies, the Hōjō. Following the removal of the Hōjō from the Kantō region, Hideyoshi then convinced a certain Mr Tokugawa Ieyasu to set-up shop in Edo. Perhaps you’ve heard of him and his epoch.

The photo, which I’m happy turned out as good as it did, was taken during my trip there in August 2010.

Nagoya Castle – by the moat

Article posted on Monday, February, 7th, 2011 at 9:51 pm

Again with the postcards? Yes, they continue, and there’s still quite a few to go. Just like all the postcards that I’ve posted before, this one has a bit of age to it. Exactly how old it is, I’ll not at all sure. How about…. early 1900′s? It has some nice colour to it too, what do you think?

Pictured is Nagoya castle, a castle I’d really like to get back too. You know, I might just take this opportunity to digress a moment… Has everyone heard that story how in Japan you can forget your wallet on the bus and then when you come back an hour later it’ll still there? Well, that’s basically what happened to me on my visit to this castle, except the wallet, minus the cash, ended up in Nara. Well, it was my own stupid fault.

The Tenshu (天守) and Lesser Tenshu (小天守) can be seen in the distance. The moat runs from left-to-right (or right-to-left if you’d prefer), but it also runs from where the two boys stand toward the Lesser Tenshu. This in effect splits the Ofukai-maru (御深井丸) & the Nish-no-maru (西の丸).

When I look at this postcard, I begin to feel nostalgic for a time I never experienced. 懐かしい

Kumamoto onion

Article posted on Saturday, January, 29th, 2011 at 12:32 pm

Every Japanese castle was made up of layers; rings of defence that, if breached, would still be at the mercy of turrets & arrow-slot-laden walls further in, then finally, the main tower itself. In a place & time of small-scale siege weapons, it was a world of hurt.

A world of hurt was exactly what Katō Kiyomasa experienced in Korea during a prolonged siege at Ulsan castle (蔚山倭城) in the Winter of 1598. Such was the wretched bleakness of that siege that he would set his mind to build arguably Japan’s strongest castles on his return to his home province of Higo (肥後国).

The result was Kumamoto castle, and it means business. There is no showing off with car-sized stones from the backs of trucks, no fancy-pants, gold-leaf roof tiles. Kiyomasa knew exactly what was important, and it was more than just truly ingeniously-designed rings of doom! The soldiers manning those walls needed sustenance.

• over 120 wells were dug to ensure an unfailing water supply
• Ginkgo trees were planted within the grounds. (the tree produces edible nuts)
• Tatami flooring was stuffed, not with rice straw, but with vegetable stalks so as they could be eaten

Tatami stuffing & nuts anyone? There’s plenty to go around!