Ohtsu Castle

History

Sakamotojō, the castle of Akechi Mitsuhide, was abandoned in 1586 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi's command and replaced by Ôtsujō, built by Asano Nagamasa, at Lake Biwa's southern tip. In 1595, Kyōgoku Takatsugu was granted a fiefdom here valued at 60,000 koku, and became lord of Ôtsujō.

In 1600, Lord Kyōgoku Takatsu sided with Tokugawa Ieyasu. During the Battle of Sekigahara, Ôtsujō was besieged by Eastern Army forces numbering around 15,000 led by Mōri Terumoto and Tachibana Muneshige. The castle's garrison, which number around 3,000 soldiers, razed the surrounding town before the battle so that the besiegers could not use the townhouses as cover. Commanders Akao and Yamada defended the castle for a week but the attackers brought cannon to bear against them. The second bailey fell to General Tachibana, and Lord Kyōgoku surrendered the castle. According to some accounts, the commotion of the battle could be heard from neighbouring Kyōto, and curious city dwellers climbed up to Mt. Hiei to have a gander, with some even bringing bentō (lunch boxes) and piqueniqueing whilst watching the siege!

Takatsugu had retired his lordship following this defeat, but Tokugawa Ieyasu was victorious at Sekigahara, and so Takatsugu had lost the battle but not the war. He was subsequently enfeoffed with territory at Obama Domain in Wakasa Province, valued at over 80,000 koku. Although much of Ôtsujō was destroyed during the siege and it was abandoned after the war, it is said that some of the castle's buildings were relocated to Zezejō and Hikonejō when those castles were constructed, with Zezejō replacing Ôtsujō very nearby. Based on findings at Hikonejō, it is speculated that Ôtsujō had a four-tier, five-storey bōrōgata-style tenshu (main keep).

Visit Notes

Very little remains of Ôtsujō, a once mighty castle. On what was once the edge of the castle's main bailey on the lake front is a park with a marker for the castle. There is actually an underground carpark here, next to the Ôtsu Marina, with some modern ishigaki (stone walls) built around it as part of the park above. However, there are no castle ruins here.

Fortunately, some small trace of the Ôtsujō's structure does remain, and this can be found at a place which was once part of the castle's sotobori (outer moat). On eitherside of the Hikiyama Parade Float Museum there are parking areas. Here we can glimpse a segment of original ishigaki which runs for about 50m behind the buildings here.

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Gallery

Mostly fill-in of the lake but part of the Honmaru

Castle Profile
English Name	Ohtsu Castle
Japanese Name	大津城
Founder	Asano Nagamasa
Year Founded	1586
Castle Type	Flatland
Castle Condition	Ruins only
Historical Period	Pre Edo Period
Artifacts	Ishigaki
Features	stone walls
Visitor Information
Access	Biwakohamaohtsu Station on the Keihan Ishiyama Sakamoto Line; 1 minute walk
Visitor Information	Free; 24/7; Park
Time Required	30 minutes
Location	Ôtsu, Shiga Prefecture
Coordinates	35° 0' 43.42" N, 135° 51' 51.16" E
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Admin
Added to Jcastle	2021
Contributor	ART
Admin Year Visited	Viewer Contributed

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RaymondWDaimyo

13 months ago

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I went to the site of Otsu Castle’s main bailey back in 2011, and there was nothing there. Even walking around 150 metres in all directions, I found no traces of any extant ruins. Every trace of this lakeside castle seemed to have been subsumed by modern Otsu. I had not included this castle site on my tally of castle visited for many years because I did not come across any ruins during my first visit. However, last summer on my way to Miidera to check out some relocated buildings from Fushimi Castle, I stumbled across the remnants of the sotobori ishigaki that ART and Eric have written about and shown in the photos here.

As Eric has mentioned in the notes above, Otsu Castle ruin, well, at least the remnants of the sotobori ishigaki is worth visiting only if you are on your way to Miidera. It is along the shortest and easiest route to Miidera on foot from JR Otsu Station via a covered street mall.

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