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15:43, 17 April 2024 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Odani Castle (Odanijō is a yamajiro (mountaintop castle) ruin in the Odani area of Nagahama Municipality. Ruins feature earthworks and masonry. It took me eight hours to cover, broadly speaking, the whole site. Of course, to survey every single feature would be a near unending task, so my visit was still a relatively casual one. I made two ascents (and descents) of the castlemount, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, so as to cover everything. Odani Castle is actually a network of ridgetop and m...)
14:24, 11 April 2024 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Minakuchi Castle (Interesting! Seems like it's been through a lot. If the configuration is different now then I woudn't think it's classed as a proper genson, if you will.)
11:16, 11 April 2024 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Minakuchi Castle (I did some reading on the reconstructed yagura/museum. There is conflicting information about it, but it does seem clear that it has some genson elements. It was originally the Honmaru Inui Yagura, was moved to a private dwelling, and then it (or at least some parts of it) were used to construction the current yagura, albeit of course in a different location. It also seems that it may have originally been a 3-level yagura, but the current one has only 2 levels. Some sources state that it...)
19:58, 8 April 2024 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Matsuoyama Castle (Re-made profile. Moved to 'Matsuoyama Castle'.)
10:30, 8 April 2024 223.132.224.85 talk posted a new comment on Edo Castle Stone Quarries (Thank you for this! Really interesting.)
17:17, 3 April 2024 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Ako Castle (I visited Ako Castle for the first time the other day, and quite enjoyed it! One thing that struck me: although the original castle wasn't huge, if maps and models are to be believed, it now covers pretty much its entire original grounds. With the Honmaru being in good shape and containing some great yaguradai and so on, they could have just restored the Honmaru and said 'This is the castle,' but instead they chose to also work on the Ninomaru and Sannnomaru. So it's quite large for a c...)
18:21, 24 March 2024 122.211.145.154 talk posted a new comment on Kanazawa Castle (One interesting tidbit: I've noticed that the Ishikawamon gate complex include 8 separate Important Cultural Properties! These include the Ichinomon (the Karaimon gate), the Ninomon (gatehouse), the two-story turret, the L-shaped tsuzukiyagura, the long section of dobei on the left side of the complex, the long section of dobei on the right side of the complex, the short section of dobei on the left side of the Ichinomon and the short section of dobei on the right side of the Ichinomon. Ho...)
16:50, 8 March 2024 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Edo Castle (I have been making a similar point about the Fujimi Yagura for years. It seems that the definition of both 'tenshu' and 'genson' (badly translated as 'original' in English) have some variation in interpretation. I really dislike the term 'original castle' anyway since it's misleading to assess how well-preserved a castle is based only on the keep, and Edo castle is a prime example of how limiting the term is.)
16:45, 8 March 2024 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Edo Castle (I went to Edo Castle more than 20 years ago... really need to go back. I think I just saw a bit of it, the area where you can see Tatsumi Yagura, Kikyomon Gate and Fujimi Yagura. Despite the fact that much of it is gone, it still seems like it must be one of the very greatest castles in Japan. And was once the biggest castle in the world, I think? It also seems a bit like Nijo Castle in that it's often overlooked because it's a 'palace' and lacks a tenshu. But it is definitely in the to...)
15:39, 7 March 2024 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Inuyama Castle (I visited this one back in 2009, and quite enjoyed it. Obviously, the extant main keep and its attached annex is the star of the show, with lots of atmosphere inside. But there are several other appealing points, especially the riverside location and view of the keep, the historical town beneath the castle, and the ishigaki on the castle hill. I also like the little collection of buildings in the Honmaru--I have heard that they are more or less mogi, but they give it more of the feel of a...)
08:40, 5 March 2024 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Sasayama Shuzan Daikansho (Well the building next to it looks nice at least.)
15:58, 22 February 2024 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Uwajima Castle (I visited Uwajima Castle in fall 2022, and quite enjoyed it. As mentioned elsewhere here, photos of the main keep standing in isolation really don't do it justice. The keep itself is a great historical building, and very well-preserved, but it's best seen against the ishigaki and yaguradai of the Honmaru. And there are lots of good ishigaki in the various baileys on the castle hill. Really a nice place to climb around, and the somewhat ancient, overgrown appearance of some of the ishigaki...)
22:38, 8 February 2024 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2744 on Shirakawa Castle
10:24, 6 February 2024 203.122.231.101 talk posted a new comment on Shirakawa Castle (/ ****** soo de den now)
08:55, 6 February 2024 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2741 on Wakayama Castle
08:55, 6 February 2024 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2743 on Wakayama Castle
08:55, 6 February 2024 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2742 on Wakayama Castle
08:32, 6 February 2024 203.122.231.101 talk posted a new comment on Wakayama Castle (Inh)
08:32, 6 February 2024 203.122.231.101 talk posted a new comment on Wakayama Castle (Mew)
08:32, 6 February 2024 203.122.231.101 talk posted a new comment on Wakayama Castle (🤫🤫🧏🧏🤫🤫🤫🧏🧏🧏🧏🤫🤫🤫🤫🧏🧏🧏🧏🤫🤫🤫🤫🧏🧏🧏🧏🧏🤫🤫🤫🧏🧏🤫🤫🧏🧏🤫🧏🧏🤫🤫🤫🧏🧏🧏🧏🧏🧏🧏🧏🧏🧏🧏🧏🧏🧏🧏🧏🧏🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🧏🧏🧏🧏🧏🧏🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🤫🧏🧏🧏🧏)
13:24, 31 January 2024 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Chiba Castle (What a mess! But it is an interesting situation.)
13:08, 31 January 2024 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Matsue Castle (I find that the several restored turrets and the restored gate at Matsue Castle are really well-done, and do a good job of making it seem like more of a complete castle, as opposed to a majestic tower with an attached turret. I'm really hoping that they can get the Ote Gate rebuilt as planned, because that would enhance it even more.)
12:34, 26 January 2024 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Ichijodani Castle Town (I really appreciate this article. I visited Ichijodani several years ago and was blown away by it, but this article and all of the places about the specific parts of the castles and castle town really helps me understand it much better.)
13:04, 24 January 2024 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Tsukikuma Castle (Updated profile and gallery with new pictures and co-ordinates.)
15:39, 23 January 2024 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukuoka Castle (Updated visit notes section with some more info and my own impressions.)
13:32, 23 January 2024 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kokura Castle (Gallery, information and notes updated; co-ordinates added.)
10:22, 23 January 2024 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kurume Castle (Updated profile with co-ordinates, new pics, info, &c.)
06:37, 20 January 2024 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Samurai Residences (Map of castles with samurai homes: https://jcastle.info/view/Samurai_homes The closest to Tokyo is Sakura Castle.)
03:27, 19 January 2024 199.216.81.20 talk posted a new comment on Samurai Residences (add how many of these are in popular places like tokyo or near mt.fugi)
05:41, 8 January 2024 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Chigasaki Castle (Eric, that's propbably the case. Not quite Yuhigaoka levels yet! It's still preserved, what with barriers and stuff, but now so as a nature reserve rather than castle ruin.)
13:38, 7 January 2024 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Chigasaki Castle (I see that I visited shortly after the excavations and studies were done. I'll bet they never gave it any attention since then. Was it as bad as Yuhigaoka? ;))
13:37, 7 January 2024 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2729 on Chigasaki Castle
13:28, 7 January 2024 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Chigasaki Castle (I see that I visited shortly after the excavations and studies were done. I'll bet they never gave it any attention since then. Was it as bad as Yurigaoka? ;))
13:23, 7 January 2024 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Hiraizumi Date (Thanks guys! Nice team work :))
07:35, 22 December 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Hiraizumi Date (Thank you! I only made the profile recently so it's not been up long. Have modified profile in light of your contributions.)
02:50, 22 December 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Hiraizumi Date (I visited Hiraizumi in 2015 and a day later the Esashi Fujiwara village. Both are wonderful sites to bewonder. I didn't know until today(21/12/2023), that these sites were on Jcastle. Adam or ART told me about it on the FB page Japanese Castles. At his request I have uploaded several pictures I took at the original site of Yanaginogosho in Hiraizumi. There isn't that much to see, but there are a lot of explanation panels around the site. I uploaded only 3 of those.)
09:02, 19 December 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Chigasaki Castle (Chiǵasakijō is an hilltop fort ruin in Tsuzuki Ward, Yokohama Municipality. Chiǵasakijō is maintained as a park and features earthworks such as karabori (dry moats), dorui (earthen ramparts) and kuruwa (baileys). The castle has a central bailey, north bailey, east bailey and west bailey. There are signs and detailed information boards denominating castle features and sections throughout the park. I stayed in Yokohama after attending the 2023 Shiro Expo, and visited Chiǵasakijō the next day....)
18:01, 14 December 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kokura Castle (Added the daimyo villa Goyusho)
09:29, 12 December 2023 23.242.5.16 talk posted a new comment on Kagoshima Castle (Could you please provide an ancient silk drawing, later woodprint, modern painting, or at least an artist's sketch of how the castle looked when it was built in 1601 (or a little later)? We need this to describe it in our literary and historic writings about Japan. Thank you!)
07:45, 6 December 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Iga Ueno Castle (Great find!)
16:02, 5 December 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Iga Ueno Castle (I did some reading about this castle the other day, and realized that there is actually one extant building remaining: the armory. It's on the ground of the local high-school, which is part of the former castle grounds. Here is one of the articles I found that explains it: https://mieoutsiderblog.seesaa.net/article/%E3%81%8A%E3%81%A3%E3%81%8B%E3%81%AA%E3%81%B3%E3%81%A3%E3%81%8F%E3%82%8A%E3%80%80%E9%AB%98%E6%A0%A1%E3%81%AB%E6%AD%A6%E5%99%A8%E5%BA%AB%EF%BC%81%EF%BC%9F%E3%80%80%E7%8F%BE%E5%A...)
13:20, 5 December 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Okayama Castle (I've been to this castle a couple of times. I love the views of it from the river and from Koraku-en. The main keep is also pretty unique in its design. I liked the extant Tsukimi Yagura and the reconstructed gates. My main quibble with this castle is that it's another one that's kind of a shadow of its former self in terms of remaining area: a lot of the former castle grounds have been heavily built-over. I'll give it 4-stars based on my last visit, but looks like they have refurbished...)
09:28, 5 December 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Osaka Castle (Thanks! I'll go too!)
08:38, 5 December 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Saga Castle (Updated gallery with new photos, descriptions and co-ordinates.)
19:20, 4 December 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Tojo Castle (Updated, including gallery updates of site today.)
08:58, 4 December 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Tojo Castle (as for the yellow designation... since there's still some palings and kabukimon, maybe it can remain? technically the only building on site is the toilets, but this koya does have a 'sengoku style' to it...)
08:57, 4 December 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Tojo Castle (So I went down again. Sadly the yaguramon and miyagura are both gone. The koguchi now has only a new sign, and the miyagura has the old sign but with only the foundation stumps remaining. There's still some babousaku (cheval de frise) around the site though, and a pair of kabukimon. This time I checked out the whole ruins and all of the earthworks though, so it was worth going back. It's still a nice site and is well maintained for the most part.)
09:10, 3 December 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Osaka Castle (Some exciting news for Osaka Castle fans: next year, as part of the usual special turret openings (spring, summer, fall), the Inui Yagura will be opened, apparently for the first time in about 10 years. I have never been in the Inui Yagura, so I'm very excited. In addition, as usual the Sengan Yagura and Tamon complex (the gatehouse and the Tamon turret it connects to) will be opened as usual.)
09:07, 3 December 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Osaka Castle (I saw the pictures of the renovated karamon on this site's FB page. I visited Chikubushima before the renovation, and was really impressed by how beautiful it looks now! Anyway, it's definitely nice to have some relics of the original Osaka Castle to see.)
14:19, 30 November 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Kakegawa Castle (Thanks! I definitely saw the dorui in the 4th picture. Next time, I'll have to look for the great trench too.)
08:10, 30 November 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kakegawa Castle (The mausoleum site you mentioned is on the grounds of the ruins of Kakegawa 'Old' Castle. Profile here: https://jcastle.info/view/Kakegawako_Castle)
19:04, 29 November 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Kakegawa Castle (I finally visited Kakegawa Castle the day before yesterday, and really loved it! I got there mid-morning and thought maybe I'd have enough time to see Hamamatsu Castle too before heading back to Kansai, but as it turned out, Kakegawa Castle kept me very occupied for the whole day. The best part of it was the palace, which is incredible and has to be one of the best surviving castle buildings in Japan. And the combination of that and the beautifully and authentically restored main keep a...)
12:32, 26 November 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Hikone Castle (I could gush about Hikone Castle endlessly, but another thing that occurs to me: there is so much of the castle remaining outside of the inner moat. Obvious things are the Ninomaru Sawachiguchi Tamon Yagura, the stable, Genkyuen Gardens, and Keyaki Palace, but there are also so many sections of moat, ishigaki, turret and gate foundations, etc. It really is a big and impressive space. Lonely Planet describe the castle as 'small,' obviously referring to the keep only (which is more like m...)
02:58, 20 November 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (If i feel the need to respond to your comments i am, of course, at liberty to do so. But i'll leave off with the tit-for-tat and just provide some clarification here on my own contributions to this grassroots encyclopedia of ours, as you have brought them up, so i'll suppose it's of interest. It is indeed the case that most medieval fortified residence sites no longer have any observable ruins. Many have been put to plough or otherwise developed over. About a third of the sites i have contr...)
20:55, 19 November 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (ART, I stand in awe of your powers of intuitive deduction from a mere two comments from the hundreds of comments that I have posted on JCastle. You’re a real Sherlock in the making. What you have said about me can also applies to yourself. It’s very much a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Putting my ART-Sherlock hat on… You said that I scoff at other castle fans not knowing what I know about some castles. Well, the same applies for you too, mate. You have posted multiple times brag...)
14:39, 15 November 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Tojo Castle (I'm planning to go and check the condition of this site soonish, so will let you chaps know how it is now.)
18:38, 13 November 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kameyama Castle (I have embossed the gallery with some more recent pictures showing the renovated yagura, and some other stuff like earthworks and surrounding architecture.)
08:43, 13 November 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (You may characterise Chris's comment as 'incorrect' if you like, but i'd say it was trivially inconsequential. Since you ask, buddy, i will note that this isn't the first time that you have responded to that poster's comments in our group by writing a comment on this website. At that time - let's call it recently - it was on the profile for Wakayama Castle, should you like to re-read it, and i rank-ordered what i thought the purposes of your comment were. Here's what i got: 1. To scoff...)
21:11, 12 November 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Takano Yakata (No worries, mate. Good to see the update on the profile with “community taxis” replacing “the 2.5 hour walk.”)
21:08, 12 November 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (Pure paranoia, mate. Conversely, why are you rushing to defend an incorrect comment that you did not originally post?)
06:59, 12 November 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Takano Yakata (Thank you for your suggestion.)
06:44, 12 November 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (I just didn't think it was a big deal, chum. But I'll eat my old hat if that wasn't the main motivation for your recent comment ~_0)
18:46, 11 November 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Takano Yakata (I visited this this fortified yakata ruin in 2016 with my wife. It is worth visiting for keen castle fans to see its ishigaki remnants. Nearby Eigenji Temple is one of the top spots for autumnal foliage in Shiga. It also has some old ishigaki to behold as you make your way up to the temple. For those who don’t have a (rental) car and don’t fancy walking the impractical 2.5 hours one-way from Yōkaichi Station as suggested by the profile writer, there is another option of catching “community ta...)
18:34, 11 November 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Kumamoto Castle (I was lucky enough to visit this castle four times between 2007 and 2012, before the earthquake in 2016. At the Himeji Castle Expo 2023, I chatted with one of the staff at the Kumamoto Castle booth about its restoration after the earthquake. The huge Uto Yagura (Uto Watchtower), in name only but actually is the size of a castle keep and considered by some people as the Third Keep of Kumamoto Castle, will take 10 years to repair. Wow, that’s much longer than it took to repair and re-roof the m...)
23:39, 10 November 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (Hmmm…who cares? (Lol) Mate, you obviously care enough to try defending the indefensible and even decided to name the castle fan who posted that inaccurate comment on your forum. Based on your understanding of “recent / recently” so when someone says, “I visited Omi-Hachiman Castle recently.” you would then interpret that to mean that person visited Omi-Hachiman Castle sometime in the last few years or even longer because Omi-Hachiman Castle has been around for hundreds of years. I reckon mos...)
12:35, 9 November 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kasumi Castle ((Added Ohte Koguchi Ishigaki to gallery with co-ords.) Kasumijō is a yamajiro (mountaintop castle) ruin in Ômuro village of Matsushiro Township, Nagano Municipality. It's well known amongst fans of castle ruins in Nagano. It is on the tip of a mountain frond, so the elvation is that of a hill, easy to climb, and the site is chock-full of ishigaki (stone-piled ramparts). Seeing so much ishigaki from this time period - the Sengoku - is quite rare, so it's a highly recommended site for castle...)
11:06, 9 November 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kasumi Castle (The Ohte complex at this site is really fantastic. I recently re-visited. Will add a pic or two later...)
09:02, 6 November 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (You must be talking about Chris's recent post on our little FB group. Of course, I say it was a 'recent' post, but maybe, being already over a week ago, it's old hat. 'Recent' being a relative term an' all. I think 'recent' could refer to any time in the last few years, especially given the time scale of castles is centuries. But who cares?)
20:07, 5 November 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (Matthew, if you revisit Omi-Hachiman also be sure to also head up to the Demaru Bailey of Omi-Hachiman Castle for some panoramic views of the surrounding area. Since all the undergrowth and trees have been cleared from the Demaru Bailey for at least 2.5 years and the ishigaki revealed in its full glory, you can clearly see the surrounding mountains where half a dozen of Rokkaku Clan’s yamajiros are located. I was up at Omi-Hachiman Castle’s Demaru in April and May 2021 checking out the cleare...)
19:55, 5 November 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Osaka Castle (I went to Chikubushima (Lake Biwa, Shiga) in early October to check out some relocated structures from Hideyoshi’s Osaka Castle, following in the JCastle Shogun’s (Eric’s) footsteps. I’m sure in time he’ll update the Osaka Castle profile with photos that he’s already shared on his JCastle FB. It was a real pleasure to be able to walk on and be surrounded by a piece of little-known Sengoku castle history, the relocated elements of the Gokuraku Bridge from Hideyoshi’s Osaka Castle. This bridg...)
14:23, 2 November 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Nagashino Castle (Nagashinojō is a medieval hirajiro (flatland castle) site in Nagashino Township, Shinshiro Municipality. Ruins feature earthworks such as dorui (earthen ramparts) and karabori (dry moats). The dorui and karabori protecting the main bailey are large and impressive. Nagashinojō is essentially wedge-shaped, built between a river and a deep creek. Moats and embankments were cut and piled between these natural barriers to create the castle. As the castle expanded, more fortifications were built on...)
06:25, 1 November 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kameyama Battery (Hey, Anon. Glad you liked the article. It was actually 50 wounded and only 12 killed, according to the wikipedia article on the 'Shimonoseki campaign'. I didn't mention the Japanese casualities... But of those 47 you mentioned, apparently 18 were killed and 29 wounded.)
01:45, 1 November 2023 71.105.239.189 talk posted a new comment on Kameyama Battery (Nice article. Do you know how many men was used on the Choshu / Allied side? (in sea). Also, the 72 casualties on the allied side, were they all deaths? What about the 47 for Choshu domain? do you know statistics for deaths or wounded on both sides? thanks.)
21:17, 29 October 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Zakimi Castle (My wife and I made our first visit to Zakimi Castle in 2022. We went again earlier this year. Zakimi Castle was the last of the World Heritage Ryukyuan castles that we visited. Like the other four World Heritage castles in Okinawa, Zakimi Castle is certainly worthy of this designation. The castle consists of just two baileys. On our first visit, we only spent 2.5 hours on site for both the gusuku and Yuntanza Museum (local history and culture museum) as we had two more gusukus to visit after...)
12:23, 27 October 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (I will definitely revisit Omi-Hachiman, just because I love the town. And I'll be sure to check out the kyokan.)
21:32, 26 October 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2101 on Sonobe Castle
08:16, 26 October 2023 170.173.0.16 talk posted a new comment on Sumoto Castle (im not sure who you are, but my Aunt is Tokushima Inada and still alive)
13:37, 25 October 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Takayama Jin'ya (Checking out the article about Takayama Castle on this site made me wonder if we had seen Takayama-jin'ya as well when we visited 22 years ago. The weird thing is, I had no memory of it, but last night I found an old letter which describes the visit, and then it all came rushing back. Quite a thrill to have a memory suddenly restored, in fairly vivid detail. And it was a place I had loved: the letter spends more time on describing it than anything else in the town. I think that it ma...)
13:29, 25 October 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Takayama Castle (Hida) (I went to Takayama 22 years ago with my wife. I had originally forgotten most of what we saw there, but this site has helped me remember. We did go see the castle ruins, but as stated elsewhere here, there isn't a lot to see: just the ishigaki you see in the picture above. Safe to say that the castle ruins are not what one comes to Takayama to see, but rather all of the other historical buildings, including Takayama Jin'ya. But castle fans will want to check out these ruins, unless they...)
17:34, 23 October 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #1215 on Chihaya Castle
17:43, 22 October 2023 122.211.145.154 talk posted a new comment on Chihaya Castle (A bit off-topic, but I just noticed 'the Castle Stamp' is located inside the Matsumasa Restaurant. Matsumasa is my wife (and kid's) surname . Very rare (I didn't let her change it when we got married). It's hard to find anything or anyone who isn't related to her named Matsumasa. I'll have to try to check the restaurant out!)
18:11, 20 October 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukuyama Castle (I finally visited Fukuyama Castle yesterday, and it mostly exceeded my expectations, which major castles often do. Obviously, the cluster of extant historical buildings in the southeast corner of the Honmaru is the star of the show, especially the Fushimi Yagura. I just wish they would open the interior to visitors. And the Sujigane Gate and bell tower are quite nice too. Obviously, the castle (at least, the Honmaru has some excellent ishigaki as well. As for the reconstructions, the t...)
22:52, 18 October 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Hikone Castle (Hikone Castle is my most-visited castle as I have been dozens of times, but I never get tired of enjoying this magnificent castle. I went to Hikone Castle during the hot summer. It was a day when the mercury topped 36C in the afternoon. Naturally, I went in the morning, but unlike my previous visit in March, I decided to spend less time walking around the castle and cooled off in the reconstructed part of the Sawaguchitamonyagura before walking back to the train station. While cooling off in...)
09:36, 16 October 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Nijo Castle (Oddly, I can't remember no photography rules inside most castle buildings that I have entered. Maybe it's just the castles I have gone to. I haven't been to Fukuyama yet, though I hope to go soon. Too bad that they don't allow people to enter the Fushimi Turret most of the time, as it presumably has a lot of historical atmosphere. I don't really mind not being able to photograph inside concrete keep reconstructions, but wooden buildings are another story. Anyway, getting back to Nijo Cas...)
12:53, 11 October 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Innoshima Suigun Castle (This is a cute little mogi, but doesn't feel like a real castle to me. The best point was the museum.)
12:50, 11 October 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Gifu Castle (I think I need to spent some time getting more familiar with the nuance of the various Japanese words that can be translated as 'reconstructed.')
22:27, 9 October 2023 126.166.164.96 talk posted a new comment on Motosu Castle (I recently hiked aokigahara, east of the .outline ruins, across route 139, and throughout the forest, I noticed several stone circles, about 5 feet in diameter, sunk in the ground, with a small opening, im guessing as an entrance. The walls are maybe a foot tall. The furthest circle was about 1.5 miles east of the post office.. Could these possibly be used as foundations for structures associated with the castle? They seemed to be alone - no other formations or ruins near them. Very interesting!)
22:07, 9 October 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Himeji Castle (There were naturally some Himeji Castle information panel displays at the Himeji Castle Expo 2023 a few weeks ago. The area where the information panels were located is near the entrance into the main hall of the expo. The panels were quite informative, particularly the period drawings showing some of the outer fortified gates at Himeji. I have been to most of these gate ruins on some of my visits to Himeji over the years. It was nice to see the gates in those stylised drawings showing them a...)
11:13, 8 October 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Akashi Castle (Trying to plan for some Autumn castle trips it seems that the 2 yagura are open at different times of the year. the Hitsujisaru in the fall (Sept-Nov) and Tatsumi in the Spring (March-May). I have been to the Hitsujisaru Yagura so I guess I'll wait until March to revisit this one. Details below: https://www....acility/2684)
11:12, 8 October 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2674 on Akashi Castle
11:12, 8 October 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Akashi Castle (Trying to plan. for some Autumn castle trips it seems that the 2 yagura are open at different times of the year. the Hitsujisaru in the fall (Sept-Nov) and Tatsumi in the Spring (March-May). I have been to the Hitsujisaru Yagura so I guess I'll wait until March to revisit this one. Details below: https://www.yokoso-akashi.jp/facility/2684)
14:03, 4 October 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukui Castle (It may also be that school buildings are easier to relocate than government administrative buildings, I suppose.)
18:38, 30 September 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Ichijodani Castle (Yes, Chris shared the pics of their expedition with us. Seems like there was a bear encounter. People going alone should take precautions.)
17:55, 30 September 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Ichijodani Castle (It looks like Eric is a trendsetter when it comes to Ichijodani. He added this detailed article about Ichijodani to JCastle a few weeks ago. It seems like others are already following in his footsteps. Just this week, a group from the Gifu Castle Research Society visited the Ichijodani Mountaintop Castle. Also, Nakai Hitoshi is going to give a talk about Ichijodani next Wednesday (4th October) at the Ichijodani Asakura Family Museum.)
17:48, 30 September 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Yodo Castle (I first visited this castle ruin in 2010. I revisited this castle ruin in February this year to mainly photograph some of the kokuins there. There are numerous kokuins at this castle, but some of them have become somewhat weathered and hard to spot while others are covered by weeds and not clearly visible. On the castle keep’s ishigaki, someone has used white chalk to make some of the kokuins more visible. As Suupaahiroo has commented below, there is a shachihoko from Yodo Castle on display...)
17:04, 29 September 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Takeda Yakata (Ibaraki) (Font? or all the 旧 ?)
08:49, 25 September 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Takeda Yakata (Ibaraki) (Image 18 with the kanji: can't decide if i love it or hate it)
21:53, 24 September 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Kanazawa Castle (I revisited Kanazawa Castle earlier this year with my wife. It was my fifth time to check out this splendid castle with a mixture of rebuilt and extant structures. Between 2008 and 2011, I visited Kanazawa Castle annually. This time round, I spent two whole days exploring Kanazawa Castle including some of its outer moats. It’s worth doing some “slow castling” as there is so much ishigaki (stone walls) to behold and photograph. In some ways, Kanazawa Castle’s stone walls can be quite impressi...)
09:06, 23 September 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Ichijodani Castle Town (will share this in the group!)
08:26, 22 September 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Himeji Castle (I'm aiming to go this Sunday. You guys gave me major FOMO.)
20:45, 19 September 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Himeji Castle (Great! I'm glad you made it there. Those "little areas" would be the highlight at most castles. That whole karamete from behind the Oremawari down through the To-no-yon Gate is simply amazing. Not to mention the Harakirimaru and that area back around the tenshu that you can't get into anymore either. These are places most people don't even take notice of. I certainly hope they are made available more regularly. I don't know why these areas that used to be open are no longer. I've heard compe...)
12:53, 19 September 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Himeji Castle (Well, I made it to Himeji yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it, as usual. Going into the small keeps and attached buildings was a lot of fun: I love keep complexes with many passageways and stairs, and visiting the small keeps in addition to the main keep really gives you that kind of experience. It's the aspect of Matsuyama Castle that I love most, so it's nice to be able to get it at Himeji as well. And it also gives you a lot of great views of the Honmaru that you can't get from the mai...)
11:48, 19 September 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Okazaki Castle (nice change. I wonder why they did that.)
18:02, 18 September 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Kanazawa Castle (There are two sets of explanations at Kanazawa Castle about the relative size of the Tsurumaru Storehouse, which was built in 1848, when compared to others castle storehouses around Japan. The much shorter explanation in English is vaguer about comparative size of the storehouse merely stating that it is one of the largest storehouses in Japan, while the more detailed Japanese one states that it is the largest storehouse found on any castle grounds.)
17:51, 18 September 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Okazaki Castle (Eric is in his visit notes is absolutely right about how much ishigaki is at this castle. I went to Okazaki Castle twice, in 2008 and 2011. In the past, I have always visited Okazaki Castle in conjunction with at least one other castle on a trip to Aichi, so I hadn’t checked out this castle’s grounds comprehensively. However, for my recent visit, I decided to focus only on Okazaki Castle, spending over 4 hours walking around the whole castle site. In my past visits, I had completely underapp...)
07:15, 18 September 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kaminogou Castle (Mikawa) (There's a fantastic model of this castle held at the local public meeting hall. I'll share some pictures to the gallery at some point.)
12:27, 17 September 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Himeji Castle (Thanks for the advice. I appreciate it!)
22:03, 15 September 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Ichijodani Castle Town (It's thanks to your deep delving into Ichijodani that all of us expat castle fans have such a detailed article all in just one place and without the need to plough through some Japanese castle books.)
22:00, 15 September 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Himeji Castle (You’ll have to go through the Main Keep before you get to the part of the castle where you pay in cash for the 500yen ticket to get into the special opening section starting near the East Small Keep. You might be able to get into the Main Keep and then find a section where the in-going route and out-going route nearly cross each other and take a short cut, but there is no way to just visit the two small keeps and Ro no Watari Yagura without going through the Main Keep. The Bizen Gate and Orem...)
21:54, 15 September 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Himeji Castle (Thanks for the info about the boat ride. It sounds like the boat ride takes people around most of the inner moat. I’ve only ever taken photos of the ishigaki of the bailey which is now a zoo from a distance near the Sakuramonbashi. I guess one of these days, I should pay to get into the zoo, so I can take those ishigaki photos close up or take that boat ride as an alternative.)
15:15, 15 September 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Himeji Castle (I'm hoping to go there on Monday to see these buildings. I won't even try to go to the main keep (which I've been inside of 7-8 times anyway), but seems that I've never been in the other buildings besides the long Nishinomaru Yagura, which I think is always open.)
15:12, 15 September 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Himeji Castle (I can't remember exactly, but seemed like it took maybe 40 minutes? It went all around the moats, and they even took us to the old zoo/amusement park complex and explained that as well.)
23:41, 14 September 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Ichijodani Castle Town (Thanks! I really appreciate it and glad you got something out of it. It did get a little long. I keep asking myself how I fall down these rabbit holes but then I can't stop until I'm satisfied and that turns into a longish article like this (or the whole website for that matter). A book someday would be awesome.)
23:04, 14 September 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Himeji Castle (BTW - the same could be said for the boat tour at Osaka Castle which is exactly why I wanted to do it at Himeji too.)
23:03, 14 September 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Himeji Castle (Nice! I've wanted to do this for a long time, but they only do it for limited times each year and never when I'm there!)
22:56, 14 September 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Himeji Castle (I went back to Himeji Castle for a third time this year in August to visit the parts of castles which have specially been opened to visitors to commemorate the 30th anniversary since Himeji Castle was added to the World Heritage List. Unlike my previous two previous visits in February this year, the place is now chock full of both international and local tourists again after Japan reopened its borders after the Covid-19 pandemic. The special opening of the East Small Keep and the Northwest (I...)
22:47, 14 September 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Himeji Castle (How long did the boat tour take? I saw that boat in the moat when I visited Himeji Castle last month, but I opted not to do the boat ride as it was a blazing hot day when I visited.)
22:43, 14 September 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Amagasaki Castle (Matthew, thanks for sharing your impression of the rebuilt Amagasaki Castle based on your recent visit. From your comment, it looks like it has decent museum. I visited a decade ago when there was no rebuilt castle keep and very little to see at this castle site. Amagasaki Castle is low on my list of castles to revisit, but I should go and check out the reconstructed castle keep / museum.)
22:39, 14 September 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Ichijodani Castle Town (Eric, this is a superb and certainly the most informative article in English about Ichijodani castle town’s ruins and its surrounding fortifications. It’s obvious the result of a labour of love based on having read a number of books and printed materials in Japanese combined with visiting this expansive site over two days. I have two of the books you have listed, including one that is by Saeki Tetsuya. It certainly takes time to read through them, particularly for foreigners like us with Japa...)
13:00, 14 September 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Himeji Castle (I've been to Himeji Castle a number of times--maybe 8? Probably more than any castle except for Osaka. Anyway, it's always a great visit, and is almost certainly the best castle in Japan, but I wanted to mention something different: the last time I went there, they had boat tours around the moats, and there was a lot of explanation about the ishigaki--different styles, different periods, and how you can tell when and how they were made. It's all in Japanese of course, and gave my Japanese...)
07:50, 14 September 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Edo Castle Stone Quarries (Great! I'm glad it was useful. There is not much info out there on this topic.)
23:37, 11 September 2023 RohanInTokyo talk contribs posted a new comment on Edo Castle Stone Quarries (An amazing. It's good to read this type of material to round out my knowledge of Japanese. There is so much here I didn't know. Actually ... most of it I didn't know!)
15:32, 11 September 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukuoka Castle (I did some reading about the Kinen Turret and its whereabouts. Looks like it was dismantled in 2019 for ishigaki repairs and its parts were put in storage. It was supposed to have been restored in 2022, but there has been no recent news that I can find about it being restored, so presumably it's still in storage. I suppose it has been delayed for some reason. Hopefully they will get around to putting it back together soon.)
11:32, 11 September 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Kanazawa Castle (By the way, according to the Japanese-language Wiki page for this castle, the Tsurumaru Storehouse is the largest surviving Edo-period castle storehouse in Japan.)
08:50, 10 September 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Ichijodani Castle Town (Yessir!)
08:48, 10 September 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Ichijodani Castle Town (Let's say it's on a similar scale to the Machu Pichu of Japan! So does the answer to what is Ichijodani-jo satisfy you?)
08:48, 10 September 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2638 on Ichijodani Castle Town
08:48, 10 September 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Ichijodani Castle Town (not unlike the Machu Pichu of Japan! ;) So does the answer to what is Ichijodani-jo satisfy you?)
20:32, 9 September 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Sasao Castle (My impressions, having been able to enter into the integral baileys: Sasao-toride is an earthworks fortification ruin in Kobuchizawa Township, Hokuto Municipality. The locality is called Shimosasō. This is a yamajiro (mountaintop castle) site, but is easy to get to as it sits on a ridge extending from a plateau with vehicle access. The fort consisted of baileys surrounded by dorui (earthen ramparts) and separated by horikiri (trenches). The mountainsides were further fortified with tatebori...)
20:28, 9 September 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Sasao Castle (I've added some pictures of the (interiors of) the first and second bailey, as well as their ramparts and the dividing horikiri. Also added co-ordinates for new pictures. Begging pardon of the webmaster, but i also swapped out the highlight image, swapping the picture of the parking area, for an updated picture showing the main bailey.)
19:53, 9 September 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Bitchu Matsuyama Castle (There's lots of ruins at 'at the back' that people miss, so check them out the next time you go.)
17:10, 9 September 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukuchiyama Castle (I have been to this castle twice, both times because my son (very interested in Japanese history) requested to visit it. We watched 'Kirin ga Kuru' extensively during the pandemic, so he was on an Akechi Mitsuhide kick. Anyway, as said above and below, it's a nice little castle. The main keep and attached turret are some of the better concrete reconstructions I've been to, with more atmosphere than most (due to a lot of wood trimming and a decent museum). One interesting detail about it...)
16:54, 9 September 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Bitchu Matsuyama Castle (I really need to visit this one again. I went there about 15 years ago, I think (maybe even longer ago), and what I remember most is that by the time I got to the mountaintop, I was absolutely drenched in sweat. It's a stiff and hot walk in the summer! As for the castle, I remember it being quite nice and authentic, but slightly underwhelming due to its small size. The ishigaki were probably the best part. But now, with my ability to appreciate Japanese castles having been enhanced a g...)
16:44, 9 September 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Ichijodani Castle (I'll give this a 5. Not necessarily a 5 as a castle per se, but as a historical site, it's totally unique and beautifully restored. Really, there is nothing else quite like it in Japan.)
12:13, 9 September 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Ichijodani Castle Town (Fantastic article!)
11:58, 9 September 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Ichijodani Castle (This is now one of the top profiles on the site. Great work! Guess I'm going back here.)
10:38, 9 September 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Ichijodani Castle Town (Probably needs a volcano to be compared to Pompeii, but it's a powerful sentiment.)
15:19, 6 September 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Nishio Castle (The new yagura seems to have been done a bit on the cheap. The black paint (used in place of lacquer?) is already fading to brown. Combined with the concrete in the “restored” stone platform of the tower, and the (for legal reasons) still uncompleted final floor which means that tower can’t be entered, a second viewing proved a little disappointing.)
15:18, 6 September 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Nishiohhira Jin'ya (Nishiôhara-jin’ya is a partially reconstructed jin’ya site with a gate and walls. The inside of the compound is now a park and a small shrine to Inari.)
15:17, 6 September 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Oka Castle (Mikawa) (The ruins of Okajō in the Oka Township of Okazaki Municipality feature dorui (earthen ramparts) and karabori (dry moats), but the remains of the structure are only partial, and the layout and orientation of this square-shaped fort is mostly deduced from a prominent corner segment of its walls which still remain. The moat segment continues on but much shallower a little way into the bamboo grove. It is thought that the northern perimeter of the castle was protected by the river terrace. The fo...)
23:00, 4 September 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Awaya Yakata (@ART. I’m glad you have enjoyed the gusuku profiles that I have added to JCastle. When I have some free time, I’ll add a few more gusuku profiles. There are still gusukus that I have visited not yet up on JCastle.)
22:56, 4 September 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Sasayama Castle (Matthew, it’s good to hear that you’ve rated this castle quite highly. It’s an enjoyable castle to visit with plenty of ishigaki, quite a few kokuins, a rebuilt palace, and a few samurai residences near the castle. There are two extant umadashi left at Sasayama Castle, a southern one and an eastern one. The eastern one is much better maintained compared to the southern one, well at least it was on my visits in 2008 and 2013. The Ote Umadashi has been demolished and the moat surrounding it f...)
21:50, 2 September 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Sasayama Castle (Ohte umadashi is the main gate with a barbican-like structure attached. Sasayama had several umadashi (barbicans). The ruins of one remain fairly intact. You'll likely miss it unless walking around the whole castle perimeter. I'd have to check but i think the extant umadashi is not the ohte one, so perhaps they will reconstruct another umadashi somewhere else. That'd be swell.)
17:02, 2 September 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Sasayama Castle (I visited Sasayama Castle early last year... it was another situation where my wife and son suddenly told me that they were visiting a particular castle and would I like to come along. I didn't know anything about it at the time, but I'm glad I went! I think the description of it above is really good: it's a really solid, no-nonsense, imposing, brooding presense that strikes me as being very no-frills and practical. A castle for protection, and not for showing off. If I understand correc...)
15:39, 1 September 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Okazaki Castle (Update: photography is now allowed in the keep museum : ))
15:36, 31 August 2023 122.211.145.154 talk posted a new comment on Sonobe Castle (Yeah, I did! I think I'm up to 48 separate castles visited... not too many compared to a lot of the contributors on this page. I tend to visit the same castles repeatedly, but I need to try adding some new ones. Too bad that Yaga Castle has nothing left of it, but it's nice that it does have a castle turret, albeit unrelated, on the site.)
15:25, 31 August 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Marune Fort (Marune-toride is an earthworks fort ruin in the Ôdaka neighbourhood of Midori Ward, Nagoya City. I came here after visiting Washizu-toride. I liked this site more. There is clear terracing in a belt-like fashion beneath the top of the hill, which does impress one as an obikuruwa (belt bailey). There is a marker for the castle at the top of the hill where presumably the main bailey was. Toward the rear of the site there are what look like some earthworks which could’ve constituted a horikiri (...)
15:25, 31 August 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Washizu Fort (Washizu-toride is an earthworks fort ruin in the Ôdaka neighbourhood of Midori Ward, Nagoya City. It is interesting and a little mysterious, and offers suggestions of remains which never fully come into focus. There appears to be trenches at the bottom of the castle mount, and terracing of the hillside with remains of dorui (earthen ramparts). These remains are easy to miss unless one is looking carefully. Since terracing can be accounted for with cultivation, and long trenches of this nature...)
13:11, 31 August 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Sonobe Castle (* Yaga Castle (Tanba))
13:09, 31 August 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Sonobe Castle (Well done for also making it to the relocated yagura! You get to add Yagi Castle to your castle-visit list as a bonus : ))
11:15, 31 August 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Sonobe Castle (I enjoyed visiting Sonobe Castle the other day. I first went to the original buildings pictured above, and spent a while walking around, inspecting them and photographing them. I think that school may have been in session, but no-one seemed to mind my walking around. Perhaps they are used to odd castle buffs showing up! Anyway, I think that the complex of the turret gate, guardhouse, turret, ishigaki and plaster walls is a neat little relic of the castle, and well-worth visiting for cas...)
10:43, 31 August 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Amagasaki Castle ("It's more of a museum about Amagasaki Castle than it is the actual Amagasaki Castle." That's a great way to put it.)
20:47, 30 August 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Amagasaki Castle (I went to Amagasaki Castle today. I had low expectations that were pretty much met. It's a worthwhile site if you don't expect much authenticity. It's more of a museum about Amagasaki Castle than it is the actual Amagasaki Castle. It IS built in one of the former baileys of Amagasaki Castle, and the main keep does appear to be a fairly accurate reconstruction of the original, in terms of outward appearance. And the museum inside isn't bad, though it kind of reinforces my feeling that thi...)
13:56, 28 August 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2612 on Nijo Castle
09:18, 28 August 2023 203.51.15.17 talk posted a new comment on Nijo Castle (hi)
01:44, 26 August 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kiyosu Castle (Have added more pictures with labels and co-ordinates. Newer pictures of main keep and bridge are the ones with co-ordinates attached.)
13:10, 24 August 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kiyosu Castle (They do have an original segment of ishigaki on the other side of the river from the mogi tenshu. I don't know if that was a more recent addition / excavation. Maybe I could add it to the above gallery since it's a bit sparse.)
15:02, 23 August 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Kiyosu Castle (I visited this castle a few years ago--my son is quite interested in the Warring States Period, and as explained above, Kiyosu Castle has significant connections to the people and events of that time. That said, it's pretty much a total mogi, with the main keep modeled after that of Inuyama Castle, as there aren't any records of what the main keep actually looked like. If I understand right, the main keep also isn't where it originally was. Still, it's a quite attractive little castle, w...)
17:42, 20 August 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Awaya Yakata (@RaymondW. I'm glad we can both agree that it's garbled, fluffy nonsense, but it's also the most academic clause I've wrote on this site for that reason, haha. As for submitting substandard assingments, I think that adequately describes my submissions to this site. If you would like to contribute academically cited, better researched profiles, I invite you to do so. You visited this site but chose not to make a profile for it. So I did. I'd love to see more from you since you're so knowledgea...)
16:03, 20 August 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Awaya Yakata (@Eric, there probably is no hard and fast rule about what is one single site or two separate sites for a castle + yakata combination, but if an established castle scholar with a long list of publications and a specialist in a particular region’s castles has drawn a conclusion about a castle site, I will go with his or her informed opinion rather than what’s in blogs unless it is a blog run by a castle scholar (and the information is supported by their research.) Hiroki’s website is magnifice...)
15:49, 20 August 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Awaya Yakata (@ART. Yes, that opening sentence of yours in the Kuniyoshi Castle Visit Notes certainly sound like “garbled fluffy nonsense”. I had interpreted that opening sentence to mean that you were trying to say that Kuniyoshi Castle with all its baileys / ruins on this mountain is one fortress site. In Saeki Tetsuya’s books such as 若狭中世城郭図面集 I, he mentions there is archaeological evidence (pottery / tiles / nails) that indicates the Awaya Yakata dates from the middle of the 16th century to the early...)
13:19, 17 August 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Awaya Yakata (*kido)
13:18, 17 August 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Awaya Yakata (I tend to aggregate from various sources and try to determine a consensus, what is divergent, and then give my own opinion after visiting. I am under no illusion that my travelogueing is anything approaching academic. A website's format does probably determine how sites are listed even if they're not really disparate. As for personal tallies, that rests with the conscience of the castle explorer! In this case it would be perfectly reasonable to consider the yakata and yamajiro as a single, co...)
12:31, 17 August 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Awaya Yakata (Well, this has turned into an interesting conversation! I apologize that I'm not that familiar with this castle and do not have time to look into it right now (TBH my main books put the 2 together). I think it may be challenging to make any hard and fast rules for this sort of thing. The key is to make an informed opinion from various sources, that you are satisifed with and you can justify. I am trying to be more academic and informed in my work than some bloggers out there. I typically onl...)
20:25, 16 August 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Shibata Castle (On my second visit to Shibatajō I entered the castle’s main bailey for the first time. That’s an odd thing to say, right? I don’t think I’ve somehow not visited the main bailey at any other major Edo period castle when first visiting. But Shibatajō actually shares its territory now with a jieitai army base, and the inner bailey isn’t always open; I think it’s closed in winter. Anyway, it was open this time, so I got to go in the main bailey and all of the structures excepting the main keep wh...)
08:11, 16 August 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Awaya Yakata (Here's that comment again, but better formatted : ) ‘Kuniyoshijō can refer to a multispatial, multilayered historic site centred on the ruins of the medieval mountaintop castle of Kuniyoshijō.’ You mean here? Yes. I wrote that because I was trying to get to grips with the site conceptually. Even though I read it back and thought it sounded like garbled, fluffy nonsense. It could be said about any castle. But the area was used militarily in some capacity all the way up until the Meiji perio...)
08:10, 16 August 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Awaya Yakata (＠RaymondW ‘Kuniyoshijō can refer to a multispatial, multilayered historic site centred on the ruins of the medieval mountaintop castle of Kuniyoshijō.’ You mean here? Yes. I wrote that because I was trying to get to grips with the site conceptually. Even though I read it back and thought it sounded like garbled, fluffy nonsense. It could be said about any castle. But the area was used militarily in some capacity all the way up until the Meiji period, with the precincts of various institutions...)
07:35, 16 August 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kuniyoshi Castle (Thanks for the comment and clarifications. In hindsight the timing of my trip to Wakasa was a little suspect, and i'd certainly relish coming back here when there's no snow to have a more exhaustive look at all of the ruins. Kuniyoshi was one of the main reasons i wanted to get down here, even though in terms of castle ruins exploration i actually ended up enjoying Nochiseyama more.)
22:04, 15 August 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Mochizuki Castle (Koka) (@Eric. Good to see that the wayward samurai residence photos have been put in the right places. @ART. Not all small castles in Koga have karabori around their baileys. There is a karabori around the massive earthen rampart at Mochizuki Castle, but it’s very shallow when compared to the height of the dorui as Eric has mentioned. The karabori is more akin to a slightly sunken well-worn path between baileys rather than a deep defensive ditch.)
21:58, 15 August 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Awaya Yakata (This lord’s residence, an integral part of Kuniyoshi Castle at the base of the mountain is a must-visit part of this castle ruin. There is a fair bit of intact ishigaki here, more than up on top of the mountain. They are also of a more advanced ishigaki style with bigger blocks of stone than what you can see up at the mountaintop castle. For my own personal castle tally, I have counted Kuniyoshi Castle with Awaya Yakata as one single site as they are part of the same castle complex with the e...)
21:49, 15 August 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Kuniyoshi Castle (It’s good to see this informative castle profile up on JCastle. Judging from the photos, it looks like not much has changed since this yamajiro made it to the “Next Top 100 Castle” list. This is a good castle to visit in Fukui Prefecture with many features that Japanese castle fans love to see. ART has done a good job of listing them in the profile here. For castle fans who visit this castle, it is worthwhile making sure you have enough time to visit all the parts of this castle properly. I s...)
17:24, 6 August 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #883 on Ichijodani Castle
20:51, 5 August 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Mochizuki Castle (Koka) (Oh, okay. Sounds like an interesting site. Shinobikonjau naa...)
19:37, 5 August 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Mochizuki Castle (Koka) (Fixed now. Thanks guys!! @ART - yes there are Karabori but not as much as you might expect given the size of dorui. I think it is must be partially from leveling the areas.)
17:21, 5 August 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Mochizuki Castle (Koka) (I also thought that was a little odd. Eric, shall I go through the bukeyashiki pics and 'hide=Yes' them? You're busy and I don't mind. Also, silly question maybe, but this site also has karabori, right? Neither of your descriptions mention them but with such meaty dorui we'd expect to see that i thought.)
17:18, 5 August 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Sumoto Castle (Eric, thanks for fixing this.)
17:16, 5 August 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Mochizukishi Castle (Koka) (Eric, Mochizukishi Castle is not a bad one for a milestone visit. This castle ruin has one big central bailey ringed by earthen ramparts. They are relatively clear of undergrowth, so a castle fan can walk along the top of them. The dorui here is not as high as its neighbour, Mochizuki Castle. Mochizukishi Castle’s earthen ramparts are only around 3.5 to 4m in height as opposed to 7 to 9m for its paired neighbour. There are two koguchi or gateways into the Mochizukishi’s main bailey, as shown...)
17:04, 5 August 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Mochizuki Castle (Koka) (This little-known castle ruin in Koga, Shiga has some high earthen ramparts surrounding it. Mochizuki Castle along with Shingushi Castle and Wada Castle, all castle ruins in Koga, have some high earthen ramparts in the 7 to 9 metres range. If you walk along the top of the dorui at Mochizuki and look down the sides, particularly the southern side, it is quite steep, so you know that you are on top of some seriously high dorui. At Mochizuki Castle, there is one section of dorui ending at the...)
17:34, 31 July 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Sumoto Castle (The infamous Frank T. I stand corrected! Thanks.)
16:38, 31 July 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Ojima Jin'ya (Apparently this site has an original structure, a shoin, which has just been relocated back.)
18:45, 30 July 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Sumoto Castle (Eric, you have incorrectly attributed this castle profile to me. I did visit this castle in 2014, but I haven’t taken photos with a date stamp on them for yonks, not since I made the switch from film to digital photography at the start of this millennium. The photos on this castle profile are not mine. They look like photos by another castle photo / profile contributor, possibly Frank T’s efforts.)
11:57, 30 July 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Nouken Castle (Thanks! Yeah, this is definitely one more for the locals. Hakusan and Shinpu are much better to visit when coming a long way. The toride sites make the Nouken complex a nice circuit to walk from the station.)
10:38, 30 July 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Nouken Castle (Nicely done! This is one I looked into a couple times but, but eventually took a pass on in favor other sites. Nice to see it well covered here including the toride's.)
10:38, 30 July 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2583 on Nouken Castle
10:38, 30 July 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2584 on Nouken Castle
10:38, 30 July 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Nouken Castle (well covered - including toride's)
10:37, 30 July 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Nouken Castle (Nicely done! This is one I looked into a couple times but, but eventually took a pass on in favor other sites. Nice to see it well covered here.)
21:41, 28 July 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Unuma Castle (Unlike a certain Nagoya-based radio host and author we all know and love, I couldn't visit this site by helicopter, so, instead, since I was visiting Inuyamajō, I got off at Inuyama-Yūenchi Station which is just one station along after Inuyama Station (I was even able to do that taking a Meitetsu train all the way from Higashi-Okazaki Station without any changes), and simply walked to the Kiso River where I took some nice photos of the castle mount from the Owari / Aichi side. Since this site...)
09:29, 26 July 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Inuyama Castle (Whoops, that should be KANEYAMA Castle.)
09:27, 26 July 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Inuyama Castle (I'll visit today. It seems that the shifting timeline for the tenshu at this castle has settled on the 1580s. The old theory about the keep being from Kanayama Castle in Mino has been long debunked, except maybe in Kanayama where the tradition is kept alive inspire of the latest research. Maybe i mentioned about it in my profile for Mino Kanayama Castle.)
17:06, 24 July 2023 豪谷 talk contribs posted a new comment on Kojima Castle (Hida) (Nothing worse than sulking skulking bears!)
21:00, 23 July 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Wakayama Castle (Apparently there has been some recent (late July 2023) chatter about kokuins (stonemason’s seals) at Wakayama Castle on another website. One experienced castle fan initially wasn’t even sure if there were kokuins at Wakayama Castle. If he had just read my comment posted months ago below, he would have noticed that I mentioned there are lots of kokuins at this castle. It is after all a Shinpan Daimyo’s castle with a Tokugawa as the castle lord from 1619 until the Meiji Restoration. There are l...)
13:15, 18 July 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Ogyu Castle (Ogyū Castle is a magical place. Which is to say, this is a unique and impressive castle site. I was charmed, enchanted and only a bit endangered exploring this beautiful mountaintop castle ruin. The castle features impressive karabori (dry moats), dorui (earthen ramparts), ishigaki (stone-piled walls), baileys and other interesting features. I was particularly impressed with a system of medieval damns which were once used at the castle to store water. With so much water available, it would...)
13:12, 18 July 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Matsudaira Castle (Matsudairajō, located in Matsudaira Township of Toyota Municipality, chiefly features bailey spaces, earthworks created by levelling ridge lines and mountaintops. There is a yaguradai (platform for a keep) at the end of the fourth bailey wherein there is also a small shrine building. There is a marker and explanation board for the castle in the main bailey which is at the top of the hill. The most impressive feature of this site is a yokobori (lateral) moat complex which goes around much of t...)
13:11, 18 July 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Matsudaira Yakata (Matsudaira-yakata was the manor hall at the heart of the ancestral homeland – it is traditionally held – of the Matsudaira Clan. The clan gave rise to Matsudaira Motoyasu, better known as Tokugawa Ieyasu. The ruins, located in the expansive and rural township of Matsudaira in Toyota Municipality, date to 1613 when Matsudaira Naoyoshi took over Matsudaira Manor; after the death of Tokugawa Ieyasu the yakata was converted into a temple (a gongen), the Matsudaira-Toushouguu. What makes this site...)
07:23, 17 July 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Furumiya Castle (by all means use a grass covering. any reasonable castle enthusiast or casual visitor would pay to see this site.)
21:52, 16 July 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Furumiya Castle (ART, I agree with you that the castle ruin would be more visible and easier to appreciate for castle fans if the cedar trees were chopped down and removed. However, I still think completely stripping a yamajiro ruin of all of its green cover will lead to faster erosion of the earthwork remnants. Think about it, why do (mostly) earthwork castle ruins like Hachigata Castle and Yamanaka Castle have a layer of grass growing on its earthen ramparts? One reason is likely for improved aesthetic appe...)
21:33, 16 July 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Matsuyama Castle (Saitama) (Eric, it’s good to hear that it’s been cleaned up, perhaps more than I went to this castle ruin in spring 2017. When I visited, the Main Bailey(本曲輪), Second Bailey, Third Bailey, and Fourth Bailey all have signposts on site, so castle fans visiting can know which bailey they are actually at. The interiors of these baileys were reasonably well kept with the grass cut low, so it almost resembled a lawn, something that can’t be said about many parks in Japan with nothing but just dirt. This cas...)
08:44, 16 July 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Hiroshima Castle (It appears that the ishigaki was largely unaffected, in fact. Pictures of the tenshudai after the blast do not appear to show anything other than superficial damage.)
16:50, 15 July 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Hiroshima Castle (I find it impressive that apparently a fair bit of the ishigaki survived the atomic bombing. I visited Hiroshima Castle about 20 years ago, and found the main keep quite disappointing, though it does look nice from outside, especially from a distance. Reading about it now, the other buildings that have been reconstructed in wood sound much more interesting--don't know why I didn't pay much attention to them back then. My ability to appreciate castles has really increased since then. It...)
17:04, 12 July 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Ueda Castle (I believe it's original and located at its original site.)
11:30, 12 July 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Ueda Castle (This castle looks like a very worthy visit. As for the gate to the lord's palace pictured above (3rd picture to last) an original structure? And is it located on the castle grounds, or elsewhere?)
06:52, 10 July 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Furumiya Castle (Okay, changed to 1571. Most blogs say 1571 so i don't know where 1572 came from, actually. The construction date is apparently known via the 『三河国二葉松』. Thanks for the comment. Having gone through my pictures of the site, i strongly feel that the sheer amount of trees is hugely detrimental to appreciating the site without physically being there. The land is supposedly owned by a party of individuals, and the cedar plantation will remain for the forseeable future it seems. Maybe they're hoping t...)
21:37, 9 July 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Furumiya Castle (It’s good to see that another castle fan has visited this highly enjoyable castle ruin in the back waters of Shinshiro City, Aichi. I visited this castle ruin along with five others in area in early 2017 during prime yamajiro season. This almost semi-circular castle ruin is the most interesting of the six castle ruins in the area. Near 白鳥神社(White Bird Shrine’s) stone gate, one of the ways to get into the castle ruin, is a sign about the history of the castle erected by the Shinshiro Board of...)
15:41, 9 July 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Silver Linings Castlebook (3 new castles in Saitama) (Great discovery of several yakata ruins in Saitama, Eric. Thanks for sharing them with other castle fans on Jcastle. I guess that unintentional weekend stay in Tokyo did have a silver lining for you. The jin’yas and the single yakata look a bit off the regular trail for visiting castle ruins in Saitama if one is using public transport to get around. I remember using mostly the Tobu Tojo Line to get round to some of the castle ruins in Saitama.)
15:34, 9 July 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Ogawa Nakanojo Castle (Koka) (You’re right about those possible baileys having a “?” over them on the map produced by the Koga BoE. Since I didn’t get into those baileys, I can’t tell if they look more like farm terraces or medieval baileys. From the trailhead, I took the path up into the bailey below the main bailey and then followed it into a fairly bushy part of this castle ruin. At that point, I decided it wasn’t worth going any further and decided to try to find a way up to the Main Bailey. That is always the case wi...)
15:24, 9 July 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Ogawa Nishinojo Castle (Koka) (Eric, my wife and I gave up in going into the bushier baileys of this castle ruin after finding ticks there in the relatively clearer baileys of this yamajiro ruin. You’re hardcore to be waddling through head-high bamboo and weeds to get to those baileys further at the back end of this castle. That’s why you’re the JCastle Shogun. There are a few fallen trees on site, so I assume they are probably the result of the direct typhoon strike on Kansai back in the autumn of 2018. Yeah, I have whack...)
20:53, 6 July 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukazawa Castle (Fukazawajō is a medieval earthworks fortification site with substantial ruins. Most of the baileys, which are now farmland, are divided by deep karabori (dry moats). The site is farmed and many of the karabori are too overgrown to properly explore. I did have a little peak in one which was a little more clear. It's always fun to wander around a karabori! The site is quite extensive and has many baileys; it starts at the road where there is a monument to the historic site and an information bo...)
07:21, 5 July 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukuoka Castle (Added Najimamon)
13:40, 3 July 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Ogawa Nishinojo Castle (Koka) (haha, also very true. For the sake of transparency, in one place along the far ridge I was wading through weeds as tall as I am and once I was seeing stars after banging my head on a partially fallen tree while trying to keep my eyes on where I was walking with my feet rather than what was in front of me! I was perhaps lucky not to end up with any ticks or other critters on me but my rain jacket and wide brim hiking hat probably helped.)
13:40, 3 July 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2559 on Ogawa Nishinojo Castle (Koka)
13:40, 3 July 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Ogawa Nishinojo Castle (Koka) (haha, also very true. For the sake of transparency, in one place along the far ridge I was wading through weeds as tall as I am and one I was seeing stars after banging my head on a partially fallen tree while trying to keep my eyes on where I was walking with my feet rather than what was in front of me! I was perhaps lucky not to end up with any ticks or other critters on me but my rain jacket and wide brim hiking hat probably helped.)
13:33, 3 July 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Ogawa Nakanojo Castle (Koka) (Ray, good point. I actually started down into those "baileys" but turned back after crawling over 2 fallen trees on the hillside and not seeing any good footing down into them from the main part of the castle. Even the map in the Koka City book gives "?" marks on them! It is possible/likely that this set of three terraced baileys in between this ridge and the next ridge were more like residential or farming areas. They're fairly big, wide and I don't see any recognizable defensive type struc...)
23:44, 2 July 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Gifu Castle (復興 is mogi adjacent haha. Sometimes it can mean 'speculative reconstruction', i'd say, but generally they're just mogies, yeah. There was some sort of tower up on the mount so it's a reconstruction, after a fashion, and not wholly a folly.)
22:06, 2 July 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2361 on Gifu Castle
22:06, 2 July 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2362 on Gifu Castle
21:46, 2 July 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Kashiwabara Castle (Omi) (@Eric, there are lots of Kyōgoku kamons the roof tiles there. They are very similar to the Sasaki kamons, except that they have been rotated 45 degrees. I'm guessing such a design is to show that they have their roots in the Sasaki Clan and are their descendants. @ART. No worries, mate. Feel free to add a single combined profile for Takekurabe Castle and Takekurabe Toride to Jcastle after you have visited them. They were built at the same time and were part of the same defence for the Mt Nos...)
21:35, 2 July 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Ogawa Nakanojo Castle (Koka) (This is the smallest of the three castle ruins in the Ogawa set. It’s more akin to a toride (fort), providing a link between the Ogawa Castle up on top of the mountain with Ogawa Nishino Castle, possibly the main castle in the area. Unlike Eric, I did not take the trail down from Ogawa Castle. Instead, Ogawa Nakano was the last castle I visited in the set of three Ogawa castles after sussing out Ogawa Nishino Castle. I walked up to the castle ruin instead down to it from Ogawa Castle. The f...)
21:22, 2 July 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Ogawa Nishinojo Castle (Koka) (This castle ruin is certainly bigger than Ogawa Castle up on the mountain. However, Ogawa Nishino Castle is also much more overgrown that Ogawa Castle, but there are some nice earthwork remnants that can be made out including ditches, earthen ramparts, and sites of gateways. Unlike like Eric, my wife and I did not fully explore Ogawa Nishino Castle as we were running short of time, and after flicking ticks off our legs, we thought it was best to hit the third castle in the area, Ogawa Nakano...)
18:00, 2 July 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Nakijin Castle (I went to Nakijin Castle about 10 years ago. Although I slightly prefer Nakagusuku, Nakijin is a fabulous ruin. The highlight is the walls--they remind me of a gigantic ancient ship or something. As you can see in the pictures above, there are also some neat stone gates, which is something you don't see at mainland Japanese castles (at least, not gates with tops that you can walk under). And it has a very big scale. Another 5-star ruin that is deserving of its World Heritage status.)
17:35, 2 July 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Nakagusuku Castle (Fantastic, evocative ruin. I also visited Nakajin Castle and loved that one too, but I'd rate this one even higher, for the variety of stone structures. As the pictures above show, there are some arched gates, and a lot of those wonderful curved walls you see at gusukus. When I finally make it back to mainland Okinawa, I'd like to see Katsuren Castle too, as that one looks like the 3rd fantastic ruin. Anyway, this one gets 5 stars from me.)
17:29, 2 July 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Gifu Castle (Fantastic location, important castle, but curiously uninspired and inauthentic reconstructions. The Japanese Wiki page lists it as 復興, but isn't it more of a mogi? Anyway, given the importance of the castle, I kind of wonder whether the city might take another shot at doing a better job of reconstructing it someday. I'll give it a 3 for the location alone (really one of the more dramatic locations of any Japanese castle), but hope they can do something better with it in the future. The...)
17:23, 2 July 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Ogaki Castle (This is a really nice little castle. The interior of concrete main keeps often leave me cold, but this one didn't. The reconstructed buildings are quite elegant, and there is some nice stonework. I also went to the nearby city museum, and they had a really good model of how the castle used to look... it helped me appreciate the castle, but also made me a bit sad. It would have been a great castle if it had survived WWII. But I still think it's worth 4 stars for the general attractivenes...)
17:17, 2 July 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Iga Ueno Castle (I went to this castle several years ago, because my kids wanted to go to the ninja attractions. I didn't know about the castle before going, but enjoyed visiting it. I was actually pretty confused by the wooden exterior, because it doesn't look new like more recent wooden reconstructions do. Anyway, nice castle with some cool ishigaki, though I seem to have missed the really tall sections over the moat pictured above. I'll give it a 3 for the general attractiveness and authentic feel to t...)
17:09, 2 July 2023 122.211.145.154 talk posted a new comment on Gujo Hachiman Castle (Interesting... I didn't know that there were any pre-war wood main keep reconstructions other than Iga Ueno castle... and that one is a total mogi, though an attractive one (in my opinion at least). This one sounds fairly attractive too, and likely more accurate.)
13:34, 2 July 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Sunomata Castle (It's a cute little mogi, and was less underwhelming inside than many reconstructed castles. Also, the riverside location is nice. Worth 2 stars for the attractiveness and the museum.)
09:30, 2 July 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2545 on Tsuwano Castle
09:01, 2 July 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Tsuwano Castle (Sorry, forgot to log in. Thanks for the quick reply!)
09:00, 2 July 2023 122.211.145.154 talk posted a new comment on Tsuwano Castle (Thanks!)
22:01, 1 July 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Hikone Castle (I rate Hikone Castle very highly, second only to Himeji Castle. Your comment about Hikone Castle being the most well-rounded Japanese castle is absolutely spot on. It has a bit of everything in terms of extant structures, rebuilt structures, ishigaki, earthworks, two sets of intact moats, and a castle town with many old ashigaru houses still around. I’m lucky I live in Japanese castle Mecca aka Shiga. Hikone Castle is the castle that I have visited the most followed very closely by Azuchi...)
14:51, 1 July 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Tsuwano Castle (Outside it; they're relocated to the area of the former castle town.)
12:39, 1 July 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Tsuwano Castle (Are the two turrets at the foot of the mountain located on part of the original castle grounds, or outside it?)
18:39, 30 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Hikone Castle (I'd rate Himeji as the best Japanese castle just based on how incredibly extensive it is, but Hikone really so far behind (I'm also a huge fan of Iyo Matsuyama Castle).)
18:34, 30 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Wakayama Castle (The other original gate is the Oimawashi Gate pictured above.)
07:35, 30 June 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Hikone Castle (It sounds like you had great time. I'm glad you can enjoy it on a weekday without it being too crowded. Hikone is definitely overlooked by many castles fans but I think it's gaining in popularity. I think even with a well planned trip it probably takes at least 3 trips to see everything. I think I've been there 6 times now but I keep finding stuff I need to go back and visit or new sides/angles of the castle I want to shoot. Actually I have a bunch of news pics I need to upload here too.)
05:55, 30 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Hikone Castle (You may be right about Hikone. Generally Himeji is seen as the best castle, but it does not have any kind of goten.)
05:55, 30 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kishiwada Castle (This is a very helpful review, thanks! The sumi-yagura is connected to the tamon yagura which carries on with two bends along the ramparts. It can be seen in the above gallery.)
21:49, 29 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Hikone Castle (I visited Hikone Castle again today, my first visit in 6 years and either the 5th or 6th time I've been there. I've loved this castle for a long time, but it was the most satisfying visit I've ever had there, and really one of the best castle visits I've ever had. It was the first time I went there alone, as opposed to being with family members, and I really enjoyed being able to wander and spend as much time as I wanted on everything. Anyway, I pretty much saw everything on the castle g...)
20:39, 29 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Kishiwada Castle (I finally went to Kishiwada Castle yesterday. As I suspected, I found the site both attractive and underwhelming. What I liked: the moats and ishigaki are pretty well-preserved, the restored buildings make it look like an authentic Japanese castle from the distance, and the garden is a really nice touch. It seems that it was added before the main keep was (re)built, and the artist deliberately designed it to harmonize with the main keep. Job well-done in that respect. What I didn't...)
22:38, 27 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Nagahama Castle (Today, I had a class of junior high-school kids talk about their favorite famous place in Japan. I gave them some ideas before hand, and ended up getting places like Himeji Castle, Osaka Castle, Kinkakuji, Amanohashidate, Tokyo Disneyland, Todai-ji, Shirahama Beach, and so on. But then this one girl said 'Nagahama Castle.' I was pretty surprised as it's a quite obscure castle, so I said 'You mean Nagahama Castle in Shiga?' She said yes. I praised her for coming up with something original...)
17:19, 26 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Kumamoto Castle (I visited Kumamoto Castle not long before the earthquake, and was extremely impressed. It’s a very large, imposing castle with extensive stone walls and a great variety of yagura (11 in all), many of them original. Some of them are bigger than the main keeps of smaller castles--the Uto Yagura pictured above, for example, is like a main keep and is my favorite structure in the castle. At the time, we were able to enter at least a few of them, and not surprisingly, they had more atmosphere t...)
15:32, 26 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Honshouji Castle (Have updated description and highlight photo (the weather wasn't much better than during my first visit, but now there's more flowers!), and some other bits and bobs. Will add pictures of the recently made public earthworks at some point.)
14:47, 26 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kasama Castle (I don't think so but the Hachimandai yagura is still pretty close by.)
14:09, 26 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Ozu Castle (Sorry for the late reply. They appeared to be merchant-style buildings to me.)
11:04, 26 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Kasama Castle (Have any of the original buildings been relocated back to the castle grounds?)
10:26, 26 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Honshouji Castle (With the Ieyasu boom ongoing they've opened up the usually closed rear parts of the temple with the dorui and karabori. Will update soon.)
09:24, 26 June 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Kashiwabara Castle (Omi) (I love the Kamon on those roof tiles. Nice shot. I want to line that up with some kokuin from Osaka-jo. You see the Kyogoku Kamon kokuin a lot. Thanks for the recommendations too Ray. I do like sets of castles with some history and story behind them.)
07:26, 26 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kashiwabara Castle (Omi) (Thanks for the recommendations, Raymond; if i get the opportunity i'll be sure to visit those sites and make profiles for them here on jcastle ^0^)
21:35, 25 June 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Kashiwabara Castle (Omi) (I visited this “castle ruin” with just a stone marker after I have spent time castle-hunting at a nearby yamajiro ruin with earthwork ruins to see. Tokugen’in is worth visiting for those history / castle fans who want to see places related to the Kyōgoku Clan. As ART has mentioned on his profile here, there are Kyōgoku tombstones to be seen here, and the three-storey pogoda is worth seeing. Also, if you are a Kyōgoku fan, there is the Kyōgoku Yakata ruin located just a few kilometres away. On...)
21:38, 24 June 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Damine Castle (It looks like you fellows have found a little gem of a castle site to visit. Thanks for the profile and comments. I will have to visit Damine Castle when I revisit the Nagashino and Shinshiro areas for some castle-hunting.)
21:30, 24 June 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukui Castle (@ Matthew Ward. I think it’s difficult to relocate government buildings such as a local council building, so a castle can be rebuilt. A castle is located in a fairly central location relative to the castle town that developed around it, so it makes sense to build some government buildings there post-Edo Period for easy access by the locals like at Fukui Castle. However, there are precedents at Shuri Castle and Kanazawa Castle where a university campus was relocated from the castle ground to m...)
21:17, 24 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Matsumae Castle (I hope so. I remember something about that. 2035 is long enough away though for me not to hold my breath. They might yet change their minds.)
14:50, 24 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Matsumae Castle (According to the Japanese Wiki page, the city has decided to reconstruct the main keep in wood, finishing by 2035. It's another one of those cases where the concrete main keep has deteriorated and is falling below earthquake standards. They considered whether to reinforce it or rebuild it in wood, and chose the latter.)
09:38, 24 June 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2511 on Nijo Castle
09:37, 24 June 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Nijo Castle (I've seen two excuses given for no photos - people bunch up and spend too much time taking photos. The other is that camera flashed do damage old artworks. Still, there is way too much of this no photography stuff inside wooden buildings with few visitors and no special artworks. Similarly, for my recent revisit to Fukuyama Castle, even that reconstructed museum main keep was no photos despite few artifacts and few people!)
09:31, 24 June 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukui Castle (I think it's very unlikely they would relocate any of the gov't buildings. They don't really hinder the enjoyment of the site and would only hinder reconstructions around the middle of the main bailey, which are unlikely to happen anyway. A recent news article mentions a plan to rebuild another yagura towards the station making a nice view and avenue from the station to the castle: https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/714490 I visited during GW this year and will update the profile soon...)
15:49, 23 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Kagoshima Castle (This is one of those castles that I visited sort of accidentally, by going to the Kagoshima History Museum, and noticing the moat and stone walls. I liked the moat and walls, though, and am generously giving the castle a 2 based on them. The museum is definitely a 5, but obviously it has nothing to do with the castle. Apparently, they have recently reconstructed the Otemon Gate, and pictures of it look nice... hopefully that will help justify my 2 rating! As for the discussion about th...)
16:58, 22 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Usuki Castle (Apparently the Tatami Yagura and Utanoguchi-mon-Yagura are originals.)
15:32, 21 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Maruoka Castle (Thank you for joining us on FB, Mr Ward! Since you're interested in the oldest keep - a much debated topic - i'll tag you in the comments of an article i wrote on the topic. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.)
14:38, 21 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukui Castle (As mentioned below, this is mostly just walls and moats with some modern government buildings inside, but even then, I found the site oddly compelling. They are nice walls and moats, and (also as mentioned below), you can climb up on the walls. I give it a 2 based on what was there when I visited it in the past, but it's really exciting to see that they are now restoring things like the gates and well roof. It could be a really excellent site with more restorations. I wonder whether they...)
14:32, 21 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Maruoka Castle (When I visited Maruoka Castle several years ago, we took the bus from near Fukui Station, and it took us right to the castle. You do have to check the bus times though, as they don't run so frequently. I imagine that bus service might also have been reduced due to the pandemic, though if that's the case hopefully they will increase it again. Anyway, the main keep is lovely and feels very authentic inside--one of my favorite main keep interiors. That was my favorite aspect of the castle....)
12:50, 19 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Takamatsu Castle (Added newly reconstructed gatehouse to gallery and map)
06:35, 19 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Nijo Castle (Flash photography maybe could, but i'm no expert. Yeah, Japanese castles are larger than their European counterparts, but Japanese people, if they're not castle fans, are also liable to consider a castle and tenshu to be one and the same. Gradually awareness of the true value of castles beyond just the main keep is spreading.)
06:34, 19 June 2023 61.123.59.236 talk posted a new comment on Nijo Castle (Flash photography maybe could, but i'm no expert. Yeah, Japanese castles are larger than their European counterparts, but Japanese people, if they're not castle fans, are also liable to consider a castle and tenshu to be one and the same. Gradually awareness of the true value of castles beyond just the main keep is spreading.)
23:57, 18 June 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Ogawa Castle (Koka) (@Eric, the JCastle Shogun works fast. It’s great to see the Ogawa Castle profile along with Ogawa Nakano Castle and Ogawa Nishino Castle profiles up on JCastle so soon after your visit a few months ago. I’m glad you have made it up to this yamajiro. I have known about this yamajiro for years but have put off going there by how weedy and overgrown it looks in some photos online. Also, as you have mentioned in your notes, it is an inconvenient site to get to, particularly for castle fans livi...)
21:57, 18 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Nijo Castle (Good point. I must have noticed that Japanese castles have moats walls and turrets and gates and then a big building inside that everybody enters, not really noticing the obvious differences between gotens and tenshukakus. I went to Nijo Castle first just because I went to Kyoto first, and the idea of visiting a castle sounded exciting. I had visited castles in other parts of the world and was interested in them, but had never visited one in East Asia. One thought I have had: while cas...)
20:13, 17 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Nijo Castle (It's interesting Nijojo was your first castle. You knew thereafter that castles didn't need keeps and that main keep =/= castle. Most people don't visit Nijojo first, but go somewhere like Himeji or Osaka, and so their castle experiences are very tower-focused.)
13:08, 17 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Nijo Castle (I adore Nijo Castle. It was the first Japanese castle I ever visited, and is a splendid and authentic structure. I think I’ve visited it more than any other castle except Osaka Castle, around 7 or 8 times, The substantial remains of Nijo Castle are almost entirely original: original inner and outer moat, original walls, a whole bunch of original gates (as noted before, in a variety of styles), two large original yagura, original gardens, a couple of substantial original storehouses, and...)
09:38, 17 June 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Matsuyama Castle (Saitama) (It's also been cleaned up more recently. I would love to go back again myself! Maybe for a future "stuck in Tokyo with nothing to do" kind of day I will hit this one again.)
21:07, 16 June 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Maruoka Castle (I did the same thing you did on my first visit to Maruoka Castle 15 years ago. I had mistakenly assumed JR Maruoka Station was the only way to get to Maruoka Station. It wasn’t much fun walking the four kilometres or so to get to castle in the blazing hot sun of mid-summer with zero shade. On my second visit five years later, I took the bus from and back to Fukui Station. It takes 50 minutes to an hour depending on which bus you take.)
09:43, 16 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Imabari Castle (Imabari Castle certainly is a beautiful sight. You get the very well-preserved original walls and seawater moat combined with some very authentically reconstructed yagura and gates, done in wood and according to pictures and other historical materials. And then you get the beautiful, slender main keep rising above it all. The odd thing, of course, is that the main keep is a totally mogi, even listed as ‘mogi tenshu’ on the castle’s Japanese Wikipedia page. Whether the original castle ev...)
15:16, 14 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Matsuyama Castle (Saitama) (Often called Musashi Matsuyama Castle : p but also sometimes called Higashi Matsuyama (but that seems gimmicky to me), this is a castle i need to go back to. Looking at maps now... I must've barely explored it when i visited.)
12:51, 14 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Damine Castle (Daminejō is a partially reconstructed Sengoku period hilltop castle in the hamlet of Damine, Shitara Township. The main bailey has been restored, including a miyagura (watch tower), ohtemon (main gate), umaya (stables), goten (lord’s palatial residence) and a small rear gate. There is also a wooden bridge spanning a dry moat at the foot of the castle mount, and some palings. Other features include bailey spaces. The carved terraces of the castle mount are well maintained and inspecting the va...)
16:01, 12 June 2023 104.28.124.183 talk posted a new comment on Sumoto Castle (My mothers maiden name is Inada. She is the last surviving relative of the Inada clan. When I was in sixth grade I visited the family cemetery in Tokushima. I plan on going back one of these days)
11:34, 12 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Amagasaki Castle (Last year, I was teaching some high-school students about how to describe their hometowns, and I was puzzled when students from Amagasaki started mentioning Amagasaki Castle. I didn’t know there was such a thing! But I Googled it, and sure enough, there is now an Amagasaki Castle again. I haven’t visited yet, but I’ve seen in from the train window when going to Hyogo, and it looks reasonably attractive. It’s a really odd case, because there are apparently no visible remains of the origina...)
07:51, 11 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Iimori Castle (I'm glad you went. I was going to go here at the beginning of the year before deciding to extend my time in Wakasa.)
22:17, 10 June 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Suikei Okayama Castle (@Furinkazan. Thanks for creating this castle profile on Jcastle. I have been here twice, but not during the warmer months. It's one for the colder (yamajiro season) months. The map you have posted in two of your photos shows the the trail, and it's the same one that I took. The first time, I took the same way up and then went down the other way. The second time, it was going up and down from the southern trailhead. Near that trailhead, there is some ishigaki there. This castle ruin is quite b...)
22:03, 10 June 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Zeze Castle (Good to hear that you visited some of the relocated Zeze Castle gates. I'm glad the work I have put into this castle profile has proven to be useful and beneficial for another castle fan.)
21:56, 10 June 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Kakegawa Castle (This is a good one to visit as you have already noticed in the comments posted by many castle fans. I've been back two more times since my first visit. If you combine visiting Kakegawa Castle with Suwahara Castle ruin (also covered on this website), located a couple of train stations further along the train line towards Shizuoka, it would make a fantastic "castle-hunting" day.)
21:43, 10 June 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Iimori Castle (Eric, it's good to see that you have created a profile of this top notch yamajiro in Osaka Prefecture on Jcastle. You have also included lots of photos showcasing what can be seen at this massive mountaintop castle ruin, so other castle fans use it as a visual guide when they visit this yamajiro. This castle is certainly the Osaka equivalent of Kannonji Castle in Shiga. It’s impossible to visit all its baileys in one day because of its sheer size. Also, some sections of the castle ruin have...)
09:30, 10 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Kakegawa Castle (Right now, Kakegawa Castle is the second on my J-castle bucket list, after Hirosaki Castle. Really looks like a great place, and the rave reviews on this site confirm this impression. The combination of the original goten, a couple of other original structures on-site, the Meiji-era grand residence mentioned below, and the authentically rebuilt main keep, turret and gates sound like a really excellent Japanese castle experience. As for original structures, in addition to the goten, the moa...)
08:54, 10 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Ota Castle (Lucky!)
08:50, 10 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Yokosuka Castle (Fantastic job on cataloguing the relocated structures.)
03:03, 10 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Ogawa Castle (my comment ^)
02:55, 10 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Ota Castle (ART, I didn't know about the relocated gate and saw it, per chance, passing it. It was a nice gate in front of a temple and when I saw the information panel next to it, I noticed it was a relocated gate of Ota castle.)
02:47, 10 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Ishigakiyama Ichiya Castle (23/05/2023: After checking in at my hotel in Odawara, I took a train on the Tōkaidō line for one station back, Hayakawa. I wanted to visit Ishigakiyama Ichiya castle. From the station the road to the castle is well indicated. It's a 2km uphill road. I knew this site to be big, but not that big. The Ichiya part in the name, means one night. During the siege of Odawara castle, in 1590, this castle was built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Trees were left intact, to hide the construction to the besieged....)
02:42, 10 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Takatenjin Castle (On 22/05/2023 evening, I was a little concerned by the weather forecast. Rain the whole day in Shizuoka prefecture. And seeing the very strong downpours in Saitama, I wondered if I could be able to make the visits I had planned for 23/05/2023. The first site I visited on 23/05/2023 was Takatenjin castle. This one was on my itinerary of 2014, but I spent more time than expected at Kakegawa, and I wasn't able to visit Takatenjin castle. When I arrived at Kakegawa station, it was raining. I put...)
02:37, 10 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Hikuma Castle (I also went to Hikuma castle on 22/05/2023, after Hamamatsu castle, which is actually the older site of Hamamatsu castle. There is now a shrine and statues of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. There is something strange to this, since Ieyasu is depicted as an older man and Hideyoshi as a young boy. In reality, Hideyoshi was older than Ieyasu.)
02:35, 10 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Hamamatsu Castle (22/05/2023: After Yokosukajō, I visited Hamamatsu castle for a second time. My first visit was in 2009, with my limited 'smartphone' of the time. I didn't took a lot of pictures neither. Since my last visit, a gate has been reconstructed and the castle made it into the next 100 castles to visit. So I had my stamp book with me.)
02:32, 10 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Yokosuka Castle (Added some pictures of of the relocated gates at Hongenji and Senyoji, as well as the bansho(guardhouse).)
01:56, 10 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Yokosuka Castle (On 22/05/2023, I took the Kodama from Toyohashi to Hamamatsu. From their the local train to Fukuroi station and finally a bus from the south exit of the station. I got off at Osuka shiso-mae bus stop. Almost on the other side of the road, is a bansho. This is a guard house and this one belonged to Yokusuka castle. It has been moved to its actual location, to preserve it. Then I walked to Hongen temple, where a former gate of the castle is. The castle site isn't far from this temple. The castl...)
13:51, 9 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Kishiwada Castle (Thanks! That's kind of what I suspected: nice authentic walls and moats, but buildings all fairly mogi. The turrets were rebuilt in the late 60's, but seems that that was still a fairly mogi era. I'll also check out the Gofuso.)
13:34, 9 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kishiwada Castle (I was the same, coming in via KIX in 2012 but not visiting the castle site itself until 2015/16. All the structures are a bit mogi. Historical authenticity just wasn't a priority at the time. I recommend also visiting the Gofuso, an indutrial era villa adjacent to the castle.)
11:26, 9 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Kishiwada Castle (This must have been one of the first Japanese castles I ever saw from a distance, but I still haven't visited it. I'm thinking of finally going late this month or in early July. I'm curious about one question: it's clear that the main keep isn't historically authentic, but I wonder about the rebuilt gates and yagura. Does anybody know whether they are authentic replicas of the originals? I'm reading about it in Japanese, but so far haven't been able to find details about the other reco...)
10:47, 9 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Otowa Castle (Thanks for adding to Omi. It is a province with a lot of collaboration from jcastle-users.)
10:42, 9 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Ota Castle (These kind of sites parastically get a disproportionate amount of traffic from castle fans due to being close to larger ones, but there's nothing wrong with that. It is well that you hunted down the relocated structure!)
10:40, 9 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Damine Castle (I went here not long after Furinkazan! The reconstructions are great (the palace might be a bit too grandiose for such a site though), but the preservation of the earthen bulwarks is also magnificent. I'll post a longer review later. Top site!)
10:35, 9 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Suikei Okayama Castle (It's good to know you did come by some ruins of this site after all. Thanks for highlighting this local site in Omi.)
09:20, 9 June 2023 186.80.52.188 talk posted a new comment on Chiba Castle (I was there too! raining a lot these days)
05:41, 9 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Minakuchi Okayama Castle (I'm happy you went here!)
05:39, 9 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (Glad you made it)
01:19, 9 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Yoshida Castle (On 20/05/2023, after Arai, I went back to my hotel, since I forgot my Next 100 meijô stamp book in my luggage. When I arrived at Yoshida castle, the tower was just closed. It closes at 15:00, and I arrived at 15:10. But a sign, in Japanese, says that there is a stamp on the 13th floor of the East building of the annex to the city hall. This is open until 22:00. I first went around the castle grounds and got my stamp afterwards.)
01:16, 9 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Takatori Castle (On 19/05/2023 it was raining and the weather forecast predicted rain for the day. I confirm it rained the whole day. Nevertheless I took a train from Kashiharajingūmae station to Tsubosakayama station. First I went to the Kitora kofun, which I was not able to do the day before. From there I went to the Musōkan. It's a shop and information centre for Takatori castle. I saw a video of the castle and received some nice maps. Sadly there wasn't the English version of the booklet I found at my hot...)
01:12, 9 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Zeze Castle (On 15/05/2023, I saw a gate of Zeze castle at Muchisaki shrine not far from my hotel in Minami-Kusatsu. On 16/05/2023, I wandered around Ōtsu to see several other gates of that castle at different shrines. I took a train on the Keihan line and got off at Kawaragahama station. There are about 1 train every 10 minutes. The first shrine was Wakamiya Hachimanjinja. From there I walked to Shinozujinja. I then visited the ruins of Zeze castle itself. There isn't much to see. Some ishigaki, and the...)
01:06, 9 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Minakuchi Okayama Castle (On 15/05/2023, after Minakuchi castle, I went to this one on foot. It's about 2 km. Okayama castle has a lot to offer. Baileys, earthen embankments, trenches, moats, even some parts of ishigaki(stone foundations).)
01:03, 9 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Minakuchi Castle (On 15/05/2023, from Hinō station I took a train back in the direction of Kibukawa, but I descended at Minakuchijōnan station. From there it's a very short walk to Minakuchi castle. I went all around the site. This was actually a fortified goten(palace). The honmaru(main bailey) is now the sports space for the schools next to it. You have to go on this terrain to get to the reconstructed tower. There wasn't such tower at this location during its heyday. It is based as one of the 4 corner tower...)
17:21, 8 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (On 14/05/2023, I visited Ōmi-Hachiman. It's known for its little streets with old buildings. Since the distance from the station to this neighbourhood and the castle is about 3km, I rented a bicycle. The rental service is next to the tourist office on the Western exit of the station. For one day you pay 800¥ for a bicycle with electric assistance. They have 3 models of these bikes, and you may choose which you want to use. So, before heading to the castle, I crisscrossed the streets. At the f...)
14:51, 8 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Mikawa Kou Jin'ya (Note: have prefixed this one as Mikawa because 'Kou', though an unusual reading, references the provincial capital, 国府, making it a very common name; for clarity, this is named for the Mikawa kokufu.)
06:20, 6 June 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #1573 on Gokan Castle
07:08, 5 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Taguchi Castle (I'm glad you were able to go here, Furinkazan! It's vindicating when another jcastle contributor visits one of my contributed sites, especially in Nagano, haha.)
00:57, 5 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Kitanosho Castle (12/05/2023. I had still some time left before leaving Fukui, so I decided to go for the Kita no show, euh excuse me, the Kitanoshō castle ruins. Apart from the statues of Shibata Katsuie, his wife Oichi and her daughters, there isn't much to see of this once formidable castle. There is a shrine, dedicated to Shibata, and a small museum, where there is almost nothing to see. I found there an infomation page in English about Shibata and his castle.)
00:55, 5 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukui Castle (Once again I was kicked off, this is my new comment on this castle site.)
00:54, 5 June 2023 195.16.0.80 talk posted a new comment on Fukui Castle (On 12/05/2023, I walked to the ruins of Fukui castle from the station, where now the prefectural offices are. In 2010, the covered bridge was restored, but not the yaguramon(gate tower) behind it. The central park has also some new additions since my last visit. Due to some excavations, parts of the second moat have been discovered. In the central park, grass patches indicate were the buildings of the ninomaru goten( second bailey's palace) stood. I collected my 'next' 100 meijō stamp in the...)
00:51, 5 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Maruoka Castle (this is my new comment)
00:50, 5 June 2023 195.16.0.80 talk posted a new comment on Maruoka Castle (12/05/2023. Arriving from Fukui station at Maruoka station, I realised I had to wait 1 hour for a bus. It's about 4km to the castle, and in 2010, I walked to it. I was a little tired and was wondering if I was going to walk. A woman, next to the station, asked me if I was going to the castle. She proposed to drive me there in her car. She is a volunteer guide at the castle and spoke very well English. I could not refuse such an offer, which made me win some precious time. I wanted to offer so...)
00:46, 5 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Ueda Castle (In 2009, I visited Ueda castle, but like Komoro castle, I didn't had a good camera, no stamp of the 100 meijō. I took then about 10 pictures. Today, 11/05/2023, I took 220 photos. In the museum you're allowed to take pictures of almost all armors.)
00:44, 5 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Sanadahonjo Castle (11/05/2023. From Ueda station I took a bus from bus stop 3, bound for Sagudaira. I descended in front of the Yukimura yumekobo. The ride was 25min long for 300¥. The Yukimura yumekobo is an information centre and shop related to the Sanada family. You may rent a bicycle for free and they give you a map with the distances between each road or site. From there I went first to the history musem of the Sanada. There is a nice collection, but you're not allowed to take pictures. At the entrance, I...)
00:34, 5 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Komoro Castle (10/05/2023. After Tatsuokajō, I went to Komoro. This is the last station on the Koumi line in the opposite direction. I visited Komoro castle back in 2009. My camera of that time wasn't great and I missed the Otemon(main gate), since it is on the other side of the train tracks than the rest of the castle. I didn't had the book for the 100 meijō stamp neither. So enough reasons to go back. This time I saw the Otemon gate, I collected the stamp inside the Chokokan museum. The museum has a nice...)
00:32, 5 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Taguchi Castle (10/05/2023. I went to this castle ruin, to have a view of Tatsuokajô from above. The ruins of Taguchi castle aren't signposted. That's a pity, since I recognised some features, like earthen ramparts, dry moats and baileys. Since there aren't signs, I wasn't always sure if what I saw was indeed part of the castle. I didn't had time to explore more in detail, since there aren't a lot of trains stopping at Tatsuokajô station.)
00:27, 5 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Tatsuoka Castle (On 10/05/2023, I took a Shinkansen from Ueda station to Sakudaira. There I changed for the Koumi line. This is a small line and not a lot trains deserve it. I took the train to Tatsuokajō station. Be careful if you want to go there, because even fewer trains stop at this station. Plan accordingly. On my way to the castle of Tatsuokajō, which is one of the 2 star-shaped fortifications in Japan, I first met a remnant gate, followed by Banshōin temple, which was the place of the manor of lord Yo...)
00:06, 5 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Matsuida Castle (09/05/2023. When I finished my tour of Gokan castle, I called the taxi company and the dispatcher recognised me immediately. I went to Matsuida castle with this taxi. When I was preparing my journey, I thougt first to return to Isobe station and getting off at Nishimatsuida station. I realised that the distance is +/-1km more to Matsuida castle from Gokan castle. The ride costs 2580¥, and so I won precious time to visit this vast yamashiro. At arriving at the parking lot, there was a small sh...)
00:03, 5 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Gokan Castle (09/05/2023. After the castle of Isobe, I returned to the station. In front of it is a taxi company. Since I wanted to win some time I asked for a taxi to Gokan castle. This site is about 5km from Isobe station. I payed 1770¥ for the ride and told the driver that I'll use another taxi to go to my next destination. He announced that at his dispatching. Gokan castle is a vast yamashiro(mountain castle, with lots of very clear features. I spent 1h30 on the site. There were signs all around the pl...)
00:00, 5 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Isobe Castle (09/05/2023. After visiting Annaka, I took the train to the next station on this line, Isobe. Exiting from the station, one has to turn immediately to the right and follow the path, which becomes a street, until getting at a T-crossroad. Then look to the right and you will see a forested hill. This is Isobe castle. To get to the castle follow the main road, until you see a sign of the entrance to the castle. The castle was somewhat overgrown, but you could still figure out some features, like...)
23:54, 4 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Annaka Castle (When I saw a journey described by Eric, here on Jcastle.info, I thought I could try to do this, since the sites are related to the history of Takeda Shingen, my favourite daimyô. I so began my journey at Annaka. I first walked from the station to the old Usui county hall. When I arrived there it was still closed, but the guide, who was inside, saw me and let me in. I had a nice chat with him, since he had a good level of English. In this building is a model of Annaka castle. Of the castle the...)
23:49, 4 June 2023 195.16.0.80 talk posted a new comment on Ogawa Castle (08/05/2023. From Nagurumi castle, I walked to Ogawa castle. It's about 3km. I thought I wouldn't see a lot there, but actually, there was more to see. Sadly the second and third bailey's are now fields and housing. I saw some information panels across the road, but had no time to search for the third bailey.)
23:42, 4 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Nagurumi Castle (08/05/2023. After Numata castle, I visited this site. Since the Taiga Drama about the Sanada maru, this site benefitted from it. The baileys have been cleared and are easy to recognize due to some pavement and rails delimiting the different kuruwa. The information buiding has some nice maps and a model of the site. I took a taxi from Numata castle to this site(2850yen).)
23:24, 4 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Numata Castle (I visited this site on 08/05/2023. It's a lovely park with some castle features, like ART mentions, but otherwise there isn't that much to see.)
22:33, 4 June 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Genbao Castle (@Eric. Thanks for the compliment, but I don’t think my comments are much more detailed than yours except in making a comparison between Shibata’s choice of Genbao Castle as his HQ and Hashiba’s choice of Tagami Castle for his, and how much of the battlefield could be seen from the respective command centres. Being the original JCastle Shogun and webmaster of this great website, I know in time after a few more visits to the Lake Yogo area, you could surpass me in your knowledge and appreciatio...)
19:59, 4 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Chiba Castle (I visited this castle, on 07/0/2023, because it isn't that far from the Kasori shell mounds and I'm also interested in Jômon period sites. This mock donjon, that never existed as a real thing on this site, is a nice museum. It has a lot of artifacts inside and it kept me dry during a downpour.)
19:45, 4 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Mito Castle (06/05/2023. Since the reconstruction of the sumiyagura and the Ôtemon, I wanted to visit this site again. I wasn't disappointed at all. They did a great job on both buildings. I highly recommend a visit to this castle.)
19:39, 4 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Tsuchiura Castle (On 06/05/2023, I visited this site for a second time, since it was on my route to Mito castle. The park is well maintained and the towers and gates are in a fine condition.)
17:56, 4 June 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Ishihama Castle (I have some photos on my iPhone somewhere but I was always going to go back with a proper camera and then it must have kind of slipped my mind. Thanks for posting!!)
04:00, 4 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Ishihama Castle (Sasuga, you went there! I was a little disappointed to be honest considering all of the major castling blogs cover it. You're right about the location; it could be a river now. I visited between going from Hitachi Fuchu to the Edo Asakusa Metsuke gate ruin.)
23:23, 3 June 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Ishihama Castle (Actually I have been here many times! It was on my cycling course from Ryogoku up Sumida River. There are some nice wide cycling paths along the river after Asakusa. I never really thought about posting it here because it seemed there were no actual ruins and the history/location seemed a bit vague or dubious like "Here's the history of a castle we call Ishihama Castle, we think it was generally around this area, probably, but maybe it was the other side of the river or maybe under the river...)
23:20, 3 June 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2440 on Ishihama Castle
21:28, 3 June 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Osaka Castle (Indeed, I'll have to drop by again in better weather. I thought the windows seemed a little far from the railing to lean up against the glass but will give it a try next time! It's definitely a fantastic museum and reminds me a lot of the Edo Tokyo Museum too.)
21:14, 3 June 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Ishihama Castle (Actually I have been here many times. It was on my cycling course from Ryogoku up Sumida River. There are some nice wide cycling paths along the river after Asakusa. I actually never bothered to put it up on Jcastle because there were no proper ruins and the history is a little vague even about the location, but I guess it has a park so... ok)
17:11, 3 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Takamatsu Castle (Thanks for the perspective. And I agree: unlikely to get 100% accuracy, but even if they can't find most materials, hopefully the photos they do have will enable a fairly accurate reconstruction.)
16:01, 2 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Takamatsu Castle (They don't build 'em like Kishiwada anymore... thankfully. There was originally a shrine on the tenshudai, but it was removed to make way for the keep reconstruction. I hope they can rebuild it. They're looking for more reference materials but i think it's a little unrealistic to expect 100% accuracy given the lack of documentation. I suspect that the Hiunkaku is not too faithful a reconstruction, and it's smaller than the original sannomaru palace. It's been a listed as a cultural property b...)
13:57, 2 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Takamatsu Castle (This castle is on my Japanese castle bucket list--looks like it has some nice stone walls and moats, plus the 4 original castle structures and the rebuilt gates and covered bridge. It's also interesting that the Hiunkaku structures have been designated as Important Cultural Properties; although the current buildings were only built in the early 1900's, they are still fairly historical. A lot of the material on the castle refer to the Hiunkaku as 'rebuilt,' so I wonder how similar they are...)
10:04, 2 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Osaka Castle (I went to that museum (which I found excellent by the way) several years ago, and it did indeed have great views of the castle. As you probably noticed, all of the views are through windows, but it seems that you can generally get pictures without glare if you put your camera lense close to the windows.)
21:22, 31 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Ioto Castle (Gets a 3 for the thrill factor.)
14:58, 31 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Yumurayama Castle (Reconstructed tower added to gallery.)
13:35, 31 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Yumurayama Castle (I've started going through my latest stockpile of koushin photos, so I'll put up a picture of the new miyagura once i sort throgh my images of this site.)
10:24, 31 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kanazawa Castle (Thanks for the tips about the surviving shrine structures at Ozaki & Nakamura shrines. Though not defensive structures, it's certainly interesting that they were originally at the castle.)
10:46, 30 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Kanazawa Castle (I visited Kanazawa Castle for the second time earlier this year, and was even more impressed than I was the first time. Since my first visit in 2017, they have added the Nezumi Tamon and Nezumi Tamon Bridge. Apparently, next the Ninomaru Goten will be rebuilt! Obviously, the castle has some of the most authentically reconstructed castle buildings in Japan, with the Gojikken Nagaya and the attached turrets and gates being the star. The rebuilt gates are also wonderful. But there are als...)
09:21, 30 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Busetsu Castle (Without any solid evidence I'd take the princess in the well thing per grano salis too. Many, many castles have a similar story; if the castle is on a mountain then the womenfolk plunged off the cliff; if the castle is on gentler terrain then they drowned in the well. Almost certainly their ghosts now haunt the area. It's just the same motif people like to tell.)
07:25, 30 May 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Genbao Castle (wow, much more detailed than my commentary. I commend you for visiting this one twice. I think a lot of time would have to pass and new discoveries for me to make it out there again. I did hit a couple minor toride along the route, which is another good reason for cycling, so just be patient until those come out! Definitely I have more to see around this intriguing area.)
07:23, 30 May 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Busetsu Castle (Interesting commentary! In the recent Taiga Drama about Ieyasu, they portrayed Shingen's death as a sudden illness that made him weak and he eventually died too.)
16:25, 29 May 2023 120.23.2.93 talk posted a new comment on Busetsu Castle (Takeda Shingen was Not Shot and killed by a Sniper. Takeda Shingen's death has been reported as pulmonary tuberculosis in the Buke Jiki, and as throat or stomach cancer in the Koyo Gunkan. There's a theory that he was killed by a bullet or bullet wound, but this is generally regarded as a popular myth. In 1573, while laying siege to Noda castle in Mikawa, Shingen fell ill. A popular tradition holds that a defending sniper shot him. However, the Koyo Gunkan mentions that Shingen had been ill...)
23:33, 28 May 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Genbao Castle (It’s great to see this castle profile finally created on JCastle by Eric. It’s another one of those fantastic yamajiro ruins found in Shiga. The YouTube video certainly gives any viewer a good idea of what this mountaintop castle looks like in early spring. This is not the biggest yamajiro in Shiga / Fukui, as the castle straddles the border between these prefectures, but it is possibly the mountaintop castle in either prefecture with the best preserved earthworks. In Eric’s photos and video...)
17:23, 28 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Hirakura Castle (Probably rare to see a bear before seeing a boar; you're bound to see them eventually. I remember you were surprised i saw one at Takiyama! I've seen a variety of critters. Added an aodaisho to that list yesterday. Biggest snake in Japan, and this one demonstrated that.)
10:06, 28 May 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Matsushiro Castle (Definitely an under appreciated site. One of my favorite places to visit!)
10:05, 28 May 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Hirakura Castle (I've seen bears, plenty of kamoshika, monkeys, and tanuki, but never actually seen a boar !)
10:03, 28 May 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Osaka Castle (Kinmeisui Ido Yakata, that's something I always forget about too. I haven't been inside the keep since maybe my first visit. Have you been up in the Prefectural Museum (?) where you can get some nice photos of the castle for above? I dropped by last winter but it was too foggy to get any good pics. Osaka-jo is such a great site and totally understand how you get tired walking around. I usually end up getting stuck taking hundreds of kokuin pics until I get tired!)
14:37, 27 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Osaka Castle (I went back to Osaka Castle a couple of days ago, and spent several hours there. I always forget just how big it is--I ended up tiring myself out. This time, my mission was to check out all of the Important Cultural Properties, and I made it to all of them except for the Kinmeisui Ido Yakata... I either didn't know or forgot that you can't see it without buying a ticket for the main keep and waiting in line. There were a lot of mostly foreign tourists waiting in line and I didn't want to...)
21:47, 26 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Ikeda Castle (I visited this castle again today, for the first time in maybe 20 years. It's a really beautiful little park. As for the castle, from what I can understand from the limited literature available, there were archeological excavations there that found, in addition to some of the stones, evidence of a few locations like the well, the Koguchi Gate, the rock garden and the landscape garden. Those things are considered to be reconstructions of the original castle, though the Koguchi is not in...)
14:53, 23 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Hirakura Castle (I usually mention when I see wildlife: here a wild boar charged right past me near the main bailey. Take precautions; the mountains in these parts are wild.)
16:39, 22 May 2023 Snoworion talk contribs posted a new comment on Matsushiro Castle (This is an interesting venue to visit - not so much because of the castle but because of the quaint Samurai town. The castle was owned by the Sanada Clan and not much but the old gate and stone walls still stand. But in the town is the Sanada Treasures Museum, the former Sanada Residence, the old School for the Literary and Military Arts, the Yokota Family Residence and much more. Really stepping into this small village is like stepping back in time. As background, the Sanada Clan produced...)
10:48, 21 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Hirosaki Castle (I hear you. I also have conceptualised Genson Tenshu PLUS, with the + being all of the excellent reconstructions from the Heisei period: Ohzu, Komine, Shiroishi, Kakegawa, and Shibata (also referred to as a yagura).)
15:55, 20 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Hirosaki Castle (Good question. I've heard contradictory accounts of whether the main keep is just a repurposed yagura or whether it was really significantly rebuilt as a main keep. In the former case, I'd personally vote for still counting it as a main keep just on the basis of it being *used* as a main keep (the difference between yagura and main keeps seem to mostly be of purpose: for example, some of the yagura of Kumamoto Castle are larger than small main keeps). But, in that case, we'd probably have...)
12:50, 20 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Funai Castle (Reading about this castle a little more, it seems that the castle was mostly destroyed in 1743 by fire, including the main keep. The main keep was never rebuilt, but the castle was partially reconstructed in the late Edo period, including the two turrets mentioned below. A number of the remaining buildings were destroyed in WWII air raids, leaving only the walls, moats and the Hitojichi and Shumon yaguras. Also as mentioned below, the other 5 structures on the site were rebuilt post-war....)
00:00, 20 May 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukuyama Castle (It's scheduled for a breather in late June :))
14:48, 19 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Oomizo Castle (I visited Takashima with my kids a few years ago, and we stumbled on the ruins of the main keep foundation. As shown in the picture above, there really isn't much to see here besides the overgrown stones of the tenshu foundation, with only the stairs being in semi-reasonable shape. It does have a certain atmosphere, though. I wouldn't recommend anyone going out of their way to see it, but since a lot of people like to come to Takashima to see the floating shrine Shirahige Jinja, it's worth...)
04:56, 16 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukuyama Castle (Shall I add some fresh pictures or is that something the webmaster wants to pop down and do this summer? : p There's also a big chunk of ishigaki / gate ruin under the shinkansen tracks.)
17:47, 15 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Sumoto Castle (You're alive too though, right?)
04:12, 15 May 2023 146.75.154.77 talk posted a new comment on Sumoto Castle (My mom is the last living relative of the Inada clan believe it or not)
22:57, 14 May 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Nochiseyama Castle (ART, thanks for adding some photos and a comment to enhance this castle profile, so Jcastle users wanting to go to this castle can get a better idea of what to expect and plan for on their visit. You have certainly explored this castle ruin more thoroughly than I did when I went nearly a decade ago. I guess this is another castle ruin that I will have to re-visit. No worries, I love re-visiting castles as that is the best way to fully appreciate castles and castle ruins.)
22:55, 14 May 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (ART, if you mean seeing almost all of the ishigaki on top of the mountain by following the established trails to see the ishigaki of all of the Honmaru, parts of the Ninomaru, the Kitanomaru, the Nishinomaru, and the Demaru on a “casual visit”, then I don’t think most people would opt for an “ART-type visit of unmolested ishigaki”. Some of these well-trodden walking paths take you down to below the Kitanomaru, Nishinomaru, and Demaru, so you can look up at the stone walls and not just merely...)
22:52, 14 May 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Osaka Castle (Matthew, it’s great to come across another castle fan who loves re-visiting castles. I’ve been to Osaka Castle a similar number of times as you. What you have written pretty much echoes my experience with this castle. For my first few visits, I had been disappointed in the reconstructed concrete keep and its lack of authentic interior, but then I realised, as you have noted in your comment below, what makes Osaka Castle a top castle to visit are all its other features like the massive stone w...)
22:47, 14 May 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Chinen Castle (No worries, Matthew. Nakijin and Nakagusuku castles are superb examples of Ryukyuan gusukus to visit. Actually, the latter is my favourite out of all the gusukus that I have visited in Okinawa. It would be great if you could post some comments about them based on your visits as I reckon other castle fans who want to visit gusukus in Okinawa will benefit from your insight and experience visiting these fortresses. I reckon the more comments there are about a particular castle on JCastle, the mo...)
18:34, 14 May 2023 31.51.63.64 talk posted a new comment on Fukuyama Castle (This castle repays several visits at various times of day. (Times used are during springtime). The gate at the side is open from 6am but I found it was actually opened at 5:30am. The castle is great for early morning pictures and sunset pictures. Some people exercise in front of the keep in the early morning, (around 6 am onwards). The sunrise is mostly hidden by tall buildings near the castle, but the early morning colours are great giving you some nice pictures of the yagura and keep. Sunse...)
13:42, 8 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Nochiseyama Castle (The lead picture does not represent the masonry at this site, so I’ve added pictures of the main bailey ishigaki as seen from without, and other features to the gallery.)
10:32, 8 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Chinen Castle (Thanks for the perspective! I've been to Nakijin and Nakagusuku castles too, and I noticed the great arched gateways.)
06:30, 8 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (It requires more effort than a casual visit to see many of the least molested segments of ishigaki at the top of the castle mount because the walking paths go along the top of the ramparts with the stone work off the path below.)
06:25, 8 May 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Ozu Castle (Great review! Did you see any samurai homes (bukeyashiki) in the castle town or were they more merchant type buildings? Admittedly I was not into bukeyahsiki at the time when I put this profile together so I did not look myself.)
06:20, 8 May 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Akashi Castle (In this case, the gate was at this location as the gate to a samurai home (bukeyashiki). It is thought to have been moved here from another castle, Funage Castle. All in all, this is one castle I should probably revisit and update this profile accordingly. I think they have cleared a lot of trees around the stone walls making them easier to see since 2009 as well.)
23:07, 7 May 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Matsuo Castle (Mino) (I went to this castle ruin back in 2014 when I visited many of the locations around the Sekigahara Battlefield. Even back then, it was easy to get up to and down from this yamajiro as the lower part of the trail is basically a fire trail before one takes a turn into a well-maintained path leading up to the main bailey of this castle. Matsuoyama Castle has a lot of earthworks remaining including ditches, earthen ramparts, and sites of gate ruins. Four of the photos on this profile clearly sho...)
23:03, 7 May 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (G’day Matthew. It’s great that you have been to this much underrated yamajiro in Shiga twice. Not many castle fans will visit this castle ruin once let alone twice as it is overlooked by many tourists who tend to visit its more famous cousins nearby, namely Azuchi Castle and Hikone Castle. I wonder when you visited this castle ruin. The best time to see the ishigaki (stone walls) unobstructed by the trees is in winter when all the leaves are gone from the deciduous trees that surround the bai...)
22:55, 7 May 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Chinen Castle (It’s great that another castle fan has made it to this relatively little-known gusuku in Okinawa. It’s certainly a nice little castle ruin to visit and a contrast to the bigger five UNESCO World Heritage listed castles also profiled here on JCastle. The wooden frames in the gates at Chinen Castle aren’t original but are used to shore them up to prevent them from collapsing. At other gusukus such as Zakimi Castle and Nakagusuku Castle, you will see similar arched gateways without the wooden fr...)
22:17, 5 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Akashi Castle (I visited Akashi Castle for the second time today, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The Tatsumi Yagura was open and I got to go inside, though as noted before, only the first level is open to the public. Still, it was not surprisingly pretty authentic inside, and had some good views of the rest of the castle. I think I was most impressed by the stone walls--there were more than I remembered, especially in the main front area of the castle, where the turrets are, along with some good foundations...)
08:23, 3 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Osaka Castle (Wise comments, Mr Ward! I also give this castle top marks. The 1931 reconstructed concrete donjon is actually meant to be modelled on Toyotomi's Osaka Castle rather than the Edo period one, believe it or not (though the design has proto-modern rather than medieval elements!). Really it's not much like either historic keep, but has a few elements of both. It's really its own creature. Btw, if you have FB and keep any photos, we'd love to see them on the 'Japanese Castles' group there.)
08:16, 3 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (I think the ishigaki on the mount is impressive, and there's likely more than you saw, because it took me a lot of work to see what i did, but it's just marred in some places. That said, i'm super glad our comments offered some insight. The kyokan area i can definitely recommend if you happen to revisit Hachiman.)
10:44, 2 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukuoka Castle (I haven't been to this castle yet, but from reading about it, it seems that there are several original yagura and gates left. A few of the yagura seem to have been moved and then relocated back to the castle fairly recently. The status of the Shimonohashi Otemon Gate pictured above is a little unclear to me: it was the victim of arson in the year 2000, but my poor Japanese reading can't quite tell whether it was completely destroyed and reconstructed or demaged and repaired. For what it...)
10:27, 2 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Ozu Castle (I went to Ozu Castle last fall (2022) on my Shikoku castle tour. Of course, the main attraction is the combined structure of the beautifully restored main keep and the two original yagura: Koran Yagura and Daidokoro Yagura. It's an incredible structure, and I wish I could afford to stay overnight in the main keep (it's not cheap!). There are some nice displays on how the main keep was restored: so nice that they found a model of it, in addition to pictures of the original main keep. It'...)
13:03, 1 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Osaka Castle (I've been to Osaka Castle more times than any other castle, possibly a dozen times, and I have come to appreciate it more and more. I totally agree with the comments above that going straight to the main keep often leaves people disappointed. I think my first few times I was really impressed when I passed the awesome moats, stone walls, gates and turrets, but then entered the main keep and was disappointed by how little historical atmosphere it had. Big mistake, because all the other stuff...)
12:45, 1 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (I've been to the mountaintop ruins twice. I'm not going to rate them because by reading the comments below, I've realized that there is a lot more to the castle than just the ishigaki on the mountain. I agree that the ishigaki on the mountain are not very impressive, but it's good to hear that there is a lot more to the castle. For what it's worth, Omi Hachiman itself is a fantastic historical town, and highly recommended.)
12:34, 1 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Chinen Castle (This is a pleasant little castle, and a nice introduction to the Okinawan gusuku style, with those nice curved stone walls. I also liked the gate shown in the pictures above: no idea of whether the wooden parts are original, but I've noticed that even with only the stone parts remaining, these Okinawan castle gates are pretty substantial. Of course, if you really want to see much larger ruins like this, it's best to check out the big gusuku ruins jointly registered as a World Heritage Site.)
13:29, 30 April 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Kochi Castle (I finally visited Kochi Castle last August--I took a 5 castle trip through Shikoku with my son, seeing Uwajima, Otsu, Matsuyama (2nd time), Marugame (2nd time) and Kochi. I was really impressed! The highlight, of course, is the totally complete honmaru with all of its lovely buildings intact. For that alone, I think it easily ranks in the top 10 best castles of Japan. But it also has a pretty good collection of ishigaki, and the gate complex at the entrance is also wonderful. Easy 5 star...)
22:51, 29 April 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Nakaara Castle (Just don't maul the kind tourists please !)
22:51, 29 April 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2386 on Nakaara Castle
22:50, 29 April 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Nakaara Castle (Just don't maul the kind tourists please !)
14:33, 29 April 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Funai Castle (I was reading about this castle from a few sources earlier today, and it seems that two of the yagura, the Hitojichi Yagura and the Shumon Yagura are technically original, albeit not particularly ancient. One was rebuilt in 1859 and the other in 1861. As for the modern reconstructions, the Ote gate was rebuilt in 1965 with 3 other turrets, and the Rokabashi in 1996. All in all, sounds like a fairly extensive little site.)
14:16, 29 April 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Yamato Koriyama Castle (I went to this castle early this month (April 2023), during the castle festival. Really excellent place that I had never heard of till recently (I only found out about it because I noticed that my wife had a Kansai castle walk guidebook). But the ruins of the stone walls and moats are pretty grand and often dramatic. The rebuilt wooden bridge over the inner moat (quite a nice structure in itself) presents an especially great view. The rebuilt yagura and Ote gate are also nice and look aut...)
10:29, 26 April 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Nakaara Castle (Shame it looks good only on paper. Ah, to be a bear and eat kaki in the woods at castle ruins. I'm jealous of that bear.)
20:46, 24 April 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #512 on Tatsuno Castle
20:46, 24 April 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #515 on Tatsuno Castle
13:36, 19 April 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kokokuji Castle (Kōkokujijō is an earthworks castle ruin which is on the widely regarded list of top castles (‘Next Top 100’), so I figured I’d go. I wasn’t expecting much but the site impressed me. The extent of extant remains is not so vast, and most of the area of the castle is made up of a series of terraces, but the central fortified area is unique. The dorui (earthen ramparts) at Kōkokujijō are huge! Of some of the largest I’ve seen, and probably the tallest I’ve ever seen when viewed from within the ma...)
13:33, 19 April 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kazurayama Castle (Kazurayamajō is a good beginner level yamajiro (mountaintop castle). It’s not so high up, being accessed via a stairway leading from the necropolis of Sennenji, and it is very well maintained with signposted ruins which are easy to appreciate. The ruins are chiefly earthworks, and features include kuruwa (baileys), obikuruwa (ringing baileys), horikiri (trenches), tatebori (climbing moats) and dorui (earthen ramparts). Kazurayamajō is essentially a large single bailey complex, though a seco...)
13:29, 19 April 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Nagakubo Castle (Nagakubojō is an earthworks castle ruin. The remains of Nagakubojō can be found at the Jōyama Shrine. These earthworks, principally dorui (earthen ramparts), are all that remains of what was once quite a large medieval fort. The ruins actually represent one of Nagakubojō’s outer baileys, and not the central compound; one might imagine that the ruins used to be quite impressive then, but eventually they were developed over and are now destroyed or buried.)
09:25, 19 April 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Obama Castle (‘Obama’ is pronounced in Japanese as ‘O-ba-ma’ and not ‘oh-BAH-muh’. I wondered if I would find any references to a certain US president in the town, since I remembered the town being in the news when the 44th president was inaugurated, but I didn’t (although I did once find a gigantic sand sculpture of Trump besides crying Amerindians in Tottori). There was much more to see of Obamajō than I expected. The ishigaki (stone-piled ramparts) here fully ensconce the main bailey, now the site of...)
09:09, 19 April 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Tsuruga Castle (A fairly complete profile by my standards; I've added co-ords because it can be difficult to know where everything is, and I had to do a lot of searching on the web. There is a little drawing of a castle tower on the signboard next to the school. I don't know where the tenshu was located, but presumably where the temple now is. The site of the daikansho is given as the school, and the site of the castle at the temple, but I have treated them as a single site in this profile.)
17:17, 16 April 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #1963 on Tsuwano Castle
09:41, 16 April 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2377 on Kazurayama Yakata
09:39, 16 April 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Kazurayama Yakata (test)
15:23, 11 April 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Yamanaka Castle (Mikawa) (Yamanaka Castle is an earthworks fortification ruin situated on a hill between the Maigi and Haguri townships in Okazaki Municipality. Chris Glenn introduced this site to our group, citing it as one of the largest mountaintop castle sites in Aichi Prefecture. It’s nowhere near in scale to large sites I’ve visited in Nagano, such as Haibara or Kibune castles (the latter is virtually unknown), or Niigata, such as Kasugayama (well known) or Nechi (not so well known) castles, and it only took me...)
08:16, 6 April 2023 119.241.59.34 talk posted a new comment on Wakayama Castle (Besides the Okaguchi Gate, which is the other original gate?)
20:09, 3 April 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kazurayama Castle (I wrote the following about the yakata site: Kazurayama-yakata (Kazurayama, Susono, Shizuoka) 　葛山館［静岡県裾野市葛山］ Kazurayama-yakata is a fortified manor hall site. Since it is located in the plain beneath Kazurayamajō, one might expect this to be the usual combination of a fortified residence and mountain redoubt, but it seems that Kazurayamajō was not built until Kazurayama-yakata was abandoned. Instead of being the kyokan (residential area) for Kazurayamajō, Kazurayama-yakata was replaced by...)
21:42, 2 April 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Shuri Castle (Absolutely, Eric. That’s why I do multiple revisits for many of the castles that I have visited. It’s quite easy to clock up an impressive tally of unique castle visits, but it is much more satisfying to have explored and appreciated a castle site properly even if it means going back for multiple visits. Also, there are some good restaurants near Shuri Castle for Okinawan food. If you add in Wolfbrau for some good German beer available on tap or in bottles, going to Shuri Castle for a visit...)
21:29, 2 April 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Shimashi Ozato Castle (Hehehe…golfing. No, I was not out on the putt-putt course but rather spent nearly 40 minutes under shelter next to it waiting for a thunderstorm to pass over the area, so I probably should have said that I spent nearly 3 hours on site in my earlier comment. The miniature golf course is outside the original castle grounds, possibly on the site of some farmland just outside the castle. The closest part of the putt-putt golf course is near the eastern side of the outer bailey. This area is hea...)
08:44, 2 April 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Shuri Castle (Like any good or great castle, your appreciation increases with the number of visits !)
08:42, 2 April 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Shimashi Ozato Castle (3.5 hours? You certainly must have taken in everything. Are you sure you weren't spending time on that Ozata Castle golf course? Just kidding, but seriously, did the gold course eat up a chunk of the original castle?)
22:45, 1 April 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Shimashi Ozato Castle (I posted my previous comment below based on my first visit to this castle ruin during Golden Week in May 2022. After posting that comment, I decided that I had to revisit this magnificent gusuku ruin. I rushed my previous visit, so this time round in late March 2023, I spent a much more leisurely 3.5 hours on site including checking out the site of the former castle town, which is now a residential area. In some places, there are some nuno-zumi and nozura-zumi styled stone walls around peopl...)
22:37, 1 April 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Shuri Castle (I never get tired of revisiting this premier gusuku in Okinawa. I went to this castle again last week. Much of Shuri Castle was reconstructed after it was mostly obliterated during the Battle of Okinawa during WWII, but if you know where to look, it is possible to find traces of the original stone walls. The original ishigaki look much more weathered and have a slightly different hue to the reconstructed sections, most of which were done in the 1990s. The same thing applies to some of the sto...)
22:29, 1 April 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Urasoe Castle (I revisited this castle ruin last week. It was my sixth visit to this castle ruin. I mainly wanted to see if all that excavated ishigaki have been covered up by protective tarpaulin or not. When I was in Okinawa a few months ago during post-Christmas / New Year period, a whole section of the recently excavated ishigaki on the southern side of the castle was deliberately left uncovered until 6th January because of public interest. We were told this by the staff at the Urasoe Gusuku and Youdore...)
22:26, 1 April 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Nakijin Castle (I revisited this castle last week. On my first visit here in late December 2021 (see my previous comment below), the Shijimajo Bailey was off limits as some restoration work was being done at the time. There is a great view of the Main Bailey’s stone walls (ishigaki)looking up from the Shijimajo Bailey. One section of the stone wall has obviously been repaired recently as a whole section of the wall has much newer stones than most of the wall. Checking the photos from my first visit in Decemb...)
16:13, 21 March 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukushima Castle (I first came here in the morning before sitting the JLPT exam. ...So the day wasn't a total waste!)
08:31, 19 March 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (Thanks, Raymond. Would love to join you and Eric in an assault there. My impression of the northern outer ruins of the castle was that they were built at an earlier stage in the castle's history? And perhaps not refortified in the Momoyama period.)
21:52, 18 March 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (Good on you for posting an updated and near-comprehensive review of Omi-Hachiman Castle based on your second visit to this yamajiro. >ART wrote: It might be said that a fourth part of the castle consists of some rudimentary earthworks defences along the ridge to the north of the castle, including a horikiri (trench) and some flattened areas. I totally agree with your assessment here as there are clear earthwork remnants. Not many castle fans go to or notice this part of Omi-Hachiman Castle....)
03:49, 16 March 2023 24.182.232.254 talk posted a new comment on Gifu Castle (oops I meant to say what it was made out of and is it still standing or open to public.)
03:46, 16 March 2023 24.182.232.254 talk posted a new comment on Gifu Castle (needs a little stuff on the fashion of Japan)
08:35, 14 March 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (I'll add it to the list for this fall! Hoping for some nice Koyo too :))
07:07, 14 March 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Edo Castle (yeah, I love the design here. Shimizu Gate is my favorite hidden gem in Edo Castle. The places with walls strategically have no walls to fire from other locations and not provide something for attackers to hide behind. They may also fall into the moat ! :))
06:21, 14 March 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (Part 2, Kyokan (Lord's Residence Area) I came down from the mountaintop castle ruins via the ruins of Kitanoshōjō, and moved onto the kyokan area of Ōmi-Hachimanjō from the town rather than retrace my steps, though it is possible to go down to the kyokan via the castle's demaru. The kyokan, the site of the residence of Toyotomi Hidetsugu, one of the Sengoku period's more tragic figures, is now ruins, but what impressive ruins they are! The site is disguised as a mere local park, but it is in...)
06:18, 14 March 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (Right then! ART's updated travelogue for this site: My second visit to Ōmi-Hachimanjō was much more rewarding than my first whay back in 2016. My exploration of the site was near exhaustive, practical limitations considered. Ōmi-Hachimanjō is vast when one appreciates that it is essentially a castle in three parts. The first part is the yamajiro (mountaintop castle), which is the centre of the castle. The second part is so neglected by most visitors to the town so as to be almost a secret,...)
06:15, 14 March 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (Haha, I was fairly green six years ago, but I'm glad you visited that temple. I remember being quite struck by it. For me it was a realisation moment: temples have some pretty sweet ishigaki too. Of course, the castle is older and more extensive. I also visited the Hidetsugu residence site on my more recent visit to Hachiman. I'll update my comments as promised now.)
06:01, 14 March 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Nagahara Castle (No, thank you!)
23:02, 13 March 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #1707 on Edo Castle
23:02, 13 March 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #1708 on Edo Castle
21:03, 12 March 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (@Eric. It might be time for the JCastle website owner to revisit this yamajiro ruin and update it with newer and more extensive photos of this highly enjoyable mountaintop castle ruin with extensive stone walls.)
20:59, 12 March 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (I know Omi-Hachiman Castle’s stone walls around the Honmaru have been marred by some modern pipes and one section of the Honmaru walls is reinforced with concrete. That is certainly unsightly but so are modern pipes running down the sides of some ishigaki at many other castles such as Hikone Castle, Himeji Castle, Nagoya Castle, and Osaka Castle. There are many more baileys at Omi-Hachiman Castle which have unmarred stone walls such as the Western Bailey, Northern Bailey, and the Demaru Baile...)
20:49, 12 March 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Ohtsu Castle (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...)
20:43, 12 March 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Ibako Castle (I have ridden past these rice fields on a bicycle after visiting Iba Castle Ruin, and there is absolutely no trace of Ibako Castle at all. If a castle fan has oodles of free time to kill in the Notogawa area, and you have already visited Sasou Castle, Iba Castle, and Iba Palace, all sites with some extant ruins, try going a bit further north to JR Kawase Station (two train stops away) and then head to Yamazakiyama Castle, an Oda Nobunaga castle built at around the same time as Azuchi Castle....)
20:37, 12 March 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Mikawa Yamanaka Castle (It’s good to see this castle profile up on JCastle. Thanks for putting this up. Now I can see what I have missed by opting to go to Ganryakuji Castle instead. I had only enough time and daylight to visit one of them after visiting some other castles on the same day, so I chose Ganryukuji Castle because Yamanaka Castle had looked more overgrown based on photos that I saw back in 2015. Ganryukuji Castle is located on the same Meiden railway line as Yamanaka Castle, just a few train stations awa...)
20:34, 12 March 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Wakayama Castle (@Eric. You can literally spend a whole day at this castle if you go back for a slow revisit. There are kokuins all over the place. If you do go for a revisit, make sure you drop by the Wakayama Prefectural Museum. There is a detailed model of Tedori Castle inside this museum. I have also posted a comment about this on the Tedori Castle profile.)
20:28, 12 March 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Tedori Castle (There is a very detailed model of what this castle looks like during the Sengoku Period in the Wakayama Prefectural Museum.)
20:27, 12 March 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Kameyama Castle (Kii) (Visiting this yamajiro is the icing on the cake after going to Tedori Castle. As Tedori Castle takes a lot of time to get to unless you happen to live in Wakayama, it’s always nice to get in an extra castle ruin on the same day for the effort expended in getting to this part of Wakayama Prefecture. There are some clear earthwork remnants at this castle ruin as shown by the photos that Eric has put up. As mentioned in the profile, there are only four of the baileys at the top of the mountain w...)
20:15, 12 March 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Shimashi Ozato Castle (This Ryukyuan gusuku ruin way exceeded my expectations. I had expected just some collapsed stone walls, but the amount of stone wall remnants remaining is quite impressive as is the size of this Ryukyuan fortress. My wife and spent nearly 90 minutes on site exploring its stone wall ruins and multiple shrines located in and around the castle, but I reckon we could have done with another 30 minutes as there were a lot of ruins to see and photograph.)
18:23, 12 March 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Nagahara Castle (ART, I have uploaded five photos showing the interior of Nagahara Goten ruin. Thanks for letting me add photos to your profile.)
04:11, 12 March 2023 177.185.248.248 talk posted a new comment on Matsushiro Castle (Nice review and precious tips!)
06:28, 8 March 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Murai Koya Castle (I revisited here. There may some scant remains after all. Will update shortly.)
10:40, 7 March 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Ashigara Castle (Okay! Friends, lol. The treasure hunt sounds fun^^)
10:31, 7 March 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Kitanosho Castle (In replying to Eric: Yes, I had noticed you shifting to province names recently! I'll switch to putting domain or other names in brackets where appropriate. I've gone through and done that for Shiga already. I'll standardise my other profiles across the website at some point (except for Shinano and Kai because that's too much - for now). I'll avoid obscure district names if possible. As I mentioned to you, there are districts with the same names throughout several provinces, and there is al...)
21:24, 6 March 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Ashigara Castle (Maybe I should go back to my photo archives and renew this profile. I know I have a lot more photos too but in 2010 I needed to be much more rigorous with how many photos to add for server space! (no, not quite the dark ages, Friends was already long over....). We actually went here on one of those early days GPS phone "find the treasure" games that was some popular thing back then. There was some hidden trinket in a plastic box hidden in the roots of a tree in one of the baileys!)
21:22, 6 March 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2339 on Ashigara Castle
21:22, 6 March 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Ashigara Castle (Yes, maybe I should renew this profile. I have a lot more photos too but in 2010 I needed to be much more rigorous with how many photos to add for server space! (no, not quite the dark ages, Friends was already long over....))
21:20, 6 March 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Ashigara Castle (That's the main reason I went too! Unfortunately..... you see the results above.)
21:15, 6 March 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Tedori Castle (Wakayama is just not often on my radar so I'm glad I could add this site on a great recommendation. This was a great little site so it was nice to find an accessible and enjoyable mountaintop castle in Wakayama for a day trip. Nearby Kameyama Castle (Kii) makes a nice one to visit too once you know the history of these 2 sites. Though it is not often obvious from the profiles I like to combine historically relevant or interesting sites into one trip. It just so happens that in this case t...)
21:12, 6 March 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Kozutsumi Castle (OK, you've both convinced me. I'll put it on the list for fall 2023. I'll research and document everything with dozens of pictures for future travelers ! :))
21:06, 6 March 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Himeji Castle (I totally missed the key/lock mechanism and the writing on the pillars. Argh! Despite the castle being very crowded on a Saturday the special exhibit area hard hardly any people in it. Maybe because the entrance was around the side and you might not notice it if you were just face forward to storm the keep.)
21:01, 6 March 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Kitanosho Castle (I'm honestly at a loss for what to do with all the similarly named castles too. I'm not too hung up on precise naming conventions for prefectures/domain names, I just prefer them in parens ( ) after the name so it is easier to identify in an alphabetical list. Whether it's a domain or prefecture is up to you. I preferred prefecture originally because my thinking is that most "normal" foreign born castle go'ers who are likely to use this site won't know the domain names, but domain is growing...)
20:46, 6 March 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Wakayama Castle (6hrs! Kokuin! Oh my. I think I need to revisit this one....)
09:27, 6 March 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Kitanosho Castle (Well, I have my own reasons for choosing where to go, but I'm anyway happy to leave the other, more better known sites to you and Eric ^ ^)
09:21, 6 March 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Nagahara Castle (I have no plans to revisit anytime soon.)
22:36, 5 March 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Nagahara Castle (ART, if you are going to re-visit Nagahara Goten this year, you should upload your photos from your upcoming second visit as this your castle profile. However, if you aren’t planning to re-visit Nagahara Goten, I can upload a few of my photos of the interior of this site.)
21:55, 5 March 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Wakayama Castle (I visited this castle again last month after previously visiting it in 2012. In past visits to Wakayama Castle, I had insufficiently researched and under-appreciated this castle. Wakayama Castle can be deceptively simple as many visitors tended to visit only parts of the castles and be impressed by some of its high stone walls but underwhelmed by the reconstructed concrete castle keep (despite its decent museum and collection of samurai armour.) Furinkazan mentioned in his comment below about...)
21:47, 5 March 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Kitanosho Castle (@ART. No worries about the feedback. I think the massive amount of work that you have done on JCastle has helped raised the interest in Japanese castles by bringing to Japanese castle fans’ attention some of the little-known castle ruins in Shiga and other prefectures. You certainly deserve kudos for that. However, for your Shiga castle profiles I have noticed you tended to go for some very minor sites with very little or no ruins before having visited and written about the more “major” castl...)
11:10, 3 March 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Wada Yakata (Kanzaki) (Kanzaki here refers to the historic district to distinguish this site from the Wada joukan in Kouka.)
11:09, 3 March 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Aoki Castle (Sakata) (Sakata here refers to the historic district to distinguish it from Aoki Caste in Koka / Koga.)
10:55, 3 March 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Iwakura Castle (I've removed 'Yasu' from the profile name. There are other castles called 'Iwakura' knocking around, but this one is decent enough. It might also be called 'Omi Iwakura Castle' to distinguish in future.)
10:51, 3 March 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Edo Castle (Thanks! I want to highlight this profile along with the kokuin gallery on the FB group at some point.)
12:39, 28 February 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Kitanosho Castle (Naming conventions vary greatly across jcastle.info. There are no clear rules, and many inconsistencies. Different users also employ different conventions, it seems (I thought that added to the site’s character, haha). The webmaster has used both province and district names. Sometimes province names come first, particularly if the site is often referred to as such in Japanese (the ‘Matsuyama’ castles, for example, or ‘Aizu Wakamatsu Castle’). Sometimes the province is given in brackets after...)
10:30, 28 February 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Nagahara Castle (It looked like there might some work going on, or that the site was being used for something like a lumber yard within, and there were some workies around, so, given the barriers, I did not go into the interior. But thank you for clarifying that the site is open to the public. Feel free, by all means, to add to the gallery for this profile.)
22:51, 26 February 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Himeji Castle (My wife and I went to Himeji Castle recently to check out the Hishimon (Water Chestnut Gate), a gatehouse which apparently is open to the public for the first time ever and only for a limited time (until 12th March 2023.) We had a chat with one of the volunteer guides in the gatehouse, who pointed out some writing in black on some the ceiling beams to us. They were written by carpenters during the restoration done in the Showa Period, which was completed in 1964. There were other features tha...)
22:48, 26 February 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Kitanosho Castle (Good on you for changing the name to Omi-Kitanosho Castle from Gamo-Kitanosho Castle. It makes a lot more sense utilizing the old provincial name for Shiga Prefecture instead of a local district name, given its location next to Omi-Hachiman Castle. I can see your logic in adding a prefix with the old district name to catalogue castle sites on JCastle, but some of those names are no longer in use or hardly known by people who live outside those districts. Also, I reckon you wouldn’t have this...)
22:45, 26 February 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Kozutsumi Castle (So, this highly enjoyable but little-known gem of a yamajiro has finally been discovered by another JCastle fan. I’ve been telling the website owner, Eric, for years how amazing this mountaintop castle is. Well, it looks like you with / without him finally made it to this impressive castle ruin in Shiga. In the notes about the castle that you have described accurately how the main bailey is tucked a bit down mountain, surrounded by higher and protective baileys, unlike the usual design for a...)
22:42, 26 February 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Nagahara Castle (Glad to see this fortified palace profile up on JCastle. Thanks for creating the profile, ART. As you have mentioned, the Nagahara Goten Shoin is at Ashiura-Kannonji, a fortified temple with some nice ishigaki and a wooden gate. However, it is rarely open to the public, so I haven’t been able to get in and see the relocated building from Nagahara Goten yet. ART, if you have any photos of the inside of Nagahara Goten ruin, you should upload them here. You can easily see three of the four sid...)
22:40, 26 February 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Tedori Castle (I’m glad to see that Eric has put up this mountaintop castle profile. There aren’t many castle profiles for Wakayama Prefecture, not because there aren’t many castles and castle ruins in Wakayama, but because it is so time-consuming to get them. Well, Tedori Castle is absolutely worth the effort. As Eric’s photos has shown here, this yamajiro is chock full of the earthwork features that castle fans love seeing such as baileys, horikiris (ditches), tateboris (ditches cut running vertically dow...)
22:34, 26 February 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Kimura Castle (The ruins of Azuchi Port are overlooked by most people when they visit Azuchi Castle. As Eric’s photos have shown here, there are some extant stone walls and canals to be seen. Even though I have been to the site of Kimura Castle a few times in my exploration of Azuchi Port, I have not included it on my list of castles and castle ruins visited for the simple reason there are absolutely no castle ruins left from the days when the Rokkaku Clan ruled this region.)
05:57, 20 February 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Yamazaki Castle (I'll need to revisit... with, erm, a map next tiime!)
16:53, 19 February 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Hikone Castle (The Hikone Castle profile and the associated sections about the castle town must be the most comprehensive source of information in English about Hikone Castle and the historical buildings from the former castle town. This collection of short articles is even more detailed and informative than many Hikone Castle websites in Japanese that I’ve come across. Eric, this is quite an achievement and thanks very much for putting in lots of hard yakka to get all this information under one roof for ca...)
16:48, 19 February 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Kamaha Castle (Eric, thanks for adding this detailed castle profile to your JCastle website and bringing it to the attention of the expat Jcastle fan community. It is one of the many little-known castle gems in Shiga that some castle fans don’t know about. Your castle profile is superb and covers many things that I have read about the castle and heard from a volunteer guide at the museum. We often think that the Nakasendo just ran through the valley floor, but Kamaha Castle was built astride the older trail...)
16:42, 19 February 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Minakuchi Castle (Good work on adding many more photos of this castle on JCastle. It’s been years since my previous visits, so perhaps I’m due for another re-visit. There are still a few castle ruins in the area that I haven’t visited yet. As always, there are too many castles and too little free time.)
16:40, 19 February 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Hoshigasaki Castle (I’ve been to this little-known yamajiro ruin a few times, including one visit where I hiked from Hoshigaki Castle via Mt. Kagami across to Kotsuzumishiroyama Castle passing Iwakura Castle on the way. If a castle fan does this, it makes for a good combo of visiting several castle ruins and getting in an easy bushwalk for a few hours. The trail to Mt Kagami leads out from that dobashi-like trail heading away from Hoshigasaki Castle in one of your photos. Along the way up to Mt Kagami, there are...)
16:37, 19 February 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Yamazaki Castle (Looking at your photos, it looks like the ishigaki remnants up at the upper part of the castle near the well has crumpled a lot more since my visits back in 2011 and 2012. Did you get a photo of Koguchi b? It was already fairly overgrown a decade ago when I visited, but sometimes castle ruins get spiffed up. Alternatively, it might decay some more and become hidden in even more undergrowth. There isn’t a lot to see at this castle ruin when compared to other yamajiro ruins in Kyoto, Osaka, and...)
16:33, 19 February 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Shuuchi Castle (It’s good to see this mountaintop castle profile up on JCastle. Great photos as always. This yamajiro stands out in my mind not because of its extant ishigaki but rather for my first 10 minutes on site when my wife and I came across three snakes including one that just didn’t want to slither away. Unlike you, we went on ANZAC Day nearly 8 years ago and not in prime yamajiro-hunting season during the colder months. My wife and I didn’t know there was an outlying fort which protected the wester...)
17:24, 2 February 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Tsukui Castle (Tsukuijō is a castle site in two or three parts. There are the terraces at the foot of the castle mount which constituted the castle’s kyokan (residential area). These are located over a medieval-style bridge across a deep creek. On the other side of the creek where there are park facilities and a parking area there is also some terracing of the hillside; a latter day daikansho (feudal administrative centre) was located here after the abandonment of the medieval castle. The main area of Tsu...)
00:38, 1 February 2023 AnneMcL talk contribs posted a new comment on Ishinomaki Castle (Thank you!)
13:34, 31 January 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Ishinomaki Castle (Well done with the detailed profile!)
15:31, 23 January 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Tsutsujigasaki Palace (Tsutsujiǵasaki-yakata, the castellated residence of three generations of the Takeda Clan - Nobutora, Shingen, Katsuyori - has many outer ruins. In recent years one portion in the south which was formerly built over with housing has been reclaimed and preserved as a park. This is the Baiō Bailey. There is dorui (earthen ramparts), mizubori (a moat) and even some ishigaki (stone-piled masonry) here, as well as explanation panels and some other ruins. It's worth coming through here on the way t...)
15:31, 23 January 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Yumurayama Castle (Yumurayamajō is a Sengoku period yamajiro (mountaintop castle) site overlooking Yumura, an onsen neighbourhood in Kōfu. Ruins include earthworks and some bits of old masonry. I had been prepared to be disappointed in one aspect coming because I knew that there was once a reconstructed miyagura (watchtower) built here but that it had been torn down after becoming dilapidated. However, much to my delight, I found a completely new miyagura there in its place! The new miyagura was constructed at...)
15:06, 23 January 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Ashigara Castle (There's a few more baileys further down, but what's interesting is that the karabori get wider the further down one goes! I wrote about this site: 'Ashigarajō is an earthworks fort site straddling a mountain pass. The main bailey is well maintained as mountain parkland. Features include kuruwa (baileys), karabori (dry moats), and other earthworks, such as trenches and dorui (earthen ramparts). The further one goes from the main bailey the quieter it becomes, and, although it was busy the day...)
10:48, 23 January 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Senpuku Castle (I went here this weekend. I had a lovely time. I thought this site was fantastic. Considering you went in June it probably wasn't worth persevering. The recommended route is to go up from the lefthand side when approaching the temple and climb the hill via the cemetery there. There are signposts and some stairways with handrails all made of wood. This route takes one by several smartly delineated moats, both karabori and tatebori. The karabori to the rear of the main bailey is wide, and the t...)
10:32, 19 January 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Yumurayama Castle (I've made a slight update. A new miyagura (watch tower) was built here at the end of last year! It looks better than the old one (from what i can tell). I'll comment my other impressions of this site later perhaps.)
15:37, 12 January 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Nochiseyama Castle (I went here and was made up with it. I visited most of the vast site, climbing up from behind the Hachiman shrine to see that ridge spur. There was a well formed dobashi and trench complex there, as well as lots of terracing, so I’m glad I went up that way. Much of the old stone work is difficult to see as it is on the outside of the main bailey without sub-baileys to give easy purchase below. So, rather dubiously in the muddy conditions, I got down at various points around the slope, and too...)
20:29, 9 January 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Castles of Koka - 28 New Castle Profiles from Shiga Prefecture (no, I posted the original article direct on FB, but not this update. This is mostly as a record and for anyone not following the FB page. I made some minor updates after re-reading it recently but nothing major since I first posted to FB.)
17:52, 7 January 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kanegasaki Castle (So, it seems back in 2018 when the 'Kanegasaki Castle (Iwate)' profile was created, some pictures here got replaced with pictures from there. I just sent one picture to the Iwate profile which showed a masugata road; it waited five years but it has finally been re-united with its fellows. The other picture already had a duplicate on the Iwate profile so i deleted it here. I think the original pictures here showed Kanegasaki Shrine. It's not really the castle site though; i'll upload some pict...)
18:34, 4 January 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Castles of Koka - 28 New Castle Profiles from Shiga Prefecture ((You haven't linked this page on FB, right? I didn't see it.))
19:53, 1 January 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kofu Castle (Some clarification on this castle's origins. The castle as seen today largely took shape in the early Edo period. Before 1583 it was the site of a Takeda controlled fort called 一条小山城. Initially a yakata was built in the late Heian period, and Takeda Nobutora is thought also to have fortified the hill with the construction of Tsutsujigasaki-yakata.)
08:30, 1 January 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Minakuchi Castle (I was able to re-visit at some point. It's a neat little site. The original castle was much larger, encompassing the adjacent sports field.)
14:19, 30 December 2022 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Ansho Castle (wow, sounds like an awesome day. So many good stories out there meeting like-minded castle people along the way. Ansho is the original proper castle name, Anjo came about because of the city name. All older sources list it as Ansho.)
14:15, 30 December 2022 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Ansho Castle (Ansho is the original proper name off 安祥, as per more authoritative sources, not wikipedia. I suspect reading it as Anjo came about from the city name.)
12:41, 30 December 2022 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Hikone Castle (Just been through all of the new bukeyashiki profiles. Amazing!)
12:38, 30 December 2022 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Murayama Residence (some of the samurai homes in Sasayama and Kanagasaki are cafes. it's a good idea.)
12:36, 30 December 2022 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Ohmura Residence (contrast with the ashigaru homes is pretty stark. i wonder if the family is still considered a cut above the residents of the ashigaru hovels.)
12:34, 30 December 2022 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Taniyama Residence (this one looks heavily modified!)
14:30, 28 December 2022 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Sakasai Castle (Mallet golf!)
14:24, 28 December 2022 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Ansho Castle (It's very dedicated of you to return to a site like this!)
14:09, 28 December 2022 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Sawayama Castle (I see. Good stuff.)
14:05, 28 December 2022 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Hikone Castle Town (Well done, Eric, this is really incredible. I had been down a few old roads near the castle in Hikone before and was impressed by the sense of times bygone, but I had no idea about how much remained. I hope the municipality can develop these valuable assets. (Also had no idea there was an English term for 'Kuichigai'!))

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