44 new castle profiles from ART
44 new castle profiles from ART
2020/12/11
ART, the tireless castle explorer, has added 43 new castle profiles from Nagano Prefecture and one in Yamanashi Prefecture. There are a lot of great new Mountaintop Castles and some Fortified Manors. The Iiyama Castle profile is especially interesting and I'm glad to get this up there. I've been in the area a few times for hiking or visiitng friends but never got an opportunity to visit this great site. I need to prioritize it for next time !
Azumi Kitsune Castle / Azumi Kitsune Castle
Azumi Nagao Castle / 安曇長尾城
Azumi Ogiwara Castle / 安曇荻原城
Azumi Ogura Castle / 安曇小倉城
Azumi Oshino Castle / 安曇押野城
Chikuma Chausuyama Castle / 筑摩茶臼山城
Chikuma Koya Castle / 筑摩こや城
Chikuma Motoyama Castle / 筑摩本山城
Fukakusa Yakata / 深草館
Higashi Wada Castle / 東和田城
Houshouji Fort / 宝生寺砦
Iiyama Castle / 飯山城
The honmaru (main bailey) is mostly surrounded by ishigaki and now possesses a shrine (elsewhere there is modern ishigaki but it looks okay). There are many other baileys, and integral baileys include the ninomaru (second bailey), sannomaru (third bailey) and nishinomaru (west bailey), the latter having restored dorui around it. Smaller baileys and outer baileys are also maintained. What was once an area for horses and stables is now a school field, but most of the castle can be accessed, having escaped modern re-development. Municipal structures on site include an archery range and martial arts hall, which I suppose is fitting. The town of Iiyama is also nice and has a small mountain town feel to it. There are many temples dating to the Edo Period at the foot of hills, and these can be visited if one takes a back road between Iiyama Station and the castle site, though the closest station to the castle is Kita-Iiyama. Everything can be seen on foot. The municpality also contains ski slopes and the first ski enthusiasts in Nagano were apparently from Iiyama, even practicing skiing at the castle!
Iiyamajō (飯山城) is one of what I'm now calling "the Big Ii Three", along with Iida Castle (飯田城) and Iijima Jin'ya (飯島陣屋), all historically valuable Edo Period sites in Nagano Prefecture that I have visited, all containing structures.Ina Nagayama Castle / 伊那長山城
Ina Wada Castle / 伊那和田城
Ina Yoshioka Castle / 伊那吉岡城
Kaesa Castle / 替佐城
Karasaki Castle / 唐崎城
Kazama Yakata / 風間館
Kiso Daikansho / 木曽代官所
Kiso Fukushima Castle / 木曽福島城
Kiso Komaruyama Castle / 木曽小丸山城
Kiso Uenodan Castle / 上之段城
Kiso Yoshinaka Yakata / 木曽義仲館
Matsuda Yakata / 松田館
Meiseireijin Fort / 明聖霊神砦
Minochi Komazawa Castle / 水内駒沢城
Minochi Owaribe Castle / 水内尾張部城
Motohori Yakata / 本堀館
Motoyama Yakata / 本山館
Nakagoshoshugo Yakata / 中御所守護館
Omi Castle / 麻績城
Omi Yakata / 麻績館
Omifuru Castle / 麻績古城
Sakurasawa Fort / 桜沢砦
Sarashina Fuse Castle / 更級布施城
Shioda Castle / 塩田城
Shioda is called locally 'the Kamakura of Shinshū' due to the concentration of splendid temples throughout the valley, a product of its historic prosperity. At its centre Shioda had a large castle. Or, rather, a castle complex with a series of fortifications built over several ridges of a mountain. These fortified ridges cradled the castle proper in the steep valley between them.
I had already been to Shiodajō before, but only what proved to be a small part of it. At that time I wrote that the castle has an upper and lower part. This is true in a sense, but the upper castle was actually series of forts and fortified peaks along the ridges. One could further distinguish an upper and lower part of the castle proper, as the most secure area, and today the site of its most impressive ruins in terms of remaining structures, is narrower and nestled snugly between two ridgetop forts, the West Fort and East Fort.
The forts of Shiodajō which together constituted a vast fortress are numerous, but the three main ones, from which smaller fortified areas radiate out from, are the Nishi-toride (West Fort), Higashi-toride (East Fort), and Kōbōyama-toride, the latter also called "Upper Shioda Castle" as it is the highest situated on the mountain peak. The well defined Nishi-toride is on a terminus of the west ridge, and above it are the lower reaches of the Upper Castle which are referred to as its central or middle forts. The Upper Castle further has western and eastern fort groups. The eastern fort group spans the eastern ridge and connects with the Higashi-toride which functions as the main node in that branch of the fortress. It should be noted that distinct from these forts and the rest of the Upper Castle, as well as the West Fort, is the 'grouping of westerly forts' which spread onto an entirely different ridge to ensconce another valley, now the site of the temple Ryūkōin, which neighbours the main castle / Lower Castle. Although the western fort group links up with the western branch of the Upper Castle, they are separated by a severe and abrupt change in elevation - well, a cliff, I suppose.
As for the castle proper, I will detail its features below. The Lower Castle of Shioda is a valley castle composed of a series of terraces. The site can be divided into three parts, the outer, middle and inner (these are my divisions). The outer castle ruins are indistinct as they are now the site of various rice paddies and orchards covering hillside terraces. The middle ruins begin where the tarmac road turns down hill, and there is a large stele here which proclaims the site. From here the ruins become more distinct, and include karabori (dry moats), dorui (earthen ramparts) and tatebori (climbing moats). The terracing here is bold and spacious, and the terraces are tall. Various residences would've stood here. An impressive segment of dorui runs opposite the old stele. Beneath the stele are the remains of a karabori.
The inner castle, which I define as the area being flanked by the ridgetop forts above, starts at the point where there is now an information board. There is also a fence here to keep out / in wildlife. In my previous visit this was as far as I ventured as that day was dedicated to visiting temples. The inner castle is much narrower, on average about half the width of the lower sections. Terraced baileys are located either side of the Ôte (main path). At the top of the Ôte, or at least before it bends, is something that looks like an old tomb or storage space, a structure of earth and masonry, though it is also shown on maps as a well. I haven't seen a well dug into a slope rather than straight down before. Behind the Mishima Shrine is a very large tatebori. To the left are four smaller tatebori, but I couldn't see these due to the overgrowth and I had no desire to crawl around on the hillside looking for them. I could see some bumps and rills, and that is all. I left that section to the experts. Actually, I then saw Ranmaru-sensei wrote on his blog "if you can see four tatebori here then you are a true believer in God (Miyasaka Takeo)". Ha. I put down "unejōtatebori" as a possible feature.
Above the shrine the inner castle becomes more claustrophobic - or cosy, depending on one's point of view - and is half the width again of the proceeding segments. The path climbs to the right and to the left are a staircase of terraced baileys. The start of this inner section of the inner castle is guarded by a tatebori to the east and a climbing section of sekirui (stonewall) to the right. The stone-piled wall has collapsed considerably but it's still obvious if one knows to look for it, and the stones were clearly piled around some sort of climbing embankment. This is a very interesting defensive feature but probably many visitors miss it.
It is from here that we find Shiodajō's most salient features, its ishigaki (stone-piled ramparts), koguchi (gate complex), and ido (well). The 'tiger's maw' gate with its ishigaki is amazing considering its age. Although bits of masonry can be found here and there about the Lower Castle, the blocks here were most sturdily applied. The shape of the gate complex, forcing angled turns, is easy to appreciate. To the rear of this gate area is a stone-lined well. When I interrogated its depth with my camera flash I saw that there was a puddle at the bottom and a hardhat. Luckily it appears that there was no head in the helmet when it fell down. Several terraces climb beyond this gate area, and from here paths lead to the various forts of the Upper Castle and beyond.
For other parts of this fortress see:
Shioda NishibouruigunShirasawa Fort / 白沢砦
Tanokuchi Jin'ya / 田野口陣屋
Tekozuka Castle / 手子塚城
Teshiro Castle / 天城城
Uede Yashiki / 上手屋敷
Yamabe Yakata / 山家館
Yamabukiyama Noroshidai / 山吹山烽火台
Yashiro Castle / 屋代城
Yoda Yakata / 依田館
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