Hourinji Yakata

History

The history of Hōrinji-yakata is unknown, as it left no paper trail, as it were. However, given its location, it is presumed to have been a residence of the Ogawa Clan along with other sites in the vicinity, and it is speculated to have been the residence specifically of Ogawa Munehiro in the Heian period, though that would make the ruins very old. There are several theories floated about this site, such as that Ôta Dōkan built it, or that it is actually the site of Ninomiyajō, but the details are unknown.

I am inclined to think that nearby Hōseiji-yakata (Ogawa Castle (Musashi)) was the residence of Ogawa Munehiro, and that Ninomiya Shrine is the site of Ninomiya Castle (Musashi), residence of Ôishi Nobushige, but that would leave Hōrinji-yakata's purpose as a total mystery. We only have the ruins to go on. I'm open to the possibility of it being built by Ôta Dōkan, but don't know.

Visit Notes

Hōrinji-yakata is a fortified manor hall site in the Ogawa neighbourhood of Akiruno Municipality, Tōkyō Metropolis. The yakata site is now a temple, Hōrinji, and a small park. To the northeast of the temple is a long segment of dorui (earthen rampart) with many bends. The earthwork is thick and still tall, up to 2m high. Despite the berm’s height – especially if it was initially taller – there is no moat beneath the berm – on either side – and so perhaps it was filled in at some point. Given that the temple which is the site’s namesake is located on the river terrace, it is likely that a fortified space was enclosed where the temple sits today.

Gallery

Dorui

Castle Profile
English Name	Hourinji Yakata
Japanese Name	法林寺館
Founder	Unknown
Year Founded	Unknown
Castle Type	Fortified Manor
Castle Condition	Ruins only
Historical Period	Pre Edo Period
Artifacts	Dorui
Features
Visitor Information
Access	Higashi-Akiru Station on the Itsukaichi Line; 18 minute walk to temple
Visitor Information	24/7 free; temple
Time Required	30 minutes
Location	Akiruno, Tokyo
Coordinates	35° 43' 10.60" N, 139° 19' 14.41" E
Loading map... {"type":"TERRAIN","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps","width":"auto","height":"200px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"Castlemarker.png","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":6,"layers":[],"controls":[""],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":35.719611111111,"lon":139.32066944444,"icon":"../images/1/1e/Castlemarker.png"}]}
Admin
Added to Jcastle	2023
Contributor	ART
Admin Year Visited	Viewer Contributed
Friends of JCastle
Jōkaku Hōrōki
Jōkakuzukan
Yogo

2.00

(one vote)

Enable comment auto-refresher