Kitamura Castle (Omi)

History

Kitamurajō, also called Kimurajō to distinguish it from an earlier, over-lapping site, was the fortified manor hall of the Kimura Clan who were vassals of the Rokkaku Clan. The village had earlier been governed in the Muromachi period by the Kitamura Clan who were vassals of the Nagahara Clan. The Kimura Clan (re-)built Kitamurajō in the Sengoku period after the decline of the Rokkaku Clan. The castle had two layers of mizubori (wet moats), and the residences of the Kimura's retainers were located within the outer moat, with the main residence of the Kimura family being located within the inner moat. The Kimura family inhabits the castle site to this day, and the inner portion of the castle is retained.

Visit Notes

Kitamurajō was only a fortified manor hall, but miraculously the basic structure of the residence's defences remains intact: there is a mizubori (moat) and dorui (earthen ramparts) surrounding the site, and the residence's main gate, a nagayamon (rowhouse gate), is said to be an original structure over four and a half centuries old. This probably owes to the same family, the Kimura Clan, inhabiting the castle continuously since the Sengoku period. The castle of the Kimura Clan is not to be confused with an earlier castle built on the site by the Kitamura Clan, of which nothing now remains. Kitamurajō is private property and can only be seen from without.

Gallery

Mizubori

Castle Profile
English Name	Kitamura Castle (Omi)
Japanese Name	近江北村城
Alternate Names	野洲木村城
Founder	Kitamura Clan; Kimura Clan
Year Founded	Muromachi Period; Sengoku Period
Castle Type	Flatland
Castle Condition	No main keep but other buildings
Historical Period	Pre Edo Period
Artifacts	Nagayamon, Mizubori, Dorui
Features	gates, water moats
Visitor Information
Access	Nearest station is Shinohara on the Biwako Line; I cycled.
Visitor Information	Access Limited
Time Required	30 minutes
Location	Yasu, Shiga Prefecture
Coordinates	35° 5' 52.76" N, 136° 2' 26.23" 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":35.097988888889,"lon":136.04061944444,"icon":"../images/1/1e/Castlemarker.png"}]}
Admin
Added to Jcastle	2022
Contributor	ART
Admin Year Visited	Viewer Contributed
Friends of JCastle
Jōkaku Tanbō
Masaki Shibata

3.00

(one vote)

Enable comment auto-refresher