Mitsui Ukonnojou Yashiki

History

Mitsui-Ukonnojō-yashiki was the fortified residence of Mitsui Ukonnojō, a vassal of the Takeda Clan during its latter days. The residence is thought to have been about 60m on each side in a simple square layout surrounded by dorui. A warrior called Mitsui Jirōsaburō was a part of the Sone-Shimono Dōshin-shū, a band of warriors who fought in the Tenshō Jingo War, which was the rebellion that arose in former Takeda territory after the sudden death of Oda Nobunaga.

Visit Notes

Mitsui-Ukonnojō-yashiki is now fields and no ruins remain. Finding this site was difficult but rewarding even though I found literally nothing. Both castle bloggers I was following to guide me erred at some point it seems, and so uncovering this for myself was the gratifying part. Firstly the location provided by the one was incorrect (that blogger hasn't visited the site it seems). That blog gives co-ordinates on a map so it's easy to find sites when the pinpoints are correct. The second blogger, generally more accurate, gives addresses and neat descriptions of where to find things, but provides no map, making things a little trickier. I couldn't follow his directions to a small community centre because it wasn't on Google Maps, but it did come up on Yahoo Maps (proving once again that Yahoo is still relevant in Japan where it retains a non-trivial market share), and so by this way I eventualy was able to find where the picture on Oshiro Tabi Nikki was taken. That website's gentleman blogger says that he was able to confirm from a tangle of overgrowth in a bamboo grove the remains of dorui (earthen ramparts). Probably like me he went in summer during the off-season for mountain castling and was confronted by the same wall of verdant foliage. However, I must report that the flora rises up here not because of any mounds, and the ground is in fact completely flat. When I peeked into the tangled growth I found the "dorui" to be hollow inside! I was looking inside of an old greenhouse (biniiru-hausu). The outer fabric was long gone, leaving a framework of metal rods which had provided a climbing frame for creeping vines and other weeds, with bamboo shooting up between the gaps. So, I could not confirm any dorui; I did not catch any game but sometimes it's about the thrill of the hunt.

Thank you to Oshiro Tabi Nikki for the information on this historical site and many others in Yamanashi.

Gallery

Castle Profile
English Name	Mitsui Ukonnojou Yashiki
Japanese Name	三井右近丞屋敷
Founder	Mitsui Ukonnojō
Year Founded	Late Sengoku Period
Castle Type	Fortified Manor
Castle Condition	Ruins only
Historical Period	Pre Edo Period
Features
Visitor Information
Access	Koikawa Station on the Minobu Line; 15 minute walk
Visitor Information	24/7 free; fields
Time Required	5 minutes
Location	Chūō, Yamanashi Prefecture
Coordinates	35° 36' 27.68" N, 138° 31' 7.00" E
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Admin
Added to Jcastle	2022
Contributor	ART
Admin Year Visited	Viewer Contributed
Friends of JCastle
Oshiro Tabi Nikki

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