The Asahi Shinbun reports today that some remains, or archaeological traces, have been found of a castle ordered destroyed by Oda Nobunaga in 1580. When Nobunaga took over a territory, he would have some castles kept intact, and either assigned his own men to take over these command posts, or secured an oath of loyalty from the defeated lord already in command of that site; other castles were ordered destroyed.
Tsutsui castle, located in Yamato-kôriyama, in Nara prefecture, was one such castle. It’s apparently quite rare to find any ruins or remains of these castles, but excavations in the inner moat have recently revealed traces or signs of the destroyed castle.
As one scholar commented, this is an important discovery as it helps us understand that castles destroyed at these times, under these circumstances, were destroyed down to even the moats, not just the buildings themselves.
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As the Asahi doesn’t like to archive their news articles and keep them available, I’ll archive the full text for them (for you):
鳴かぬなら壊してしまえ筒井城 内堀埋めた破城跡発見
2010年3月19日16時13分
戦国武将、筒井順慶(じゅんけい)(1549~1584)の居城だった奈良県大和郡山市の筒井城跡で、内堀を埋めて城を壊した「破城(はじょう)」の跡が見つかった。同市教委が発表した。織田信長は権力強化のため、占拠した地域の城について一部の城を残してほかは破壊するよう命じたが、実際に破城の跡が見つかるのは珍しいという。
市教委が学術調査のため、2月から約200平方メートルを発掘した。埋められていた内堀は幅約6メートル、深さ約2.5メートルで、城の中核「主郭(しゅかく)」の南端に位置していた。当時の興福寺の僧侶、多聞院英俊(たもんいん・えいしゅん)が記した「多聞院日記」によると、筒井城は1580(天正8)年8月、信長の命で順慶が壊したという。
中井均・同志社大学非常勤講師(中世城郭)は「織豊(しょくほう)時代の破城は実態がよくわかっていなかったが、建物だけでなく、堀も徹底的に壊したことがわかる貴重な発見だ」と話す。(土居新平)
I truly love these kinds of posts. (you’d have seen that coming.)
About this time last year, I was standing in front of Kintetsu-kôriyama train station having just came from Yamato-kôriyama castle, and I was deciding where to go next. I had two choices. Yamato-Koizumi castle or Tsutsui castle.
Yamato-Koizumi had a few remnants on offer, an old gate & a rebuilt turret (someone’s house!). I had no idea what to expect from the site of Tsutsui castle as I had seen absolutely nothing of it on-line or in print. I suspect at that time there was nothing but a plaque indicating it’s approximate location. As you can guess, I headed for Yamato-Koizumi castle. So, that’s my brush with Tsutsui castle.
You know I’m no scholar so I’ll understand if no-one takes any notice of the following theories.
Actually, before I dive in, what are the “traces or signs of the destroyed castle”? It’s absence?
Was it “destroyed”? I wonder if the castle wasn’t just picked apart. At Yamato-kôriyama castle – and at plenty of other castles, Himeji, Fukuchiyama, Azuchi, you can see some rather odd-shaped stones. Within the walls of Yamato-kôriyama castle, which Hashiba Hidenaga renovated in or around 1585, are stones that were once from stone lanterns & others bearing carved Sanskrit characters. Presumably, these re-cycled stones made their way there via other local, “destroyed” sites.
Good that you’ve re-posted the original text. They do tend to disappear rather quickly.
I think I’ll have a lay down.
You’d probably know better than I, but the article seems pretty clear on it being destroyed upon the orders of Nobunaga, not simply left there and slowly, gradually picked apart over the ages. The fact that they describe the moat as destroyed as well would seem to indicate that it wasn’t just a matter of stones being taken away, but the actual structure of the earthworks being in some way filled in or knocked down as well.
As for the question of “traces or signs”, I am always confused and amused by the uses of the character 跡、as in 城跡 or 史跡。 In English, words like “ruins” or “remains” imply the presence of something – stones or whathaveyou. But the Japanese 跡 does indeed seem quite often to refer simply to the site where something once was, to its “absence” as you say. I remember, when I was in Okinawa, I had heard somehow (maybe there were signs pointing to it) that there were ‘remains of the Chûzan Gate’ to the castle. I followed the path, and eventually found this:
A large sign indicating that this was the 中山門跡。 But where’s the ruins? I asked inside the store you see here in the background, with the blue noren, and they laughed and said there’s nothing here but the sign.
Of course, there’s nothing really to see at the Remains of Shakujii Castle (石神井城跡) in Tokyo, either, though at least there they claim to have found real signs of where the moats and other earthenwork elements were.
I continue to be amused and confused by 跡。What does it really mean? Traces and signs? Or just an absence? It just goes to show that when visiting sites, one must always be prepared for disappointment – there might be looming stone walls left, like at 福岡城跡, or there might be nothing, as was the case with 首里グスクの中山門跡。
That’s very interesting. I am always amazed that new finds like this still occur in the heavily developed small country of Japan.
Yeah, “picked apart” weren’t quite the right words, but “destroyed” implies, to me at least, a far more determined effort.
It does seem though that in 1580, the year of destruction, Tsutsui Junkei, an Oda ally, literally walked up the road & built an all new castle. And dismantling for the purpose of building castles is well documented.
Oddly, I think of ato(跡) as ato(後). As in, and later(後), there was this…
Toranadoes28, yes, surprisingly it happens rather frequently. The inner moat of Ishida Mitsunari’s Sawayama castle was also dug up the other day. google: 佐和山城内堀
Thanks for the info Kyushudan. That’s very interesting. I have Googled 佐和山城内堀. Regarding Sawayama, based on what is considered “ruins” and Google translate limitations, what is it that they actually found there?
I just so enjoy your posts!
Thanks! I’m glad.