Mito castle ruins

七面鳥放浪記 2 weeks ago

Most of the existing castle-like buildings were rebuilt in the Heisei era, but the remains of the magnificent territory can still be clearly seen. Mito Castle was built by the Edo clan, greatly expanded by the Satake clan, and after the Satake clan was transferred to Akita, it became the residence of the Mito Tokugawa family. The Honmaru, which has existed since the Edo period, was not considered important, and the center of domain administration was in the Ninomaru, and the Sannomaru later housed the domain school, Kodokan. The second lord of the domain, Mitsukuni Tokugawa, also known as ``Mito Komon,'' compiled ``Dainihonshi'' and laid the foundations for Mito studies, and by the time of the ninth lord, Nariaki Tokugawa, the idea of ​​reverence for the king of Mito studies was linked to the idea of ​​expulsion. The idea of ​​``sonno, joi'' became a philosophy, and Japan was shaken. Although Mito was home to the three Tokugawa families, it later became the ideological epicenter of the movement that led to the overthrow of the shogunate, but the Mito domain was dominated by a conflict between the fundamentalist Tenguto party and the pragmatic Shoseito party. Exhausted, he was forced to leave the political situation at the end of the Edo period. Many human resources were lost for nothing, the territory was left in ruins, and much of the architecture of Mito Castle was lost. Due to the Meiji era castle abolition ordinance, Kodokan, which was the center of Mito studies, was to remain, while the palace, which was the government office, and other buildings were to be demolished. The land within the castle will be used as an army garrison, government offices, schools, etc. Of the buildings that avoided abandonment, the Yakui-mon Gate still exists, the Honmaru Sumiyagura was destroyed by arson, and the third-story turret, the symbol of Mito Castle, was destroyed in the Mito Air Raid during World War II. In the Mito air raid, Kobun-tei in Kairakuen and Mito Toshogu Shrine were also burnt down. Due to internal strife at the end of the Edo period, the Castle Abolition Order, and the triple bombing of air raids, most of the buildings of the early modern period were lost from Mito Castle and its area. However, although it is so large that it is hard to see, the excavations that exist on the east and west sides of Ninomaru are impressive. The western Karahori is the prefectural road, and the eastern Karahori is the JR Suigun Line. It doesn't have any great stone walls, so most people walk by without noticing it, but once you understand it and take a look, you can get a feel for the structure of a real castle. We also recommend the observation deck located at the end of the passageway on the premises of Mito City Daini Junior High School. You can see the flow of the Naka River, which formed a natural water moat on the north side of the castle, from the ruins of the Kuruwa. Although it lacks the obvious attractions of Wakayama Castle of the Kii Tokugawa family and Nagoya Castle of the Owari Tokugawa family, Mito Castle is also a famous castle worthy of being one of the three Tokugawa families. The problem is that there are no easy-to-understand explanations in easy-to-understand places, but the explanation for Ninomaru Kakuyagura is easy to understand.

敦夫小此木 a month ago

With the Naka River on the north side and Lake Senba on the south side, it is a moderately high hill, making it a natural fortress. At that time, Lake Senba was so large that people could take a boat from Mito Castle to Kairakuen. When you look at Mito Castle's vast moat, you can see that it seems impossible to attack. There is a free parking lot in front of Kodokan, although it is not very large. The road is one-way from the direction of the station. Cross the Otebashi Bridge, go through the Otemon Gate (which was under construction the last time I visited), and continue on until you reach the Ninomaru Exhibition Hall, albeit a mini-sized one. Continuing along the path with white walls on both sides, there was an entrance to the path leading to Ninomaru Kakuyagura. If you pass the viewing platform and Sugiyama Gate and cross the Honjo Bridge, you will reach the remains of Mito Castle's Honmaru, with only the Yakuin Gate (existing) currently standing. The Suigun Line ran under the bridge. It felt like a vast castle.

Green K 3 months ago

Mito Castle, a chain-style flat castle located in Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture, was the residence of Tokugawa Kosanke and the Mito Tokugawa clan. Karabori is characterized by an earthen rather than stone construction and a moat with no water. This is said to be because it is located in the Kanto region, which did not require defense during the Edo Peace Era. Mito Castle is the largest mound castle in Japan. Although it was built with earthen walls, it had a solid defense network, including multiple moats. There were several plans to build stone walls, but they never came to fruition. Kodokan, an educational institution of the domain in Sannomaru. Nationally designated historic site

アニャ 4 months ago

It is known as the residence of the Mito Tokugawa family, one of the three Tokugawa families. Its history is old, dating back to the Heian period. It is said to have been built during the Kenkyu era by Baba Momotoki, a descendant of Taira Kunika, who was the great ruler of Hitachi Province. It is said that it was also called Baba Castle because it was the residence of the Daijo clan (Baba clan). In 1416 during the Muromachi period, the Uesugi Zenshu Rebellion broke out. Daijo Mitsuki joined forces with Zenhide Uesugi, but was defeated by Michifusa Edo, who sided with the Muromachi shogunate, and the Edo clan took over as the lord of the castle. The Edo clan was often at odds with its master, the Satake clan. During Toyotomi Hideyoshi's conquest of Odawara in 1590, Edo Shigemichi sided with the Hojo clan. Yoshishige Satake and Yoshinobu Yoshinobu supported Toyotomi Hideyoshi. When the Satake clan was given 540,000 koku from Hitachi Province, they attacked Baba Castle, which was held by the Edo clan, and defeated Shigemichi. Yoshinobu moved his base from Ota Castle to Mito Castle, but because he maintained de facto neutrality during the Battle of Sekigahara, he was transferred to Akita by Tokugawa Ieyasu. Tokugawa Ieyasu had his fifth son, Takeda Shinkichi, enter Mito with 150,000 koku, but since he died without any children, he had his tenth son, Tokugawa Yorinobu, enter Mito with 200,000 koku. However, Yorinobu left for Sunpu, and Ieyasu's eleventh son, Yorifusa, entered the castle with 250,000 koku. From then on, it became the residence of the Mito Tokugawa family until the Meiji Restoration. Yorifusa lived in Ninomaru and expanded the castle and castle town, but due to fear from the shogunate, he did not install a castle tower and instead built a huge third-story turret in Ninomaru. Mito Castle is characterized by its simplicity, with as few turrets and tamon (rowhouses) as possible and frequent use of walls. Another reason why Mito Castle was so simple was that the Mito Tokugawa family was a feudal lord of Edo who did not practice sankin kotai, so it was rarely used as a residence for the feudal lord. After that, Nariaki Tokugawa, the 9th lord of the domain, founded Kodokan in 1841 and Kairakuen, which was later called one of Japan's three great gardens, the following year. In the Mito domain at the end of the Edo period, there was a conflict between the reformist Tenguto and the conservative Shoseito, and the Tenguto raised an army at Mt. Tsukuba (Tenguto Rebellion). After a battle with the shogunate and the Mito domain, the Tenguto were defeated and 352 people were beheaded. The conflict continued until the Meiji Restoration, and in 1868, the Tenguto attacked the Shoseito, who had barricaded themselves in Kodokan. At that time, many of the buildings within the castle were destroyed. Mito Castle was abandoned in 1871. This is the 4th branch of Tokyo Chindai. During the Mito air raid in 1945, the Gosankaiyagura turret was destroyed. Since the beginning of the Heisei era, plans have been put forward to improve the Otemon Gate and the Ninomaru Kakuyagura, with the Otemon Gate being restored in 2020 and the Ninomaru Kakuyagura being restored the following year. When you think of a castle, you think of a castle with a castle tower, but Mito Castle doesn't have a castle tower in the first place, and the third-story turret that replaced it was also destroyed by fire, so it's not as flashy as Kumamoto Castle or Himeji Castle, but it has a lot of depth. You can tell from the moat that this was a large castle. It's very spacious and has a feeling of openness, and you can feel the scale of the castle. Please note that there are educational facilities clustered around the castle ruins, so there are some places you can tour and some places you can't.

Jerry B 2 years ago

History that is real