JAPANESE CASTLE
Japanese Castle - History, design, architecture, Japanese Castle pictures and
locations of existing Japanese castle.
Japanese castle (城, shiro) were fortresses composed primarily of wood and stone. They evolved
from the wooden stockades of earlier centuries, and came into their most
well-known form in the 16th century. Like European castles, the castles of
Japan were built to guard important or strategic sites, such as ports, river
crossings, or crossroads, and almost always incorporated the landscape into
their defence.
Picture:
Himeji Castle - the best example of a
Japanese Castle
Famous Japanese Castles
Gifu Castle
Hamamatsu Castle
Himeji Castle
Hiroshima Castle
Ishikawa
Castle
Kumamoto Castle
Matsumoto Castle
Nagoya Castle
Nijo Castle
Okayama Castle
Osaka Castle
Shuri Castle - An Okinawa style castle
Though they were built to last, and used more stone in their construction
than most Japanese buildings, castles were still constructed primarily of
wood, and many were destroyed over the years. This was especially true
during the Sengoku ('Warring States') period (1467-1603), when many of these
castles were first built. However, many were rebuilt, either later in the
Sengoku period, in the Edo period (1603-1867) which followed, or more
recently, as national heritage sites or museums. Today, there are around
fifty castles extant, or partially extant, in Japan; it is estimated that
once there were five thousand. Some castles, such as the ones at Matsue and
Kōchi, both built in 1611, remain extant in their original forms, not having
suffered any damage from siege or other threats.
Hiroshima Castle, on the opposite end of
the spectrum, was destroyed in the atomic bombing, and was rebuilt in 1958
as a museum.
The character '城', normally read as shiro, is read as jō when it is attached
to a word, such as in the name of a particular castle. Thus, for example,
Osaka Castle is called ōsaka-jō (大阪城) in
Japanese.
Japanese Castles -
History
Originally conceived
of purely as fortresses, their primary purpose being military defence,
Japanese castles were originally placed in strategic locations, along trade
routes, roads and rivers. Though castles continued to be built with these
considerations in mind, for centuries fortresses were also built to serve as
centers of governance. By the Sengoku period, they had come to serve as the
homes of daimyo (feudal lords), and served to impress and intimidate rivals
not only with their defences, but with their size and elegant interiors,
architecture and decorations. Oda Nobunaga was one of the first to build one
of these palace-like castles, at Azuchi Castle in 1576; this was Japan's
first castle to have a tower keep (天守閣, tenshukaku), and it inspired both
Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Osaka Castle and
Tokugawa Ieyasu's Edo Castle.[3] Azuchi served as the governing center of
Oda's territories, and as his lavish home, but it was also very keenly and
strategically placed. A short distance away from the capital of Kyoto, which
had long been a target of violence, Azuchi's carefully chosen location
allowed it a great degree of control over the transportation and
communication routes of Oda's enemies.
Prior to the Sengoku period (roughly, the 16th century), most castles were
called yamashiro (山城), or 'mountain castles'. Though most later castles were
built atop mountains or hills, these were built from the mountains. Trees
and other foliage were cleared, and the stone and dirt of the mountain
itself was carved into rough fortifications. Ditches were dug, to present
obstacles to attackers, as well as to allow boulders to be rolled down at
attackers. Moats were created by diverting mountain streams. Buildings were
made primarily of wattle and daub, using thatched roofs, or, occasionally,
wooden shingles. Small ports in the walls or planks could be used to deploy
bows or fire guns from. The main weakness of this style was its general
instability. Thatch caught fire even more easily than wood, and weather and
soil erosion prevented structures from being particularly large or heavy.
Eventually, stone bases began to be used, encasing the hilltop in a layer of
fine pebbles, and then a layer of larger rocks over that, with no mortar.
The character for castle or fortress (城), up until sometime in the 9th
century or later, was read (pronounced) ki, as in this example, mizuki.
Though fairly basic in construction and appearance, these wooden and
earthwork structures were designed to impress just as much as to function
effectively against attack. Chinese and Korean architecture strongly
influenced the design of Japanese buildings, including fortifications, in
this period. The remains or ruins of some of these fortresses, decidedly
different from what would come later, can still be seen in certain parts of
Kyushu and Tohoku today.
Japanese Castles -
Heian Period
The Heian period
(794-1185) saw a shift from the need to defend the entire state from
invaders to that of lords defending individual mansions or territories from
one another. Though battles were still continually fought in the north-east
portion of Honshū (the Tōhoku region) against native peoples, the rise of
the samurai warrior class[5] towards the end of the period, and various
disputes between noble families jostling for power and influence in the
Imperial Court brought about further developments. The primary defensive
concern in the archipelago was no longer native tribes or foreign invaders,
but rather internal conflicts within Japan, between rival samurai clans or
other increasingly large and powerful factions, and as a result, defensive
strategies and attitudes were forced to change and adapt. As factions
emerged and loyalties shifted, clans and factions which had been allies in
the service of the Imperial Court became enemies, and defensive networks
were broken, or altered through the shifting of alliances.
The Genpei War (1180-1185) between the Minamoto and Taira clans, and the
Nanboku-chō Wars (1336-1392) between the Northern and Southern Imperial
Courts are the primary conflicts that define these developments during what
it sometimes called Japan's medieval period.
Fortifications were still built almost entirely out of wood, and were based
largely on earlier modes, and on Chinese and Korean examples. But they began
to become larger, to incorporate more buildings, to accommodate larger
armies, and to be conceived as more permanent structures. This mode of
fortification, developed gradually from earlier modes and used throughout
the wars of the Heian period (770-1185), and deployed to help defend the
shores of Kyushu from the Mongol invasions of the
13th century, reached its climax in the 1330s, during the Nanboku-chō
period. Chihaya castle and Akasaka castle, permanent castle complexes
containing a number of buildings but no tall keep towers, and surrounded by
wooden walls, were built by Kusunoki Masashige to be as militarily effective
as possible, within the technology and designs of the time.
The Ashikaga shogunate, established in the 1330s, had a tenuous grip on the
archipelago, and maintained relative peace for over a century. Castle design
and organization continued to develop under the Ashikaga shogunate, and
throughout the Sengoku period. Castle complexes became fairly elaborate,
containing a number of structures, some of which were quite complex
internally, as they now served as residences, command centers, and a number
of other purposes.
Japanese Castle - Nijo Castle
Japanese Castles -
Sengoku
The Ōnin War which
broke out in 1467, however, marked the beginning of a period of nearly 150
years of widespread warfare (called the Sengoku period) between daimyō
(feudal lords) across the entire archipelago. For the duration of the Ōnin
War (1467-1477), and into the Sengoku period, the entire city of Kyoto
became a battlefield, and suffered extensive damage. Noble family mansions
across the city became increasingly fortified over this ten year period, and
attempts were made to isolate the city as a whole from the marauding armies
of samurai which would dominate the landscape for over a century.[7]
As regional officials and others became the daimyō, and the country
descended into war, they began to quickly add to their power bases, securing
their primary residences, and constructing additional fortifications in
tactically advantageous or important locations. Originally conceived as
purely defensive (martial) structures, or as retirement bunkers where a lord
could safely ride out periods of violence in his lands, over the course of
the Sengoku period, many of these mountain castles developed into permanent
residences, with elaborate exteriors and lavish interiors.
The beginnings of the shapes and styles now considered to be stereotypical
"classic" Japanese castle design emerged at this time, and castle towns
(城下町, jōkamachi, lit. "town below castle") also appeared, grew and
developed. Despite these developments, though, for most of the Sengoku
period castles remained essentially larger, more complex versions of the
simple wooden fortifications of centuries earlier. It was not until the last
thirty years of the period of war that drastic changes would occur to bring
about the emergence of the type of castle typified by
Himeji Castle, the Imperial Palace, and
other castles surviving today. This period of war culminated in the
Azuchi-Momoyama period, which saw some of the largest battles in the
pre-modern world, and saw great advances in military technology, strategy
and tactics.
Japanese Castles -
Azuchi-Momoyama period
Unlike in Europe,
where the advent of cannon spelled the end of the age of castles, Japanese
castle-building was spurred, ironically, by the introduction of firearms.
Though firearms first appeared in Japan in 1543, and castle design almost
immediately saw developments in reaction, Azuchi castle, built in the 1570s,
was the first example of a largely new type of castle, on a larger, grander
scale than those which came before, boasting a large stone base (武者返し,
musha-gaeshi), a complex arrangement of concentric baileys (丸, maru), and a
tall central tower. In addition, the castle was located on a plain, rather
than on a densely forested mountain, and relied more heavily on architecture
and manmade defenses than on its natural environment for protection. These
features, along with the general appearance and organization of the Japanese
castle, which had matured by this point, have come to define the
stereotypical Japanese castle. Along with Hideyoshi's Fushimi-Momoyama
castle, Azuchi lends its name to the brief Azuchi-Momoyama period (roughly
1568-1600) in which these types of castles, used for military defense,
flourished.
The introduction of the arquebus brought dramatic shifts in battle tactics
and military attitudes in Japan. Though these shifts were complex and
numerous, one of the concepts key to changes in castle design at this time
was that of battle at range. Though archery duels traditionally preceded
samurai battles since the Heian period or earlier, exchanges of fire with
arquebuses had a far more dramatic effect on the outcome of the battle;
hand-to-hand fighting, while still extremely common, was diminished by the
coordinated use of firearms.
Oda Nobunaga, one of the most expert commanders in the coordinated tactical
use of the new weapon, built his Azuchi castle, which has since come to be
seen as the paradigm of the new phase of castle design, with these
considerations in mind. The stone foundation resisted damage from arquebus
balls better than wood or earthworks, and the overall larger scale of the
complex added to the difficulty of destroying it. Tall towers and the
castle's location on a plain provided greater visibility from which the
garrison could employ their guns, and the complex set of courtyards and
baileys provided additional opportunities for defenders to retake portions
of the castle that had fallen.
Cannon were rare in Japan due to the expense of obtaining them from
foreigners, and the difficulty in casting such weapons themselves as the
foundries used to make bronze temple bells were simply unsuited to the
production of iron or steel cannon. The few cannon that were used were
smaller and weaker than those used in European sieges, and many of them were
in fact taken from European ships and remounted to serve on land; where the
advent of cannon and other artillery brought an end to stone castles in
Europe, wooden ones would remain in Japan for several centuries longer. A
few castles boasted 'wall guns', but these are presumed to be little more
than glorified arquebuses, lacking the power of a true cannon. When siege
weapons were used in Japan, they were most often trebuchets or catapults in
the Chinese style, and they were used as anti-personnel weapons.
Japanese Castles -
Edo Period
The Sengoku period,
roughly a century and a half of war which saw great changes and developments
in military tactics and equipment, as well as the emergence of the
Azuchi-Momoyama style castle, was followed by the Edo period, over two
hundred and fifty years of peace, beginning around 1600-1615 and ending in
1868. Edo period castles, including those which survived from the preceding
Azuchi-Momoyama period, therefore no longer had defence against outside
forces as their primary purpose. Rather, they served primarily as luxurious
homes for the daimyō, their families and retainers, and to protect the
daimyō, and his power base, against peasant uprisings and other internal
insurrections. The Tokugawa shogunate, in order to forestall the amassing of
power on the part of the daimyō, enforced a number of regulations limiting
the number of castles to one per han (feudal domain), with a few
exceptions,[9] and a number of other policies including that of sankin kōtai.
Though there were also, at times, restrictions on the size and furnishings
of these castles, and many daimyō grew quite poor later in the period,
daimyō nevertheless sought as much as possible to use their castles as
representations of their power and wealth. The general architectural style
did not change much from more martial times, but the furnishings and indoor
arrangements could be quite lavish.
This restriction on the number of castles allowed each han had profound
effects not only politically, as intended, but socially, and in terms of the
castles themselves. Where members of the samurai class had previously lived
in or around the great number of castles sprinkling the landscape, they now
became concentrated in the capitals of the han and in Edo; the resulting
concentration of samurai in the
cities, and their near-total absence from the countryside and from cities
that were not feudal capitals (Kyoto and
Osaka in particular) were important features of the
social and cultural landscape of the Edo period. Meanwhile, the castles in
the han capitals inevitably expanded, not only to accommodate the increased
number of samurai they now had to support, but also to represent the
prestige and power of the daimyō, now consolidated into a single castle. Edo
castle, expanded by a factor of twenty between roughly 1600 and 1636 after
becoming the shogunal seat, though obviously something of an exception, the
shogun not being a regular daimyō, nevertheless serves as a fine example of
these developments. These vastly consolidated and expanded castles, and the
great number of samurai living, by necessity, in and around them, thus led
to an explosion in urban growth in 17th century Japan.
As contact with Western powers increased in the middle of the 19th century,
some castles such as Goryōkaku castle in Hokkaido
were turned once again to martial purposes. No longer needed to resist
samurai cavalry charges, or arquebus squads, attempts were made to convert
Goryōkaku, and a handful of other castles across the country, into
defensible positions against the cannon of Western naval vessels.
Japanese Castles -
Modern Japan
All castles, along
with the feudal domains themselves, were turned over to the Meiji government
in the 1871 abolition of the han system, but few if any were destroyed at
that time. Many of the castles remaining in Japan today are reconstructions,
some of them made primarily of concrete and designed only to represent or
resemble the original wooden structures. Nevertheless, all castles, along
with a number of sites of historical or natural significance, are protected
under a series of laws promulgated for that purpose. The first came in 1919,
and was followed ten years later by the 1929 National Treasure Preservation
Law.
Many castles were destroyed in World War II, along with much of their
surrounding cities. Those which survived were declared National Treasures of
Japan in 1951. Many of those destroyed were rebuilt, and some were reopened
as museums.
Japanese Castle - Osaka Castle
Japanese Castles -
Architecture and defences
Japanese castles came
to be built in a variety of environments, but all were constructed within
variations of a fairly well-defined architectural scheme. Yamashiro, or
"mountain castles" were the most common, and provided the best natural
defenses. However, castles built on flat plains (平城, hirashiro) and those
built on lowlands hills (平山城, hirayamashiro) were not uncommon, and a few
very isolated castles were even built on small natural or artificial islands
in lakes or the sea, or along the shore.
Japanese Castles -
Walls and Foundations
Japanese castles were
almost always built atop a hill or mound, and often an artificial mound
would be created for this purpose. This not only aided greatly in the
defence of the castle, but also allowed it a greater view over the
surrounding land, and made the castle look more impressive and intimidating.
In some ways, the use of stone, and the development of the architectural
style of the castle, was a natural step up from the wooden stockades of
earlier centuries. The hills gave Japanese castles sloping walls, which many
argue helped (incidentally) to defend them from Japan's frequent
earthquakes. There is some disagreement among scholars as to whether or not
these stone bases were easy to scale; some argue that the stones made for
easy hand- and footholds.[4] Unlike in European castles, which had walkways
built into the walls, in Japanese castles, the walls' timbers would be left
sticking inwards, and planks would simply be placed over them to provide a
surface for archers or gunners to stand on. This standing space was often
called the ishi uchi tana or "stone throwing shelf." Other tactics to hinder
attackers' approaches to the walls included caltrops, bamboo spikes planted
into the ground at a diagonal, or the use of felled trees, their branches
facing outwards and presenting an obstacle to an approaching army. Many
castles also had trapdoors built into their towers, and some even suspended
logs from ropes, to be dropped on attackers.
Japanese Castle Wall - Himeji Castle
The Anō family from Ōmi Province were the foremost castle architects in the
late 16th century, and were renowned for building the 45-degree stone bases,
which began to be used for keeps, gatehouses, and corner towers, not just
for the castle mound as a whole.
Japanese castles, like their European cousins, featured massive stone walls
and large moats. However, walls were restricted to the castle compound
itself; they were never extended around a jōkamachi (castle town), and only
very rarely were built along borders. This comes from Japan's long history
of not fearing invasion, and stands in stark contrast to philosophies of
defensive architecture in Europe, China, and many other parts of the world.
Even within the walls, a very different architectural style and philosophy
applied, as compared to the corresponding European examples. A number of
tile-roofed buildings, constructed from plaster over skeletons of wooden
beams, lay within the walls, and in later castles, some of these structures
would be placed atop smaller stone-covered mounds. These wooden structures
were surprisingly fireproof, as a result of the plaster used on the walls.
Sometimes a small portion of a building would be constructed of stone,
providing a space to store and contain gunpowder.
Though the area inside the walls could be quite large, it did not encompass
fields or peasants' homes, and the vast majority of commoners likewise lived
outside the castle walls. Samurai lived almost exclusively within the
compound, those of higher rank living closer to the daimyō's central keep.
In some larger castles, such as Himeji, a secondary inner moat was
constructed between this more central area of residences and the outer
section where lower-ranking samurai kept their residences. Only a very few
commoners, those directly in the employ and service of the daimyo or his
retainers, lived within the walls, and they were often designated portions
of the compound to live in, according to their occupation, for purposes of
administrative efficiency. Overall, it can be said that castle compounds
contained only those structures belonging to the daimyo and his retainers,
and those important to the administration of the domain.
Japanese Castles -
Layout
The primary method of
defence lay in the arrangement of the baileys, called maru (丸). Maru,
meaning 'round' or 'circle' in most contexts, here refers to sections of the
castle, separated by courtyards. Some castles were arranged in concentric
circles, each maru lying within the last, while others lay their maru in a
row; most used some combination of these two layouts. Since most Japanese
castles were built atop a mountain or hill, the topography of the location
determined the layout of the maru.
The most central bailey, containing the keep, was called honmaru (本丸), and
the second and third were called ni-no-maru (二の丸) and san-no-maru (三の丸)
respectively. These areas contained the main tower and residence of the
daimyō, the storerooms (kura), and the living quarters of the garrison.
Larger castles would have additional encircling sections, called soto-guruwa
or sōguruwa.[11] At many castles still standing today in Japan, only the
honmaru remains. Nijo Castle in
Kyoto is
an interesting exception, in that the ni-no-maru still stands, while all
that remains of the honmaru is the stone base.
The arrangement of gates and walls sees one of the key tactical differences
in design between the Japanese castle and its European counterpart. A
complex system of a great many gates and courtyards leading up to the
central keep serves as one of the key defensive elements. This was,
particularly in the case of larger or more important castles, very carefully
arranged to impede an invading army and to allow fallen outer portions of
the compound to be regained with relative ease by the garrisons of the inner
portion. The defences of Himeji castle are an excellent example of this.
Since sieges rarely involved the wholesale destruction of walls, castle
designers and defenders could anticipate the ways in which an invading army
would move through the compound, from one gate to another. As an invading
army passed through the outer rings of the Himeji compound, it would find
itself directly under windows from which rocks, hot sand, or other things
could be dropped, and also in a position which made them easy shots for
archers in the castle's towers. Gates were often placed at tight corners,
forcing a bottleneck effect upon the invading force, or even simply at right
angles within a square courtyard. Passageways would often lead to blind
alleys, and the layout would often prevent visitors (or invaders) from being
able to see ahead to where different passages might lead. All in all, these
measures made it impossible to enter a castle and travel straight to the
keep. Invading armies, as well as, presumably, anyone else entering the
castle, would be forced to travel around and around the complex, more or
less in a spiral, gradually approaching the center, all while the defenders
prepared for battle, and rained down arrows and worse upon the attackers.
All of that said, however, castles were rarely forcibly invaded. It was
considered more honourable, and more appropriate, for a defender's army to
sally forth from the castle to confront his attackers. When this did not
happen, sieges were most often performed not through the use of siege
weapons or other methods of forced entry, but by surrounding the enemy
castle and simply denying food, water, or other supplies to the fortress. As
this tactic could often take months or even years to see results, the
besieging army sometimes even built their own castle or fortress nearby.
This being the case, "the castle was less a defensive fortress than a symbol
of defensive capacity with which to impress or discourage the enemy". It of
course also served as the lord's residence, a center of authority and
governance, and in various ways a similar function to military barracks.
Japanese Castles -
Buildings
The castle keep,
usually three to five stories tall, is known as the tenshukaku, and may be
linked to a number of smaller buildings, also called tenshukaku, of two or
three stories. Some castles, notably Azuchi, had keeps of as many as seven
stories. The tallest and most elaborate building in the complex, and often
also the largest, the keep was the residence of the daimyō and his central
command post. Interestingly, the number of stories and building layout as
perceived from outside the keep rarely corresponds to the actual internal
layout; for example, what appeared to be the third story from outside may
have in fact been the fourth. This certainly must have helped to confuse
attackers, preventing them from knowing which story or which window to
attack, and likely disorienting the attacker somewhat once he made his way
in through a window.
The least militarily equipped of the castle buildings, the keep was defended
by the walls and towers, and its ornamental role was never ignored; few
buildings in Japan, least of all castle keeps, were ever built with
attention to function purely over artistic and architectural form. Keeps
were meant to be impressive not only in their size and in implying military
might, but also in their beauty and the implication of a daimyō's wealth.
Though obviously well within the general sphere of Japanese architecture,
much of the aesthetics and design of the castle was quite distinct from
styles or influences seen in Shintō shrines, Buddhist temples, or Japanese
homes. The intricate gables and windows are a fine example of this.
On those occasions when a castle was infiltrated or invaded by enemy forces,
the central keep served as the last bastion of refuge, and a point from
which counter-attacks and attempts to retake the castle could be made. If
the castle ultimately fell, certain rooms within the keep would more often
than not become the site of the seppuku (ritual suicide) of the daimyō, his
family, and closest retainers.
Palisades lined the top of the castle's walls, and patches of trees, usually
pines, symbolic of eternity or immortality, were planted along them. These
served the dual purpose of adding natural beautiful scenery to a daimyō's
home, representing part of his garden, and also obscuring the insides of the
castle compound from spies or scouts. A variety of towers or turrets, called
yagura (櫓), placed at the corners of the walls, over the gates, or in other
positions, served a number of purposes. Though some were used for the
obvious defensive purposes, and as watchtowers, others served as water
towers or for moon-viewing. As the residences of purportedly wealthy and
powerful lords, towers for moon-viewing, balconies for taking in the
scenery, tea rooms and gardens proliferated. These were by no means solely
martial structures, but many elements served dual purposes. Gardens and
orchards, for example, though primarily simply for the purpose of adding
beauty and a degree of luxuriousness to the lord's residence, could also
provide water and fruit in case of supplies running down due to siege, as
well as wood for a variety of purposes.
(Article
based on
Wikipedia article and used under the
GNU Free Documentation License)
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