3 Musashi castles--Takatsuki, Takiyama, Hachioji

[Bethetsu]

The other day I took off from Ancient Near Eastern studies to investigate near-by Japanese castles, so I thought I would give a report. I should really write something up on the wiki, but I would want to do some research first.

The first was Takatsuki Castle 高月城, (see http://tama-oldcastle.blog.ocn.ne.jp/blog/2008/06/post_36f8.html) built about 1458 by the Ôishi family, supporters of the Uesugi, on a ridge of the south bank of the Akikawa river, near where it joins the Tama river. http://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Image:Takatsuki_C_%28Musashi%29.view.jpg

I could not find this marked on a map, so I made a guess based on the place name and the topography and a photo. I found a woman at the 高月 bus stop, who pointed me to a narrow road. When it crossed a ridge path, I took the path. The home page said there are still earthenworks and dry moats.I could not see any, but I am no archeologist. I finally came to a flat area about 100 meters in diameter with a vegetable field in the middle. One of the two women there was an 87-year old woman who comes because she likes to work in the field. They told me that this was indeed the hon-maru of Takatsuki Castle, but they did not really know anything about it because the old lady had not come there until her marriage. They gave me some carrots and potatoes--I don't suppose they get foreign visitors there often.

On the other hand, the nearby Takiyama Castle 滝山城跡 is a large metropolitan park, a wooded area with many explanatory signs. The Ôishi family moved there from Takatsuki castle in 1521. The Hojo attacked in 1536, with the support of the Takeda. The Oishi eventually came under the Hojo umbrella, and Oishi Sadahisa adopted Hojo Ujiteru as his son-in-law and heir, though he had a son of his own. Ujiteru expanded Takiyama castle, and it withstood several attacks, notably one in 1569 by the Takeda on their way to attack Odawara.

I have visited a number of yama shiro and castles built on the edge of a valley, and my biggest impression was that this is huge compared to others. (See diagram http://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Image:Takiyama_C%28Musashi%29.layout.jpg also http://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Image:Takiyama_C_%28Musashi%29.central_layout.jpg) It is hard to tell where the boundary is, but the site is roughly a triangle with about 1 km along the bluff, and at the biggest 600 m wide. The bluff is about 60 meters above the Tama River. There are several large maru 100 meter or so in diameter, so usable for living space. Some have the names of retainers. There are valley/moats and many road turns (masu) to give defenders the opportunity to attack, a well, and even a pond. The only restoration I noticed is a bridge between the honmaru and the nakanomaru.

Apparently around the 1580's Ujiteru moved to Hachioji Castle, near the entrance of the Kôshû (Kai) Highway into the Kanto. I have been there several times. What struck me now was how large Takiyama castle is compared to Hachioji castle. http://wiki.samurai-archives.com/index.php?title=Image:HachiojiC.diagram.JPG In Hachiôji, the residential area inside the defense area is long and narrow place at the foot of the mountain, the hon-maru area is completely separate on top of the mountain, and most of the castle area is the steep mountain side. Personally, I would rather live in Takiyama. Presumably though they felt this was a better location strategically than Takiyama; however, it fell to Hideyoshi in 1590 in a day of fierce fighting.

Turnbull mentions Hachioji Castle in Strongholds of the Samurai. He says correctly that one can get from the residential area to the honmaru by a switchback path. I have done it. However, he does not mention the fortified ridge path to the east.

[Tatsunoshi]

Nice. I recently picked up a sim of the Siege of Hachioji and based on the visual you provided, the developers stuck to the original layout.

[lordameth]

There's not much to see of Shakujii castle (in Nerima-ku, just off the Seibu Ikebukuro sen), the chief castle of the Toshima clan, which was attacked and destroyed by Ôta Dôkan in 1477. But, it's a beautiful park... one of my favorite spots to "get away" in Tokyo.

If you're interested...
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My blog on Japanese art & history: http://chaari.wordpress.com

紫水晶殿 - The Amethyst Lord

[Tornadoes28]

Thank you for the write up. This was very interesting.
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[lordameth]

Thanks for sharing these stories and images.

Adventures seeking out / exploring historical sites are always all the better when they include such anecdotal sort of moments as speaking with the locals to ask about the site, or receiving vegetables.

I hope you do not mind that I have taken the liberty of adding the photos you uploaded to new Wiki articles about Takiyama and Takatsuki castles. They're very brief, stubby articles, since (my apologies) I don't have the time today to go doing any research on this, but at least this way your images are a little more visible. If it's a problem, let me know, and we can take them down.
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My blog on Japanese art & history: http://chaari.wordpress.com

紫水晶殿 - The Amethyst Lord

[Bethetsu]