1000 People Tow Castle Closer to Original Position

I am fascinated by Japanese history and especially castles. The keep of Hirosaki Castle in Aomori Prefecture was moved in 2015 to repair the stone walls that supported it. After the repairs were made, the castle needed to go back to its original place.  Last Sunday, about 1,000 people towed the 400 ton keep, 109 centimeters closer to its original position. In two weekends, the aim is to move the castle about 5 meters. By end of this year, it will be moved about 78 meters to its former/original site.  How incredible it would be to help move your local castle!

This is the history of Hirosaki Castle, from the Japan Castle website:

Ooura Tamenobu was awarded the area around Hirosaki for his loyalty to Hideyoshi during the Battle of Odawara. He changed his name to to Tsugaru and started work on Hirosaki Castle in 1603. He died in 1607 and work on the castle was put on hold until his son Tsugaru Nobuhira restarted it in 1610. He finished the castle in just one year by cannibalizing materials from Horikoshi Castle and Daikoji Castle. The 3 level main keep of Hirosaki Castle seems disproportionately small when compared to the huge estate encompassed by the castle today. Hirosaki Castle was originally built with a 5 level keep which was struck by lightning and burned to the ground in 1627. The new 3 level keep is actually just the renovated Ninomaru tasumi yagura watchtower. The Tsugaru clan held the castle until the Meiji Restoration when it was taken over by the government.

Hirosaki Castle has the only extant main keep to the east of Matsumoto Castle (Nagano Pref.) making it a historical treasure of the Tohoku region. Hirosaki Castle is also famous throughout Japan for the more than 2600 cherry trees that fill its grounds today. Every spring when the trees are in bloom thousands of visitors flock to the grounds for one of Japan's finest Cherry Blossom Festivals.

Tanaka Castle

After leaving the Wisteria Festival, I decided to visit Tanaka Castle, even though I had visited it in 2023. By chance, I came across the second moat of Tanaka Castle, which I hadn’t seen last time.

I also came across Tanaka Castle Ruins on the grounds of a school, that I hadn’t seen last time.

This is the place I wanted to visit, which shows up as “Villa of Tanaka Castle”, on Google Maps.

From the JCastle website:

The history of Tanaka Castle begins with a fortification built by the Isshiki family under the orders of the Imagawa around 1537. The moats and modern castle fortifications were built after Takeda Shingen conquered the area in 1570. After the fall of the Takeda, the castle came under the control of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Ieyasu liked to use Tanaka Castle as a getaway when he was in nearby Sunpu castle. In particular, he used it for hawking. Through the Edo Period, Tanaka Castle saw a succession of of fudai daimyo (hereditary vassals of the Tokugawa) move into the castle. The castle was mostly dismantled and destroyed during the Meiji Restoration. Some of the buildings were sold to individuals and survived until the villa garden and park were restored in 1992.

Tokugawa Ieyasu with his hawk greeted guests.

There are several displays in the two story castle.

There is a view of the grounds from the top.

Two buildings - a footman’s house with stable and tea house are on display.

Inside Tea House

The grounds are very pretty.

The walk back to Nishiyaizu Station is about 20 minutes.

Kogawa Castle Site

The castle site is a stone monument and an information board located in a residential area in Yaizu, but is nothing left of the castle. 

Flower Viewing at Sumpu Castle Park

I walked through Sumpu Castle Park one morning after the rain. There were a few others walking around like me, but not many.

Kokokuji Castle Ruins

This castle ruins site is about a 40 minute walk from Hara Station. 

This is the castle history from the J-Castle website:

Kokokuji Castle is well known as the castle from which Hojo Soun rose to power. Soun became the lord of Kokouji Castle in 1487 for helping to quell the succession dispute among the Imagawa after the death of Imagawa Yoshitada. Yoshitada was married to Soun's sister. In 1491, Soun invaded Izu and Imagawa Yoshimoto was put in charge of Kokokuji Castle. After the hostilities settled down, Imagawa renovated the castle. As the Imagawa lost power, Kokokuji Castle became one of the points of struggle between the Takeda and Hojo. The Takeda took control in 1571 and kept the castle until their downfall when it came under the control of Tokugawa Ieyasu. After Ieyasu moved to Kanto, various lords served from Kokokuji Castle until it was abandoned in 1607.

Map of Castle Area

There are several open fields as you walk up from the road.

A small shrine is located on the grounds.

From the shrine, the trail goes up, and up, then another goes steeply down.

This is the roof of the shrine below.

This is interesting, and not a long walk from the train station, so worth a visit.