For a guy who is all about Japanese castles, I’ve been pretty slow on the uptake. What can I say, it just hasn’t made much of an impression on me. #stamp_humour

Well, I’m now here to say that I have seen the errors of my way and that I am on-board in a big way, that I have gotten with the program.

Finally, let me present to you, #1 of 100 – Matsumoto Castle.

(Matsumoto castle profile)

In early August 2010, I found myself in a city in Yamanashi pref. called Kōfu. There is, of course, Kōfu castle to see there, but a short drive North stands a shrine that sits upon what was once Takeda Shingen’s base of operations. It appears the fortifications of Tsutsujigasaki were never referred to as a castle (jō – 城) but instead as a mansion (yakata – 館).

The site served the three generations of the Takeda, through most of the 1500′s.

There exist more far more colourful & detailed ones than the one below but we have to start somewhere I guess. There is something a little odd about the picture of this one, have a good look at it. What do you think?

Are the people in the foreground trying to escape the Geisha/Dalek? Or perhaps, one was turned into a pillar of salt when they turned and laid there eyes upon what they had left behind?

Nah, it probably just is a Dalek. Exterminate!

edit: The above picture has since received the JapanDave.com polish.

• Home – It’s where the heart is
• Castle list – A sortable list of over 120 of Japan’s castles
• Map – An interactive Google map of Japan’s castles

No major changes have occurred on the above pages with the exception of the castle list where the categories menu was moved to the right-hand side.

• Articles – A top page has been added to tidy things up
• Shop – A new page & a place for things I no longer need & others may yet enjoy
• Blog – You are looking at it

I don’t think the above changes warrant any further explanation. Hey, you can always leave a comment.

The sub-menu
This is new. So often, people arrive at the site, don’t INSTANTLY find what they’re after and leave. It is my hope that every corner of the site is accessible from this here box, with one simple click. Well actually, not every castle profile can be reached with one click – the top 10 can.

Thanks to a little PHP & javascript trickery, each page reached by the main menu (or castle profile page) will open the relevant accordian section of the sub-menu. At least my testing says it does.

Time will tell whether this will be successful or not. I’ll be monitoring usage to see how it goes in any case. I have to admit that I’m not entirely thrilled with the look of it. Anyway.

The profile-page sub-menu
The picture to the right has all of the accordions opened, which is not how it should ever look. It’s just for demonstration purposes.

Much of the information in the former side-bar remains but you’ll have to click your mouse to access it. Is this a good thing? Unsure, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Map
Clicking on the map will take you to the zoomed-up view of the castle on the large map page.

Rating
It’s now out of 10. Everyone’s old ratings have been kept & continue to be used to rank the castles. Also by hiding it in an accordion, I hope to cut down on dodgy votes.

Also in …
Have just added the nearby (same prefecture) castle’s category.

Oops, one more thing
The weather is back! This little widget is quite interactive. Unfortunately, it was only available in Japanese, so you could click the wrong thing and be zipped out to their home page.

The immediately useful thing is the current week's weather. You can get at that by clicking on each of the day/dates. In this case the 30th to the 5th.

Each castle profile page (with the exception of the castles in Korea) will show the weather of the prefecture that the castle is in. Handy, hey?

I’m spent
Well, I think that is about it. Would love to hear everyone’s thoughts/criticisms.

Several castles were known as Maizuru castle (Wikipedia lists nine). This one is also known as Kōfu Castle, and the only one* with a resident dancing crane.

* Probably not actually.

First stop was Odawara castle. As soon as I’d landed in Haneda airport I was on the phone to @Genshin, a fellow twitterer. And before I go any further, I need to thank him profusely for making the trip possible. We racked up many k’s in the @Genshin family car, and I repaid him by breaking the car’s antenna. Doh!

Roadtrip!
I now realise that I was a little too ambitious in the planning stage. And the plan was to head North from Odawara & see everything there was to see in Nagano Pref in under 2 days. Suffice to say, we didn’t quite see everything. We did see a lot & just to give you a small taste I recommend the following link: Views of Japan for some of @Genshin’s photographs.

The route we took, took us to:

• Odawara Castle (as mentioned)
• Kōfu Castle
• Tsutsujigasaki Yakata (video)
• Takashima Castle
• Matsumoto Castle
• Route inn (for any Aussies in the audience)
• Matsushiro Castle
• Ueda Castle

Suffice to say, the above destinations & some places in between will feature heavily in posts over the following months. Stay tuned!

And… If it looks very familiar, you’re probably thinking that there is something not quite right with this picture. And again, you would be right.

Rest assured, this is (pretty much) how it has looked throughout its life. From 1676 to the present.

Look familiar?
Perhaps you saw something similar not a moment ago.

And… If you were to visit Takamatsu castle, what is pictured to the right is what you’d actually see.

In addition to the horizontal bars there are arrow-slots, a window & a stone-throwing window. Purdy, ain’t she?

Check out the Takamatsu City official website.

Could I interest you in some more examples?

• Those massive sweeping arcs of Kokura castle‘s irimoya gables give the main tower a sophisticated look. Much more so than the lego-esque original.
• Tsu‘s three story turret had six gables added. It was once most blocky.
• The location of Iwakuni‘s main tower was moved so as it could be seen from the photogenic Kintai-kyō bridge below.

Do you know of any other examples? I’d love to hear them.

So, what’s the deal?
It’s simple, the sexy versions are more appealing. We all buy into Japanese castles… refined elegance… traditional… image. But, it seems they are no different that the models on the covers of magazines. Airbrushed, perfected.

The concrete reconstructions, I’m less concerned with. But, when it comes to Important Cultural Properties, such as the Tsukimi turret above: Hands off!

Who’s with me?

In any case, this site is listed as one of the Top 100 castles(?) by the Nihon Jō Kyōku Kai, the Japan Castle foundation.

Link to the Yoshinogari Settlement profile. Loads of pictures, info & even a video.

Image credit: Yomiuri - http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/news/20100702-OYT1T00308.htm

There have been so many castles built with massive stone bases for their central towers but now have nothing sitting atop them.

It is generally known when & how these central towers (keeps/tenshus) were lost, but there are cases where mystery still surrounds these old structures. I’m not talking about the small details like their height or appearance, but whether the tower actually even existed.

There are two schools of thought on what became of Fukuoka castle‘s main tower. Some believe the main tower was dismantled and shipped to Osaka to aid in the rebuilding of Ōsaka castle (completed in 1620). Why would Kuroda Nagamasa relinquish his castle’s crowning glory? As a sign of his loyalty to the Shoguate of course. Those opposed to this view simply believe none ever existed.

Pictured is Mr. Odawara along with a model of how Fukuoka castle’s main tower may have once looked. It turns out he is an even bigger fan of Fukuoka castle than I am. He is chairman of the Castles of Chikuzen study group, so I guess he must be. The motivation behind the building of the 1:150 scale model is to promote the (re)building of a 1:1 tower.

Will Fukuoka’s tenshu ever be built? Perhaps the answer can be found in this older post: At what cost?

Of course they’re not. (Did my lame ruse hook you for even a moment?) A committee has been established to determine if this particular I.C.P should be upgraded to National Treasure status. And, I don’t mean that it will appear in an upcoming Nicolas Cage movie. If so, they probably should tear it down.

According to an on-line newspaper article, a committee made up of 12 experts, will survey the castle structures and examine historical documents to assess the historical value. On the 13th of July, the committee did in fact visit the site and… “examined the stone foundations & climbed the main tower”. Wow. The ball is indeed rolling.

No doubt a conclusion will be reached in the coming years.

Other Japanese-castle-related national treasures
Hikone Castle – Main tower and two attached turrets.
Himeji Castle – Main tower, three sub towers and four attached turrets.
Matsumoto Castle – Main tower, one sub tower and three attached turrets.
Inuyama Castle – Main tower.
Nijō Castle – The six components of the Ninomaru Palace.

P.S.
I was alerted to this news by an Daily Yomiuri newspaper article, but those articles don’t last too long on the internet. So, no link. Couldn’t link anyway. To link to an on-line, Japanese newspaper article, permission to do so must first be sought and given.