Kunaishoyu Castle

The castle site is private property, but you can see some of the original earthen embankments and layout of the central compound today. The nagayamon is really interesting and adds some historical ambiance to the site but is not actually from the castle. The size of the castle was much larger than

History

The castle was built by the local landholders, the Watanabe clan, in the Muromachi Period. The Watanabe controlled the greater Ichijoji area and also built Ichijojiyama Castle making this a flatland fortified home + mountaintop fortress combination that you often see in the Muromachi Period.

During the conflict between Nobunaga and Ashikaga Yoshiaki in 1573 some of Yoshiaki's allies hid in the castle, but the castle referred to here might have actually been Ichijojiyama Castle. It was eventually found out and when assailed by Nobunaga's forces the Watanabe capitulated. After Nobunaga, The Watanabe allied with Hideyoshi and served under his horse guards. The Watanabe clan held their lands here and remained as local bureaucrats through the Edo Period. The descendants of the Watanabe continue to live here today.

Field Notes

The castle site is private property, but you can see some of the original earthen embankments and layout of the central compound today. The nagayamon is really interesting and adds some historical ambiance to the site but is not actually from the castle. The size of the castle was much larger than just the private residence. There was some evidence (now developed over) of a wide area around the residence being encircled by the moat. It also led to nearby place names such as Horinouchi, or "within the moat".

Loading map...

{"format":"leaflet","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"limit":500,"offset":0,"link":"all","sort":["order"],"order":[],"headers":"show","mainlabel":"","intro":"","outro":"","searchlabel":"... further results","default":"","import-annotation":false,"width":"auto","height":"350px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"Darkred18.png","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":false,"defzoom":14,"layers":["Esri.WorldTopoMap"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","showtitle":false,"hidenamespace":true,"template":"InfoWindowProfile","userparam":"","activeicon":"","pagelabel":false,"ajaxcoordproperty":"","ajaxquery":"","locations":[{"text":"\u003Cdiv style=\"width:150px\"\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/view/File:Kunaishoyu7.jpg\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Kunaishoyu7.jpg\" src=\"../images/thumb/2/2b/Kunaishoyu7.jpg/125px-Kunaishoyu7.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"125\" height=\"94\" srcset=\"../images/thumb/2/2b/Kunaishoyu7.jpg/188px-Kunaishoyu7.jpg 1.5x, ../images/thumb/2/2b/Kunaishoyu7.jpg/250px-Kunaishoyu7.jpg 2x\" data-file-width=\"1500\" data-file-height=\"1125\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C!--MW-PAGEIMAGES-CANDIDATE-0--\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003C/div\u003E","title":"","link":"","lat":35.04625,"lon":135.79441,"icon":"../images/0/06/Darkred18.png"},{"text":"\u003Cdiv style=\"width:150px\"\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/view/File:Kunaishoyu3.jpg\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Kunaishoyu3.jpg\" src=\"../images/thumb/d/dd/Kunaishoyu3.jpg/125px-Kunaishoyu3.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"125\" height=\"94\" srcset=\"../images/thumb/d/dd/Kunaishoyu3.jpg/188px-Kunaishoyu3.jpg 1.5x, ../images/thumb/d/dd/Kunaishoyu3.jpg/250px-Kunaishoyu3.jpg 2x\" data-file-width=\"1500\" data-file-height=\"1125\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C!--MW-PAGEIMAGES-CANDIDATE-1--\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003C/div\u003E","title":"","link":"","lat":35.04606,"lon":135.79463,"icon":"../images/0/06/Darkred18.png"},{"text":"\u003Cdiv style=\"width:150px\"\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/view/File:Kunaishoyu4.jpg\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Kunaishoyu4.jpg\" src=\"../images/thumb/d/dd/Kunaishoyu4.jpg/125px-Kunaishoyu4.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"125\" height=\"94\" srcset=\"../images/thumb/d/dd/Kunaishoyu4.jpg/188px-Kunaishoyu4.jpg 1.5x, ../images/thumb/d/dd/Kunaishoyu4.jpg/250px-Kunaishoyu4.jpg 2x\" data-file-width=\"1500\" data-file-height=\"1125\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C!--MW-PAGEIMAGES-CANDIDATE-2--\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003C/div\u003E","title":"","link":"","lat":35.04612,"lon":135.79453,"icon":"../images/0/06/Darkred18.png"},{"text":"\u003Cdiv style=\"width:150px\"\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/view/File:Kunaishoyu2.jpg\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Kunaishoyu2.jpg\" src=\"../images/thumb/3/33/Kunaishoyu2.jpg/125px-Kunaishoyu2.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"125\" height=\"94\" srcset=\"../images/thumb/3/33/Kunaishoyu2.jpg/188px-Kunaishoyu2.jpg 1.5x, ../images/thumb/3/33/Kunaishoyu2.jpg/250px-Kunaishoyu2.jpg 2x\" data-file-width=\"1500\" data-file-height=\"1125\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C!--MW-PAGEIMAGES-CANDIDATE-3--\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003C/div\u003E","title":"","link":"","lat":35.04608,"lon":135.79457,"icon":"../images/0/06/Darkred18.png"},{"text":"\u003Cdiv style=\"width:150px\"\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/view/File:Kunaishoyu1.jpg\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Kunaishoyu1.jpg\" src=\"../images/thumb/1/1f/Kunaishoyu1.jpg/125px-Kunaishoyu1.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"125\" height=\"94\" srcset=\"../images/thumb/1/1f/Kunaishoyu1.jpg/188px-Kunaishoyu1.jpg 1.5x, ../images/thumb/1/1f/Kunaishoyu1.jpg/250px-Kunaishoyu1.jpg 2x\" data-file-width=\"1500\" data-file-height=\"1125\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C!--MW-PAGEIMAGES-CANDIDATE-4--\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003C/div\u003E","title":"","link":"","lat":35.04606,"lon":135.79449,"icon":"../images/0/06/Darkred18.png"},{"text":"\u003Cdiv style=\"width:150px\"\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/view/File:Kunaishoyu5.jpg\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Kunaishoyu5.jpg\" src=\"../images/thumb/b/bd/Kunaishoyu5.jpg/125px-Kunaishoyu5.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"125\" height=\"94\" srcset=\"../images/thumb/b/bd/Kunaishoyu5.jpg/188px-Kunaishoyu5.jpg 1.5x, ../images/thumb/b/bd/Kunaishoyu5.jpg/250px-Kunaishoyu5.jpg 2x\" data-file-width=\"1500\" data-file-height=\"1125\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C!--MW-PAGEIMAGES-CANDIDATE-5--\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003C/div\u003E","title":"","link":"","lat":35.04581,"lon":135.79477,"icon":"../images/0/06/Darkred18.png"},{"text":"\u003Cdiv style=\"width:150px\"\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/view/File:Kunaishoyu8.jpg\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Kunaishoyu8.jpg\" src=\"../images/thumb/2/21/Kunaishoyu8.jpg/125px-Kunaishoyu8.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"125\" height=\"94\" srcset=\"../images/thumb/2/21/Kunaishoyu8.jpg/188px-Kunaishoyu8.jpg 1.5x, ../images/thumb/2/21/Kunaishoyu8.jpg/250px-Kunaishoyu8.jpg 2x\" data-file-width=\"1500\" data-file-height=\"1125\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C!--MW-PAGEIMAGES-CANDIDATE-6--\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003C/div\u003E","title":"","link":"","lat":35.04613,"lon":135.79448,"icon":"../images/0/06/Darkred18.png"},{"text":"\u003Cdiv style=\"width:150px\"\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/view/File:Kunaishoyu6.jpg\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Kunaishoyu6.jpg\" src=\"../images/thumb/1/1d/Kunaishoyu6.jpg/125px-Kunaishoyu6.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"125\" height=\"94\" srcset=\"../images/thumb/1/1d/Kunaishoyu6.jpg/188px-Kunaishoyu6.jpg 1.5x, ../images/thumb/1/1d/Kunaishoyu6.jpg/250px-Kunaishoyu6.jpg 2x\" data-file-width=\"1500\" data-file-height=\"1125\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C!--MW-PAGEIMAGES-CANDIDATE-7--\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003C/div\u003E","title":"","link":"","lat":35.0459,"lon":135.79526,"icon":"../images/0/06/Darkred18.png"},{"text":"\u003Cdiv style=\"width:150px\"\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/view/File:Kunaishoyu9.jpg\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Kunaishoyu9.jpg\" src=\"../images/thumb/a/ac/Kunaishoyu9.jpg/125px-Kunaishoyu9.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"125\" height=\"94\" srcset=\"../images/thumb/a/ac/Kunaishoyu9.jpg/188px-Kunaishoyu9.jpg 1.5x, ../images/thumb/a/ac/Kunaishoyu9.jpg/250px-Kunaishoyu9.jpg 2x\" data-file-width=\"1500\" data-file-height=\"1125\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C!--MW-PAGEIMAGES-CANDIDATE-8--\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003C/div\u003E","title":"","link":"","lat":35.04551,"lon":135.79545,"icon":"../images/0/06/Darkred18.png"},{"text":"\u003Cdiv style=\"width:150px\"\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\"/view/File:Kunaishoyu10.jpg\" class=\"image\"\u003E\u003Cimg alt=\"Kunaishoyu10.jpg\" src=\"../images/thumb/f/fd/Kunaishoyu10.jpg/125px-Kunaishoyu10.jpg\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"125\" height=\"94\" srcset=\"../images/thumb/f/fd/Kunaishoyu10.jpg/188px-Kunaishoyu10.jpg 1.5x, ../images/thumb/f/fd/Kunaishoyu10.jpg/250px-Kunaishoyu10.jpg 2x\" data-file-width=\"1500\" data-file-height=\"1125\" /\u003E\u003C/a\u003E\u003C!--MW-PAGEIMAGES-CANDIDATE-9--\u003E\n\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003C/div\u003E","title":"","link":"","lat":35.04548,"lon":135.79556,"icon":"../images/0/06/Darkred18.png"}],"imageLayers":[]}

Gallery

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Castle Profile
English Name	Kunaishoyu Castle
Japanese Name	宮内少輔城
Alternate Names	Watanabe-jo, Watanabe Yakata, Ichijoji Watanabe-jo, Ichijoji-jo
Founder	Watanabe Clan
Year Founded
Castle Type	Fortified Manor
Castle Condition	Ruins only
Historical Period	Pre Edo Period
Features
Visitor Information
Access	Ichijoji Station (Eizan Rail); 15 mins walk
Hours	private property
Time Required	10 mins
Location	Kyoto, Kyoto
Coordinates	35.04608, 135.79457
Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"mappingservice":"leaflet","width":"auto","height":"200px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"Castlemarker.png","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":6,"defzoom":14,"layers":["CartoDB.Positron"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","imageLayers":[],"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":35.04608,"lon":135.79457,"icon":"../images/1/1e/Castlemarker.png"}],"imageoverlays":null}
Admin
Added to Jcastle	2022
Contributor	Eric
Admin Year Visited	2021
Admin Visits	November 23, 2021
Friends of JCastle
Kojodan: Kunaishoyu-jo

1.00

(one vote)

Loading comments...