Hagi Castle: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 09:27, 8 March 2025

This was an amazing site to visit. Personally, I would include it as one of my favorite places in Japan. The castle ruins themselves are much more extensive than most books give them credit for. There are many stone walls around the base of the mountain and some that go right up to the edge of the o

History

After losing to Tokugawa at the Battle of Sekigahara, two thirds of Mōri Terumoto's lands were confiscated and he was locked into the smaller region of Choshu on the Japan Sea. If you visit Hagi you'll see how far and difficult a place it is to get to. The Mōri family continued to rule over Hagi until the Meiji restoration. In 1863, Mori Takachika moved the major government functions of the domain to Yamaguchi, because Hagi was too vulnerable to bombardment from the sea.

Refer to Hagi Castle Town for more details.

Field Notes

This was an amazing site to visit. Personally, I would include it as one of my favorite places in Japan. The castle ruins themselves are much more extensive than most books give them credit for. There are many stone walls around the base of the mountain and some that go right up to the edge of the ocean. There are remnants of clay walls and the remains from splitting stones for the walls at both the top of the mountain and on the coast. The castle ruins are amazing enough, but the castle town really sets Hagi Castle apart from others. I've never seen another castle town that's so well preserved.

There are several albums and samurai residences linked below or read through my feature article Hagi Castle Town that gives an overview of everything to see in the town.

GPS data for some of the photos around the castle main areas are approximations because my GPS device was frozen for awhile. They are good guesses based on street view and satellite imagery.

Loading map...

Gallery

main keep foundation, moat, stone walls
Diorama from the Asa Mori Nagayamon
Diorama from the Asa Mori Nagayamon
Hagi Museum

More Galleries and Feature Pages

(49 photos)

(20 photos)

(27 photos)

(33 photos)

Bukeyashiki Buildings

(60 photos)

Bukeyashiki Walls

(34 photos)

Hamasaki

(28 photos)

Castle Town Miscellany

(21 photos)

Hagi Museum and Meirinkan

(33 photos)

Kikuya and Kubota Residences

(24 photos)

Industrial Sites

(20 photos)

Castle Profile
English Name	Hagi Castle
Japanese Name	萩城
Alternate Names	Shizuki-jo
Founder	Mori Terumoto
Year Founded	1604
Castle Type	Flatland
Castle Condition	No main keep but other buildings
Designations	Top 100 Castles, UNESCO World Heritage Site, Top 100 Mountaintop Castles, National Historic Site
Historical Period	Edo Period
Features	gates, samurai homes, water moats, trenches, stone walls, walls, castle town
Visitor Information
Access	Higashi Hagi Sta. (San'in Line), bus
Hours	8:00-18:30 (Apr-Oct), 8:30-16:30 (Nov-Feb), 8:30-:18:00 (Mar). 210 yen
Time Required	180 mins, including the top of the mountain
URL	Castle Website
Location	Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture
Coordinates	34.41767, 131.38344
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Admin
Added to Jcastle	2007
Contributor	Eric
Admin Year Visited	2014, 2024
Admin Visits	November 21, 2014; March 20-21, 2024

2.46

(13 votes)

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 |City=Hagi
 |Prefecture=Yamaguchi Prefecture
-|Notes=This was an amazing site to visit. Personally, I would include it as one of my favorites. The castle ruins themselves are much more extensive than most books give them credit for. There are many stone walls around the base of the mountain and some that go right up to the edge of the ocean. There are remnants of clay walls and the remains from splitting stones for the walls at both the top of the mountain and on the coast. The castle ruins are amazing enough, but the castle town really sets Hagi Castle apart from others. I've never seen another castle town that's so well preserved. There are several original samurai homes, gates, merchants homes, walls, storehouses, and more that make you feel like you've stepped back into the Edo Period. I only spent one day here (4 hrs at the castle ruins, including climbing the mountain) and 3 hours walking around the town, but I could easily spend two full days. I did not even visit the Hagi Museum. I did not have enough time on my first visit so I look forward to another visit in the future. I'm rating this four stars for the combination of the castle and castle town. I think I would recommend you to visit on a weekday if possible. Everywhere was fairly empty despite it being fall colors season but I saw a lot of bus parking and the crowd I saw the following day at Tsuwano on Saturday afternoon would probably pale compared to what Hagi could bring.
+|Notes=This was an amazing site to visit. Personally, I would include it as one of my favorite places in Japan. The castle ruins themselves are much more extensive than most books give them credit for. There are many stone walls around the base of the mountain and some that go right up to the edge of the ocean. There are remnants of clay walls and the remains from splitting stones for the walls at both the top of the mountain and on the coast. The castle ruins are amazing enough, but the castle town really sets Hagi Castle apart from others. I've never seen another castle town that's so well preserved.
- <p>Also see this <a href="http://www.oidemase.or.jp/hagi_cg">interesting CG reconstruction</a> of the main keep at Hagi Castle</p>
-|History=<p>After losing to Tokugawa at the Battle of Sekigahara, Mori Terumoto's lands around Hiroshima were confiscated. Tokugawa wanted to lock the Mori into a remote location on the Japan Sea so they commanded him to build his castle at Hagi. If you visit Hagi you'll see how far and difficult a place it is to get to. The Mori family continued to rule over Hagi until the Meiji restoration. In 1863, Mori Takachika moved the major government functions of the domain to Yamaguchi, because Hagi was too vulnerable to bombardment from the sea. From this point Hagi started losing it's importance and many of the castle buildings were dismantled. In the Meiji Restoration the main keep and the remainder of the buildings were destroyed. </p>
+There are several albums and samurai residences linked below or read through my feature article [[Hagi Castle Town]] that gives an overview of everything to see in the town.
- <p>The structure of Hagi Castle is actually very interesting and Mori built a brilliantly defensible little castle. Mt Shizuki is a small mountain right on the coast creating a small peninsula of land. The castle sits at the base of the mountain facing the land and occupies all the approachable land to the mountain. Stone walls and defensible positions on the coast prevent attack from the sea. The Honmaru, Ninomaru and Sannomaru baileys extend towards the land protecting the castle from a land invasion. The Sannomaru Bailey encloses much of the castle town which has numerous walled streets, narrow streets, T-junctions and dead ends to confuse and make it difficult for any attacker to reach the castle. A scattering of watchtowers, gates and strategically placed storehouses for weapons would have made any attack on Hagi very difficult indeed. At the top of the mountain is the Tsumenomaru, a fallback position in case of a siege. The Tsumenomaru itself is divided into two baileys ringed with stone walls and had multiple watchtowers. In the latter Edo Period a yagura partway up the mountain and a platform for cannon was also added to help protect it from the sea. Be sure to look at the <a href="http://www.jcastle.info/castle/zoom/86">map</a> to see how things are distributed around the castle and town.</p>
+GPS data for some of the photos around the castle main areas are approximations because my GPS device was frozen for awhile. They are good guesses based on street view and satellite imagery.
+|History=After losing to Tokugawa at the Battle of Sekigahara, two thirds of Mōri Terumoto's lands were confiscated and he was locked into the smaller region of Choshu on the Japan Sea. If you visit Hagi you'll see how far and difficult a place it is to get to. The Mōri family continued to rule over Hagi until the Meiji restoration. In 1863, Mori Takachika moved the major government functions of the domain to Yamaguchi, because Hagi was too vulnerable to bombardment from the sea.
+Refer to [[Hagi Castle Town]] for more details.
 |Year Visited=2014, 2024
 |AddedJcastle=2007
-|Japanese Notes=萩城は建造物がない割ににとても感動しました。私にとっては萩城は全国的にも最も面白いお城の一つです。城跡自体は多くの本に掲載されているより遺構が多いです。北矢倉付近の海岸沿いの石垣も特に面白かったです。寂れた土塀や崩壊した土塀も残っているのを見て城の元の姿を想像してしまいます。詰丸や海岸に残っている石切場を見るとこの美しい石垣を築くためにどれだけ大仕事だったのかも思わされます。城跡だけでも十分に感動しますが、萩城はどこよりも城下町もよく残されています。武家屋敷を始め、商人の家、矢倉、土塀などがあり、町を歩くと江戸時代にタイムスリップした感じがします。今回の城めぐりは1日(城跡４時間、城下町３時間)しかいられませんでしたが、城下町も全部見るのに二日間は必要です。萩博物館すら見る時間はありませんでした。今回は十分な時間がなかったのでまた訪れたいと思っています。城跡と城下町を両方考慮して四つ星にしました。
+|Visits=November 21, 2014; March 20-21, 2024
- <p>萩城の<a href="http://www.oidemase.or.jp/hagi_cg">CG再現</a>も是非見てください。</p>
-|Visits=November 21, 2014; March 21, 2024
 |GPSLocation=34.41767, 131.38344
 |Contributor=Eric
 }}