Tamaru Castle - Relocated Structures

Sannomaru Goten Okushoin (Tamaru, Tamaki, Watarai, Mie) 田丸城三ノ丸御殿奥書院［三重県度会郡玉城町田丸］ This house is the sannomaru goten okushoin (inner chambers of the third bailey palace) at Tamaru Castle, part of what was once an expansive complex of goten (castellan's palace) buildings. It dates to 1677 and was or

Tamaru Castle - Relocated Structures

田丸城現存移築建物

Sannomaru Goten Okushoin (Tamaru, Tamaki, Watarai, Mie) 田丸城三ノ丸御殿奥書院［三重県度会郡玉城町田丸］

This house is the sannomaru goten okushoin (inner chambers of the third bailey palace) at Tamaru Castle, part of what was once an expansive complex of goten (castellan's palace) buildings. It dates to 1677 and was originally auctioned off when the castle was decommissioned in the Meiji period where it was used as a farmhouse. In 1991 it was restored to the castle grounds.

The building's exterior still looks somewhat like a farmstead's, right? However, the interior has been restored to its regal bukeshoin-style. Unfortunately, it is not open to the general public, so we cannot see the interior. This is a regrettable.

Relocated Structures in Shinchaya (Shinchaya, Meiwa, Taki, Mie) 田丸城移築門・塀・蔵・まちかど博物館［三重県多気郡明和町新茶屋］

In the village of Shinchaya in Meiwa Township, Taki County, is an old residence with relocated structures from Tamaru Castle. The residence is open to the public as the 'Machikado Museum'. The museum was not open when I visited, but I was able to look around the residence. Relocated buildings from the castle include a gate, the surrounding wall, and a storehouse. The former castle gate is not the main gate of the residence, however, but a smaller gate at the back of the residence, which one has to enter into a dark tunnel-like entrance to a forest to find.

The main residence building also looks very aged, perhaps Meiji period.

(According to 『城郭移築建造物』, these claims cannot be fully validated, especially the wall. Some roof tiles, metal fittings and structures are from the period, but the timber elements have been much replaced and repaired.)

Relocated Storehouses at Tamaru-jinja (Tamaru, Tamaki, Watarai, Mie) 田丸城移築武器庫火薬蔵・田丸神社［三重県度会郡玉城町田丸］

Two storehouses from Tamaru Castle were relocated to Tamaru Jinja. In the photo of the three buildings, the left one is unrelated to the castle, while the center building is a gunpowder storehouse (火薬蔵) and the right one is a weapons storehouse (武具蔵). Both retain distinctive features making them valuable historical relics. The gunpowder storehouse is unusually subdivided into smaller sections. The weapons storehouse is notable for its kawara roof tiles, some of which still bear the Kuno clan crest (九野氏家紋). At first glance, this crest resembles a generic mitsudomoe pattern, but the five flower petals around the outside reveal it to be the Kuno family design (compare with the banner below).

Fujimimon (Tamaru, Tamaki, Watarai, Mie) 田丸城富士見門［三重県度会郡玉城町田丸］　

Fujimimon was a nagayamon (row-gatehouse) originally built between the second and third bailey of Tamaru Castle. However, it was auctioned off and relocated when the castle was decommissioned in the Meiji period. In 1984 it was brought back to the castle, albeit not in the same place, and now it is a gatehouse remnant which doesn't lead anywhere. Nagayamon have wings with rooms on either side, but these are now lost for the Fujimimon it seems, and only the central portion remains.

Tenrinji (Myōjō, Meiwa, Taki, Mie) 転輪寺・松坂城移築城門・田丸城移築城門［三重県多気郡明和町明星］

Tenrinji is a temple in Myōjō village, Meiwa Township, Taki County. It contains two relocated gates from two different castles. The temple's south gate is said to originally have been a gate used at Matsusaka Castle in Matsusaka Municipality, and the temple's front gate is said to have been originally built at Tamaru Castle in Tamaki Township, Watarai County. Meiwa Township lists this latter, grander of the two gates as a cultural property. Tenrinji is itself a nice local temple.

Daitokuji Sanmon 大徳寺山門

The current Daitokuji Sanmon is said to have been relocated from a samurai residence during the Meiji Period. However, researchers suggest that its scale, construction style, and roof tiles with the Kuno crest strongly indicate it may in fact have been a castle gate. Another possibility is that only the roof tiles were repurposed from the castle. Its exact origins remain uncertain, but it stands as another important surviving remnant connected to Tamaru Castle.

Gallery by ART, some edits and updated by Eric