Comments log

This is a log of comments.

23:49, 4 June 2023 195.16.0.80 talk posted a new comment on Ogawa Castle (08/05/2023. From Nagurumi castle, I walked to Ogawa castle. It's about 3km. I thought I wouldn't see a lot there, but actually, there was more to see. Sadly the second and third bailey's are now fields and housing. I saw some information panels across the road, but had no time to search for the third bailey.)
23:42, 4 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Nagurumi Castle (08/05/2023. After Numata castle, I visited this site. Since the Taiga Drama about the Sanada maru, this site benefitted from it. The baileys have been cleared and are easy to recognize due to some pavement and rails delimiting the different kuruwa. The information buiding has some nice maps and a model of the site. I took a taxi from Numata castle to this site(2850yen).)
23:24, 4 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Numata Castle (I visited this site on 08/05/2023. It's a lovely park with some castle features, like ART mentions, but otherwise there isn't that much to see.)
22:33, 4 June 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Genbao Castle (@Eric. Thanks for the compliment, but I don’t think my comments are much more detailed than yours except in making a comparison between Shibata’s choice of Genbao Castle as his HQ and Hashiba’s choice of Tagami Castle for his, and how much of the battlefield could be seen from the respective command centres. Being the original JCastle Shogun and webmaster of this great website, I know in time after a few more visits to the Lake Yogo area, you could surpass me in your knowledge and appreciatio...)
19:59, 4 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Chiba Castle (I visited this castle, on 07/0/2023, because it isn't that far from the Kasori shell mounds and I'm also interested in Jômon period sites. This mock donjon, that never existed as a real thing on this site, is a nice museum. It has a lot of artifacts inside and it kept me dry during a downpour.)
19:45, 4 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Mito Castle (06/05/2023. Since the reconstruction of the sumiyagura and the Ôtemon, I wanted to visit this site again. I wasn't disappointed at all. They did a great job on both buildings. I highly recommend a visit to this castle.)
19:39, 4 June 2023 Furinkazan talk contribs posted a new comment on Tsuchiura Castle (On 06/05/2023, I visited this site for a second time, since it was on my route to Mito castle. The park is well maintained and the towers and gates are in a fine condition.)
17:56, 4 June 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Ishihama Castle (I have some photos on my iPhone somewhere but I was always going to go back with a proper camera and then it must have kind of slipped my mind. Thanks for posting!!)
04:00, 4 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Ishihama Castle (Sasuga, you went there! I was a little disappointed to be honest considering all of the major castling blogs cover it. You're right about the location; it could be a river now. I visited between going from Hitachi Fuchu to the Edo Asakusa Metsuke gate ruin.)
23:23, 3 June 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Ishihama Castle (Actually I have been here many times! It was on my cycling course from Ryogoku up Sumida River. There are some nice wide cycling paths along the river after Asakusa. I never really thought about posting it here because it seemed there were no actual ruins and the history/location seemed a bit vague or dubious like "Here's the history of a castle we call Ishihama Castle, we think it was generally around this area, probably, but maybe it was the other side of the river or maybe under the river...)
23:20, 3 June 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2440 on Ishihama Castle
21:28, 3 June 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Osaka Castle (Indeed, I'll have to drop by again in better weather. I thought the windows seemed a little far from the railing to lean up against the glass but will give it a try next time! It's definitely a fantastic museum and reminds me a lot of the Edo Tokyo Museum too.)
21:14, 3 June 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Ishihama Castle (Actually I have been here many times. It was on my cycling course from Ryogoku up Sumida River. There are some nice wide cycling paths along the river after Asakusa. I actually never bothered to put it up on Jcastle because there were no proper ruins and the history is a little vague even about the location, but I guess it has a park so... ok)
17:11, 3 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Takamatsu Castle (Thanks for the perspective. And I agree: unlikely to get 100% accuracy, but even if they can't find most materials, hopefully the photos they do have will enable a fairly accurate reconstruction.)
16:01, 2 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Takamatsu Castle (They don't build 'em like Kishiwada anymore... thankfully. There was originally a shrine on the tenshudai, but it was removed to make way for the keep reconstruction. I hope they can rebuild it. They're looking for more reference materials but i think it's a little unrealistic to expect 100% accuracy given the lack of documentation. I suspect that the Hiunkaku is not too faithful a reconstruction, and it's smaller than the original sannomaru palace. It's been a listed as a cultural property b...)
13:57, 2 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Takamatsu Castle (This castle is on my Japanese castle bucket list--looks like it has some nice stone walls and moats, plus the 4 original castle structures and the rebuilt gates and covered bridge. It's also interesting that the Hiunkaku structures have been designated as Important Cultural Properties; although the current buildings were only built in the early 1900's, they are still fairly historical. A lot of the material on the castle refer to the Hiunkaku as 'rebuilt,' so I wonder how similar they are...)
10:04, 2 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Osaka Castle (I went to that museum (which I found excellent by the way) several years ago, and it did indeed have great views of the castle. As you probably noticed, all of the views are through windows, but it seems that you can generally get pictures without glare if you put your camera lense close to the windows.)
21:22, 31 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Ioto Castle (Gets a 3 for the thrill factor.)
14:58, 31 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Yumurayama Castle (Reconstructed tower added to gallery.)
13:35, 31 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Yumurayama Castle (I've started going through my latest stockpile of koushin photos, so I'll put up a picture of the new miyagura once i sort throgh my images of this site.)
10:24, 31 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kanazawa Castle (Thanks for the tips about the surviving shrine structures at Ozaki & Nakamura shrines. Though not defensive structures, it's certainly interesting that they were originally at the castle.)
10:46, 30 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Kanazawa Castle (I visited Kanazawa Castle for the second time earlier this year, and was even more impressed than I was the first time. Since my first visit in 2017, they have added the Nezumi Tamon and Nezumi Tamon Bridge. Apparently, next the Ninomaru Goten will be rebuilt! Obviously, the castle has some of the most authentically reconstructed castle buildings in Japan, with the Gojikken Nagaya and the attached turrets and gates being the star. The rebuilt gates are also wonderful. But there are als...)
09:21, 30 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Busetsu Castle (Without any solid evidence I'd take the princess in the well thing per grano salis too. Many, many castles have a similar story; if the castle is on a mountain then the womenfolk plunged off the cliff; if the castle is on gentler terrain then they drowned in the well. Almost certainly their ghosts now haunt the area. It's just the same motif people like to tell.)
07:25, 30 May 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Genbao Castle (wow, much more detailed than my commentary. I commend you for visiting this one twice. I think a lot of time would have to pass and new discoveries for me to make it out there again. I did hit a couple minor toride along the route, which is another good reason for cycling, so just be patient until those come out! Definitely I have more to see around this intriguing area.)
07:23, 30 May 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Busetsu Castle (Interesting commentary! In the recent Taiga Drama about Ieyasu, they portrayed Shingen's death as a sudden illness that made him weak and he eventually died too.)
16:25, 29 May 2023 120.23.2.93 talk posted a new comment on Busetsu Castle (Takeda Shingen was Not Shot and killed by a Sniper. Takeda Shingen's death has been reported as pulmonary tuberculosis in the Buke Jiki, and as throat or stomach cancer in the Koyo Gunkan. There's a theory that he was killed by a bullet or bullet wound, but this is generally regarded as a popular myth. In 1573, while laying siege to Noda castle in Mikawa, Shingen fell ill. A popular tradition holds that a defending sniper shot him. However, the Koyo Gunkan mentions that Shingen had been ill...)
23:33, 28 May 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Genbao Castle (It’s great to see this castle profile finally created on JCastle by Eric. It’s another one of those fantastic yamajiro ruins found in Shiga. The YouTube video certainly gives any viewer a good idea of what this mountaintop castle looks like in early spring. This is not the biggest yamajiro in Shiga / Fukui, as the castle straddles the border between these prefectures, but it is possibly the mountaintop castle in either prefecture with the best preserved earthworks. In Eric’s photos and video...)
17:23, 28 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Hirakura Castle (Probably rare to see a bear before seeing a boar; you're bound to see them eventually. I remember you were surprised i saw one at Takiyama! I've seen a variety of critters. Added an aodaisho to that list yesterday. Biggest snake in Japan, and this one demonstrated that.)
10:06, 28 May 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Matsushiro Castle (Definitely an under appreciated site. One of my favorite places to visit!)
10:05, 28 May 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Hirakura Castle (I've seen bears, plenty of kamoshika, monkeys, and tanuki, but never actually seen a boar !)
10:03, 28 May 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Osaka Castle (Kinmeisui Ido Yakata, that's something I always forget about too. I haven't been inside the keep since maybe my first visit. Have you been up in the Prefectural Museum (?) where you can get some nice photos of the castle for above? I dropped by last winter but it was too foggy to get any good pics. Osaka-jo is such a great site and totally understand how you get tired walking around. I usually end up getting stuck taking hundreds of kokuin pics until I get tired!)
14:37, 27 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Osaka Castle (I went back to Osaka Castle a couple of days ago, and spent several hours there. I always forget just how big it is--I ended up tiring myself out. This time, my mission was to check out all of the Important Cultural Properties, and I made it to all of them except for the Kinmeisui Ido Yakata... I either didn't know or forgot that you can't see it without buying a ticket for the main keep and waiting in line. There were a lot of mostly foreign tourists waiting in line and I didn't want to...)
21:47, 26 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Ikeda Castle (I visited this castle again today, for the first time in maybe 20 years. It's a really beautiful little park. As for the castle, from what I can understand from the limited literature available, there were archeological excavations there that found, in addition to some of the stones, evidence of a few locations like the well, the Koguchi Gate, the rock garden and the landscape garden. Those things are considered to be reconstructions of the original castle, though the Koguchi is not in...)
14:53, 23 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Hirakura Castle (I usually mention when I see wildlife: here a wild boar charged right past me near the main bailey. Take precautions; the mountains in these parts are wild.)
16:39, 22 May 2023 Snoworion talk contribs posted a new comment on Matsushiro Castle (This is an interesting venue to visit - not so much because of the castle but because of the quaint Samurai town. The castle was owned by the Sanada Clan and not much but the old gate and stone walls still stand. But in the town is the Sanada Treasures Museum, the former Sanada Residence, the old School for the Literary and Military Arts, the Yokota Family Residence and much more. Really stepping into this small village is like stepping back in time. As background, the Sanada Clan produced...)
10:48, 21 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Hirosaki Castle (I hear you. I also have conceptualised Genson Tenshu PLUS, with the + being all of the excellent reconstructions from the Heisei period: Ohzu, Komine, Shiroishi, Kakegawa, and Shibata (also referred to as a yagura).)
15:55, 20 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Hirosaki Castle (Good question. I've heard contradictory accounts of whether the main keep is just a repurposed yagura or whether it was really significantly rebuilt as a main keep. In the former case, I'd personally vote for still counting it as a main keep just on the basis of it being *used* as a main keep (the difference between yagura and main keeps seem to mostly be of purpose: for example, some of the yagura of Kumamoto Castle are larger than small main keeps). But, in that case, we'd probably have...)
12:50, 20 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Funai Castle (Reading about this castle a little more, it seems that the castle was mostly destroyed in 1743 by fire, including the main keep. The main keep was never rebuilt, but the castle was partially reconstructed in the late Edo period, including the two turrets mentioned below. A number of the remaining buildings were destroyed in WWII air raids, leaving only the walls, moats and the Hitojichi and Shumon yaguras. Also as mentioned below, the other 5 structures on the site were rebuilt post-war....)
00:00, 20 May 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukuyama Castle (It's scheduled for a breather in late June :))
14:48, 19 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Oomizo Castle (I visited Takashima with my kids a few years ago, and we stumbled on the ruins of the main keep foundation. As shown in the picture above, there really isn't much to see here besides the overgrown stones of the tenshu foundation, with only the stairs being in semi-reasonable shape. It does have a certain atmosphere, though. I wouldn't recommend anyone going out of their way to see it, but since a lot of people like to come to Takashima to see the floating shrine Shirahige Jinja, it's worth...)
04:56, 16 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukuyama Castle (Shall I add some fresh pictures or is that something the webmaster wants to pop down and do this summer? : p There's also a big chunk of ishigaki / gate ruin under the shinkansen tracks.)
17:47, 15 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Sumoto Castle (You're alive too though, right?)
04:12, 15 May 2023 146.75.154.77 talk posted a new comment on Sumoto Castle (My mom is the last living relative of the Inada clan believe it or not)
22:57, 14 May 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Nochiseyama Castle (ART, thanks for adding some photos and a comment to enhance this castle profile, so Jcastle users wanting to go to this castle can get a better idea of what to expect and plan for on their visit. You have certainly explored this castle ruin more thoroughly than I did when I went nearly a decade ago. I guess this is another castle ruin that I will have to re-visit. No worries, I love re-visiting castles as that is the best way to fully appreciate castles and castle ruins.)
22:55, 14 May 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Omi Hachiman Castle (ART, if you mean seeing almost all of the ishigaki on top of the mountain by following the established trails to see the ishigaki of all of the Honmaru, parts of the Ninomaru, the Kitanomaru, the Nishinomaru, and the Demaru on a “casual visit”, then I don’t think most people would opt for an “ART-type visit of unmolested ishigaki”. Some of these well-trodden walking paths take you down to below the Kitanomaru, Nishinomaru, and Demaru, so you can look up at the stone walls and not just merely...)
22:52, 14 May 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Osaka Castle (Matthew, it’s great to come across another castle fan who loves re-visiting castles. I’ve been to Osaka Castle a similar number of times as you. What you have written pretty much echoes my experience with this castle. For my first few visits, I had been disappointed in the reconstructed concrete keep and its lack of authentic interior, but then I realised, as you have noted in your comment below, what makes Osaka Castle a top castle to visit are all its other features like the massive stone w...)
22:47, 14 May 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Chinen Castle (No worries, Matthew. Nakijin and Nakagusuku castles are superb examples of Ryukyuan gusukus to visit. Actually, the latter is my favourite out of all the gusukus that I have visited in Okinawa. It would be great if you could post some comments about them based on your visits as I reckon other castle fans who want to visit gusukus in Okinawa will benefit from your insight and experience visiting these fortresses. I reckon the more comments there are about a particular castle on JCastle, the mo...)
18:34, 14 May 2023 31.51.63.64 talk posted a new comment on Fukuyama Castle (This castle repays several visits at various times of day. (Times used are during springtime). The gate at the side is open from 6am but I found it was actually opened at 5:30am. The castle is great for early morning pictures and sunset pictures. Some people exercise in front of the keep in the early morning, (around 6 am onwards). The sunrise is mostly hidden by tall buildings near the castle, but the early morning colours are great giving you some nice pictures of the yagura and keep. Sunse...)
13:42, 8 May 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Nochiseyama Castle (The lead picture does not represent the masonry at this site, so I’ve added pictures of the main bailey ishigaki as seen from without, and other features to the gallery.)
10:32, 8 May 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Chinen Castle (Thanks for the perspective! I've been to Nakijin and Nakagusuku castles too, and I noticed the great arched gateways.)