Comments log

This is a log of comments.

17:09, 2 July 2023 122.211.145.154 talk posted a new comment on Gujo Hachiman Castle (Interesting... I didn't know that there were any pre-war wood main keep reconstructions other than Iga Ueno castle... and that one is a total mogi, though an attractive one (in my opinion at least). This one sounds fairly attractive too, and likely more accurate.)
13:34, 2 July 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Sunomata Castle (It's a cute little mogi, and was less underwhelming inside than many reconstructed castles. Also, the riverside location is nice. Worth 2 stars for the attractiveness and the museum.)
09:30, 2 July 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2545 on Tsuwano Castle
09:01, 2 July 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Tsuwano Castle (Sorry, forgot to log in. Thanks for the quick reply!)
09:00, 2 July 2023 122.211.145.154 talk posted a new comment on Tsuwano Castle (Thanks!)
22:01, 1 July 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Hikone Castle (I rate Hikone Castle very highly, second only to Himeji Castle. Your comment about Hikone Castle being the most well-rounded Japanese castle is absolutely spot on. It has a bit of everything in terms of extant structures, rebuilt structures, ishigaki, earthworks, two sets of intact moats, and a castle town with many old ashigaru houses still around. I’m lucky I live in Japanese castle Mecca aka Shiga. Hikone Castle is the castle that I have visited the most followed very closely by Azuchi...)
14:51, 1 July 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Tsuwano Castle (Outside it; they're relocated to the area of the former castle town.)
12:39, 1 July 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Tsuwano Castle (Are the two turrets at the foot of the mountain located on part of the original castle grounds, or outside it?)
18:39, 30 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Hikone Castle (I'd rate Himeji as the best Japanese castle just based on how incredibly extensive it is, but Hikone really so far behind (I'm also a huge fan of Iyo Matsuyama Castle).)
18:34, 30 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Wakayama Castle (The other original gate is the Oimawashi Gate pictured above.)
07:35, 30 June 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Hikone Castle (It sounds like you had great time. I'm glad you can enjoy it on a weekday without it being too crowded. Hikone is definitely overlooked by many castles fans but I think it's gaining in popularity. I think even with a well planned trip it probably takes at least 3 trips to see everything. I think I've been there 6 times now but I keep finding stuff I need to go back and visit or new sides/angles of the castle I want to shoot. Actually I have a bunch of news pics I need to upload here too.)
05:55, 30 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Hikone Castle (You may be right about Hikone. Generally Himeji is seen as the best castle, but it does not have any kind of goten.)
05:55, 30 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kishiwada Castle (This is a very helpful review, thanks! The sumi-yagura is connected to the tamon yagura which carries on with two bends along the ramparts. It can be seen in the above gallery.)
21:49, 29 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Hikone Castle (I visited Hikone Castle again today, my first visit in 6 years and either the 5th or 6th time I've been there. I've loved this castle for a long time, but it was the most satisfying visit I've ever had there, and really one of the best castle visits I've ever had. It was the first time I went there alone, as opposed to being with family members, and I really enjoyed being able to wander and spend as much time as I wanted on everything. Anyway, I pretty much saw everything on the castle g...)
20:39, 29 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Kishiwada Castle (I finally went to Kishiwada Castle yesterday. As I suspected, I found the site both attractive and underwhelming. What I liked: the moats and ishigaki are pretty well-preserved, the restored buildings make it look like an authentic Japanese castle from the distance, and the garden is a really nice touch. It seems that it was added before the main keep was (re)built, and the artist deliberately designed it to harmonize with the main keep. Job well-done in that respect. What I didn't...)
22:38, 27 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Nagahama Castle (Today, I had a class of junior high-school kids talk about their favorite famous place in Japan. I gave them some ideas before hand, and ended up getting places like Himeji Castle, Osaka Castle, Kinkakuji, Amanohashidate, Tokyo Disneyland, Todai-ji, Shirahama Beach, and so on. But then this one girl said 'Nagahama Castle.' I was pretty surprised as it's a quite obscure castle, so I said 'You mean Nagahama Castle in Shiga?' She said yes. I praised her for coming up with something original...)
17:19, 26 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Kumamoto Castle (I visited Kumamoto Castle not long before the earthquake, and was extremely impressed. It’s a very large, imposing castle with extensive stone walls and a great variety of yagura (11 in all), many of them original. Some of them are bigger than the main keeps of smaller castles--the Uto Yagura pictured above, for example, is like a main keep and is my favorite structure in the castle. At the time, we were able to enter at least a few of them, and not surprisingly, they had more atmosphere t...)
15:32, 26 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Honshouji Castle (Have updated description and highlight photo (the weather wasn't much better than during my first visit, but now there's more flowers!), and some other bits and bobs. Will add pictures of the recently made public earthworks at some point.)
14:47, 26 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kasama Castle (I don't think so but the Hachimandai yagura is still pretty close by.)
14:09, 26 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Ozu Castle (Sorry for the late reply. They appeared to be merchant-style buildings to me.)
11:04, 26 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Kasama Castle (Have any of the original buildings been relocated back to the castle grounds?)
10:26, 26 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Honshouji Castle (With the Ieyasu boom ongoing they've opened up the usually closed rear parts of the temple with the dorui and karabori. Will update soon.)
09:24, 26 June 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Kashiwabara Castle (Omi) (I love the Kamon on those roof tiles. Nice shot. I want to line that up with some kokuin from Osaka-jo. You see the Kyogoku Kamon kokuin a lot. Thanks for the recommendations too Ray. I do like sets of castles with some history and story behind them.)
07:26, 26 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Kashiwabara Castle (Omi) (Thanks for the recommendations, Raymond; if i get the opportunity i'll be sure to visit those sites and make profiles for them here on jcastle ^0^)
21:35, 25 June 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Kashiwabara Castle (Omi) (I visited this “castle ruin” with just a stone marker after I have spent time castle-hunting at a nearby yamajiro ruin with earthwork ruins to see. Tokugen’in is worth visiting for those history / castle fans who want to see places related to the Kyōgoku Clan. As ART has mentioned on his profile here, there are Kyōgoku tombstones to be seen here, and the three-storey pogoda is worth seeing. Also, if you are a Kyōgoku fan, there is the Kyōgoku Yakata ruin located just a few kilometres away. On...)
21:38, 24 June 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Damine Castle (It looks like you fellows have found a little gem of a castle site to visit. Thanks for the profile and comments. I will have to visit Damine Castle when I revisit the Nagashino and Shinshiro areas for some castle-hunting.)
21:30, 24 June 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukui Castle (@ Matthew Ward. I think it’s difficult to relocate government buildings such as a local council building, so a castle can be rebuilt. A castle is located in a fairly central location relative to the castle town that developed around it, so it makes sense to build some government buildings there post-Edo Period for easy access by the locals like at Fukui Castle. However, there are precedents at Shuri Castle and Kanazawa Castle where a university campus was relocated from the castle ground to m...)
21:17, 24 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Matsumae Castle (I hope so. I remember something about that. 2035 is long enough away though for me not to hold my breath. They might yet change their minds.)
14:50, 24 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Matsumae Castle (According to the Japanese Wiki page, the city has decided to reconstruct the main keep in wood, finishing by 2035. It's another one of those cases where the concrete main keep has deteriorated and is falling below earthquake standards. They considered whether to reinforce it or rebuild it in wood, and chose the latter.)
09:38, 24 June 2023 Eric talk contribs deleted comment #2511 on Nijo Castle
09:37, 24 June 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Nijo Castle (I've seen two excuses given for no photos - people bunch up and spend too much time taking photos. The other is that camera flashed do damage old artworks. Still, there is way too much of this no photography stuff inside wooden buildings with few visitors and no special artworks. Similarly, for my recent revisit to Fukuyama Castle, even that reconstructed museum main keep was no photos despite few artifacts and few people!)
09:31, 24 June 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukui Castle (I think it's very unlikely they would relocate any of the gov't buildings. They don't really hinder the enjoyment of the site and would only hinder reconstructions around the middle of the main bailey, which are unlikely to happen anyway. A recent news article mentions a plan to rebuild another yagura towards the station making a nice view and avenue from the station to the castle: https://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/714490 I visited during GW this year and will update the profile soon...)
15:49, 23 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Kagoshima Castle (This is one of those castles that I visited sort of accidentally, by going to the Kagoshima History Museum, and noticing the moat and stone walls. I liked the moat and walls, though, and am generously giving the castle a 2 based on them. The museum is definitely a 5, but obviously it has nothing to do with the castle. Apparently, they have recently reconstructed the Otemon Gate, and pictures of it look nice... hopefully that will help justify my 2 rating! As for the discussion about th...)
16:58, 22 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Usuki Castle (Apparently the Tatami Yagura and Utanoguchi-mon-Yagura are originals.)
15:32, 21 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Maruoka Castle (Thank you for joining us on FB, Mr Ward! Since you're interested in the oldest keep - a much debated topic - i'll tag you in the comments of an article i wrote on the topic. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.)
14:38, 21 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Fukui Castle (As mentioned below, this is mostly just walls and moats with some modern government buildings inside, but even then, I found the site oddly compelling. They are nice walls and moats, and (also as mentioned below), you can climb up on the walls. I give it a 2 based on what was there when I visited it in the past, but it's really exciting to see that they are now restoring things like the gates and well roof. It could be a really excellent site with more restorations. I wonder whether they...)
14:32, 21 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Maruoka Castle (When I visited Maruoka Castle several years ago, we took the bus from near Fukui Station, and it took us right to the castle. You do have to check the bus times though, as they don't run so frequently. I imagine that bus service might also have been reduced due to the pandemic, though if that's the case hopefully they will increase it again. Anyway, the main keep is lovely and feels very authentic inside--one of my favorite main keep interiors. That was my favorite aspect of the castle....)
12:50, 19 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Takamatsu Castle (Added newly reconstructed gatehouse to gallery and map)
06:35, 19 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Nijo Castle (Flash photography maybe could, but i'm no expert. Yeah, Japanese castles are larger than their European counterparts, but Japanese people, if they're not castle fans, are also liable to consider a castle and tenshu to be one and the same. Gradually awareness of the true value of castles beyond just the main keep is spreading.)
06:34, 19 June 2023 61.123.59.236 talk posted a new comment on Nijo Castle (Flash photography maybe could, but i'm no expert. Yeah, Japanese castles are larger than their European counterparts, but Japanese people, if they're not castle fans, are also liable to consider a castle and tenshu to be one and the same. Gradually awareness of the true value of castles beyond just the main keep is spreading.)
23:57, 18 June 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Ogawa Castle (Koka) (@Eric, the JCastle Shogun works fast. It’s great to see the Ogawa Castle profile along with Ogawa Nakano Castle and Ogawa Nishino Castle profiles up on JCastle so soon after your visit a few months ago. I’m glad you have made it up to this yamajiro. I have known about this yamajiro for years but have put off going there by how weedy and overgrown it looks in some photos online. Also, as you have mentioned in your notes, it is an inconvenient site to get to, particularly for castle fans livi...)
21:57, 18 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Nijo Castle (Good point. I must have noticed that Japanese castles have moats walls and turrets and gates and then a big building inside that everybody enters, not really noticing the obvious differences between gotens and tenshukakus. I went to Nijo Castle first just because I went to Kyoto first, and the idea of visiting a castle sounded exciting. I had visited castles in other parts of the world and was interested in them, but had never visited one in East Asia. One thought I have had: while cas...)
20:13, 17 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Nijo Castle (It's interesting Nijojo was your first castle. You knew thereafter that castles didn't need keeps and that main keep =/= castle. Most people don't visit Nijojo first, but go somewhere like Himeji or Osaka, and so their castle experiences are very tower-focused.)
13:08, 17 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Nijo Castle (I adore Nijo Castle. It was the first Japanese castle I ever visited, and is a splendid and authentic structure. I think I’ve visited it more than any other castle except Osaka Castle, around 7 or 8 times, The substantial remains of Nijo Castle are almost entirely original: original inner and outer moat, original walls, a whole bunch of original gates (as noted before, in a variety of styles), two large original yagura, original gardens, a couple of substantial original storehouses, and...)
09:38, 17 June 2023 Eric talk contribs posted a new comment on Matsuyama Castle (Saitama) (It's also been cleaned up more recently. I would love to go back again myself! Maybe for a future "stuck in Tokyo with nothing to do" kind of day I will hit this one again.)
21:07, 16 June 2023 RaymondW talk contribs posted a new comment on Maruoka Castle (I did the same thing you did on my first visit to Maruoka Castle 15 years ago. I had mistakenly assumed JR Maruoka Station was the only way to get to Maruoka Station. It wasn’t much fun walking the four kilometres or so to get to castle in the blazing hot sun of mid-summer with zero shade. On my second visit five years later, I took the bus from and back to Fukui Station. It takes 50 minutes to an hour depending on which bus you take.)
09:43, 16 June 2023 Matthew Ward talk contribs posted a new comment on Imabari Castle (Imabari Castle certainly is a beautiful sight. You get the very well-preserved original walls and seawater moat combined with some very authentically reconstructed yagura and gates, done in wood and according to pictures and other historical materials. And then you get the beautiful, slender main keep rising above it all. The odd thing, of course, is that the main keep is a totally mogi, even listed as ‘mogi tenshu’ on the castle’s Japanese Wikipedia page. Whether the original castle ev...)
15:16, 14 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Matsuyama Castle (Saitama) (Often called Musashi Matsuyama Castle : p but also sometimes called Higashi Matsuyama (but that seems gimmicky to me), this is a castle i need to go back to. Looking at maps now... I must've barely explored it when i visited.)
12:51, 14 June 2023 ART talk contribs posted a new comment on Damine Castle (Daminejō is a partially reconstructed Sengoku period hilltop castle in the hamlet of Damine, Shitara Township. The main bailey has been restored, including a miyagura (watch tower), ohtemon (main gate), umaya (stables), goten (lord’s palatial residence) and a small rear gate. There is also a wooden bridge spanning a dry moat at the foot of the castle mount, and some palings. Other features include bailey spaces. The carved terraces of the castle mount are well maintained and inspecting the va...)
16:01, 12 June 2023 104.28.124.183 talk posted a new comment on Sumoto Castle (My mothers maiden name is Inada. She is the last surviving relative of the Inada clan. When I was in sixth grade I visited the family cemetery in Tokushima. I plan on going back one of these days)