Sunomata Castle

I went to Sunomata Castle after visiting Takenaka Jinya and Ogaki Castle. I took my folding bike with me and rode to Sunomata Castle from JR Ogaki Station in around 20 minutes. There are buses to Sunomata Castle from either Ogaki Station or Gifu Station, but I am not sure of their schedules. The lan

History

Oda Nobunaga wanted a castle built in the Sunomata area as a bridgehead for his final assault on Saito’s main castle, Inabayama (Gifu) Castle. It was a marshy region between Ogaki Castle, which was held by Oda forces, and Saito’s stronghold, Inabayama Castle. Previous attempts to build a castle in the area by Oda generals, Sakuma Nobumori and Shibata Katsuie, had failed. Kinoshita Tokichiro (later Toyotomi Hideyoshi) was ordered to try again. The construction materials were obtained by felling trees upstream and then floating the logs down the Sunomata River and tributaries of other rivers to the castle site. By cleverly pre-assembling some sections of defensive structures and hiding them before the final steps in the construction of this fortified site, Tokichiro was able to build his first castle ever and do it “overnight”. In reality, it took at least two to three days to put up the basic defensive structures and longer to dig the moats around the castle. As Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he was to repeat this clever psychological ploy on a grander scale with the construction of Ishigakiyama Ichiya Castle to demoralize the Odawara Castle defenders. In comparison, Sunomata Castle was more akin to a border fort with some simple watchtowers, wooden palisades, and dry moats. There is a good model of what the castle may have looked like inside the Sunomata History Museum. After the successful conquest of Mino, and its integration into the growing Nobunaga empire, Sunomata Castle was decommissioned.

Field Notes

I went to Sunomata Castle after visiting Takenaka Jinya and Ogaki Castle. I took my folding bike with me and rode to Sunomata Castle from JR Ogaki Station in around 20 minutes. There are buses to Sunomata Castle from either Ogaki Station or Gifu Station, but I am not sure of their schedules. The land where the original Sunomata Castle stood has changed as a result of the changes in the course of the local rivers. A map inside the Sunomata Castle Museum clearly shows this. Also, the present concrete Sunomata Castle is nothing like what was built by Tokichiro, but it does house a pretty decent museum about the history of the castle and the conflict between Nobunaga and the Saito Clan of Mino. From Sunomata Castle, you can clearly see Gifu Castle perched on Mt. Kinka in the distance on a clear day.

Gallery updated by ART (2024). For an extensive article on this folly site, see my article in the comments below.

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Gallery

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  Mogi-tenshu (faux reconstructed keep)
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  Mogi-tenshu (faux reconstructed keep)
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  "Toyotomi Hideyoshi's cheval de frise"
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  Depictions of the fort from the Bukō Yawa (see comment below)
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  Depictions of the fort from the Bukō Yawa (see comment below)
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  Map from the Bukō Yawa (see comment below)
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  "Toyotomi's Well of Success"
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  Gourds are associated with Toyotomi Hideyoshi's earlier career
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Castle Profile
English Name	Sunomata Castle
Japanese Name	墨俣城
Alternate Names	Sunomata Ichiya Castle
Founder	Kinoshita Tokichiro (Toyotomi Hideyoshi)
Year Founded	1566
Castle Type	Flatland
Castle Condition	Reconstructed main keep
Designations	Local Historic Site
Historical Period	Pre Edo Period
Features	main keep, water moats, stone walls, walls
Visitor Information
Access	Ogaki Stn.; Bus
Hours	9:00am-5:00pm / 200yen
Time Required	45 minutes
URL	Castle Website
Location	Ogaki, Gifu Prefecture
Coordinates	35.36712, 136.6877
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Admin
Added to Jcastle	2012
Contributor	ART
Admin Year Visited	Viewer Contributed
Admin Visits	Viewer Donated

1.67

(6 votes)

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