Iwaki Taira Castle - Relocated Gates
I have identified up to five relocated gates from Iwaki-Taira Castle, of which three are extant. Saiźuchimon, a kōraimon-type gate, is a gate of Iwaki-Tairajō, originally built on the outside corner of the castle's outer moat, making it one of the castle's outermost gates. Though aged, it is also t
Iwaki Taira Castle - Relocated Gates
磐城平城移築門
I have identified up to five relocated gates from Iwaki-Taira Castle, of which three are extant.
Saiźuchimon, a kōraimon-type gate, is a gate of Iwaki-Tairajō, originally built on the outside corner of the castle's outer moat, making it one of the castle's outermost gates. Though aged, it is also the best preserved. Following Iwaki-Taira Castle's decommission and razing after the Boshin War, the gate was auctioned off; it was bought as a wedding gift and has since been retained at a farmstead. It now stands beside a handsome kura (storehouse) building, and is attached to a wall on each side. There are uniquely shaped loophole-like portals in these walls.
Sources: 1. https://www.city.iwaki.lg.jp/www/contents/1646901654494/files/7.pdf 2. http://www.mikito.biz/archives/49907171.html
Other gates said to be relocated from Iwaki-Tairajō stand at the temples Ryōzenji and Shōgenji near to the castle, but their status is unconfirmed. Ryōzenji contains cenotaphs for the Andō Clan, lords of Iwaki-Taira Domain.
Several relocated gates from Iwakita-Tairajō were later lost. A rear gate from the castle referred to as the akazumon (unopened gate) was relocated to Kashikonumadera and served as that temple's sanmon (main gate), but was destroyed during the Great Tōhoku Earthquake of 2011.
One other building, a nagayamon (row-gatehouse), exited into the 21st century. It was called Nagabashimon (Long Bridge Gate) and was commissioned by Lord Andō, constructed in 1862 under foreman Kashiwabara Shōgorō (it appears to have been a gate along the castle's outermost wall). Following the Boshin War, Kashiwabara took the name Takano and had the gate relocated to a family residence in the former castle-town area.
I had read from multiple sources that the gatehouse, used as a warehouse by the Takano family, was demolished in 2008. However, a municipal source said that the gate had been donated to the city. So, which is it? It appears that the building was torn down, but the components, mostly the wooden skeleton of the gatehouse, were then donated to the city. The city accepted the donation and put them in storage. However, no plans ever emerged to restore the nagayamon using these materials.
The Nagabashimon's components are being stored in the open with merely a tin roof for shelter. Clearly these materials will eventually rot beyond use, and storing them at all will have been pointless. This is regrettable.
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