ART added 33 new castles across central Japan

ART has added 33 more sites, spanning Awaji, Settsu, Omi, Kii, Ise (Mie), Owari and Musashi (Saitama)

ART added 33 new castles across central Japan and Saitama

2025-09-20

ART has added 33 more sites, spanning Awaji, Settsu, Omi, Kii, Ise (Mie), Owari and Musashi (Saitama)

Akahori Castle (Ise) / 伊勢赤堀城

Akahorijō is a former fortification site in the Akahori neighbourhood of downtown Yokkaichi. I came across this site, which appears to have been a fortified residence but is now wholly developed over, purely by chance and didn't know about it beforehand. I dropped off my luggage at my hotel in Yokkaichi before getting the train to visit Unemejō. There is a signboard with information about the fort at Akahori Station on the Yokkaichi Asunarō line. Akahorijō was just a little north of the station. This simple fortified compound had a square-like configuration; the central and only bailey was surrounded by earthen ramparts and a moat.

Asano Castle / 浅野城

Asanojō is a hirajiro (flatland castle) ruin in Asano Township, Ichinomiya Municipality. Ruins include dorui (earthen ramparts), mizubori (water moats) and baileys. The site is now Asano Park. Although the moat remains largely intact all the way around the site, the area has also been heavily landscaped; in some places the moat is much narrower now than it would have been originally. Earthen mounds have largely been cleared, but some segments remain, particularly to the north of the site where a tall, thick segment of dorui remains.

Banba Castle / 番場城

Banbajō is a yamajiro (mountaintop castle) ruin in Banba Township, Maibara Municipality. The layout is a of a single bailey complex with some terracing to the front and a rear horikiri (trench) on the ridge. The remains of dorui (earthen ramparts) surround the main bailey. There is perhaps some remnant masonry here or there. Banbajō is a very basic and typical small-scale yamajiro, but worth a stop if you're visiting Kamahajō. It seems the area below Banbajō became the site of the Hori Clan's kyokan (residential annex). The Hori Clan displaced the Doi Clan and built Kamahajō. It's difficult, however, to distinguish any terracing or old masonry here from the remains of later development of terraced agriculture. Now the area is covered in bamboo (...Banba bamboo). There is a commemorative stele for a temple, Konpukuji, which used to stand beneath the castle-mount. Stone-lined terraces here likely originate with the temple.

Doi Tono Yashiki / 土肥殿屋敷

Doi-Tono-yashiki is a fortified residence site in Banba Township, Maibara Muncipality. Few ruins remain, some on private property. The site is often listed as simply 'Tono-yashiki', which just means "(Feudal) Lord's Residence". I thought it prudent to attach the clan name of 'Doi' to this, which, lo, appears to be the technically correct name for it. It appears to be the original kyokan (residential annex) for Banbajō on the hill above. On the mountain above that is Kamahajō; Banbajō was the first fort to be built by the earlier Doi Clan. It was the Hori Clan who built Kamahajō. This 'Tono-yashiki' business has led to understandable confusion between the Doi yashiki and the site of the yakata (fortified manor hall) of the Hori Clan, but they're separate sites with seperate histories.

Anyway, my visit to this site was mostly incidental to me visiting the information centre for Kamaha Castle, as well as the scenic shukuba (inn-town) called Banba-juku. I was getting on well with the guide at the visitor centre, housed in a lovely old thatched-roof (covered up) dwelling, so I asked him about the yashiki site. He said that there was a small mound beneath a gingko tree in a field, and this was the most castle-like feature he could suggest. I was able to see the gingko tree rising from behind the cottage, but couldn't get close enough to confirm the mound. It seems that some excavations were done here at some point and a demarquette erected where a building had been found, but that maybe now the site has been reploughed for rice paddies. The site was further damaged by the construction of the Meishin Expressway in the satoyama area.

These pictures also show the visitor centre and Banba-juku. Banba-juku seems to be in a dead-end valley these days, but there is a cutting in the mountains in the west. This route was used because where Maibara downtown is today stretched an inlet of Lake Biwa, and the surrounding terrain was difficult and marshy, so Banba became an important checkpoint along the Tōkaidō route.

Hamada Castle (Ise) / 伊勢浜田城

Hamadajō is a hirajiro (flatland castle) ruin in downtown Yokkaichi. It is now a shrine and park with the name Unomori. Dorui (earthen ramparts) remain, particularly around the shrine grounds which presumably constituted the main bailey. Displays at the shrine tell of the site's history. An impressive kabukimon-style gateway has also been reconstructed in recent years to acknowledge the site's martial past.

Hazu Castle (Ise) / 伊勢羽津城

Split between the Shiroyama and Haźuyama neighbourhoods in urban Yokkaichi, Haźujō is a hirayamajiro (hill-and-plains castle) ruin. The remains are found on a hill which was the fort's main bailey; now it is a park. The fort presumably had other baileys on the flatland, but these are now developed over with housing. The Kintetsu-Nagoya Line ruins through the middle of the hill, splitting the main bailey in two. Dorui (earthen ramparts) can be found on the western side (Haźuyama neighbourhood). I was surprised at the effulgent colours of the trees in the park since it was already the end of December...

Higashi Sakabe Castle / 東坂部城

Higashi-Sakabejō is a gakejiro (clifftop fort) type hirayamajiro (hill-and-plains castle) ruin in Higashi-Sakabe Township, Yokkaichi Municipality. There is little information about this site online, so I wasn't expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised with the extent of remains of earthworks here. Ruins include dorui (earthen ramparts), some quite large, and karabori (dry moats).

The main bailey is surrounded, at least in part, by a berm and moat complex. This can still be seen clearly in the east and north; the western side is presumed to have also had a moat but there is a road there now. The southern face of the fort is elevation without berms.

To the north is an outer bailey, which I was happy to have found since I didn't have a map and it would've been easy to miss; it is now vegetable patches and a bamboo grove surrounded by dorui, again to the north and east, with indications of trenches beneath the ramparts.

The fort sits atop a small cliff with a temple below. I wondered if the temple had eaten into the hillside as there is a spur of lumpy earth extending southward as if to embrace the temple. The ruins are easy to navigate because they appear to be maintained as part of the temple grounds, and used in part as a garden.

Hirao Castle (Ise) / 伊勢平尾城

Hiraojō is a gakejiro (clifftop fort) type hiryamajiro (hill-and-plains castle) ruin in Hirao Township, Yokkaichi Municipality (some castle-bloggers have categorised this a flatland castle, but there is notable elevation which was integral to the fort's defence, even if it is only up to 7m high). Ruins include dorui (earthen ramparts), trenches and baileys. The main bailey, or at least an outer bailey, has actually been cut through by a descending road, and continues on the otherside of said thoroughfare where there is more dorui in a bamboo copse. There is a narrow sub-bailey on the main bailey's north with a berm and trench. It seems there were multiple layers of dorui.

Hobonishi Castle / 保々西城

Hobonishijō is a gakejiro (plateau or clifftop fort) type hirayamajiro (elevation and flat land castle) ruin in Nishimura Township, Yokkaichi Municipality. In fact, the remains of an entire medieval town here are evident, and it is quite unlike anything I had prior seen. The ruins can be divided into those of the castle proper and those of the surrounding jōkamachi or jōkamura, the settlement surrounding the castle.

The main bailey is against the cliff's edge to the south and west, and on the plateau side it is protected in the north and east by tall, thick dorui (earthen ramparts), and deep, wide karabori (dry moats), which are themselves are most impressive. Dobashi (earthen bridges) span the 8m deep moats in the north and east. The northern gate complex has a flat profile, and eastern one is a masugata (crank-shaped) gate complex.

The approach to the castle goes by a secondary bailey, protected by karabori and dorui, though not of the same scale as the main bailey. A dobashi climbs into this bailey, but the main entrance appears to be where there is a small masugata gate complex of dorui.

In the northwest the tongue-shaped plateau is cut off from the surrounding land with a long stretch of karabori and dorui. Between this outer barrier and the inner citadel are the remains of more than half a dozen roughly square enclosures surrounded by dorui. The trace of medieval streets moves in orderly and angular fashion between the dorui. It is clear that these enclosures contained bukeyashiki, the homes of samurai, or retainers of the castellan.

The main road takes an 'L' shape through the settlement and leads to the outer moat. There is a right-angled bend here before the moat. It appears a wooden bridge was used here and was the town's main entry point. Another access point today is used to enter the ruins from the plateau side, but I wonder if this was constructed later by peasants who reclaimed the land for agriculture.

This vast, remarkably well preserved site, is now apparently a park, Hobo-no-Satoyama Park, but it is not maintained, and is almost entirely overgrown with skinny trees and other plants which make exploration tedious. There are a couple of marker posts and an old information board, but other than that nothing has been made of this site; the ruins are not "on the map", referred to only as a park, and no protections are in place for their preservation. It is hard to believe that such an intriguing site remains largely obscure and unremarked. This is a hidden treasure appreciated only by fans of medieval castles - or at least ones prepared to get into the thick of the brush.

Hongou Castle (Owari) / 尾張本郷城

Hongōjō is a hirajiro (flatland fort) site in Hongō Township, Nisshin Municipality. Hongō retains its visible identity of a small village surrounded by paddies despite being situated between two large tendrils of urban sprawl unfurling out from Nagoya. No ruins of the fort remain and the site is now fields and scrub. The fort site is marked, unintentionally, by a tall communications pylon. I found a ditch to the northwest of the site, but it looked modern.

I passed by here on the way back from Iwasaki Castle after having seen some information about it there, but access is limited and there is little reason to come here. The former site of Hongōjō can also be seen from Iwasakijō's mogi tenshu (faux keep) as it's quite close by.

'Hongō' often refers to the principal settlement within a township or county, or the original town thereat, and, as such, there are many places with this name. Point in case, there is a Hongō Station to the north of this site on Nagoya's Higashiyama subway line, but this is not the same place, and the nearest station is Nisshin Station on the Meitetsu-Toyota Line.

Horishi Yakata (Omi) / 近江堀氏館

Hori-shi-yakata is a yakata (fortified manor hall) site in Banba Township, Maibara Municipality. No clear ruins remain above ground. Since I also visited Banbajō I explored the flat terrain directly beneath it, finding old walls for fields now swallowed by bamboo groves. Where any of these stones re-purposed from the yakata? How about these terraces? I have insufficient data to make a conclusion. The Meishin Expressway also runs through the site and likely buried the yakata's remains. This area and portions of Banba village were the residence site.

Horiuchi Shingu Castle / 堀内新宮城

Horiuchi-Shingūjō is a former hirajiro (flatland castle) site in Shingū Municipality. What was once a fortified residence surrounded by a moat is now the site of the temple Zenryūji. The walled temple contains a somewhat elongated and angled mound, which I wondered whether wasn't part of some old earthen ramparts. There is a waterway to the rear of the temple which runs by aged, shambolic houses. This is said to have been originally where the castle's moat ran.

Ichiba Castle (Ise) / 伊勢市場城

Ichibajō is a gakejiro (plateau or clifftop fort) type hirayamajiro (elevation and flat land castle) ruin in Ichiba Township, Yokkaichi Municipality. The layout is of a squarish single bailey complex surrounded by earthworks and dry moats. Additionally, the remnants of outer fortifications which constituted a medieval castle-town can be found dotting the village of Ichiba.

The ruins can be divided into the castle proper and the surrounding medieval fortified townscape. On three sides Ichibajō's central bailey is surrounded by tall, thick dorui (earthen ramparts), with deep, wide karabori (dry moats) beneath the ramparts. The scale of these earthworks is mightily impressive. To the south the fort overlooks the cliffside, but here too are some smaller berms and terracing.

The main bailey has two gate complexes. One in the north, a pseudo-masugata (crank-shape) complex, and one in the southeastern corner, which, due to an intervening terrace, also functions as a masugata. Here, just beneath the southern point of the huge western berm, there is a well. It has a thin bit of rope strung across it, barely taught, to stop a man stumbling into the abyssal chute from which escape would be but a vain hope.

It would be death to fall in that well I thought, squinting to see the bottom of the cylindrical pit; the fall might be survivable, yet no one would come or hear you. Indeed, this fantastic ruin, a testament to the military engineering of medieval hands, is unloved, neglected, and terribly overgrown with bamboo and pest plants. No one comes here! It's a secret treasure of the dedicated castle maniac.

To underscore this bamboo-choked, rampant abandon, there was, in the castle's ruined umadash (barbican) no less, an abandoned car, ran through with bamboo like a corpse on a pike in a castle siege. In the blinding gloom of that foetid copse, I looked inside the old car. And the fabric of the driver's seat... moved. Something was trying to get out. I braced myself for rabid racoon-dog attack, but what emerged was a very flustered bird, and it soon flew off.

Yes, what adventures we get ourselves into. I mounted the ramparts, and followed them around. This part wasn't so difficult on the largest berms, and it gave me a good look over the moats from above, but descending into the main bailey meant swimming through colonies of dead bamboo. I thrashed and kicked my way out.

As mentioned, the remnants of outer baileys and enclosed residences of the castellan's retainers are found on the plateau around the castle, and significant remains of dorui can be found around and in the bamboo groves to the east of the castle proper. Old maps show many more segments than appear to survive today, including around a temple to the north. Over the centuries, however, particularly in recent decades, the remains of the castle-town have been chipped away at, regrettably obscurring its layout.

Ichibajō is twinned with another site of similar design and scale to the north about 2km away, Hobonishijō, and the two sites together are also referred to as Asakurajō after their overlords, the Ise-Asakura Clan.

Iwakura Castle (Owari) / 尾張岩倉城

Iwakurajō was a chance encounter for me (ART). I had been to Inuyama Castle that day, but a fire at a depot along the Meitetsu-Inuyama line stranded me at Iwakura. Iwakura is a small municipality; many of the smallest municipalities by area size in Japan are actually in Aichi Prefecture, and Iwakura is typical of them in that it is a town which serves as a bedroom community and suburb of Nagoya. That is to say, there are very few distractions there. So, I and hundreds of others were stranded there. In order to kill some time whilst I waited for the next train (it never came; I ended up getting the bus to a JR line in the next town over), I identified the ruins of Iwakurajō nearby and went for a look-see.

Owari-Iwakurajō is a hirajiro (flatland) castle ruin in Iwakura Municipality. It is designated by the municipality as a site of historical importance. Despite this, few to no ruins remain. As such, the most interesting thing about this site was reading the explanatory boards there. One featured a nice map of what the castle used to look like.

Additionally there is a encarved stone block to mark the castle on a mound with a Buddhist altar house. The other stele on the mound are religious monuments. However, at the back of the mound there is a row of houses with nothing but a long, narrow field behind them. Naturally I wondered if this is where the castle's moat once ran. Maybe this is where the city conducted archaelogical digs.

Owari-Iwakurajō is located in historic Owari Province, not to be confused with other castles with the same name in neighbouring provinces, such as Mikawa-Iwakurajō and Ōmi-Iwakurajō, which I've visited both.

Kabuto Castle / 鹿伏兎城

Kabutojō is a yamajiro (mountaintop castle) ruin in Kabuto Township, Kameyama Municipality. Kabutojō is a twin bailey complex featuring dorui (earthen ramparts) and a segment of ishigaki (stone-piled retaining wall).

The west bailey is situated above the eastern bailey, and both are surrounded by dorui. The north-facing dorui appears to have been piled up, whilst the south-facing dorui, which is larger, appears to have been carved from the ridge. The bulbous portion of dorui on the south side between the two baileys is thought to be a yaguradai, a platform for a keep. The bulwark along the ridge to the east is also thought to have been the site of a tower, and was labelled 'higashi-yaguradai' on my map.

The main compounds are entered via the west bailey through a masugata (crank-shape) gate complex. The parapet line continues on beyond the turn for the gate, and this area is said to be a look-out (maybe a 'nishi-yaguradai'). I was sure I would find a trench beneath this dorui because it is set above the ridge, but there was nothing, which surprised me. Indeed, curiously, Kabutojō appears to lack trenches completely, which is quite unusual for a yamajiro.

The ishigaki segment can be found beside the masugata on the outside of the west bailey. It was no doubt a substantial undertaking to build such a handsome wall atop of this mount. Another point of interest is the shallow, stone-lined well in the fort's east bailey.

I wondered if Kabutojō, with its positions for towers and stone-lined ramparts, was renovated in the Aźuchi period. The valley below held an important trade route and a fort here would've been necessary for securing supply lines.

Kabutojō is accessed from the hiking trail that starts in the necropolis of Shinpukuji, a temple at the foot of the castle-mount. The cenotaphs for the Kabuto Clan are also found here, and I wondered if this is where the castle's kyokan (residential annex) was. Shinpukuji is right by the railway tracks and accessed via a dedicated crossing; it is a handsome temple with its ishigaki and belfry. The trail to the castle ruins bring one first to a terraced sub-bailey and then to the higashi-yaguradai. Following the southern ramparts along from here brings one to the masugata, and from there the ishigaki segment is below and to the left.

Kobayashi Castle (Owari) / 尾張小林城

Kobayashijō is a former hirajiro (flatland castle) site in downtown Nagoya. The site today is now a temple, Shōjōji. The temple has a nice gate, as well as some mock stone-piled walls and parapet walls with loopholes, so it does look somewhat like a castle.

It was after the 2025 castle expo in Nagoya that, enjoying the mildly warm start-of-spring weather, I started rambling around the city, and, just by chance, came across this site unexpectantly. First I noticed the nice temple gate before noticing a stone marker with the name of a castle on. Lucky!

Even though someone has put a marker for this site on Google Maps, they have provided no information it, and I could find none on-site, but some castle-bloggers have covered it. It seems as if the castle-marker stele was moved from within the temple grounds to in front of the gate. That's just as well or I would not have found this place.

After finding the "castle" / temple, which has a nice garden gated behind the walls, and visiting the nearby Hisaya-ôdôri garden, I decided to follow the Shinhorigawa ('New Moat River') down to Kanayama Station. The river goes down past Atsuta-jingū before reconnecting to the Horigawa ('Moat River'). These rivers form(ed) a loop starting at Nagoya Castle and going down to Atsuta Shrine. Horigawa is a canal built in 1610 by Fukushima Masanori; it served as an outer moat for Nagoyajō, as well as the main artery for river transportation in the castle-town. However, the Shinhorigawa, also artificial, was not completed until the Meiji period.

Makita Castle (Ise) / 伊勢蒔田城

Makitajō is a yakata (fortified manor hall) site in the Makita neighbourhood of Yokkaichi Municipality. Though today called 'Makita', the yakata was originally called 'Maita'. Ruins remain in the form of dorui (earthen ramparts) and a mizubori (water moat) which runs around what is now a temple, Chōmeiji. Looking at old pictures, it seems that a pleasant stone-piled wall once also surrounded the temple, but it has unfortunately been modernised, and therefore uglified, in recent years. Those stonewalls probably dated to the Edo period, and so this was another act of twenty-first century vandalism.

Matsuho Battery / 松帆台場

Matsuho-daiba is a daiba (battery) ruin in Iwaya Township, Awaji Municipality. Remains include coastal dorui (embankments) and ishigaki (stone-piled retaining walls). The ruin is designated as a national historic site. It seems the ishigaki which faced the straight was torn down at some point, probably recycled into breakwaters, but some ishigaki remains in a square cutting into the embankments, which I supposed must've been a magazine. I followed the earthen bulwark where I could, but parts of it are overgrown. In general the site is not well maintained with respect to the ruins -- maybe because it's private land still.

Matsumoto Castle (Ise) / 伊勢松本城

Matsumotojō is an okajiro (hilltop fort) site in the Matsumoto neighbourhood in urban Yokkaichi. There's actually not much here but my strong attraction to the famous Matsumoto Castle in Nagano made me want to come and check, even though there's no connection between the two sites (I have a side quest of visiting castles with the same name). The top of the hill contains flattened areas which look like they were used as baileys for a simple fort. The hilltop has a long profile and the earth is mounded into dome-like mounds at either end, giving the impression of a ship-shape. Given the castle's early construction date, I doubt keeps were constructed here, but maybe watch towers or archer platforms were. The site is now a shrine and its grounds, called Matsui-jinja.

Minamoto Noriyori Yakata / 源範頼館

Minamoto-Noriyori-yakata is a yakata (fortified manor hall) site in Yoshimi Township, Hiki County (though historically of Yokomi County). The site today is a temple, Sokushōin, around which are the remnants of a moat system.

Moriguchi Castle / 守口城

Moriguchijō is a former hirajiro (flatland castle) fortification site in Moriguchi Municipality. The fort is only known from historical records, as no remains have been unearthed owing to the area's dense residential sprawl. The fort is thought to have been located in the Hama neighbourhood (an earlier theory pointed to the Doi neighbourhood but this appears to have fallen out of favour - at least with castle-bloggers, though I hope that isn't just because Hama has something nice to photograph in it). The fort's main bailey is believed to now be the site of the temple Nanshūji, and its outer or secondary bailey now the site of Jōsenji, a temple just to the north.

I visited Moriguchijō - or the site of it (in Hama) - as part of a thematically driven tour of minor sites in the Ôsaka urban sprawl. The theme was temples with old drum towers built on the site of medieval forts. Nanshūji was the best example of these as its drum tower is built solidly like a yagura, or a keep at a castle. It's doubtful that anything as even as grand as this stood at the original fort, but the drum tower certainly imparts a certain castle-ish je nais sais quoi.

Even though its exact location has yet to be identified, Moriguchijō played an important role in medieval conflicts in the area, and so has an interesting history. Since the fort was built, destroyed and rebuilt over the centuries, it's perfectly possible that its exact location changed during that time.

Nagi Castle / 葱生城

Nagijō is a former hirajiro (flatland) castle site in the Ikue neighbourhood of Asahi Ward, Ôsaka Municipality. No ruins remain, and the site is now a temple, Jōsenji. I came here because that day I had already visited two other former fortifications sites with temples with drum towers, and so it become a sort of theme for that morning's adventure. The drum tower at Jōsenji is indeed very handsome.

Nishi Sakabe Castle / 西坂部城

Nishi-Sakabejō is a yamajiro (mountaintop castle) in Mie Township, Yokkaichi Municipality (Mie Prefecture gets its name from Mie County which in turn presumably gets its name from Mie Township). The site is now a park, aptly named Shiroyama Park. Ruins remain in the form of dorui (earthen ramparts), though many segments are overgrown with bamboo grass and difficult or impossible to see. There are several flattened spaces on the hillside, particularly at the top, that were the fort's kuruwa (baileys). The 'nishi' in 'Nishi-Sakabejō' means 'west', and there is also a Higashi-Sakabejō to the east on the opposite side of the River Kaizō; however, each site is named for the township it is in or near, and the two do not appear to be related.

Noda Castle (Settsu) / 摂津野田城

Settsu-Nodajō is a former hirajiro (flatland castle) site in Fukushima Ward, Ôsaka Municipality. There are two ishibumi (commemorative stone markers) for the castle, about 250m apart. One is one the site of a temple, Gokurakuji. The temple has a fine if slightly mouldering drum tower which makes one think of a militarised temple. Nodajō was one of three former fortification sites that I visited one morning in Ôsaka, all of which are now the sites of temples with drum towers. None of these sites have remains of the castles, as they have been developed over, but the nice temple architecture, the drum towers vaguely remeniscent of a structure that one might find at a castle, made up for that.

Ohkura Yakata / 大蔵館

Ôkura-yakata is a yakata (fortified manor hall) ruin in Ôkura village of Ranzan Township, Hiki County. Ruins include dorui (earthen ramparts) which partially ensconce Ôkura-jinja. There is another stretch of dorui down the road from the shrine. The site today is a shrine, fields and farmsteads. Note: Jōkaku Hōrōki gives the site the name 'Ohkura-tachi', 'tachi' being an alternate reading for 'yakata' often used in northeastern Japan. Other sources just go with 'yakata', the standard reading.

Ohkusa Castle (Aichi) / 愛知大草城

Ôkusajō is a hilltop fort ruin in the Ôkusa area of Nagakute Municipality (spread between the borders of the localities of Irinohara, Mizunoiri, Gomae and Kitaura). Ruins are mostly earthworks, including terracing of the hillside and trench excavations. The layout is complex, with a hodepodge of baileys clustered around the hillside. The top of the hill has been artificially levelled, but it seems somewhat to me like it may have been further modified in modern times.

I entered the site via the causeway of the Kumano shrine, and along here there is a tall tatebori (climbing trench) with a dorui (earthen rampart) segment climbing parallel. This feature is quite clear on the ground, as it were, but overgrown in parts and difficult to photograph.

The east bailey is the topmost bailey, but the main bailey is in the western portion of the castle site, now separated by a road. There is a large dorui embankment on the western side of the main bailey. This is overgrown. Between the main bailey and the southwest bailey is a karabori (dry moat) and some dorui. To the east of the site a horikiri (trench) cuts the hilltop off from a connecting ridgeline.

Medieval fortification features are in evidence at this site, but most of the remains do not clearly come into focus, and it is hard to appreciate the overall structure. Some parts are off-limits, under plough, or very overgrown, so a full exploration is taxing. The hillside has many small terraced baileys, so that I'm sure I did not see them all. Overall I'd say this is a pro-level site for castle-explorers.

This site is Ôkusajō in Nagakute Municipality, Aichi Prefecture, formerly Aichi County of Owari Province. The county gives its name to the prefecture. There are several other sites called 'Ôkusajō' in Aichi Prefecture / Owari Province. This site is not to be confused with Chita-Ôkusajō (the one with the mogi tenshu (folly keep)), also in Owari Province, or Mikkawa-Ôkusajō, also in Aichi Prefecture. So far, out of the thousands of sites I've visited, I've been to three castle sites called 'Ôkusa' and all of them are in Aichi Prefecture!

Orido Castle / 折戸城

Oridojō is a okajiro (hilltop) fort site in Orido Township, Nisshin Municipality. The site is now a shrine to Hachiman, and I could find no definitive remains here (though various castle-bloggers have seemingly found suggestive bits and pieces); I saw a suspicious thicket of bamboo at the edge of a plateau, and, though I was not dressed for bush-whacking, it seems there may be the remains of a ditch or trench here. I visited this site because I saw information on the site at the Iwasaki Castle museum, and it was on my route. There is a large stele on a terrace of the hill on the way up to the shrine hall which says 'Orido Old Castle'. The hilltop is also said to be the site of a fort called Fukiagejō, but it's not clear that Oridojō and Fukiagejō aren't the same site. The structure of the fort has been obscurred, but it may be that the two forts were simply two baileys of the same fort, or that the lower situated of the two was the site of the castellan's residence, with the peak of the hill serving as a fortified redoubt. The eastern half of the hill is ascribed to Fukiagejō and the lower western portion to Oridojō; I'm treating them as a single site here.

Rokuta Yakata / 六田館

Rokuda-yakata is a yakata (fortified manor hall) ruin in Misugi Township, Tsu Municipality; the settlement is the village of Tage, not to be confused with Taki Township, Taki County, to the south, which uses the same kanji. Rokuda-yakata is a satellite fortification of Kitabatake-yakata, located to the east over the Hatemata River.

Rokuda-yakata's remains are fairly well preserved with dorui (earthen ramparts) and karabori (dry moat) surrounding a roughly square bailey. These fortifications almost surround the whole bailey except where a house now stands. The site is otherwise fields.

Even though the Rokuta-yakata, also referred to as the Higashi-gosho ('East Palace') was an annex of nearby Kitabatake-yakata, it actually has more to see of fortication ruins than that site, and so it shouldn't be missed when visiting the main Kitabatake Clan residence ruins with its garden and shrine. There are some old stone walls around the yakata's ramparts, but these may be from retaining walls piled after the fort and moats became rice paddies.

Shoubudake Castle / 菖蒲嶽城

Shōbudakejō is a yamajiro (mountaintop castle) ruin on the border between Maibara and Hikone municipalities atop Mt Mutsuhara. Ruins consist of earthworks such as berms and trenches. The layout is of a flattened main bailey area protected along the ridge to the rear with a trench complex including horikiri (ridge-cut trenches) and tatebori (climbing trenches stretching down the mountainside). The rear of the main bailey has dorui (earthen ramparts) heaped up.

I found indications of what appeared to me to be a dobashi (earthen bridge) between trenches. The castle's footprint appears to have spread westward past where a pylon now stands. The construction of the pylon has probably effaced the fort's structure as ruins are hard to discern here; it is also quite overgrown. However, beneath this westerly part of the castle I did walk past a tatebori on my way up. There is a tight row of tatebori also beneath the main bailey facing north, but these earthworks are hard to make out.

Shōbudakejō also has a satellite fortification called 'North Castle' but it is apparently not well developed. I didn't know about it so I didn't check.

Tsutsumihonji Castle / 堤本地城

Tsutsumihonjijō is an okajiro (hilltop castle) site in Tsutsumi Township, Toyota Municipality. No clear ruins remain, and the site is now a shrine to Hachiman. There is a small marker for the castle next to the stairs leading up to the shrine hall. The flattened area around the shrine hall is presumably where the fort's main bailey once was. There are two hills neighbouring each other in Tsutsumi which both have shrines to Hachiman atop; the site of Tsutsumihonjijō is the western hill.

Uneme Castle / 采女城

Unemejō is an okajiro (hilltop fort) type yamajiro (mountaintop castle) ruin in Uneme Township, Yokkaichi Municipality. Ruins consist primarily of earthworks, including dorui (earthen ramparts), karabori (dry moats), kuruwa (baileys) and tatebori (climbing trenches). These ruins are for the most part well maintained and there are bridges and walkways to aid explorers.

The layout of Unemejō is vaguely Italy-shaped, and it even has a detached bailey complex to serve as Sardinia; or, the shape of a boot kicking a ball, but who plays footy in heels? The trail to the castle goes up through a creek area directly to the main bailey. The main bailey is accessed via a masugata (crank-shaped) gate complex of dorui, and dorui rings basically the whole bailey. There is a deep well in the main bailey, and a signboard with information. To the north of the main bailey are the second and third baileys, each surrounded by dorui and separated by large horikiri (trenches); these earthworks may well be this site's highlight.

To the southeast of the main bailey there is a narrow trail that descends to what the map I was using, produced by the legendary castle-explorer of Jōkaku Hōrōki, designates the eighth bailey. In our Italy analogy, this bailey would be the peninsula of Salento. This bailey has dorui on the east-facing side, and has horikiri both fore and aft.

To the southwest is our Calabria and Sicily. I actually came that way after first visiting Sardinia, the detached bailey, which necessitated descending and climbing the steeply shorn hillside (not recommended), across the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Calabrian spur is made up of the three baileys (the lowermost of which in our belaboured analogy will have to be Sicily) with ramparts formed from the ridge, and is almost as large as the three integral baileys above. It connects eventually with the main bailey via a handsome dobashi (earthen bridge) which a wooden bridge has been built atop.

Yagura Castle (Kii) / 紀伊矢倉城

Yagurajō, also called Myōjin'yamajō, is an okajiro (hilltop castle) ruin in Shingū Municipality. The castle ruins reportedly feature earthworks such as baileys and trenches, and even gate ruins (pictures I've seen also seem to show dorui (earthen ramparts)), but, unfortunately, the site is on private property and the owners do not allow public entry. As such, I could only look around the foot of the 40m tall independent hill on which the ruins sit. There is some consolatory ishigaki (stone-piled walls) here, but it is not related to the fort site (it may have been used as a retaining wall when the pass was cut, or connected to the nearby temple).

This site sits between Zenryūji and Shingū Station, so I included it as part of my walk around Shingū, but I refrained from trespassing. The only path up appears to be from the south and there are signs prohibiting entry blocking the path. Most castle-bloggers have met with the same problem, but the blogger at Kojōshi got up. That blogger also took the southern path where the road cuts through the base of the hill, but makes no mention of having to get permission for entry, and so perhaps at the time of their visit the path was open. I will link that blog in the 'Friends of Jcastle' section.

Note: This is Yagurajō (alternatively Yakurajō) in Shingū Municipality, formerly part of Muro County, not to be confused with Yagurayamajō in Kinokawa Municipality, formerly part of Naka County, both in Wakayama Prefecture and the former Kii Province.

Yokkaichi Jin'ya / 四日市陣屋

Yokkaichi-jin'ya is a former jin'ya site in the Kitamachi neighbourhood of downtown Yokkaichi. No ruins remain, and the site is now that of Chūbunishi Elementary School. There is a signboard with information about the jin'ya next to the school's entrance. I came here incidentally on my way back from a cycling tour of sites in the countryside around Yokkaichi.

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