Bitchu Matsuyama Castle - Outer Baileys

I'm calling this section the outer baileys of Matsuyama Castle. It includes the bridge and trench from just behind the main keep through to the area of the well and fortified trench and gate ruins. This is a really amazing area that deserves more attention. The first large bailey you run into is t

Bitchu Matsuyama Castle - Outer Baileys

曲輪群

I'm calling this section the outer baileys of Matsuyama Castle. It includes the bridge and trench from just behind the main keep through to the area of the well and fortified trench and gate ruins. This is a really amazing area that deserves more attention.

The first large bailey you run into is the Aihata-no-kitoato. It was the site of a key battle in the Bitchu Heiran War. There are baileys, earthen embankments (dorui) and stone walls. Some of the stonework however may be from the early 1900s when a house was here. They may have repurposed or modified some of the stone walls.

The next area is called the Tenjin-no-maru. It is an extended fortification of Matsuyama Castle and the highest peak of Mt. Gagyu. It could be considered a castle in it's own right. It has 5 smaller baileys with a horikiri trench between the honmaru bailey and demaru bailey. It has features of a Sengoku period fortification and protects the northern side of Matsuyama Castle. Following the war between the Mori and Mimura a shrine was built in the main bailey. The foundation stones and broken tiles you see are from this shrine.

On the further side of the Tenjin-no-maru is the well-known large stone walled pond. Some old illustrations show that it was once covered and had a small boat. It is also called the "blood pond" where samurai supposedly washed their swords. If so, I hope they did so outside of the actual pond! Fresh water was vital to any castle.

Further beyond the pond on a small side trail curving down the mountainside, is one of the most impressive relatively unknown finds I've seen at a castle since running into the climbing stone wall at Takatori Castle. Built durign the unrest towards the end of the Edo Period a large horikiri trench was carved along teh ridge to the next peak. This horikiri is also fortified with a curved stone wall and gate in the MIDDLE of the horikiri and a large bansho (guard station) up the hillside over looking the road and gate complex.

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Outer Baileys

Castle Town