Nakahara Yakata
Since I didn't expect to find anything at the former site of Nakahara-yakata, I was pleasantly surprised to find the remnants of a moat, now dry, and some deformed dorui (earthen embankments). I had to look around for a bit but I eventually found the signpost signifying the ruin in front of a house.
History
A typical fortified manor house, the Yakata originally had a simple square layout with ditches and embankments to protect it. Nakahara-yakata was probably established by Imai Kanehira in the Late Heian Period. The Yakata was the base of the Nakahara Clan of Shinano. Nakahara Kanetō, Governor of Shinano, looked after Minamoto Yoshinaka when he was a kid because his son, Nakahara Shiro, was Yoshinaka's milk brother. Nakahara Shiro would later be known as Imai Kanehira. Imai is also the name of the village that Nakahara-yakata is located in. Imai-jin'ya was later built (in 1691) near the former Yakata site.
Field Notes
Since I didn't expect to find anything at the former site of Nakahara-yakata, I was pleasantly surprised to find the remnants of a moat, now dry, and some deformed dorui (earthen embankments). I had to look around for a bit but I eventually found the signpost signifying the ruin in front of a house. The site is now occupied by fields, rural homes and some maisonettes. I came to Imai to check out some of the rural architecture and so my inspecting the ruin was intended as an incidental diversion; whilst I found it mildly interesting, it's probably not worth going out of one's way for.
| Castle Profile | |
|---|---|
| English Name | Nakahara Yakata |
| Japanese Name | 中原館 |
| Founder | Nakahara Imai |
| Year Founded | Late Heian Period |
| Castle Type | Fortified Manor |
| Castle Condition | Ruins only |
| Historical Period | Pre Edo Period |
| Artifacts | Karabori, Dorui |
| Features | trenches |
| Visitor Information | |
| Access | |
| Hours | 24/7 free, includes private property |
| Time Required | 15 minutes |
| Location | Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture |
| Coordinates | 36.14494, 137.90432 |
| Admin | |
| Added to Jcastle | 2019 |
| Contributor | ART |
| Admin Year Visited | Viewer Contributed |
