Ogoe Castle

Ogoe Castle is actually quite a large and interesting mountaintop castle. There are terraced baileys down two or three ridges, a few trenches, embankments and huge boulders scattered about the site. It is moderately well marked for some of the main areas. I went off trail and tried to go down a coup

History

It is believed that the castle was founded as early as 1566 by Ōgoe Akimitsu, though this is unclear. Ōgoe served Tamura Kiyoaki, lord of Miharu Castle. By 1586 the Ōgoe clan, possessing a fief of about 10,000 koku, were fighting for the Sōma in the long-standing war for territory between them and the Date clan. In 1588 the Date assaulted the castle and set fire to the town at its base, but their attack was ultimately repulsed. In 1589, war broke out between the Date and Iwaki clans and Ōgoe submitted to the Date and fought for them but he was captured by Iwaki Tsunetaka and was compelled to commit seppuku. Initially Ōgoe’s descendants retained control of the castle but thereafter the Tamura clan took over.

Field Notes

Ogoe Castle is actually quite a large and interesting mountaintop castle. There are terraced baileys down two or three ridges, a few trenches, embankments and huge boulders scattered about the site. It is moderately well marked for some of the main areas. I went off trail and tried to go down a couple of the ridges but the dense woods make it impossible to get photos that show off much of these baileys or other ruins.

The story of the Jcastle.info website actually begins when I was an assistant Junior High School English Teacher in a little town in Fukushima called Ogoe (now part of Tamura City) in 1997. At the time I started to develop some interest in castles through my "blog" (even though the word didn't exist yet) about travels around Tohoku. One of the Board of Education people told me there was a large castle on the mountain right behind the Board of Education offices (Ogoe Budokan). We once took the afternoon off and walked up there to look around but I didn't see any castle. I only saw weeds and mosquitoes. At the time I was only interested in castles that had "something to see" (buildings, big stone walls). Ohh, how naive I was back then! Had I known more I could have easily made it a daily walk since I lived nearby too.

Original profile contributed by ART (2016), Profile updated and photos replaced by Eric (2021)

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Gallery

East Yakata
East Yakata Horikiri trench
Honmaru Entrance
Honmaru
Ninomaru
West Yakata
well

Castle Profile
English Name	Ogoe Castle
Japanese Name	大越城
Alternate Names	Narukami-jo
Founder	Ōgoe Akimitsu
Year Founded	1566
Castle Type	Mountaintop
Castle Condition	Ruins only
Historical Period	Pre Edo Period
Features	trenches
Visitor Information
Access	Ban'etsu East Line, Ogoe Station (15 min walk)
Hours	park, open any time
Time Required	120 mins
Location	Tamura, Fukushima Prefecture
Coordinates	37.38313, 140.62417
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Admin
Added to Jcastle	2016
Contributor	ART
Admin Year Visited	2020
Admin Visits	December 13, 2020
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